g.kirton@unl.ac.uk

irobag@wbs.warwick.ac.uk

Recently there has been some debate about the positive potential offered by the use of ICTs in a variety of areas of trade union activity. We link this to debates about the role of women-only trade union education in fostering women’s activism by exploring the experiences of participants on a TUC online course for women. The study suggests that the potentialities of ICTs in this sphere of trade union activity are mediated by a number of gendered constraints.

Recently, there has been some debate about the positive potential offered by the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in a variety of areas of trade union activity. This primarily involves use of the Internet, including such features as e-mail, web sites, chat rooms, bulletin boards, and online application and voting mechanisms. The popularity of this debate within British trade union circles is reflected in the recent 'Unions and the Internet' Conference, hosted jointly by the LSE and the TUC, in May 2001, and the regular features on the subject within the Unions 21 newsletters and annual meetings. There has been discussion of the ways in which ICTs may offer potential in terms of aiding organising and organisational effectiveness (Fiorito, 2000; Lee, 1997) and in terms of fostering and enhancing solidarity and collective action (Shostak, 1999; Pliskin et al 1997). With regard to the education sphere, it has also been argued (Greene et al 2000) that electronic and online forms and in particular, twenty four hour access to the Internet, could better enable increased participation and activism among women and non standard employees. However, as yet, there has been little empirical research supporting or challenging such claims, particularly within the British trade union context. In particular, we are interested in the potential opportunities offered by online courses for overcoming the gendered spatial and temporal barriers to women’s participation in trade union education.

The role of trade union education in fostering activism has been highlighted by a number of studies (for example, Broom & Brown, 1987; Munro & Rainbird, 2000). Union education is thought to be central to the objective of developing participative unionism and in achieving broader representation in union structures. Elsewhere (Greene & Kirton, forthcoming), we have argued that separate trade union education for women has a role to play in attracting women into union activism. Increased involvement is stimulated by the camaraderie and the sense of belonging, which develops on and from women-only courses, as well as by the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills and the demystifying of the role of the workplace representative. Our research in this area echoes studies in Australia (Sudano, 1999) and the United States (Catlett, 1986).

However, many women-only courses are established as ‘women’s weeks’ (for example, those run by TUC, TGWU, MSF) and require residential attendance at a national centre for the full ‘normal working’ week, mirroring traditional trade union courses, which were largely established by men and with men’s needs and circumstances in mind. This creates an irony. On the one hand, residential schools can be viewed as an important opportunity for women trade unionists, especially emergent and aspiring activists, to meet with other like-minded women and be immersed in the union for the week. On the other hand, this set-up potentially excludes many of the women the unions are attempting to attract and develop - for example, part-time workers, mothers of dependent children, elder-carers etc. For these women, juggling work and family represents a considerable challenge in itself with little time left to consider becoming involved in union activism or in participating in week long, residential courses: hence gendered temporal and spatial barriers stand in the way of women’s union participation. Indeed, contemporary research has noted women’s poorer access to trade union courses (for example, Braithwaite and Byrne, 1995; Munro, 1999). The problem remains that ‘union careers’ are built upon knowledge and understanding of union jargon, procedures, roles and structures (Lawrence, 1994) and union courses are where these skills are learnt; yet many women are not able to attend traditional courses.

This has led some unions to look for alternative approaches to union education, which might have the potential to be more inclusive of a wider group of members, particularly those groups whom the unions are keen to recruit, retain and encourage to participate (women and workers from minority ethnic groups). Some such alternative approaches have grown out of the capabilities of the new ICTS, some of the potentialities of which we discuss below.

The ideology of technology and its potential in a number of arenas of work life is most often presented as overwhelmingly positive (Bryant, 2000; Sadler-Smith et al 2000; Burt and Taylor, 2000; Stanworth, 1997). Bryant's comments are typical here: 'the language used in such articles to describe the effects of ICT implementation tends to be positive, optimistic, even utopian at times' (Bryant, 2000: 22). In most discussions of the potential of ICTs, and particularly in an education and learning context, the ability of electronic communication to overcome time commitment problems and allow people to have more flexibility over 'time, place and pace' (Sadler-Smith et al 2000: 475) is prominent.

