US Department of Labor | By: Jordan Steinberg | March 2, 2023 | Women Labor Leaders | Shield Blog
Women Labor Leaders: Throughout our nation’s history, women have frequently been influential leaders in the fight for workers’ rights. Women have been pioneers of workplace safety, fair wage advocates, and labor organizers have helped to uplift and improve conditions for all workers. In honor of Women’s History Month, here are eleven inspiring quotes from women labor leaders.
Throughout our nation’s history, women have frequently been influential leaders in the fight for workers’ rights. Women have been pioneers of workplace safety, fair wage advocates, and labor organizers have helped to uplift and improve conditions for all workers. In honor of Women’s History Month, here are eleven inspiring quotes from women labor leaders.
“I am sick at heart when I look into the social world and see woman so willingly made a dupe to the beastly selfishness of man.”
–Sarah Bagley
Sarah Bagley was an influential leader for working women’s rights in the industrial city of Lowell, Massachusetts. In the 1840s and 50s, Lowell was filled with cotton factories and mills, most of which were staffed by women. In 1844, women of such mills who were working under oppressive conditions for low wages came together to form the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. Sarah Bagley was president of the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. Bagley advocated for a 10-hour workday in front of the Massachusetts legislature. She continued to break barriers when she became the nation’s first female telegraph operator in 1846.
“You show me the women and I’ll turn them into organizers.”
–Kate Mullany
An early, ardent advocate for the rights of working women, Kate Mullany helped organize her fellow laundry workers. Mullany helped start the Collar Laundry Union, the country’s first all-female union to advocate for shorter hours, higher wages and safer working conditions. Following a five-and-a-half-day strike, the union secured safer working conditions and fairer wages. In 1868, Mullany became the first woman appointed to a labor union’s national office.
“There is no possible conflict between the good of society and the good of its members, of which the industrial workers are the vast majority.”
–Margaret Haley
Born in 1861, Margaret Haley was an educator and a prominent leader in the national push to unionize teachers. Chicago was the first city to have a major teachers’ union, and Haley was a leader for the Chicago Teachers Federation. Her 1904 speech “Why Teachers Should Organize” was immensely influential in the growing movement of teachers’ unions.
