Training African women trade unionists in inter/national trade union movements in the 1950s and 1960s

Autor(en)

Immanuel Harisch

Abstrakt

This article examines the agency and impact of African women in their capacities as trade union officials, course participants, educators, and labour activists in the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on several union and party archives, the research comparatively focuses on the educational activities of the ICFTU, the WFTU, and their national affiliates, as well as correspondence with African labour leaders. It argues that the upsurge in union education and mobilities has not benefited women. Across the ideological divide of Cold War trade unionism, women’s overall enrolment rates in various trade union colleges remained low. Aspiring women trade union officials, such as Kenya’s Hilda Otieno, Nigeria’s Agnes Adenowo, and North Rhodesia’s Joyce Chanda, struggled against a patchwork of patriarchies in the organized labour movement and beyond. The article shows that male dominance was maintained within organized labour, regardless of the different poli-tical-ideological orientations and backgrounds of the male actors involved.

Organisation(en)

Forschungsplattform Transformations and Eastern Europe, Institut für Geschichte, Institut für Internationale Entwicklung

Journal

Revue d’histoire contemporaine de l’Afrique

Seiten

57-75

Anzahl der Seiten

19

Publikationsdatum

2024

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

601028 Geschlechtergeschichte, 601023 Globalgeschichte

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 8 – Menschenwürdige Arbeit und Wirtschaftswachstum

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/5b10eec8-a790-4633-8532-95659df69d05