To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, Co-op News asked women co-operators to share their experiences in the movement. Themed Press For Progress, the day is a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
In total 20 women in co-operatives took part in our survey, which sought to highlight some of the issues faced by female employees and members. Their experience in the sector ranged from two to over 50 years. We received answers from shop floor staff, directors, regular members, employees of co-op organisations, managers and advisers. They come from various sectors, including consumer, worker and community co-ops and regional organisations.
Fourteen respondents said they felt supported in their roles with two saying they sometimes felt undermined and four admitting they did not feel supported at all. Over 65% said they believed co-ops could do more to support gender equality, suggesting better communication around it, improving gender pay gaps, allocating more resources to this task, making workplaces family friendly and practising more gender equality at board level.
Read more at Coop News!