The National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland active in the first part of the 20th century.

[3] The Scottish suffragist Mary Macarthur played a key role throughout the NFWW's existence, leading campaigns against sweated industries, mobilising public support for striking members, lobbying for legislative reform and engaging with the broader labour movement.

In 1910 the NFWW organised a strike of around 800 women working as chain makers in Cradley Heath after they were denied the minimum 11s (55p) weekly wage as set in the Trade Boards Act.

This led to concern from the NFWW that employers were planning on stockpiling large quantities of chain made within the six-month window and later dismiss the workers once the minimum wage level was set.

[2] Part of the success of the chainmakers' strike fundraising was due to the ability of the NFWW and Mary Macarthur to attract wide support amongst newspapers.

Collections were made in local communities across the United Kingdom and Ireland from outside churches, football grounds, factories and Labour Party meetings.

A Pathé news film of the chainmakers strike was produced around this time and was shown in picture theatres across the country which also helped the union come to the attention of the wider public.

Many of them however found poor conditions, low pay and long hours resulting in a number of industrial actions and disputes with employers supported by trade unions including the NFWW.

The local Labour Party MP William Anderson, husband of NFWW leader Mary Mcarthur, called for an investigation into the low rates of pay in the House of Commons.

A strike of 250 women and 20 boys followed the demands of an investigation which resulted in a 10% War bonus being paid to employees, alongside official recognition for the NFWW, after six weeks of dispute.

A delegation from the union demanded equal pay for the women employed by the firm to end the inequality of wages between female and male workers.

[20] For the NFWW a dispute was established in 1917 after a total of 21 female workers were dismissed from Darlington railway point manufacturer Thomas Summerson and Sons.

[17] Not only did the actions during the First World War cement the NFWW as a trade union with the ability to successfully carry out industrial disputes but it also came at a time where there was wider political discussions on the rights of women including the suffrage movement.

[24][5][3] The high profile of the NFWW was due in part to their newspaper The Woman Worker, published from 1907 to 1910, which collated allegories, anecdotes and related advertisements associated with its members.

[25] [26] Initially edited by the president of the NFWW Mary Macarthur and published monthly, it was the only publication of its time aimed at working women as its primary audience and covered a broad range of subjects from fashion and literature to suffrage, feminism and socialist politics.

[4][16] Macarthur ceased to be editor in December 1908 complaining of ‘the chains of office’, that ‘riveted me oft-times to my desk when I would fain have been a-fighting in the open field’.

[26][27] In an attempt to boost circulation it was rebranded as Women Folk in February 1910 with Robert's daughter, Winifred Blatchford as editor before ceasing publication in the Summer of that year.