本篇論文討論三個主題：十九世紀末與二十世紀初，工業革命對英國婦女的影響 有那些？女工會聯盟如何組織女工與其面對的困難有那些？女工會聯盟如何透過工會組織、 立法方式，及聯合全國女工同盟致力於解決女工困難與爭取女工福利？ 英國婦女在工業革命前已經參與家中的生產工作，分別在農業及手工業方面，貢獻她們的勞 力。工業革命後，隨著工業的發展，婦女走出家庭，進入工廠工作，這種情形在十九世紀的 下半葉迅速發展。維多利亞女王時代，社會普遍認為婦女應留在家中，不應外出工作，除非 非常貧窮；然而工業革命後，特別在現代工廠制度中，創造了許多新的工作機會。但亦帶來 眾多工作問題，例如低工資、長工時、工作環境惡劣、性別歧視等等。 女工會在十世紀下半葉出現，並且在工會運動中扮演特殊角色。女工會聯盟與全國女工同盟 以女工立場，努力發展女工會組織，以解決女工問題，並對工廠制度的改革有極大貢獻。她 們的成就，不僅是為女工謀福利，更鼓勵婦女變得更為獨立而受到社會重視。本文主要目的 ，乃透過這兩個女工會團體─女工會聯盟與全國女工同盟的奮鬥歷史，來呈現英國社會民主 的進步，她們的努力也間接推動英國政治民主的發展。

　　　　　This article deals with three themes: how industrialization influenced British women in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, how the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL) organized women to participate in trade unions, and how the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW), along with the Women's Trade Union League, struggled against poor working conditions during this period by promoting unionism as well as legislation. Before industrializtion, British women contributed to their families by working in the agricultural sector as well as in textile manufacturing in the putting out system. After the Industrial Revolution, and following the rapid growth that took place in the industrial ecoonomy in the nineteenth century, women went out to work in factories instead of working at home. In the Victoria era, it was widely accepted that women were not supposed to work outside unless their families were in desperate poverty. However, the Industrial Revolution created many employment opportunities in modern factories for women. Inevitably, this led to many difficulties in the work place, such as low pay, long work hours, bed working conditions, sex-segregation and so on. Women's trade unions established in the late nineteenth century played a significant part in the trade union movement. The Women's Trade Union League and the National Federation of Women Workers worked hard to develop women trade unions and contributed a great deal to social reform, particularly in modern factories with regard to women workers. Their achievements were not only limited to the improvement they obtained for women workers, but included also the encouragement they gave women to become more independent, and increasing social respect for women workers. The main point of this article is to show the growth in social democracy that was characterized by the history of these two women's groups, the WTUL and the NFWW, both of which were established by women trade unionists.