This Women’s History Month, we’d like to look back and celebrate women who have made a profound impact in our world. Women’s History Month is a reminder of how far women have come in the fight for gender equality, and it is a time to celebrate remarkable women who have challenged our society and fought for what they believed in. 

This month we will be using #throwbackthursday as an opportunity to spotlight lady badasses throughout history. Today, let’s take a moment to appreciate a woman named Sue Lee. In 1926, Sue Lee got married to a man named Lee Jew Hing who was a bookkeeper at the National Dollar Stores in San Francisco. Sue was hired at the National Dollar Stores as a buttonhole machine operator making a measly 25 cents an hour; regardless of the pay, she was grateful to have a job that maintained flexible hours because she had two children to provide for—and she recognized that few jobs were offered to Chinese women at the time. 

But at the end of the Great Depression, Sue Lee and other women started to recognize that their management was engaging in unfair labor practices, and they ended up in a labor dispute. This set the stage for the workers to go on strike and form the Chinese Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union—marking the first time Chinese women in Chinatown fought against the poor labor conditions in the garment industry. Sue Ko Lee, along with other women, actively engaged in the strike by walking the picket line and speaking out publicly. 

After the union reached an agreement with factory management, a meeting took place to vote on the contract. People were unsatisfied with the contract because of its inadequacy, but Sue Lee responded by saying: “At least that’s something to begin with. You had to start someplace. . . . If you take longer, people are not going to stay around. They can’t afford to.”

Eventually the factory shut down and the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was able to help aid the Chinese workers in finding other jobs with better wages and working conditions. Sue Lee said, “The Strike was the best thing that ever happened. . . . It changed our lives.”

After the strike, Sue Lee became the first Chinese American Business agent and a secretary of both the Local 101 and San Francisco International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union board. She worked as a union organizer for 20 years before she grew discouraged by the greed of contractors and the lack of interest among Chinese garment workers. She left the ILGWU and went on to work for California employment services. 

Sue Lee deserves to be celebrated because she knew she was being treated unfairly at the workplace and took action to advocate for better working conditions for Chinese garment workers. Sue Lee broke new ground by leading a 15-week strike for Chinese workers in Chinatown, and that’s why she is a true inspiration: she pushed back against racial barriers and fought against being treated poorly in the workplace. 

In an era when women still earn 79 cents for every dollar earned by a man, women like Sue Lee are an inspiration because they teach us that is important to fight for reform. Women’s History Month reminds us of these remarkable women who pushed limits and created progress, and they inspire us to keep fighting for gender equality.