The use of ICTs brings with it the promise that one can construct participation in courses within the home environment without the need for physical attendance. It is thus suggested that online forms may allow the time and space considerations of trade union participation to be reconfigured (Greene et al 2001). Union members who were traditionally separated from collective organisation and solidarity by the physical barriers of distance coupled with time commitment demands are now more highly proximate electronically- they are in daily reach and range of one another and participation can occur twenty fours hours a day. By taking collective education out of the traditional physical meeting place, more accessible spaces within which to deploy and develop communicative skills are provided. In theory, many of the elements of a conventional course can be provided through an online medium. Web-sites can provide the information resources (links to articles, statistics, case studies), email provides a communication forum between participants, while chat rooms and bulletin boards can provide features of group discussion and shared learning that are central elements of the common trade union education experience.

The context of problems of access for women to conventional trade union education modes, plus the aspirations of the ways in which online forms may overcome some of these problems represents an interesting area for analysis. Our area of study was the first women's education online course ran by the British TUC. Was the utopian ideal of remote but connected education lived out in the experience of the participants? In particular, were the participants better able to fit work and home commitments around education participation?

The paper draws on a research study centred on the British Trades Union Congress’s (TUC) first online women’s education course. This was not the first TUC online course, but it was the first on the subject matter of women in trade unions. The course is targeted at three groups of women employed in the union movement: 1) women who wish to develop their own careers; 2) managers seeking to develop women staff; 3) staff and officers who have a role in developing women members and activists. The course aimed to review the position of women in trade unions; identify the training and development needs of women in unions; and develop a strategy for the development of women.

The primary medium of the course was a web-site, through which all access and interaction on the course was facilitated. This included a number of study guidelines, hyper links to other web-sites, power point presentations, down-loadable articles and chat rooms. Various activities were set, which might involve the study of web-site or research material and articles, or would require participants to engage in an online group conference through a chat room. Participants could also email each other through the web-site links. In addition, there was some physical interaction. The group met at the beginning of the course for a day’s workshop focused on using the technology involved, but also providing an opportunity for the participants to meet face-to-face. The intention was that there would also be a day’s workshop at the end of the course to debrief and give feedback on the experience but due to time commitment problems, this did not take place.

Nine women participated in the course during the summer of 2000. Table One provides a biographical summary of interviewees. Several points are worth emphasising. First, that all the participants were paid employees of the union movement - mostly officials, with varying lengths of employment and activism. Combined, the group had considerable experience in the trade union movement. Even the younger members had come a long way in a short space of time and had seized the opportunities made available to them. Two of the younger women worked at the TUC in administrative roles and had been proactive and entrepreneurial in developing for themselves roles beyond the narrow confines of administration for which they had originally been employed. Their roles now involved developing women activists. Second, that only one woman had dependant children. Third, that among the small sample there was a spread of age groups. Finally, that all the women had participated in formal education after the age of 16 and they had all participated in union education. In this sense this group of women could be classified as ‘skilled learners’. Most interviewees had also been involved in the delivery of union courses.

Overall therefore, these women were in many senses atypical of the majority of women union members and not necessarily the types of women that unions usually find difficulty in encouraging to participate in union education. The women had already been fairly successful at fitting union duties and education around other time commitments within the traditional education modes and were not therefore the best 'test' of the potential of online courses. However, as our findings section reveals, time and space considerations were key to their abilities to participate. It was also an interesting sample of women in that they were drawn from a range of unions. The unions represented in the group were diverse from the large, female dominated UNISON (two women), to the male dominated GPMU (one woman), ASLEF (two women) and FBU (one woman). The TUC was also represented as stated above.

Semi-structured, in-depth interviews, lasting between one and one-and-a-half hours, were held between December 2000 and March 2001 with eight participants. (We were unable to interview the ninth participant because of her unavailability during the period of the fieldwork.) It should be noted therefore that the fieldwork took place some months after the course had finished. On the one hand, this meant that we were reliant on participants' retrospective accounts of their online experiences and their memories of what it was like to participate. On the other hand, this allowed us to draw on participants' reflections after some period of time, especially in light of their experiences and activities since the course, some of which had direct relevance to the course content and mode of delivery. Overall our emphasis was on exploring the participants' subjective views of their experiences and we did not consider the retrospective nature of these accounts to be disadvantageous. The course tutor was also interviewed and this provided the context of developments in online and women’s education.

