ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the manner in which UNISON’s rule book generates new sources of power for oppressed social groups. It shows how the rule book has provided obstacles and opportunities for those making and shaping the rules on self-organisation and group representation. The chapter identifies two approaches that women have taken to self-organsation. Each approach targets a different constituency of women, which in turn, has implications for the institutional practices adopted in each regional group. The women’s structure was based on two elements: a Regional Women’s Forum, and Regional Women’s Co-ordinating Team. The chapter examines these two structures and illustrates how they provide a different set of institutional practices within UNISON. It then discusses the institutional practices emanating from these structures. The chapter concludes that there are important distinctions to be made between women’s self-organisation and women’s organisation which have implications for the representation of women as an oppressed social group.
