International Women's Day - We need your voices
For International Women's Day, PCS general secretary Fran blogs about her own journey into activism. the support and encouragement she received and how we still need more women's voices in the union.
I have been involved in PCS for over 30 years, holding positions at every level, before being elected as general secretary from February 2024. The first woman general secretary in PCS, but with a two thirds female workforce in the civil service, I am determined that I won’t be the last.
When I first got involved, in CPSA as it was then, it was a very different union. No regional training, a couple of national residential courses for the lucky twenty or so who were selected, but after that, you were pretty much on your own. No young members’ structure, and no visible equality structures to get involved in.
When I was first elected at national level within the DWP, there weren’t many women involved at that level, and it could feel a bit intimidating. Today though, PCS is very different. One of the biggest barriers to activity is not feeling that the union reflects you, now, we place importance on PCS reflecting its membership.
Sometimes we lack confidence. I was lucky, I had lots of experienced reps encouraging me, regionally and nationally, and giving me a bit of gentle encouragement when the easy thing would be to sit back and leave it to those who seemed so much more knowledgeable and always had lots to say. Something we learn though is that our voices and experiences are as valid and important as anyone else’s and to defend our members, we must speak up.
Sometimes, we don’t promote ourselves as much as some others, but when faced with the choice between stepping up, or hiding, sometimes we need to step up. As Mark Serwotka put it when encouraging me to stand for general secretary to replace him “If not you, then who? You can do this.”
There are always challenges or barriers to getting involved, and many women “wear numerous hats”, but the reason most of us start off as reps, or get involved in our union, is to help others, maybe those without a voice. We need your voices.
We have many brilliant women involved in PCS, we have come a long way. I urge every woman to not just join a union, but to play an active part. Also though, to encourage other women, be the one who says “Go on, you can do this”, not the one holding others back. Together, we are always stronger.