An interview guide was used, which encouraged participants to reflect upon their expectations, perceptions and experiences of the course. We also asked participants about their backgrounds, work, and views on women in unions, in order to provide a context for discussions about the potentialities of online learning. All but one of the interviews was tape-recorded and fully transcribed (one participant did not wish to be tape-recorded). In this paper the women are each given a pseudonym and the unions they work for are not identified in quotations in order to preserve anonymity and confidentiality. Although the sample is small, this reflects that online education is at an emergent stage at present, and it is therefore an appropriate juncture at which to explore its potential utility and value. In addition, we also had extensive access to the course web-site, course materials and archives of the chat rooms and conference discussions. In particular we were interested in looking at the level, timing and nature of participation online, particularly in the conference and group discussion forums.

As alluded to in the introduction, we embarked on this project following on from some research on traditional forms of women-only activist education. There were two features of the TUC course, which interested us: first, that it was for and about women; second, that it was online. The earlier research (Greene & Kirton, forthcoming) threw up some problematic issues concerning the use of union education to draw women into activism, most notably the fact that many women are ‘time poor’ and unable to access the ‘spaces’ where activism develops, such as courses requiring physical attendance. This led us to explore via the TUC online women’s course whether the online form might for some women offer an alternative mode of ‘attendance’ and participation. Part of such an exploration involves looking at the link between participants' experiences in light of their expectations and aspirations for the course and trade union education more generally. Our starting point was therefore to focus on the group’s expectations of online learning.

When asked why they had chosen the course, it was interesting that most of the group pointed to its subject - women - rather than having been primarily attracted by the online mode of delivery and participation, which we had expected to be the primary reason. For example, Patricia expanded:

Patricia’s comments depict a male dominated union environment, the culture of which is uncomfortable if not hostile to women. This has been extensively discussed in the literature, (see for example, Cockburn, 1991; Cunnison & Stageman, 1995; Kirton, 1999). Five related issues emerge from the interviews: (i) a belief that men do not properly value women’s contribution to unions; (ii) the static nature of branch cultures in contrast to national policy; (iii) the lack of support for women activists; (iv) the way trade union business is organised to suit a male norm; (v) the belief that to effect change more women are needed at all levels of unions. To provide a couple of examples, Vanessa talked of personal experiences of being undervalued and lack of recognition for her work on women’s equality, despite being an official of a female dominated union:

A conversation with Judy about the culture of her male dominated union progressed like this:

Interviewer: ‘How would you describe the culture of the union?’

Judy: ‘Male dominated.’

Interviewer: ‘What does that mean for you?’

These themes capture the source of interest for most participants in this course - in other words a concern with the advancement of women in unions, a fairly traditional reason for women to attend women’s courses (see Greene & Kirton, forthcoming).

In contrast most women mentioned the online mode as a secondary reason for doing the course, if at all. Some interviewees had to be prompted to talk about their views on the online form. The one exception was Louise who found the idea of online learning exciting and who had also given some thought to the potential benefits:

Louise was interested in how the concept of online learning might be taken forward in her own union to encourage the development of women staff and activists. She had identified this potentiality prior to doing the TUC course, whereas the other interviewees reflected on the possible advantages of online learning with the benefit of hindsight, as we shall see later.

Although most of the participants did not choose the course because it was online, they all had concerns about managing time, which is generally seen to be one of the barriers to women’s participation in unions and one of the key potentialities of online modes of delivery. A concern for time was therefore an implicit factor in their decision to take the online course, because most of them felt that they could not fit in a residential course. This was especially interesting given that most of the interviewees were paid union officials and that their work demands high level temporal commitment, as they work notoriously long hours (Watson, 1988), particularly in the present period of resource constraints. Because of this unions have been described as ‘greedy’ institutions (Franzway, 2000) and they are certainly busy work environments, even for those who are administrators and managers, rather than officials. Patricia, for example, described the life of a trade union organiser:

The family is a similarly ‘greedy’ institution, which often dominates women’s time and energy. Because of women’s gendered relationship to and position within the family, the life of a woman union official or employee is often marred by the conflicting demands of two ‘greedy’ institutions. The consequence is that women union officials are predominantly ‘atypical’ women, meaning older women with adult or no children, often single, separated or divorced (Kirton & Healy, 1999), whilst union staff (administrators etc) are mostly women with traditionally little prospect of advancing within the union. The sample here reflects this pattern, with only one woman having children under sixteen. This woman - Melanie, an administrator - underscored the juggling involved in managing work and family, whilst at the same time undertaking a course:

