Women Labor Heroes

As we look forward to enjoying this upcoming Labor Day Weekend, we pay tribute to just a few of the many women in history who have not only fought against inhumane, unfair, and discriminatory work places and policies for women, but for men and children as well. It wasn't that long ago that American workers faced many of the dangers that we think of now as a third-world country problem, and we can thank these women and other activists for helping to make workers' rights something that we can be grateful for, today.


Jane Addams co-founded Hull House in Chicago in 1889. Hull House provided shelter, education, daycare, counseling, recreation and more, and is still in operation today. Addams fought for 'the first juvenile-court law, tenement-house regulation, an eight-hour working day for women, factory inspection, and workers' compensation. She strove in addition for justice for immigrants and blacks, advocated research aimed at determining the causes of poverty and crime, and supported women's suffrage.' She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her work helping to improve the lives of the disadvantaged.


Mary Harris, later known as Mother Jones, was called by some "the most dangerous woman in America." She was a tireless supporter of workers' rights, organizing men, women, and children into unions and demanding fair wages and safe working environments. She famously fought for mine and mill workers, and was especially devoted to fighting against child labor, organizing child marches to showcase the danger these children faced, such as lost fingers and denial of education. After the Ludlow Massacre, she met with John D. Rockefeller and worked with him to introduce a better working environment for the miners in Colorado.


Esther Peterson was a catalyst for both labor and consumer rights that we still talk about on a regular basis today. She fought for equal pay for equal work, truth in advertising, and nutrition labels and sell by dates on food products. She worked as a union organizer for the American Federation of Teachers, worked with the Activities of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, was vice president for consumer affairs at Giant Food Inc., and served as a labor and consumer advocate under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Carter and Clinton.


Addie L. Wyatt was first female board member of the United Packinghouse Food and Alliance Workers Union, and the first black woman labor leader of an international union. She worked with Eleanor Roosevelt on the Status of Women in the workplace, and served President Kennedy in his Status of Women committee. She also was heavily involved with Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement, and was a founding member of the National Organization for Women, fighting for equal rights for women in the workplace. Ms Wyatt was Time Magazine's Woman of the Year in 1975, and thirty years later, her footprints became part of the Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta.


Gloria Steinem is still a force for women's rights in the workplace. Although she is primarily known for her journalistic feats and for her work in the Women's Rights Movement, labor is naturally tied into both of those as she and others in her generation fought for equal rights in the workplace. She co-founded the Coalition of Labor Union Women and more recently, co-founded Women's Media Center, a non-profit devoted to not only increasing the number of diverse women's voices throughout the media, but to increasing the number of women employed by traditional media and new media.