FiLiA Calls on UNISON, USDAW, ASLEF and The Musicians’ Union to Change Stance on Labour Women’s Conference

Four unions are boycotting Labour Women's Conference because it is adhering to the law on women's spaces. FiLiA Trade Union Women’s network has sent this letter to the General Secretaries of each union to express our incredulity at this stance. We are also publishing it here.

FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network is dedicated to supporting women to have a voice at the heart of the labour movement. Given the very high proportion of women in many trade unions, it is clearly important that women’s interests are well-represented by the unions.

The Labour Party long ago recognised the important role of women and the necessity of working to ensure our representation in the face of a male-dominated culture. Among the arrangements it made to progress women’s visibility in the party, and to ensure our particular needs and interests were properly considered, a Women’s Conference was established where women could raise and discuss all and any issues of particular relevance to us.  

Women’s experience, from birth through childhood and adolescence, working life, and maternity for many, has significant differences from the experience of men. Expectations, opportunities and treatment are often sexed, something not always understood or appreciated by males. It was a major step forward when unions became open to, and then welcoming of, women members, recognising us as a valued part of the labour movement. Women workers’ activism, from the 1888 Matchmakers strike onwards, has had a profound impact on labour rights in the UK.

It is therefore astonishing that four unions, UNISON, ASLEF, USDAW and The Musicians’ Union, have decided not to send delegates to this year’s Labour Women’s Conference in Liverpool, because it is no longer open to male people (as it has been for a few years). This follows the clarity provided by the Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 that the words ‘woman’ and ‘women’ in the Equality Act 2010 explicitly and consistently refer to those who are female. Hence, the Women’s Conference is for females only, and it is extraordinary that there are trade unions unable to accept simple legal definitions and biological reality.  

We are incredulous that some unions are unable to accept the importance of women organising together, and the legal definitions enshrined in the Equality Act, that they are depriving their women members of their union’s voice at one of the most important meetings of the year. Those women members were not consulted prior to the decision to boycott the conference, and while some will still be attending it in a personal capacity, there is no substitute for the powerful union voice that women would expect to be representing them in Liverpool. 

We ask that you reconsider this decision and, if it is too late for this year’s conference, at least to ensure that the union properly represents its women members at the 2027 Women’s Conference. At the FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network, we are working to ensure that women join and participate in their unions – and we ask that you, from your side, make the union a place where our views can be heard and the strong voice of the union is used to properly represent us.

Kiri Tunks
On behalf of the FiLiA Trade Union Women’s Network
filia.org.uk/filia-trade-union-womens-network