Women have a long legacy of union activism and leadership that laid the groundwork for future generations of women labor leaders. For example, champions like Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, who led the fight to end child labor, and once highlighted its immorality during a demonstration at Princeton University, are gaining fresh recognition as our labor movement’s women leaders break glass ceilings and reach heights inaccessible to generations before them. Case-in-point is our very own national AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who just last year became the first woman to ever be elected to lead our federation.

The ascendance of women leaders in the labor movement reflects the economic promise unions hold for women as rank-and-file members. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the wages of union women are higher and more equal to wages of union men than of non-union women to non-union men, especially at lower income. Furthermore, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that union women earn 22% more than women in the non-union workforce. And the labor movement continues to be a source of equity across all sectors and trades, as a recent report by North America’s Building Trades Unions shows that union programs are effective at recruiting and training women and people of diverse backgrounds into critical construction jobs. By all measures, union membership is an important vehicle for women to enter, advance and lead in the workplace.

Together, let’s celebrate the role our labor movement continues to play in advancing gender equity and women’s rights as we write the next chapter of women’s history.