Women and BECTU, 1991–2017

Abstract

This chapter explores the relationship between women and the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) between 1991 and 2017, following the ACTT’s amalgamation with the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA). This chapter examines the impact of amalgamation on women’s representation and union participation. Firstly, this chapter traces the deterioration of women’s structural gains in the 1990s, as BECTU’s financial crisis resulted in the abandonment of annual women’s conferences, the Women Members’ Committee was submerged into the General Equality Committee, and the Equality Officer role was diluted until it ceased to exist altogether in 1999. Secondly, this chapter examines BECTU’s renewed commitment to women’s representation in the 2000s, signalled by the reintroduction of annual women’s conferences. It argues that these conferences were integral to the union’s recruitment and retainment strategy, and so lacked the militancy of the 1980s women’s conferences. However, women’s separate self-organisation again raised the profile of women’s demands within the union and facilitated women’s activity. This chapter further explores the challenges of organising intersectional union activism during the 1990s and 2000s. Finally, the chapter reflects upon the election and activity of BECTU’s first woman president, Christine Bond (2010-2014).