Skip to main content
Advertise Buy the paper Contact us Shop Subscribe Support us
Women’s struggle is class struggle
SONYA ANDERMAHR looks at women’s role in the labour movement past and present

FROM campaigning for better working conditions and an eight-hour day to demanding equal pay, women have played a vitally important role in Britain’s labour movement — rallying, organising and inspiring millions of us to fight for employment justice. 

On International Women’s Day 2022, it is worth highlighting some of the achievements and continuing challenges of women’s long struggle for workplace equality.  

Women’s involvement in the labour movement dates back to the early days of the industrial revolution when new jobs were created for women in the mills and factories. 

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Book Review / 29 February 2024
29 February 2024
SONYA ANDERMAHR finds a voice worth listening to in the candid account of a trans woman who came to question gender identity politics
Book Review / 7 April 2023
7 April 2023
SONYA ANDERMAHR admires a candid history of the NHS service and its mistreatment of young people with gender dysphoria
Features / 5 September 2022
5 September 2022
The Star publishes an adapted political statement for the CPB women’s commission by SONYA ANDERMAHR, who argues that the stakes have seldom been higher for women, amid the fightback against the cost-of-living crisis and the defence of their sex-based rights
Features / 8 March 2021
8 March 2021
A far cry from today’s ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ agenda, International Women’s Day has its origins in the revolutionary labour politics of the early 20th century, SONYA ANDERMAHR reminds us
Similar stories
TUC 2024 / 9 September 2024
9 September 2024
Women are not a minority — their issues should not be treated as ‘minority issues’ in our movement, writes MARY DAVIS
International Women's Day 2024 / 8 March 2024
8 March 2024
Women as a sex have the right to expect much more from the movement in which we continue to invest, says ANN HENDERSON
International Women's Day 2024 / 8 March 2024
8 March 2024
New PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE talks about the women who reshaped the cause of labour
Features / 27 January 2024
27 January 2024
As the National Assembly of Women gathers for a seminar this weekend, VICKY KNIGHT outlines some of the major tasks facing women today