In addition to tobacco, another very feminized sector was the Catalan textile industry. The workers nicknamed “bed bugs” worked between 12 and 14 hours and their salaries were a third less than those of men. Many factory workers participated in 1870 in the constitution of the Spanish Regional Federation in Barcelona (section of the First International), of anarchist tendency, and which in 1881 was renamed the Federation of Workers of the Spanish Section. One of the lines of debate at these first congresses was the repercussions of industrialization on women's work and, although at a very theoretical level, they included gender equality in their program.
Las Cigarreras, at least in the 19th century, did not adopt a working-class ideology such as anarchism, or Marxism, but as independent women they shared ideas about the concept of family or supported demands such as the abolition of the fifths.
In the environment of the FRE and federal republicanism we find Matilde Cherner y Hernández, a journalist who analyzes the problem of the feminine gender in her work. Also, Guillermina Rojas and Orgis, who calls for the emancipation of women from marriage and female sexual freedom. Isabel Vila i Puyol is considered the first Catalan trade unionist woman. She introduces internationalist principles in the factories and fights to ensure that boys and girls only work five hours a day. For her part, Encarnación Sierra was a cigarette maker at the Madrid Tobacco Factory, who organized collective protests at the factory and in the Lavapiés neighborhood, a working-class neighborhood not only linked to tobacco. Also in Andalucía, internationalism draws strength. In Sevilla, Manuela Díaz and Vicenta Durán coordinate the FRE congress of 1882. Teresa Claramunt, an anarcho-syndicalist worker leader and an immense figure of the workers movement, must also be highlighted.
In the 19th century and in the European environment, specifically in France, we find Saint-Simonians such as Suzanne Monnier; Jeanne Deroin, the representative of the labor movement and socialist feminism Flora Tristan; or Louise Michel, anarchist and relevant figure of the Paris Commune.
In the United Kingdom, Owenites such as the Scottish Frances Wright and the Irish Anna Doyle Wheeler stand out. For her part, Harriet Teresa Law in 1867 became the only woman on the General Council of the First International.
In the 20th century, it is worth highlighting in Spain the figures of Dolores Ibárruri, Federica Montseny, Rosario Sánchez “La Dinamitera” and Lina Ódena, symbols of the anti-Franco struggle; in Germany, Clara Zetkin, Lily Braun and Rosa Luxemburg; in Russia, Alexandra Kollontai; and in Lithuania, Emma Goldman.