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Two women from different parts of the world share the stories of their lives

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The Conversation: Union women

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Frances O'Grady and Rose Omamo

03/06/2019 GMT

Union women

BBC World Service - The Conversation, Union women

Two women changing the face of trade unions in the UK and in Kenya

What happens when women head up workers' unions? Joanna Impey brings together two powerful women in charge of the rights of millions of workers in the UK and Kenya. They talk about how they're trying to tackle the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace and how they're trying to make unions more relevant to younger women.

Born to a family of union organisers in Oxford, Frances O'Grady is the first female General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. With nearly six million members, the TUC is the largest democratic member organisation in the UK. She is also a single mother who says she is committed to the interests of the working women who make up over half of the TUC’s membership.

Rose Omamo is the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers. She trained as a mechanic and worked as an assembler but as one of only two women working with 300 men she realised the only way to defend her rights was to stand as a shop steward. Known as 'Mama Union,' the members of her organisation are still 90% male.

Image: 
L - Frances O'Grady  Credit: Jess Hurd
R - Rose Omamo  Credit: Victor Mogoa

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