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Books by Geraldine Healy

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Leadership in Unions

Research paper thumbnail of Diversity, Ethncity and Migration at Work - International Perspectives

Research paper thumbnail of Ethnicity and Gender at Work. Inequalities, Careers and Employment Relations

Papers by Geraldine Healy

Research paper thumbnail of Women and IT contracting work-a testing process

New Technology Work and Employment, Mar 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Linda McDowell (2013), Working Lives: Gender, migration and employment, 1945–2007. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. £24.99, 294 pp., pbk

Journal of Social Policy, Oct 22, 2014

social security system. I liked the sentence in Ulmestig’s conclusion that begins ‘Despite the la... more social security system. I liked the sentence in Ulmestig’s conclusion that begins ‘Despite the lack of evidence the government chose to handle the problem . . . ’ (p. 194). Resemblances to contemporary UK policy making are not unnoticed. In van Berkel’s chapter, the solution in the Netherlands to what was characterised as the ‘Dutch disease’ (that is high disability payments) will be familiar to a UK readership: tighter eligibility rules and increased conditionality loom large, but these are complemented by obligations placed on employers to contribute to the rehabilitation of workers with health problems. In the chapter on New Zealand, Lunt and Horsfall describe a shift in policy from macro-level to micro-level interventions aimed at particular groups, in specific circumstances within defined labour markets. It is an approach which resonates with the policy recommendations in the chapters by Webster et al. and Beatty et al. The chapters in the central part of the book not only diagnose the problem of rising disability claimant rolls, there are ideas for policy developments. Beatty et al. (in Chapter 8) provide the most succinct summary of the need for action, arguing for a range of demand side measures including national economic recovery and regional development, and familiar supply side responses such as increasing employability, skills, motivation and health. There are of course a few things about the volume that raise some questions (at least in the mind of this reviewer). The first is this: where does the notion of a ‘crisis’ in disability benefits come from. The word is used predominantly by the editors in the opening and closing chapters and seems to suggest that this is a given. Certainly, the rise in claimant rolls has been identified in many countries as undesirable but I am not sure what purpose is served by construing a social policy issue as a crisis. Indeed, it is a related, minor gripe with the book that there is a departure sometimes from sober, academic analysis and language (generally one of the strengths of the book) into emotive, often unsubstantiated assertions and polemic. To talk of ‘industrial policy wantonly allowing great swathes of manufacturing and engineering to wither on the vine’ (p. 234) is vague and unhelpful. If there is a gap in the book, and this is not a weakness more a consequence of timing, it is that the contributors could not engage with the major changes in policy that have been, or are in the process of being, introduced in the UK since the election of the Coalition government in 2010, including the Work Programme and Universal Credit. However, the silver lining here is that there is now an opening for the editors (I am sure they have spotted this already) to compile a second volume that can place recent policy initiatives in the context of developments before 2010 and developments more widely in Europe and beyond. Disability benefits, welfare reform and employment policy is a constantly changing arena – I look forward to the next instalment.

Research paper thumbnail of Transforming union women: the role of women trade union officials in union renewal

Industrial Relations Journal, Mar 1, 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Visible and invisible borders in time and space

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Aug 19, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women-Only Trade Union Courses

British Journal of Industrial Relations, Jun 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Context, Collectivism and Control in Appraisal;The Case of Teachers

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1996

This paper sets out to explore the complexities of appraisal schemes and to to challege some of t... more This paper sets out to explore the complexities of appraisal schemes and to to challege some of the myths that tend to shape and hinder understanding of the appraisal process. The paper argues that studies of appraisal often overlook the significance of the context in which ...

Research paper thumbnail of Women's Structures, Oligarchy and Trade Union Government

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1999

ABSTRACT This paper adresses the under-explored relationship between women's structures a... more ABSTRACT This paper adresses the under-explored relationship between women's structures and union democracy and argues that women's structural progress is mediated by an enduring patriarchal oligarchy and an associated struggle to access power resources.

