Gender and Leadership in Trade Unions explores and evaluates the similarities and differences in equality strategies pursued by unions in the US and the UK. It assesses the conditions experienced by women union members and how these impact on their leadership, both potential and actual. The discussion of women trade union leaders is situated more broadly within debates on governance, leadership and democracy within social justice activism.

Gill Kirton is Reader in Employment Relations in the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.

Geraldine Healy is Professor of Employment Relations, Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity, School of Business and Management, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.

1. Introduction 2. Setting the Contexts 3. Gender, Governance, Democracy, and Social Justice 4. Changing Understandings of Gender Inequalities: Voices of UK and US Women 5. Developing Women Leaders 6. Gendered Leadership Repertoires and Modes of Action 7. Advancing Gender Equality - Is there Still a Case for Women's Separate Organizing? 8. Tales from the Top 9. Women Working Towards Gender Transformation or Surviving in a Masculine World? 10. Conclusions