Mind the gap! An entangled history of economic citizenship and the demand for equal pay 1945-2000
The project focuses on the importance of international and transnational entanglements for the development of economic citizenship, i.e. national and international unions’ demands for equal pay between 1945-2000.
Earlier historical studies on equal pay are characterized by methodological nationalism. As a result the questions of why a state ratified the ILO convention or why unions decided to make equal pay a central demand at a given time, cannot be sufficient explained. To find adequate explanations one must focus on the interactions between national and global development. We therefore use the hermeneutical approach of Histoire croisée, which contains both elements of comparative analysis and transfer analysis and focuses on the assimilation and adaptation of entanglements, but does not neglect the fractions and differences between different levels.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) is the main object of our study and gives us, through its national member organisations, regional committees, women’s committees as well as its cooperation with the ILO and its advisory status at the UN?s economic and social council, a unique possibility to study equal pay from this perspective. More specific we study three different processes of interaction after 1948: 1) between ICFTU and its member organisations, 2) between ICFTUs national member organisations 3) between members of international personal networks.
This project is funded by Vetenskapsrådet
Silke Neunsinger & Ylva Waldemarson