TAFE & Adult Provision Empowering TAFE women

Approximately 60% of Victoria’s TAFE teachers are female, yet this is not represented in our membership.

Prior to COVID-19, we ran lunchtime forums for women on TAFE campuses and asked female union members to bring along a non-member colleague. As a result, we have increased the number of active women members. This has seen more women participating in the AEU’s WILD program and our Anna Stewart Memorial Project, and some sub-branches now have a trained Women’s Officer in the Workplace (WOW).

However, during Victoria’s long periods of lockdowns, it became challenging to grow our membership, especially women, who took on the bulk of the additional workload of supporting children with remote learning.

Working with the Victorian Trades Hall Council and AEU women’s officer Kerry Green, the union has developed a program to reengage TAFE women to increase union membership, make our council more representative, and promote the activism of our women members.

This program commenced on 12 October with a webinar aimed at TAFE women. We will be inviting all women in TAFE to similar events throughout 2022.