It was a historic election. On Friday 31 March, Sophie Binet became the first woman to lead the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) since the union was founded 128 years ago. Sophie Binet joins Murielle Guilbert, co-general delegate of Solidaires, on the list of union leaders. Only two women leaders in France. As for unionization rates, 11% of men were unionized in 2019, compared to 9.5% of women, according to the Ministry of Labor.

In this episode of the 20 Minutes news podcast "Minute Papillon!", we ask why it took so long to elect a woman to head the CGT? Listen to Maryse Dumas, figure of French trade unionism, former confederal secretary of the CGT, co-author of the book Feminist, the CGT? Women their work and trade union action, with Rachel Silvera and Sophie Binet.



From competition to parity

In this episode, Maryse Dumas looks back at the emergence of unions in France. A birth that took place according to two dynamics. First, the entry of women into the labour market posed a threat to the male labour force. According to the former Confederal Secretary, "when women started to enter the workforce, this independence from the home was problematic. It was an attack on the virility of men. They also became competitors for wages. Employers exerted strong pressure to lower women's wages than men's. »

The integration of women into unions has proceeded gradually, sometimes with objections, says Maryse Dumas in this podcast. According to her, the CGT made a turning point when it integrated a parity rule into the confederal leadership in 1999, at the 46th congress of the CGT. Added to this is an increasing rate of unionized women. According to the latest comparative situation report presented to the National Confederal Committee (CCN), the CGT's governing body between two congresses, in February 2023, the share of unionized women has been steadily increasing since 2009.

"After a slight decline in 2020, certainly in line with the effects of the health crisis, the feminization of union members increased by more than one point between 2020 and 2022 (to 39.2% as of December 21, 2022)," the report analyzes. It states that in total "the share of unionized women exceeds 39% in 2022, and their share in membership is 47.9%.

In this podcast of "Minute Papillon!", Maryse Dumas elaborates ways to integrate more women into unions. According to her, the latter must integrate more into their discourses and their struggles the problems that concern women. An example is the mobilization against the pension reform, during which the unions hammered home the negative impact of this reform on women's careers.

Another imperative according to Maryse Dumas, the CGT, like other unions, is not present enough today in certain sectors where women are particularly numerous, such as the service sector. Finally, and she ardently supports it, "we must see women in responsibilities, we must see them in the media in speeches. It will allow other women to tell themselves that it is possible for them too." Listen to the rest of this interview in the player above.

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