THIS paper deals with the involvement of women workers in trade unions. Though women form half the labour force in tea plantations their participation in trade union activities has been low. Based on field data collected from three tea plan-tations situated in the two tea producing districts in the northern part of West Bengal this paper tries to examine the reasons for their low level of participation. Two of the plantations are in the Jalpaiguri district and one is in the plains of Darjeeling district. The tea growing area in Jalpaiguri district is known as Dooars and the plains of Darjeeling district are known as Terai