In 1966, Stewart left Australia for Beirut, Lebanon where she and Jeremy, who was already there, lived in the mountain village of Souk El Gharb.

Anna successfully spearheaded the first Australian blue collar union campaign for maternity leave award provisions, in her capacity as Industrial Advocate for the Federated Furnishing Trades Society of Australia.

In 1975, Stewart moved to the Victorian branch of the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation of Australia where she fought for childcare facilities in car plants, researched and argued work value cases, initiated campaigns against sexual harassment, compelling employers to recognise sexual harassment as an industrial issue, and assisted with the Australian Council of Trade Unions Maternity Leave Test Case, regarded as a breakthrough in winning the right of working women to 52 weeks of unpaid maternity leave and the right to return to the same job.

[6] In 1980 she was international delegate to the annual meeting of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations[7] organised at the White House in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of President Jimmy Carter.

After her death in 1983, her landmark achievements in the struggle for the rights of working women were acknowledged in the launching of the Anna Stewart Memorial Project.