The Co-operative Women's Guild was established in 1883 by working class women in the movement to provide representation and spread co-operation in their communities where women had traditionally been a big part of the workforce, and had increasing spending power. Economic demand meant more women working in factories and this did not lead to better representation and rights for women in society. By 1884 60% of male heads of households over the age of 21 could vote - but no women could. In the co-operative movement women had been able to vote from the start, as the Rochdale principles known as 'law' ensured that female members could have their voices heard. 

There were no women in the original group of twenty eight despite the vital support that women would have provided the Equitable Society. It was difficult for women to spare the membership fee needed to join in their own right as men often controlled the household finances.

The group setting up the guild did so to allow women more time to attend meetings and focus on issues which most affected them. Alice Acland started a 'women's corner' column in the Co-operative News to talk about women in the movement and society in general in 1883. This was the beginning of what would become the guild. This was followed up by the 1883 Co-operative Congress in Edinburgh where a small group met in person to make positive steps with Alice Acland as its first leader - it was different to groups run by middle class women doing things 'for' or 'to' the working classes. This ethos remained central to the guild through its history; spreading through neighbourhoods and providing support women needed. 

In 1889 Margaret Llewellyn Davies took over as President and had new aims for the organisation. By now it was recognized that women were making the spending decisions in households and that they were choosing to spend the bulk of their money in co-ops where their 'divi' could be a lifeline. Davies wanted to harness this 'basket power' and use it to campaign for changes.

The guild was therefore involved in many campaigns, especially in the early twentieth century. They were heavily involved in the campaign for female suffrage  - giving women the vote and favoured the less violent approach of the Suffragists (rather than the tactics of the WSPU or Suffragettes).

The Guild continued to campaign until universal suffrage was finally granted in 1928.

Other campaigns included those around maternity rights and financial support for working class women, who often had large families due to a lack of access to contraception and sexual health information, and could try and procure backstreet abortions which were dangerous as well as illegal. The Guild supported the work of Marie Stopes in family planning and better provision of maternity and infant care. This led to the Shipley Society opening the first ever co-operative maternity care centre in 1920- which would have been a radical move in the pre-NHS years. 

The Guild was committed to peace as a means to make the world a better place and had a non-violent approach to campaigning from the First World War and the beliefs continued in advocating for disarmament from the introduction of the White Poppy in 1933 when tensions were building in Europe. There is a film of the London Co-op Peace Parade in 1937 on our vimeo account page: London Co-op 1937 Peace Parade

The Guild finally ceased to exist in 2016 after 133 years of work for working women's rights - due to a lack of new younger members. 

Warrington Co-operative Society Women's Guild banner, c.1923.