nujadm.org.uk

If anyone was tired this morning Motion 57 soon woke them up.

The motion was put forward by the Equality Council suggesting that the NUJ must address the gender imbalance between male and female representation on elected councils.

With a 40% female membership it is deemed embarrassing that only 2.5 seats on elected councils are occupied by women.

As previously reported on this site, Bristol branch put forward the successful amendment to stop quotas being introduced for gender-balanced nominations. However, were some arguments not verging on rather silly?

For example, “What if there is only one position open in my branch, do I give it to the woman or the man?” Well, if the woman has been nominated that is sufficient. What seems to have been lost is that the motion complete with quota proposal only wanted more female nominees. It was not calling for direct elections of women members.

Looking Forward

Although the Equality Council wanted to withdraw the motion completely after the amendment saying they would be back next year, it must be remembered the motion still contains action and it did not fail. The NEC must put into practice the mentoring and support of women members in chapels and branches as well as recognising the difficulties women still face. Not everything has been lost.

As a student member and first time ADM attendee, I do not feel ready or fully informed to give a complete opinion on this outcome. However, I would like to think in the future that should I become an elected member of an NUJ council, I will have been elected as a brain who happens to have breasts and not as breasts with a brain.

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