Socio-Cultural Factors as Determinant of Women’s Attitude Towards Participation in Trade Unionism in Ondo State

This study examined the issues of socio-cultural factors as determinants of women’s attitude towards participation in trade unionism in Ondo State. The study adopted a descriptive research design of the survey type and a multi-stage sampling procedures. At stage one, purposive sampling technique was used to select five institutions out of the six government owned institutions in Ondo State. The one that was not selected was considered very young with no active labour union. Stage two involved the categorisation of staff in each institution into academic and non- academic using stratified sampling technique. Stage three involved the selection of fifty (50) respondents each from the institutions selected through random sampling technique making a total of five hundred (500) respondents as sample for the study. An instrument titled: ‘Women Participation in Trade Unionism Questionnaire (WPTUQ)’ designed by the researcher was used to collect data. The research questions were answered using descriptive statistics such as, frequency count, mean scores, percentages and standard deviations while hypotheses were tested using t-test and regression statistics as well as Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed significant relationship between socio-cultural variables such as marital factors, age related factors, economic factors and women’s participation in trade union activities. It was therefore recommended that women need to be encouraged to participate more actively in trade unionism. Also, religious institutions were advised to preach sermons in churches and mosques that would discourage gender bias. Also, women’s education should be taken as priority to enhance their active participation in trade unionism.