Women's Participation in a Radical Trade Union Movement that Claims to Be Feminist

Abstract

This article investigates the under‐researched topic of women's representation in radical unions, drawing on an in‐depth case study of the French Solidaires, Unitaires et Démocratiques (SUD) movement. In addition to an overview of the institutional and organizational dynamics of unions’ ‘inequality regimes’, it offers a contextually grounded analysis of the barriers and enablers of women's participation in SUD unions. More specifically, this research reflects on the complex interrelationships between class and gender in class‐based militant trade unions that claim to be feminist but fail to support working‐class female workers’ participation.