Branch Womens Officer Report to the 2017 AGM
The regional women’s committee (where I represent the branch) have had very well attended meetings throughout the year. For 2017 we want to focus our energies on campaigning andtherefore we intend to reconvene our campaigning sub-group. There will be an emphasis on developing strategies to better take account of how women members are being affected by attacks on terms and condition with particular attention on workplace policies covering pregnancy and maternity rights, workplace domestic abuse policies and achieving proportionality in the regional structures.
During 2016 the SE regional women’s training courses were all well attended with 10 of the 11 women’s courses running for women members and women activists. There were also two successful applicants for the new low paid women’s learning bursary. The number of women who attended the women’s training courses during 2016 was 112. In 2017 we will be piloting a new course on ‘sexual harassment in the workplace’. This follows research undertaken by the TUC and the Everyday Sexism Project in 2016 highlighting the fact that only 1% of women report sexual harassment to their employer.
In 2016 the number of delegates to National Women’s conference from the SE region was slightly higher than the previous year with 43 women attending and there were also a good number of visitors and women attending for the first time. However we still need to focus on increasing attendance as there are over 100 branches in the region and every branch can send at least 1 delegate. All three SE motions were carried addressing issues on abortion rights, tax credits and violence against women.
At our AGM in October the SE regional women’s committee discussed motions (which were developed at the regional women’s forum in September) to be submitted to the 2017 National Women’s conference. Six motions were forwarded to National Women’s conference but one has been rejected. The remaining five motion are Sickle Cell; Women against the Cuts and grassroots campaigning; sexual harassment in schools; WASPI and women’s retirement; Protecting the rights of EU women in social care.
Unfortunately I finish my term of office representing the region on the National Women’s committee at this year’s conference however I found it an extremely interesting experience and hopefully represented the views of our women members to the best of my ability.
The SE regional women’s forum held in Eastbourne attracted over 50 women delegates from across the region. The women’s forum also coincided with the start of Black History Month and to celebrate this we showed the film about the 1976Grunwick dispute. The guest speakers included Professor Elizabeth Anionwu who was one of the main campaigners for the Mary Seacole; Anneliese Dodds Labour MEP South and Megan Dobney, Regional Secretary of the South East Region TUC. There were 4 workshops covering issues such as the disproportionate impact on women of the attacks on terms and conditions; proud to be in UNISON; sexual harassment and violence in schools; and a workshop focussing on how women have organised to bring about legislative change e.g., equal pay act, sex discrimination act. Self organisation is an excellent way of increasing the participation of women members and of the 52 attendees at this year’s Forum, 34% were attending for the firsttime.
Regrettably since changing jobs in September 2015 and then again in August 2016 my facility time has been considerably cut. Therefore within the branch I have largely focused my work on submitting information relevant to women for circulation and advertising on the branch website. I am also part of the Oxford International Women’s festival planning committee and proudly our branch is organising 2 events during the festival period. They are both workshops and are detailed as followed: ‘Sexual harassment in schools’ on 27th February 11am – 3:30pm and ‘Mixed blessings from a Cambridge Union’ on March 10th 12 noon – 3:30pm. Both are being held at County Hall.
You can find more information about these and other events at
Lastly and in relation to increasing women’s participation and activism within Unison I feel very strongly that more needs to be done in negotiating both recognition and facility time agreements especially within the community and voluntary sector. Women already face many barriers to participating and not having agreements in place whereby they are afforded the time to carry out their union roles only exacerbates the problem.