Another issue, which shaped participants' expectations of the online course, was their previous experiences of trade union education. Interviewees had between them and individually considerable experience of participation at traditional courses and were able to compare and contrast their previous experiences with the online course. They were clear that they had gained immensely from their experiences of union education. For example, Louise highlights the importance of union education in constructing a collective orientation:

Melanie also reflects on her experiences of union education:

This leads to one of the primary purposes and outcomes of women-only union education - the building of confidence to participate in the union. Lack of confidence is widely seen as one of the main obstacles to women’s participation and education as a way to overcome it (Cunnison & Stageman, 1995; Greene & Kirton, forthcoming; Sudano, 1998). Our small group of women was generally in favour of women-only courses, although they did express this support equivocally, with some concern that in the trade union context women-only education should be seen as a stepping-stone towards participation in mixed sex forums. In other words, its purpose should be to build women’s confidence to participate in the mainstream. This is achieved because the women-only environment constitutes a site in which women are freed from the limitations of patriarchal gender relations - this was the dominant motif in discussion with the interviewees about the purposes and benefits of women-only education. For example, Julie felt that women tend to put men first and if men are present, they dominate. In contrast, she felt that women-only courses gave women the opportunity to think about themselves, to build confidence and to learn to value themselves:

Julie highlights the way girls often grow up learning to value men’s roles over women’s and to accept as rightful the male’s dominant position. She felt that women-only courses enabled a re-evaluation of this female constraining discourse. Similarly, Louise said:

In discussing women-only education in context of an online course, we were interested in exploring whether online learning could build confidence and gender solidarity. Confidence is built in conventional union courses through the processes of shared learning: articulating ideas; exploring and learning from each other’s personal experiences; performing in front of other people; through role-play exercises - in essence the validation and reinforcement of one’s sense of being as a woman. We were therefore interested to explore how the online course would compare.

The participants enrolled on the online course because of fairly conventional reasons common to women-only education, namely a primary interest in women's issues and developing women within the trade union context. While the online mode of delivery was less of a concern, the concern of how to fit education participation around heavy work and family commitments was prevalent and thus indicates an implicit interest in the potential of online courses to resolve problems of 'time poverty', particularly for women. Participants also had expectations of gaining outcomes from the course which matched their experiences of other trade union education courses, namely sharing experiences, generating supportive networks and providing spaces for building confidence in activism and representation. It was in anticipation of such expected outcomes that the participants felt that it was of value to make the necessary time commitment to the course. Such expectations have framed our analysis of the participants' reflections on their actual experiences of the online course.

Overall, the level of participation in terms of actual time spent on the course was surprisingly low. At most, participants reported that about two hours a week was put into the course and most felt that this was a generous estimate. Most participants were embarrassed about the low levels and felt that they should have participated more. However all also commented how difficult it was to fit participation in, whether at home or at work. Melanie was the only participant with childcare commitments, but in her case, time problems were not resolved by the online form largely because it required ‘time out’, rather than ‘time off’. This is a significant distinction in that while conventional courses require physical attendance and therefore physical time off from work or family commitments, the flexibility of the online form is set up to require less in theory, allowing one to fit participation around other commitments. In theory participation in the online course was more flexible than traditional courses, but in practice Melanie found it difficult to find the time to build ‘study’ into the working week. Similarly, two other women who worked in the same union office talked about feeling guilty about taking 'time out' to participate during working hours in a very busy work environment. For example, Sally relates her experience:

Vicky also said that because of a heavy workload she would paradoxically find it easier to block out time for residential courses than to find time on a daily or weekly basis. In this sense the apparent flexibility of the online form comes to look like a rigidity which did not resolve the problem of time poverty.

