Catherine Webb (4 May 1859 – 29 July 1947) was an influential

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

in the early

cooperative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

Biography

Webb was the daughter of Thomas Webb, the manager of the Battersea and Wandsworth Cooperative Society. Her father worked his way up from poverty through the cooperative movement and she was raised middle-class. This upbringing brought question to the class in which she identified as she referred to herself as “a working-woman.” Webb joined the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1883. In the 1890s, Her interest lay in women's waged labor and led her to become involved with the

Women's Industrial Council The Women's Industrial Council (WIC) was a British organisation active from 1894 to about 1917, promoting the interests of women at work. Federation The organisation originated as the Women's Trade Union Association, founded by Clementina Black i ...

(WIC). Webb was WIC's general secretary from 1895 to 1902. She was elected to the Southern Section of the Central Board of the

Cooperative Union A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives. Historically, co-operative federations have predominantly come in the form of co-operative wholesale societies and co-operative ...

in 1895. She served as a trusted lieutenant to

Margaret Llewelyn Davies Margaret Caroline Llewelyn Davies (16 October 1861 – 28 May 1944) was a British social activist who served as general secretary of the Co-operative Women's Guild from 1889 until 1921. Her election has been described as a "turning point" in the ...

during her tenure as general secretary of the

Co-operative Women's Guild The Co-operative Women's Guild was an auxiliary organisation of the co-operative movement in the United Kingdom which promoted women in co-operative structures and provided social and other services to its members. History The guild was founded ...

from 1889 to 1911. She also edited the Guild's “Notes” feature in the “Women’s Corner,” writing about women workers and their unions and organizations such as the Women's Industrial Council and Lady Dilke's Women's Trade Union League. She believed once women workers were unionized, wages would increase and that cooperators should collaborate with trade unionists to organize workers. She considered the guildsman to have a special role in this project because as shoppers, women could influence factory conditions and management by not buying sweatshop labor and influencing stores not to sell products made by sweatshops. The result would be that sweat shop owners would be put out of business. She agreed with J.T.W. Mitchell that “there is no power greater than that of a woman when rightly exercised.” Webb was the author of ''The Woman with the Basket'', one of the most comprehensive sources for the early history of the Co-operative Women's Guild.

References

1859 births 1947 deaths Co-operative Women's Guild Feminism in the United Kingdom British cooperative organizers {{activist-stub

Biography

Further reading

References