Rebel Women

in Australian Working Class History

by Sandra Bloodworth & Tom O'Lincoln

Red Rag Publications, 2008, ISBN 9780977504749, paperback

Fine Condition, a little scuffed on front flyleaf, small bumps to cover edges   

'Early in the 20th Century the women of Broken Hill fought strike breakers with axes and broom handles. The authors tell more such stories right up to the 1980s, challenging conventional views of working class women and their struggles.

None of the struggles in this book were part of a generalised, revolutionary struggle to transform the whole of society. Nonetheless, they reveal the potential for unity between male and female workers, and the possibilities for struggle to begin to challenge the oppressive roles which are central to women’s oppression.

They also reveal the unbridgeable gulf between working women and the women of the capitalist class, against which workers must struggle for every improvement in their lives. They show how women can emerge as leaders of strikes and campaigns. Finally they demonstrate the possibilities for overcoming, in the course of the fight, sexist prejudices among their male workmates.