Women and the Preston Lock-Out: not just 'ten per cent'

Abstract

Women and girls comprised the majority of the striking cotton operatives during the Preston lock-out of 1853–1854. While history has acknowledged women’s participation, their story has been neglected in favour of the strike’s importance to the labour movement, both locally and nationally. This article highlights how working-class women’s strike participation formed part of broader women’s activism and was motivated by labour and domestic considerations. Utilising newspapers, strike papers and contemporary accounts, this article argues that women operatives were respected co-workers with men and received equal strike pay to men – something that was reflected in later Lancashire strikes. Married women’s sustained support was influenced by a decrease in domestic violence, increased educational opportunities for children and adults, and more family time. More broadly, if we are to fully understand women’s complex decision-making related to their dual role as workers and household managers, a gendered approach to labour activism is needed