Women and Globalisation The significance of trade unions in women's everyday life' ) Brazil Germany South Africa The trade union is seen as a forum for all women. Through the union it is possible to integrate and show solidar­i ty with all different groups of women, from teachers to rural workers, from hawkers to unskilled workers. Never­theless, parts of the immense informal sector haven't yet been integrated ef­fectively(street girls). Most important problem in women's life is the compatibility of family and occupation and the burden of house­hold chores that is carried exclusively by women. The trade unions play no part in this"private" problem all women share. The German union women la­ment the lack of political interest and commitment of women in Germany. In the South African unions, women have risen to top executive positions. Nevertheless, in the general debate "women's issues", such as maternity, child care and sexual harassment, are often considered irrelevant. Men: Men play no part in women's everyday life in trade unions. The female unionists consider the unions as being their very own domain. There are conflicts with male members, but they don't constitute a major prob­lem. Men: Men do not share in home­making and caregiving, but rather, from the women's point of view, celebrate the traditional family patriarch. De­spite of verbal commitments neither laws nor campaigns have changed men's actual behaviour. Men: They cannot accept the rise of women to top positions, they sabotage and defame their work. Under the slogan"sharing the load", trade unions officially declare their commitment to men taking up their share of the household chores. The union women trust that the campaign will manage to achieve a change of behaviour. Influence: Women in trade unions are more important than in Germany. The trade unions commit themselves to discuss gender topics on a regular ba­sis. Since 1993, the CUT has had a quota of 30% for women in all posi­tions. Before this quota was introduced, women didn't even account for 10%. The quota has changed completely the CUT's culture. Influence: There is an increasing lack of interest for women's work at the basis of German unions. Trade unions play a very minor role in women's everyday life. The service orientation of unions is considered to be very poor. Requests of interested women are either not examined or continu­ously passed on to the position sup­posedly responsible. Influence: Women in trade unions are more important than in Germany. The unions commit themselves to dis­cuss gender topics on a regular basis. Some sector unions have adopted a quota for women. Apart from that, gender policy is performed through the gender desks on a national, re­gional and local level. Top executive positions: In all three countries top executive positions are occupied by men, even in unions that have a majority of female members. Likewise the quota(CUT) cannot prevent that all decisive positions are taken by men. 1) Based on scenes represented by the participants, in which they were supposed to show typical aspects of women's everyday life in their country. 2) CUT= Central Única de Trabalhadores 3) ÖTV = Gewerkschaft Öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr Public Service, Transport and Communication Workers' Union 4) Women as% of total number of members. All figures from 1998. 5) HBV = Handel, Banken und Versicherungen Commerce, Bank and Insurance Workers' Union 6) DGB= Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund German Confederation of Trade Unions 7) IG Metall= Industriegewerkschaft Metall Metal Workers' Union Globalisation: Opportunity or risk? Women in Germany, protesting against the loss of their jobs and the exodus of companies and undertakings to foreign countries, are often ac­cused of lacking solidarity. After all, the low­paid working women in the South would bene­fit from the extinction of their jobs, as new jobs would have been created for them. Even though loss and profit are distributed unevenly in this case, globalisation really brings along both global advantages and disadvantages: 18