For some interviewees there was the option of participating from home. Four of the women had Internet access at home, however, only one woman reported a preference for participating from home. For the other women, having a busy and demanding work life often meant that conscious attempts had to be made to carve out time and space for personal and family life. The home seemed to become a sanctuary or retreat from the ‘greedy’ union. Most of the women in the group were reluctant then to participate in the course from home. Vicky said that although she had no children (and consequently few demands on her personal time) she was disinclined to participate from home:

Louise also mentioned the problem of needing to be self-disciplined with an online course:

Sally did not have Internet access at home, but when asked if she thought she might have participated from home if it had been possible she said:

Our previous research (Greene & Kirton, forthcoming) finds that the motivation to participate is driven by the experiences shared in the classroom, in other words the social processes of shared learning. The question to explore then was whether effective shared learning could take place online. The general impression was that the women found the lack of face-to-face interaction within the online mode very problematic. This related directly to their experiences of conventional trade union education. Many spoke about notions of learning being a social activity and most said that they would have liked to have had the opportunity to meet on more than the one occasion at the beginning of the course. For example, Sally commented:

Julie highlighted the importance of physical presence for understanding:

Moore (1991 cited in Marks, 1997: 269) find this to be a common problem associated with distance learning modes, where participants have to deal with 'transactional distance'- a psychological space where potential misunderstandings can arise.

There was also some concern about online interaction being stilted and constrained. There were two strands to this. First, participants found the conversations that took place in the ‘chat-room’ stilted, time consuming and laborious and not an adequate substitute for face-to-face contact. Indeed, given that part of the potential for online courses is that it can overcome time commitment problems, it was significant that all but one participant felt that the online form slowed down communication. This was frustrating given that the participants already had difficulties in fitting in participation. As Melanie recounted:

Appendix One reproduces an hour long, three-way conversation. As can be seen there is some difficulty following the conversation because of the time delay between messages being sent and received, often resulting in more than one person ‘talking’ at once. Also, one can imagine that this conversation would last only a matter of minutes if held face-to-face, emphasising the time-consuming nature of online conference communication. Vanessa gives her view of online ‘conversations’:

The second strand to the theme of the constraints of online debates and conversations was the permanence of the contributions. Most interviewees drew a distinction between the kinds of ideas one might be prepared to articulate in a face-to-face conversation and those, which are put down in writing. Online conversations had the status of the written word in the minds of interviewees and they reported being cautious, using safe language, being excessively polite to each other. This was partly because they felt that they had not developed the kind of close, high-trust rapport that typically emerges within traditional courses that would allow risks to be taken, for example by challenging one another.

It was clear from the interviews that none of the women had given much prior thought to what participation in an online course might involve, particularly the distance learning approach, when compared with traditional trade union courses. For example, Vanessa said that the course did not meet her expectations because she was ‘the sort of person who likes to meet people face-to-face’. This is curious considering she knew the course was online when she started it!

Previous research highlights the importance of the generation of networks and a sense of community among the women attending trade union education courses, particularly within the women-only mode (Greene and Kirton, forthcoming). This was also a clear element of the participants' expectations about the online course. It was thus significant that no participant felt that a sense of community had been generated amongst the group and no networking contact had been made after the course had finished. This was in contrast to the high levels of networking and feelings of community that participants felt were achieved during conventional education courses. As Melanie commented:

In some respects therefore, the lack of sense of community fostered by the online course was a function of the lack of face-to-face interaction. All of the women certainly felt that face-to-face interaction was integral to developing close relationships, and that the one meeting was not enough to get to know other people.

The participants' predominant concern about the online form’s capacity to engender a sense of community or collectivity might also be partly explained by the newness of ICTs and their lack of familiarity with them. For example Louise ponders this question:

Louise's comments also directly address time and space concerns. The time spent online by most participants was probably too little to enable relationships to develop in the same way as often occurs on traditional trade union courses. The difficulties of online interaction notwithstanding, the actual level of time spent participating in the online course was very low and perhaps contributed to the difficulties in generating a community feeling amongst the group.

The professed difficulties of 'getting to know' other participants and the lack of community feeling also have significant implications when assessing the potential of the online course to offer the outcome of safe spaces for building confidence expected from trade union education, especially the women-only mode. The women in this small sample were doubtful that this could be achieved online. This is problematic if the purpose of union courses is to draw members into activism and might render online learning less able to deliver this goal than traditional courses.

