Campaigning women

Throughout the ages, women have campaigned long and hard for causes that they passionately believe in.

Causes such as the suffrage movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the campaign for nuclear disarmament, including protesting at Greenham Common and other US airbases in the 1980s; women against pit closures in the Yorkshire coalfields in the 1980s; and in 20th and 21st centuries against war, beginning with the folly of the First World War through to the war in Iraq.

In this section, we highlight the lives of two ‘campaigning’ women – Gertie Roche, and Maureen Baker.

Gertie Roche was a trade union activist who consistently campaigned for social justice for men and women.

Maureen Baker has fought for Racial Equality in society, influenced by one incident of racism in a library in the 1950s. She was recently awarded the MBE for her services to Leeds.

Other ‘campaigning’ women featured on the website are: Edith Key, suffragette; Isabella Ford, trade union activist, suffragist and peace campaigner; Florence Lockwood, suffragist and peace campaigner; Catherine Thackray, peace campaigner; and Florence White, campaigner for women’s pensions.