A Class by Herself

Nancy Woloch teaches history at Barnard College, Columbia University. Her books include Women and the American Experience and Muller v. Oregon: A Brief History with Documents.

Introduction 1 1 Roots of Protection: The National Consumers' League and Progressive Reform 5 Progressives Mobilize 6 Florence Kelley and the NCL 11 Rationales: The Perils of Pragmatism 18 Roadblocks: Business and Labor 25 Law: Constraint and Opportunity 28 2 Gender, Protection, and the Courts, 1895-1907 33 Freedom of Contract versus the Police Power 35 A Lowell Mill: Commonwealth v. Hamilton Manufacturing Co. (1876) 38 A Chicago Box Factory: Ritchie v. People (1895) 39 A Utah Mine: Holden v. Hardy (1898) 43 Women's Hours Laws: Pennsylvania, Washington, Nebraska 45 A Utica Bakery: Lochner v. New York (1905) 48 A New York Bookbindery: People v. Williams (1907) 51 3 A Class by Herself: Muller v. Oregon (1908) 54 Local Roots of the Muller Case 55 Muller Goes to Court 58 The NCL Steps In 61 The Brandeis Brief 64 Curt Muller's Brief 70 The Muller v. Oregon Opinion 73 Assessing the Law of 1903 79 4 Protection in Ascent, 1908-23 85 Maximum Hours Cases 87 Night Work Laws 93 Protecting Men 97 The Minimum Wage 103 War and Peace 109 Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923) 112 5 Different versus Equal: The 1920s 121 Alice Paul, the National Woman's Party, and the ERA 122 The NCL, Social Feminism, and the Minimum Wage 125 Factions Collide: The Women's Movement 130 Close Combat: The Conferences 133 The Women's Bureau Report of 1928 137 Did the Laws Work? Enforcement and Effectiveness 141 Working Women's Voices 145 6 Transformations: The New Deal through the 1950s 152 New Deal Women 153 The Minimum Wage and the Revolution of 1937 158 FLSA: Protection Triumphant 162 The 1940s: War and Postwar 167 Bartending: Goesaert v. Cleary (1948) 174 Women in Unions 180 The Women's Bureau and the NWP 184 7 Trading Places: The 1960s and 1970s 191 The Early 1960s: PCSW and Equal Pay 193 Title VII, the EEOC , and Protective Laws 197 Protection Debated: Pressure and Politics, 1965-69 202 Protection Challenged: Three Landmark Cases 207 Protection Dismantled: The Courts and the States 212 Closing Arguments: 1970 221 The ERA and the Women's Movement 224 8 Last Lap: Work and Pregnancy 235 Pregnancy Cases: The 1970s 236 The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978) 242 Toward Family Leave 248 The Toxic Workplace 250 The Johnson Controls Decision (1991) 255 Conclusion: Protection Revisited 261 Looking Back: The Clash over Overtime 263 Moving On: After Protection 267 Acknowledgments 273 Notes 275 Index 321