About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

24 Indus. & Lab. Rel. Rev. 3 (1970-1971)
Women Workers: Protection or Equality

handle is hein.journals/ialrr24 and id is 5 raw text is: WOMEN WORKERS: PROTECTION OR EQUALITY? RAYMOND MUNTS and DAVID C. RICE D URING the reform period of the dec- ade preceding World War I, states began enacting protective laws for workers. This was acclaimed widely as a public victory over unchecked indus- trialization. Some of these laws apply only to women, regulating their hours of work and conditions of employment. Now legislatures and courts are taking a new look at women's protective law at the urging of those who feel such legis- lation restricts women's access to certain jobs and places women at a disadvantage in competing with men. The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission claims that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 invalidates women's pro- tective law because it prohibits employ- ment discrimination based on sex. This In banning sex discrimination in employment, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 poses a serious threat to state legislation designed to protect women workers against long hours and conditions endangering their health and safety. This article examines the issues involved in the position taken by the Equal Employment Oppor- tunities Commission that laws prohibiting women from certain occupations or limiting their hours of work tend to discriminate rather than protect. The authors suggest that the advo- cates of equal fights are unaware of the risks involved in leaving determination of employ- ment conditions to the free market. Raymond Munts is professor of social work and assistant director of the Institute for Re- search on Poverty, and David C. Rice is a law student, University of Wisconsin. They express thanks for assistance to Ann Draper, Susan Fern- bach, and Sonia Pressman.-EDrroR. amendment was added to the Civil Rights Act during congressional debate and was regarded, at the time, as a mere maneuver intended to block passage of the Act, but the ultimate fate of female protective law may turn on the primacy of this federal statute. State Laws Regulating Aspects of Women's Employment With the rapid growth of industry, finance, and commerce at the end of the nineteenth century, women entered the labor force in substantial numbers. By 1900 the five million female employees constituted 18 percent of the labor force. Public attention was directed by the National Consumers' League and others to the long hours, low wages, and miser- able conditions of many working women. Immigration and rapid urbanization had provided an overabundance of female help. With few skills, low mobility, and no union protection, women were easily exploited. In the reform move- ment which began about 1900 as a response to unchecked industrial expan- sion, legislative protection for women and children laborers was a prominent theme. The reformers argued vigorously for laws limiting the hours of employment for women. By 1913, twenty-seven states had created maximum weekly or daily

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most