ABSTRACT
The focus of this chapter is a unique union women's leadership development programme—an exchange of American and British women union leaders—designed especially for and funded by a two-year research project. 1 Whilst the literature has established the value of women's courses, groups and networks in developing and sustaining women as trade unionists (e.g., see Colgan and Ledwith's [2002] international collection), we are unaware of any previous attempt within a research project to bring together American and British women with the explicit aim of attempting to develop and globalise women's union leadership. 2 The chapter assesses the impact of this kind of women's programme in terms of: (i) its potential to contribute to developing women's leadership, defined not only as individual women obtaining (higher) leadership positions, but also how the women may act as agents of change in their own unions, how they may redefine themselves as women trade unionists and their relationship to their union and members; (ii) in view of similar gendered experiences of leadership and trade unionism in the UK and US, its potential to contribute to globalising women's leadership, by establishing an international e-network of women trade union leaders in order to nurture and nourish women's leadership beyond the boundaries of a single country and to provide a vehicle through which union women might explore the possibilities for an international women's agenda.