Overall, participants' views of their experiences of the online course were fairly negative. On all three areas of expectations: time/space flexibility, shared learning and supportive community experience, the online course was seen to fall short. The low levels of participation in terms of time spent on the course surprised us. Indeed the online experience of the women suggests lower levels of motivation to participate in ‘virtual’ union spaces than in ‘real’ ones. This was an interesting avenue of enquiry because it raises questions about the value and meaning that activists attach to participation in union education. Concerns for managing time clearly interconnect with issues of interaction and participation in education. It appeared that the remote nature of the online course, within a trade union education context caused difficulties, which may have expressed themselves in low levels of participation. The continuing difficulties of fitting in participation on education courses around home and work demands, even within the online mode, are exacerbated by the particular value attached to the outcomes of online interaction and participation. Participants on the online course found interaction within the online form problematic and within the context of expectations of outcomes from trade union education, did not feel motivated to try and fit in more participation, however hard that might be. This particular experience of an online course thus appeared to involve a vicious circle of sorts. Difficulties of fitting participation in were exacerbated by the lower value placed on the types of interaction and participation possible and outcomes achievable, which in turn led to less motivation to participate and so on. In contrast, some of the women in our earlier research had overcome considerable time and space constraints to participate in conventional union courses, suggesting that physical attendance at women-only courses might create a virtuous circle.

The paper started by suggesting that union education is one of the devices, which can be used to stimulate interest in the union and improve levels of activism. Our earlier work has indicated that women-only education has a significant role to play in these processes. Having considered both the expectations and experiences of online women-only learning of a small group of women employed in the union movement, the question to be addressed now is the extent to which online education might contribute to the goal of increasing women’s activism. Issues of time and space have been central to the discussion thus far, especially women’s time poverty.

The finding that the online form did not necessarily resolve difficulties of time management certainly suggests that the somewhat utopian ideology of technology (Bryant, 2000) needs to be muted. Our participants certainly distinguished between the need for 'time out' and the need for 'time off'. That the online form encourages 'time out' is in theory more flexible, but in practice is equally problematic. Here, the experiences of the online course participants had interesting parallels with those of women home tele-workers in recent research (Bryant, 2000; Stanworth,1997). Bryant and Stanworth both find that needing to fit work around 'time out' from other time demands, while still existing in the same physical space, actually leads to an extension of the time demands on women. Bryant (2000: 27) talks about the 'extension of the double day' commonly associated with women's work while both suggest that the use of ICTs may in fact reinforce the disadvantageous stereotypes of women's work.

In a similar vein, Vicky and Sally spoke of their concerns that the online mode would simply become categorised as a second rate mode of education suited to women, only further marginalising women within the trade union context. This was the situation given that there was a general impression that conventional modes of education were preferable. As Sally commented:

In addition, participants were dissatisfied with the kind of interaction and learning experience facilitated by the online mode. Some of the participants responded positively to suggestions that video-conferencing or audio and video streaming technology might be more adequate substitutes for the lack of face-to-face interaction. However, their views of the capabilities of the present online course, were that it could not support or deliver the same kind of shared learning and sense of community achieved within the conventional mode. Such concerns are not unique to the participants of this course, but have been found to be issues for distance learning participants in learning contexts other than trade union education (Eastmond, 1995; Gush, 1999). Online courses are often seen as having greater potential to facilitate more student -centred learning than traditional teaching modes (Gush, 1999). An interesting avenue of inquiry is thus to assess such potential within a context of conventional trade union education, where it is already based around student-centred learning. Such debates are not relevant to this particular paper but will form the subject matter of future papers.

What is clear is that a vicious circle of low participation existed for these participants, and as an atypical group of women learners within the trade union context, these particular women had other choices, and they would probably choose a conventional course over an online one. However, it is clear that many women trade unionists do not have such choices, a fact that the participants were clearly aware of. Therefore while the group expressed a very definite preference for traditional trade union courses, despite their negative comments about their personal online experiences, all the interviewees could see potentialities in the online form.

Five of the women still saw the main advantage lying in the flexibility of participation, particularly for time poor women, even though it had not necessarily eased their own time commitment problems. Three interviewees drew on their experiences of working with women in geographically isolated communities, who might also benefit from online courses provided they had access to the technology. Living in Wales, Julie was particularly concerned about this and pointed out that not all women live in towns and cities (where courses tend to be concentrated) and neither do all women have access to transport to convey them to and from courses. Online courses might be a lifeline to such women.

Julie also raised questions of gendered access to technology resources. She had spent some time talking to women factory workers in Wales, who had reported having to compete for access to their home computers with husbands and sons - and generally losing. She also mentioned a joint union/management initiative in one factory, where a computer training room had been set up for workers to use during breaks and after work to get some informal computer training. Julie described the competition between men and women for access:

This corresponds with research findings that women are less likely than men to have computer access at home (Stanworth, 2000). An obvious role for online trade union courses for women, is in extending access to more women: Sally, Judy and Melanie for example all commented on how the course had improved their IT skills. The use of ICTs is a women's issue and needs to be discussed. This is particularly the case as there is increasing evidence that women are taking advantage of new technologies (Zauchner et al, 2000) and it seems doubtless that this will increase exponentially over the next few years.

