Women Account for 72 Percent of the Decline In Union Membership from 2011 to 2012

[Teamster Jeff]

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What’s going on with women and unions?

Between 2011 and 2012 the number of union members dropped by 398,000. Women were less than half (46 percent) of union members in 2011 – but they accounted for 72 percent of the decline.

Men are more likely than women to be members of unions. The gap between men’s and women’s union membership has narrowed over time. Last year it grew, for the first time since 2008, by 25 percent. Women’s rate of union membership (11.2 percent) was 1.2 percentage points lower than men’s (12.4 percent) in 2011. In 2012, women’s rate (10.5 percent) was 1.5 percentage points lower than men’s (12.0 percent).

Why does this matter?

Union membership is critical for women’s wage equality. Among union members, the typical full-time woman worker has weekly earnings that are 88 percent of the typical man’s. Among workers not represented by unions, this figure is 81 percent.

Why is it happening?

It’s likely that women’s concentration in public sector jobs (women comprised 57 percent of the public sector workforce in 2012) was a key factor in this union membership decline.
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http://www.nwlc.org/our-blog/women-account-72-percent-decline-union-membership-2011-2012

[reteachinwi]

1. Teachers are often women.

With the way teachers are attacked these days anyone with a better option takes it. The number of teachers has been reduced, removing many women from union jobs.

[Teamster Jeff]

3. My daughter will graduate with her Education degree in May

I hope we can turn things around.

[Warpy]

2. Women were disporportionately represented in textile mills

and the garment industry. When the whole industries were shipped offshore, that made a huge dent in union membership.

It's scary to think we don't make something as basic as cloth in this country any more.

This country won't survive the next big war, even if we stay out of it and only suffer trade disruption. We no longer make too many of the things we need.