Research paper thumbnail of The future of worker representation in the United Kingdom

Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, Sep 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Union Leadership in the UK and USA: First Findings From a Cross-National Research Project

Research paper thumbnail of Live Wire: Women and Brotherhood in the Electrical Industry - By Francine Moccio

Industrial Relations Journal, May 1, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The Resilience of Gender Segregation in the UK General Print Sector

Research paper thumbnail of The Other Side of the Equation – The Demands of Women on Re‐entering the Labour Market

Employee Relations, Mar 1, 1991

Research paper thumbnail of The Trade Union Role in Career Development: a Membership Perspective

Industrial Relations Journal, Sep 1, 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Required Publisher Statement

Thank you for downloading an article from

Research paper thumbnail of Decentralisation and the gender pay gap in the UK context

The Gender Pay Gap and Social Partnership in Europe, 2018

This chapter considers the UK case from the perspective of local government, financial services s... more This chapter considers the UK case from the perspective of local government, financial services sector and rail (infrastructure) sector. Following the aims of the ‘Close the Deal, Fill the Gap’ project, this UK-focused chapter considers the interaction and interdependences between different EU policy targets and considers the involvement of the social partners in the reduction of the GPG and the high level of decentralisation in the UK collective bargaining context.

Research paper thumbnail of Delivering diversity: race and ethnicity in the management pipeline

British Journal of Healthcare Assistants, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Equality, Inequalities and Diversity

Research paper thumbnail of Women and IT contracting work-a testing process

New Technology Work and Employment, Mar 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Linda McDowell (2013), Working Lives: Gender, migration and employment, 1945–2007. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. £24.99, 294 pp., pbk

Journal of Social Policy, Oct 22, 2014

social security system. I liked the sentence in Ulmestig’s conclusion that begins ‘Despite the la... more social security system. I liked the sentence in Ulmestig’s conclusion that begins ‘Despite the lack of evidence the government chose to handle the problem . . . ’ (p. 194). Resemblances to contemporary UK policy making are not unnoticed. In van Berkel’s chapter, the solution in the Netherlands to what was characterised as the ‘Dutch disease’ (that is high disability payments) will be familiar to a UK readership: tighter eligibility rules and increased conditionality loom large, but these are complemented by obligations placed on employers to contribute to the rehabilitation of workers with health problems. In the chapter on New Zealand, Lunt and Horsfall describe a shift in policy from macro-level to micro-level interventions aimed at particular groups, in specific circumstances within defined labour markets. It is an approach which resonates with the policy recommendations in the chapters by Webster et al. and Beatty et al. The chapters in the central part of the book not only diagnose the problem of rising disability claimant rolls, there are ideas for policy developments. Beatty et al. (in Chapter 8) provide the most succinct summary of the need for action, arguing for a range of demand side measures including national economic recovery and regional development, and familiar supply side responses such as increasing employability, skills, motivation and health. There are of course a few things about the volume that raise some questions (at least in the mind of this reviewer). The first is this: where does the notion of a ‘crisis’ in disability benefits come from. The word is used predominantly by the editors in the opening and closing chapters and seems to suggest that this is a given. Certainly, the rise in claimant rolls has been identified in many countries as undesirable but I am not sure what purpose is served by construing a social policy issue as a crisis. Indeed, it is a related, minor gripe with the book that there is a departure sometimes from sober, academic analysis and language (generally one of the strengths of the book) into emotive, often unsubstantiated assertions and polemic. To talk of ‘industrial policy wantonly allowing great swathes of manufacturing and engineering to wither on the vine’ (p. 234) is vague and unhelpful. If there is a gap in the book, and this is not a weakness more a consequence of timing, it is that the contributors could not engage with the major changes in policy that have been, or are in the process of being, introduced in the UK since the election of the Coalition government in 2010, including the Work Programme and Universal Credit. However, the silver lining here is that there is now an opening for the editors (I am sure they have spotted this already) to compile a second volume that can place recent policy initiatives in the context of developments before 2010 and developments more widely in Europe and beyond. Disability benefits, welfare reform and employment policy is a constantly changing arena – I look forward to the next instalment.

