A Class by Herself: Protective Laws for Women Workers, 1890s-1990s

“A monumental contribution to the history of gendered labor law, Woloch’s clear and authoritative guide to this complex topic provides a solid foundation for future scholars. Its commanding perspective offers effective summaries, astute interpretations, and thoughtful connections across a century of social, economic, and political change. This is a book of enduring value to historians, legal scholars, and everyone interested in fairness in the workplace.”–Kathryn Kish Sklar, author of “Florence Kelley and the Nation’s Work”

“Rarely are we fortunate enough to get such a careful and nuanced exploration of such an important subject. Woloch moves well beyond polemics to help us genuinely understand the complexities of issues that remain in a class by themselves in terms of their significance in American legal and political history. Woloch’s chronological reach is especially impressive, ultimately helping us to understand the many different conceptions of ‘progressive’ politics that have enlivened modern America.”–Robert D. Johnston, author of “The Radical Middle Class”

“How did women move from the border of belonging to the center of the struggle for equality? Many historians have tackled pieces of the story, but nobody has traced the history of single-sex protective legislation from its conception to its disintegration until now. Well-researched, elegantly composed, and persuasive, “A”” Class by Herself “is a sterling account of one of the great issues in American women’s history.”–Alice Kessler-Harris, Columbia University

“Employing a wide array of scholarship, this book looks at single-sex protective labor laws, from their appearance in the late nineteenth century to their virtual disappearance at the end of the twentieth. Woloch is the right person to pull together the enormous literature on women’s history and protective labor laws and to clarify where we are in this century-long debate. A much-needed book.”–Cynthia Harrison, George Washington University