In this regard, it is important to note that the course was not deemed a failure by the participants. Indeed, there is evidence that the women participants were able to share some experiences through the online mode. While the conversation in Appendix One does illustrate some of the difficulties of online interaction, it also suggests that participants were grappling with some of the complexities of increasing women’s participation and representation and that they were exchanging ideas and articulating responses within their own contexts. For example, discussing the different strategies that might be needed when comparing female dominated with male dominated unions. The sharing, exchanging and articulating of ideas are important features of trade union education and if they can be held online, the form has the ability to do more than simply replace paper-based distance learning courses.

Questions about the appropriateness of the online form for particular types of trade union education, and for particular types of union member need to be thought through. Some of the suggestions of the women participants themselves are no doubt useful. For example, as Sally and Vicky commented, online learning may be most suitable for women officials and experienced activists (who no longer have the same need for safe confidence-building spaces) and least suitable for encouraging new activists, where face-to-face interaction is seen as crucial. This needs to be given more thought, particularly the ways in which the online courses could be used to provide more advanced courses for those who are already active or working in the union movement. The online form at present might also be more suitable for the more information-based type courses rather than the skills development type courses. Overall, the participants felt that the online form could work well alongside and in conjunction with more conventional modes as part of the wider trade union education package. As Sadler-Smith et al (2000) comment, online and other distance learning modes are unlikely to supplant traditional approaches but should rather be seen as complementary. From this small case study it is also clear that online courses have some potential in offering access to those who are most excluded from conventional trade union education modes. However, it is crucial that women are included in discussions about the future of online learning, in order to spread ownership of trade union educational developments to those previously lacking voice and so that women have a role in shaping the outcome of technological change in this area. This echoes the comments of McLaughlin: ‘Introducing a subjective component to analyses of new technology can help the researcher reflect on the role that the user may play in constructing meaning for the technology and for them. Such a perspective suggests that the outcome of technological change will result from the interaction of technology, gender and various other aspects of the power and social relations in the organisation’ (1999: 144).

The rhetoric of the potential of ICTs is undoubtedly attractive. The era of new technologies and the possibilities of new electronic modes within trade union activity, may indeed lead to a re-conceptualisation of the meaning and domain of activism, along with who is defined as an activist (Greene et al 2001). This is sure to have all kinds of gender implications, which will challenge the current status quo. In the future (and perhaps a nearer future than we think) we will need to recognise the power of the remote activist, and the abilities that such remote activism has, to include far more people than conventional mechanisms. However, we have obviously not reached this era yet, and the trade union movement is still reliant upon, and encouraging the growth of, activists within a more conventional mould, where the use of ICTs is still fairly new. This is the context in which we find our eight women participants, women who value their own trade union education experience and who wish to develop other women within their unions through education programmes. Union education, particularly within the women-only context, requires modes of delivery, which allow supportive networks to grow. It also needs to provide spaces for confidence and trust building and facilitate the easy exchange of shared experiences. It is important that the role for online courses within this context is discussed. As a final comment, there is often a sense of urgency surrounding debates about future uses of ICTs (Bryant, 2000). Our case study of an experiment in online trade union learning for women suggests that this sense of urgency should not override proper consideration of all the potentialities and pitfalls of the online form. Unions should use technology as a tool, not become slaves to its presumed exigencies.

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Number of Interviewees

Under 25 0

25-34 2

35-44 2

45-54 4

55 or over 0

White 8

None 8

Married/cohabiting 3

Divorced/separated 2

Single 2

Unknown 1

Children under 5 0

Children under 16 1

Adult children 1

No children 6

GCSE or equivalent

A level or equivalent 3

Degree level 2

Postgraduate level 1

Unknown 2

Officer/organiser role in union movement 5

Managerial role in union movement 1

Administration role in union movement 2

Judy 17.05: Hello, is anybody there?

Libby 17.09: Hello, is anybody there?

Vicky 17.12: Hi, a little behind the time, but I made it.

Libby 17.26: Yes.