The life of Sylvia Pankhurst is rich in experience for all activists in the labour movement. The names of the Pankhurst family are synonymous with the struggle to win the vote for women, but what distinguished Sylvia Pankhurst's approach from that of her mother Emmeline and her sister Christabel were class issues. It resulted in the 1920s, after nearly twenty years of struggle, with Emmeline standing as Tory Parliamentary candidate and Sylvia becoming a founder member of the British Communist Party. The seeds of such a divide were there from the early days of the suffragette organisation. One in five households are headed by a female breadwinner and the majority of women can expect to take up paid employment at some stage in their life.
Employment is also widespread amongst women with young children.
These are world-wide phenomena. The same trend is occurring in the developing world. The two income household is now firmly established. This does not mean that equality has arrived. Women are concentrated in low pay ghettos - cleaning and caring, clerical jobs, etc.