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Women participating in employee representation is seen as a means to expand corporate democracy. Yet little is known about this participation, its importance, its concrete forms, and its implication in terms of gender relationships. This article explores the participation of women in collective bargaining, a strategic activity that determines working, employment, and living conditions for all employees. The first part gives an account of the existing quantitative data. We completed this account with data from the archives of the national commission on collective bargaining for three sectors: metallurgy, hotels, and banking. This quantitative effort shows that women are relatively on the margins of the collective bargaining world. The second part explores the activism of male and female national trade union officials, with the aim of understanding how individuals are selected to participate in collective bargaining. It appears that the targets in terms of establishing gender-balance in teams and the compulsory collective bargaining on equal opportunities have encouraged the inclusion of women. But it remains very difficult for them to have the legitimacy of their participation recognized in the field of collective bargaining.