Skip to main content
Donate to the Fighting Fund
Women’s struggle is class struggle
SONYA ANDERMAHR looks at women’s role in the labour movement past and present
A show of hands by 187 female sewing machinists at the Ford Plant in Dagenham, Essex, when they voted unanimously to return to work, ending their dispute.

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. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Women's rights campaigners in Westminster, London after taking part in a march from the Royal Courts of Justice calling for decriminalisation of abortion, June 17, 2023
International Women's Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

Professor MARY DAVIS argues that feminism has been hollowed out by liberal co-option – and only a revival of socialist, class-based politics can restore International Working Women’s Day’s original, radical purpose

women workers 1910
Working Class History / 27 October 2025
27 October 2025

ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns

FiLiA activists on an anti-cuts demo
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Women are a vital part of the labour movement and have much to contribute, but there’s far more to be done to make sure that our sisters’ voices are truly heard, says PHILIPA HARVEY

Matchwomen
Features / 20 June 2025
20 June 2025

The Morning Star invites readers to join Jeremy Corbyn and others to celebrate a working-class female victory that echoes through the ages