Born: 13 August 1880, United Kingdom
Died: 1 January 1921
Country most active: United Kingdom
Also known as: Mary Reid Anderson
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Mary Macarthur was a Scottish suffragist but disagreed with national groups that only wanted a few women to vote. Macarthur also played a big role in trade unions. She was the general secretary of the Women’s Trade Union League and helped create the National Federation of Women Workers and the National Anti-Sweating League.
Around 1901, Macarthur became a trade unionist after hearing John Turner talk about how badly some workers were treated. She became secretary of the Ayr branch of the Shop Assistants’ Union and got more interested in improving women’s work conditions. Mary became friends with Margaret Bondfield in 1902, and Bondfield encouraged her to go to the union’s national conference. There, Macarthur became the first woman on the union’s national executive.
In 1906, Macarthur established the National Federation of Women Workers, a broad labor union welcoming women from unorganized trades or those excluded from their designated unions. This pioneering federation preceded the women-led National Union of General Workers, which emerged in 1921.
In 1910, Macarthur led women chain makers in Cradley Heath to win better pay through a strike.