Women workers addressed labour issues directly in their workplaces, be they factories or farms. They organized strikes, initiated riots and walkouts, but also became trade unionists and pursued long-term grassroots organizing. Women in the workplace mobilized against many problems and employed a variety of activist methods to fight for their goals.

The unpaid labour women performed within their communities and at home, such as household chores and caring for children and the elderly, heavily impacted their participation in paid work. Forced to juggle their family and household responsibilities, women workers opted for part-time work or work based on pay per piece, engaged in home-based work such as sewing and garment-making, or pursued more flexible, precarious, and low-paid jobs. There is a rich history of how women labour activists understood and tackled the impact of unpaid labour on women’s employment.

Historically, women workers were paid less than their male colleagues for performing the same jobs. Many of the jobs where women traditionally constituted the majority of the workforce – such as in the textile or tobacco industries – were also considered to be “unskilled” and were thus low-paid despite the fact that they often required agility, skill, and sophisticated knowledge of machinery. Women activists doggedly fought for equal pay, from pursuing it in the workplace to championing this goal in discussions in the international arena.

Women, including those who were involved in paid employment, have been responsible for ensuring the day-to-day functioning of their households and supporting their communities. For them, the worlds of paid and unpaid work have been tightly interwoven. Everyday activities thus also became a terrain for women’s labour activism, and women confronted emergencies, such as prolonged labour conflicts or food shortages, and chronic issues, such as the decay of infrastructure, in a specifically gendered manner.

Labour movements dominated by men often served as platforms for women activists identifying with working-class women. Some of them were convinced that championing universal labour rights would be sufficient to elevate women. Others framed their women-focused demands in ways that aligned with broader working-class struggles, emphasizing how improving conditions for women benefitted all workers. Their activism challenged both economic exploitation and gender discrimination.

Migrant women’s labour activism has been shaped by their migration background and legal status, which has often limited their ability to openly resist exploitation due to fears of deportation or job loss. Many organized discreetly or advocated through community networks. At the same time, migration itself can be a way of escaping exploitative working and living conditions to seek better opportunities, challenge oppressive employment circumstances, and assert workers’ right to dignity and justice.

Women labour activists faced misogyny within men-dominated labour movements and socialist parties. They fought alongside men for workers’ rights, but frequently, they also had to challenge their own comrades’ disregard and even contempt. Men in leading positions tended to prioritize class struggle over women’s issues, side-lining demands for equal pay, maternity protections, and political representation. To counteract this, women organized separately, formed committees, and followed their own labour interests.

Many women activists saw the educational inequalities between women and men as one of the major causes of women’s marginalized position in the world of labour. In an attempt to strengthen women’s position on the labour market, activists championed and organized a wide range of educational programs: from evening schools teaching basic literacy, to vocational training, to political and trade union educational programs.

Throughout history, women not only faced barriers to certain professions and types of jobs but also were excluded from positions within the state apparatus. When governments started to include women in the ranks of state administration, some of these officials used their position to improve the lot of working women. Often engaged in research and policy-making, these women aimed to illuminate the conditions of women workers and advance social change.