The Danish Women Workers' Union ( da, Kvindeligt Arbejderforbund i Danmark, KAD) was a

general union A general union is a trade union (called ''labor union'' in American English) which represents workers from all industries and companies, rather than just one organisation or a particular sector, as in a craft union or industrial union. A gene ...

representing women working in what were perceived to be lower-skilled jobs, in Denmark. The first union for women in Denmark was founded in 1885, the "Women Workers' Union" (KAF). It initially represented cleaners and laundry workers, but from 1890 also admitted women working in factories. From 1892, it was led by Olivia Nielsen, and it expanded from Copenhagen into other cities. By 1900, it had about 1,000 members, and this led it to establish a new, national union, the "Danish Women Workers' Union", in 1901. The union affiliated to the

Danish Confederation of Trade Unions LO, The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions (Danish: ''LO, Landsorganisationen i Danmark'' or simply ''LO'') was founded in 1898 and was an umbrella organisation (the largest of the three national trade union centers in Denmark) for 18 Danish tra ...

(LO), and by 1920, it organised about 20% of the women in the trade union movement. By 1997, it had 88,232 members, of whom 70% worked in the private sector. About half its members worked in production, 20% in community services, 20% in private services, and the remainder in a wide variety of sectors. At the end of 2004, the union merged with the

Danish General Workers' Union The Danish General Workers' Union ( da, Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark, SID) was a general union representing mostly unskilled and semi-skilled workers, in Denmark. History The union was founded in 1897 as the Danish Workers' Union (DA), becom ...

, to form the

United Federation of Danish Workers The United Federation of Workers in Denmark ( da, Fagligt Fælles Forbund, 3F) is a Danish labor union. The union was formed in 2004, from the merger of the Danish Women Workers' Union and the Danish General Workers' Union. In 2006, the Restaur ...

Presidents

: {, class="wikitable" , + !Period as chair !Name !Image !Birth–Death , - , 1901–1910 , Olivia Nielsen , Olivia Nielsen portrait

, 1852–1910 , - , 1910 , , , 1883–unknown , - , 1910–1923 , , Sofie Rasmussen

, 1882–unknown , - , 1923–1937 , , , 1875–1937 , - , 1937–1947 , Fanny Jensen , , 1890–1969 , - , 1948–1971 , , , 1901–1996 , - , 1971–1978 , , , 1912–1995 , - , 1978–1985 , , , 1927–1991 , - , 1985–2005 , {{ill, Lillian Knudsen, dk , , 1945– : :

References

General unions Trade unions in Denmark Trade unions established in 1901 Trade unions disestablished in 2004 1901 establishments in Denmark 2004 disestablishments in Denmark