Women's trade Union League active (jan 1, 1903 – jan 1, 1930)

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A labor organization for women founded in New York in 1903 that brought elite, middle-class, and working-class women together as allies. The WTUL supported union organizing efforts among garment workers.

Many labor organizations also began in a single city and then grew to national stature. One famous example was the Women’s Trade Union League (WTUL), founded in New York in 1903. Financed by wealthy women who supported its work, the league trained working-class leaders like Rose Schneiderman, who organized unions among garment workers. Although often frustrated by the patronizing attitude of elite sponsors, trade-union women joined them in the broader struggle for women’s rights. When New York State held referenda on women’s suffrage in 1915 and 1917, strong support came from Jewish and Italian precincts where unionized garment workers lived. Working-class voters hoped, in turn, that enfranchised women would use their ballots to help industrial workers.

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