TODAY is International Women's Day, which is an ideal opportunity to look back at the life of Crewe suffragist Ada Neild Chew who campaigned for a living wage for local factory girls at the turn of the 19th century.

Ada's anonymous letters to the editor of the Crewe Chronicle highlighted the inequalities of labour between women and men from her own experience working in a clothing factory.

Her letters publicising the exploitative conditions imposed by the managers, as well as the lot of women workers, became important documents in social history and inspired change at the time.

Ada's letters signed 'A Crewe Factory Girl', told of the privations of working class life in the era; such as the practice of charging workers for the materials they required to do their work and the unfairness over the way it was allocated.

She highlighted how the women in the factory were paid a fraction of a male wage.

Ada took on a role at the local trades council and worked on improving conditions in a workhouse in Nantwich, joining the Independent Labour Park and forming a Crewe branch of the Amalgamated Society of Tailors.

She campaigned for women's suffrage and was a noted pacifist during World War I, before building up a mail-order drapery business in her later life.

In 2018 she was featured at the Museum's Empowerment of Women exhibition.

International Women's Day is a celebration of the social, economic, political, and cultural achievements of women, as well as a call to action to take a stand for women's equality and gender parity.

The work of women like Ada inspired generations, including Crewe councillor Marilyn Houston, Cheshire East Council's equality diversity and inclusion member champion, who said: "You don't have to look far to find extraordinary women. Ada was one of my inspirations - she challenged the awful working conditions at a factory in Crewe in 1894.

"Ada perfectly encapsulates the message of International Women's Day – showing what can be achieved when women challenge on behalf of other women who are being treated unfairly."

Cheshire East Council's Cabinet member for public health and corporate services, Crewe councillor Jill Rhodes added: "The theme for this year's International Women's Day sends out a strong message to the world that inequality needs to be a thing of the past.

"Individually we are all responsible for our own thoughts and actions, so it's up to us to call out gender bias, to celebrate women's achievements and challenge inequality."