Bondfield began an apprenticeship at the age of 14 in a draper's shop in Brighton, where a customer, Louisa Martindale befriended her and lent her books on left-wing politics. In 1894 she moved to London and was elected to the Shop Assistants' Union district council.
In 1896 the Womens' Industrial Council commissioned her to investigate the pay and conditions of shop workers, and she published a report on this in 1898. In 1898 she was elected assistant secretary of the Shop Assistants' Union and in 1908 became secretary of the Womens' Labour League.
In 1923 Bondfield was elected Labour Member of Parliament for Northampton and was appointed Minister of Labour by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924. This was the first time that a woman had been made a Cabinet Minister. She again stood for election in 1926, this time in the Wallsend constituency. She was defeated in the 1931 general election and despite standing at Wallsend in 1935, she never returned to the House of Commons.
Between 1939 and 1945 Bondfield was chair of the Womens' Group on Public Welfare.