Catherine Webb (4 May 1859 – 29 July 1947) was an influential activist in the early cooperative movement.
Her father worked his way up from poverty through the cooperative movement and she was raised middle-class.
This upbringing brought question to the class in which she identified as she referred to herself as “a working-woman.” [2] Webb joined the Women's Co-operative Guild in 1883.
[2] She served as a trusted lieutenant to Margaret Llewelyn Davies during her tenure as general secretary of the Co-operative Women's Guild from 1889 to 1911.
She considered the guildsman to have a special role in this project because as shoppers, women could influence factory conditions and management by not buying sweatshop labor and influencing stores not to sell products made by sweatshops.