Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
A woman’s place is her union – but women must be made to feel welcome there
Revisiting the work of Bolshevik revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai HELEN O’CONNOR finds that when genuine efforts are made to involve working-class women into the labour movement, this advances the interests of the entire working class
Alexandra Kollontai

WORKERS are under attack on every level but especially women. Women are more likely to be in part-time, low-paid work because the burden of caring still falls primarily onto our shoulders. 

The impact of cuts and privatisation has negatively affected working-class women in terms of employment, where privatisation has cut pay, terms and conditions. 

Women are forced to provide the services, particularly caring, that have been deemed unnecessary or unprofitable. As a result too many women are firmly relegated to the ranks of “the working poor” for the entire duration of their lives.  

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Women's rights campaigners in Westminster, London after taking part in a march from the Royal Courts of Justice calling for decriminalisation of abortion, June 17, 2023
International Women's Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

Professor MARY DAVIS argues that feminism has been hollowed out by liberal co-option – and only a revival of socialist, class-based politics can restore International Working Women’s Day’s original, radical purpose

A woman holding the feet of a new baby
International Women’s Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

Comments from Matt Goodwin and Danny Kruger expose a reactionary vision in which falling birth rates are blamed on women, says JUDITH CAZORLA

Jeffrey Epstein
International Women’s Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

The legacy of socialist feminists such as Alexandra Kollontai challenges us today to confront an uncomfortable truth: framing prostitution as empowerment lets the abusers of the Epstein class off the hook, warns HELEN O’CONNOR

Philipa Harvey speaks to conference
Features / 21 June 2025
21 June 2025

ROS SITWELL reports from the Morning Star conference on ‘Race, Sex and Class Liberation’ last weekend