Research paper thumbnail of Transforming union women: the role of women trade union officials in union renewal

Industrial Relations Journal, Mar 1, 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Visible and invisible borders in time and space

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Aug 19, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women-Only Trade Union Courses

British Journal of Industrial Relations, Jun 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Context, Collectivism and Control in Appraisal;The Case of Teachers

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1996

This paper sets out to explore the complexities of appraisal schemes and to to challege some of t... more This paper sets out to explore the complexities of appraisal schemes and to to challege some of the myths that tend to shape and hinder understanding of the appraisal process. The paper argues that studies of appraisal often overlook the significance of the context in which ...

Research paper thumbnail of Women's Structures, Oligarchy and Trade Union Government

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1999

ABSTRACT This paper adresses the under-explored relationship between women's structures a... more ABSTRACT This paper adresses the under-explored relationship between women's structures and union democracy and argues that women's structural progress is mediated by an enduring patriarchal oligarchy and an associated struggle to access power resources.

Research paper thumbnail of The future of worker representation in the United Kingdom

Palgrave Macmillan eBooks, Sep 1, 2004

Research paper thumbnail of Women and Union Leadership in the UK and USA: First Findings From a Cross-National Research Project

Research paper thumbnail of Live Wire: Women and Brotherhood in the Electrical Industry - By Francine Moccio

Industrial Relations Journal, May 1, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of The Resilience of Gender Segregation in the UK General Print Sector

Research paper thumbnail of The Other Side of the Equation – The Demands of Women on Re‐entering the Labour Market

Employee Relations, Mar 1, 1991

Research paper thumbnail of The Trade Union Role in Career Development: a Membership Perspective

Industrial Relations Journal, Sep 1, 1999

Research paper thumbnail of Required Publisher Statement

Thank you for downloading an article from

Research paper thumbnail of Decentralisation and the gender pay gap in the UK context

The Gender Pay Gap and Social Partnership in Europe, 2018

This chapter considers the UK case from the perspective of local government, financial services s... more This chapter considers the UK case from the perspective of local government, financial services sector and rail (infrastructure) sector. Following the aims of the ‘Close the Deal, Fill the Gap’ project, this UK-focused chapter considers the interaction and interdependences between different EU policy targets and considers the involvement of the social partners in the reduction of the GPG and the high level of decentralisation in the UK collective bargaining context.

Research paper thumbnail of Delivering diversity: race and ethnicity in the management pipeline

British Journal of Healthcare Assistants, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Equality, Inequalities and Diversity

Research paper thumbnail of Gender, Ethnicity and the Exclusionary Organisation

Research paper thumbnail of Gender and the Professions

Public services are large employers of women, especially semi-professional and professional women... more Public services are large employers of women, especially semi-professional and professional women. They have favourable conditions-such as highly regulated employment frameworks, merit-based recruitment and advancement and comprehensive adoption of equal employment policies during the 1980s and 1990s-which could be expected to support gender equality in the workplace. This research considers pay equity within one state public sector and asks why, despite these favourable conditions, the gender pay gap persists.

Research paper thumbnail of Gender, Ethnicity and Class — the Case for Intersectional Analysis

The contemporary labour market position of minority ethnic women was explored in the last chapter... more The contemporary labour market position of minority ethnic women was explored in the last chapter. It is clear that black and minority ethnic women are disadvantaged in a range of ways despite their often high human capital. How do we explain this? This chapter offers a number of key theoretical and conceptual approaches that go some way to understanding how inequalities are reproduced in the labour market. Critical concepts we draw on include: the nature of intersectionality the importance of history in the social construction of inequalities; inequalities in organisations; segregation — both horizontal and vertical; the cycle of reproduction of segregation; the importance of ‘career’; ‘choice’ and inequality regimes. These concepts will be of value in shaping the discussion at different points in the book. We argue the importance of the interrelationship of structure and agency in understanding both the transformation and the reproduction of gendered and racist practices. The prioritising of identities at moments in time will intersect with agency and structures in influencing both transformation and reproduction. The importance of levels of analysis from the macro to the micro to the self, and the impact of historical factors at these levels, will enable an understanding of the uneven and sometimes contradictory developments in both transforming and reproducing a sexist and racist order.