A CLASS BY HERSELF
Protective Laws for Women Workers,
1890s-1990s
■■■
Nancy Woloch
Princeton University Press
Princeton and Oxford
Contents
■ ■■
Introduction
1
1
Roots of Protection: The National Consumers’ League
and Progressive Reform
Progressives M o b ilize
5
6
Florence Kelley and the N C L
11
Rationales: The Perils o f Pragmatism
18
Roadblocks: Business and Labor
25
Law: C onstraint and O p p o rtu n ity
28
2
Gender, Protection, and the Courts, 1895-1907
33
Freedom o f C ontract versus the Police Power
35
A Low ell M ill: Commonwealth v. Ham ilton Manufacturing Co. (1876)
38
A Chicago Box Factory: Ritchie v. People (1895)
39
A Utah M ine: Holden v. Hardy (1898)
43
W om en’s H ours Laws: Pennsylvania, Washington, Nebraska
45
A Utica Bakery: Lochner v. New York (1905)
48
A N ew York B ookbindery: People v. Williams (1907)
51
3
A Class by Herself: M uller v. Oregon (1908)
54
Local Roots o f the M uller Case
55
M u lle r Goes to C o u rt
58
The N C L Steps In
61
The Brandeis B rie f
64
C u rt M u lle r’s B rie f
70
The M u lle r v. Oregon O p in io n
73
Assessing the Law o f 1903
79
vi
•
Contents
4
Protection in Ascent, 1908-23
M axim um H ours Cases
85
87
N ig h t W ork Laws
93
Protecting M en
97
The M in im u m Wage
103
War and Peace
109
Adkins v. Children 's Hospital (1923)
112
5
Different versus Equal: The 1920s
121
Alice Paul, the N a tio n al W oman’s Party, and the ERA
122
T he N C L , Social Fem inism , and the M in im u m Wage
125
Factions C ollide: The W omen’s M ovem ent
130
Close C om bat: The Conferences
133
The W omen’s Bureau R eport o f 1928
137
D id the Laws Work? Enforcem ent and Effectiveness
141
W orking W omen’s Voices
145
6
Transformations: The New Deal through the 1950s
N ew Deal W omen
152
153
The M in im u m Wage and the R evolution o f 1937
158
ELSA: Protection T riu m p h a n t
162
The 1940s: War and Postwar
167
Bartending: Goesaert v. Cleary (1948)
174
Women in Unions
180
The W omen’s Bureau and the N W P
184
7
Trading Places: The 1960s and 1970s
The Early 1960s: PCSW and Equal Pay
191
193
T itle V II, the EEOC, and Protective Laws
197
Protection Debated: Pressure and Politics, 1965-69
202
Contents
P rotection Challenged: Three Landm ark Cases
•
vii
207
Protection D ism antled: The Courts and the States
212
C losing Argum ents: 1970
221
The ERA and the W omen’s M ovem ent
224
8
Last Lap: Work and Pregnancy
235
Pregnancy Cases: 'The 1970s
236
The Pregnancy D is c rim in a tio n A ct (1978)
242
Toward Family Leave
248
The Toxic W orkplace
250
The Johnson Controls Decision (1991)
255
Conclusion: Protection Revisited
261
L o o kin g Back: The Clash over O vertim e
263
M o ving O n: A fte r Protection
267
Acknowledgments
2 73
Notes
275
Index
321