Alice in 'abuseland'

The following feature was first published in Landworker magazine – you can read the latest edition here.

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We’d all like to think that when we walk through the doors of our workplaces, we’re all equal – we get paid the same for undertaking similar jobs as our colleagues, and we’re treated with similar levels of respect and dignity.

But the reality is that women must face a number of workplace challenges that many men could never fathom – some obvious and others less so. This is especially true for women in male-dominated workplaces.

Landworker spoke to Alice*, a Unite member and engineer at a major British food manufacturer. She first began working over a decade ago as an apprentice when she was 17. She is the only woman working on-site, which requires wearing arc flash personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect from electrical burns. 

Ill-fitting PPE is a huge issue for women in the workplace, as a 2016 TUC survey found. In the survey, 57 per cent of the women who took part reported that PPE either sometimes or significantly impacted their work.

The survey findings reflect Alice’s personal experiences.

“The PPE clothing we wear is safety-critical for our roles, since we access electrical panels,” Alice told Landworker. “This type of clothing has been problematic for me personally as the fitment provided – always men’s sizing and cut – simply isn’t made for women.”

Alice said the closest thing she can compare such ill-fitting PPE is to men’s ‘skinny jeans’ which don’t conform to women’s body shapes, with wider thighs.

“Because of this, I currently have to wear oversized clothes to enable me to get my thighs in and a cable tie to hold them up,” Alice explained.

It was later suggested to Alice that she wear a belt instead of a cable tie, but again Alice’s experience shows just how little thought is given to women’s PPE.

“I’ve had a caesarean-section birth before, and having a belt rubbing against the scar-tissue from the surgery is very uncomfortable,” she noted. “The other thing is I don’t think anyone would go out and buy clothing that didn’t fit them – why were they expecting me to accept this at work?”

For Alice, it was hard for her to raise the issue with her employer as the only woman on-site, and she was initially met with roadblocks at every turn.

“Being the only woman on-site I initially brushed it off as, ‘Maybe since I’m the only one they simply don’t want to order an odd set’,” Alice said. She eventually raised the issue with her union convenor, who took the matter up with her employer.

“I was then told that arc flash PPE for women just isn’t available, but a quick Google search showed that it does in fact exist,” Alice went on to say. “Maybe our firm’s supplier doesn’t stock women’s fit PPE but there are other suppliers out there that do.”

Her Unite convenor continued to press Alice’s case, and the company eventually sent someone in to measure Alice and carry out alterations to some of the clothing using spares that they had on-site. She was given one pair of altered PPE, with the promise of more, which as yet hasn’t been forthcoming.

“To be honest, it’s been draining to try to sort something so basic,” Alice said.

Alice’s PPE struggle is only one of a number of workplace issues she’s faced over the years as both a woman and a mixed-race worker.

“As the only woman on-site, I think being exposed to so much ‘male banter’ has completely changed me as a person – I’ve had to become almost hardened to the way men talk about, look at and behave around women,” she said.

Alice reports that when she first joined as an apprentice, naked women calendars were common in the factory, as were golliwogs. While the sexism and racism she experiences now is not quite as explicit as when she was an apprentice, Alice says it’s still there.

“I’ve been told by a colleague before that women shouldn’t be allowed to ‘crawl around coolers’ on-site; I’ve also been told that I shouldn’t have been taken on to work as a woman in the first place.”

Alice said that her workplaces experiences have shown her the value of being in a trade union, and she encouraged all women to join.

“Being in a union gives me the voice to have the issues I’ve faced talked about and brought out into the open,” she said. “The union can fight to ensure that the business is treating its members fairly and that workplace policies are being adhered to, and legal rights protected. Especially with regards to PPE, without my convenor and Unite’s backing, I would have been totally ignored.”

Unite national officer Bev Clarkson said that Alice’s experiences show why it is absolutely vital that women join and become involved in Unite. “Sadly, what Alice has experienced regarding PPE is all-too common in workplaces throughout the sector, especially in workplaces that are male-dominated,” Bev said. “For far too long, women have been told to accept things as they are and get back in their box – but it doesn’t have to be that way.

“We know that unionised workplaces are more equal ones, but this should only be the start. We need more women to come forward and take on leadership roles within the union. That’s why Unite’s FDA sector is now embarking on a new campaign to do just that.”

*Name changed to protect privacy

By Hajera Blagg