Women in labor: mothers, medicine, and occupational health in the United States, 1890-1980

Abstract

Women in Labor: Mothers, Medicine and OccupationalHealth in the UnitedStates 1890-1980 provides an incisive history of gender issues in the workplace. Hepler's interdisciplinary approach to motherhood, medicine, and industrial labour offers a fully realized exploration of the many issues that have affected women in the workplace. While the book focuses on motherhood, the workplace, and health, Hepler's emphasis on gender allows for a wider understanding of occupational health that includes, for example, how and when laws intended to aidprotect women also benefited their male coworkers. As suggested by its subtitle, Hepler's book spans ninety years of occupational health and provides an interesting overview ofthe many problems women have faced in industry. The author's focus, however, eventually shifts to the conflict between feminists who believe in protective labour legislation for women in the workplace and feminists who work for women's equality by minimizing differences between men and women. Divided into seven chapters, Women in Labor explores the construction of the idea of occupational health. Hepler notes that early reformers' concerns about women's health in the workplace was founded on the principle that women's primary duty was that of mother. Long hours and unsanitary conditions could hinder women's ability to produce and raise future citizens. The author notes that reform efforts eventually led to protective legislation that limited the number of hours women could work in selected jobs. While protective legislation often was beneficial to women, it also prohibited their employment in jobs that posed less of an overall threat to their health. In the 1920s, the debate over protective legislation was shaped by two groups: the Women's Bureau and supporters ofthe Equal Rights Amendment. Hepler traces this debate through World War I1 when women's entry into the workforce in unprecedented numbers instigated a variety of reforms beneficial to both women and men. These reforms convinced protectionist advocates such as Alice Hamilton to support a philosophy that minimized difference. This philosophy, expressed by supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment, limited activism for protective legislation based solely on gender. Hepler continues her investigation of protectionism in her study of fetal protection policies by citing the American Cyanamid's surgical sterilization of five employees as part of its fetal protection policy. She also discusses the