The Be-nighted States of America - Laws Regulating Night Work of Women in Manufacture
- Title:
- The Be-nighted States of America - Laws Regulating Night Work of Women in Manufacture
- Alternate Title:
- Laws Regulating Night Work of Women in Manufacture
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Merriman, Christina C.
- Date:
- 1913
- Posted Date:
- 2017-04-14
- ID Number:
- 2183.01
- Collection Number:
- 8548
- File Name:
- PJM_2183_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1900 - 1919
- Subject:
- Politics & Government
Other Moral & Social - Measurement:
- 27 x 19 page (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- "The Be-nighted States of America - in the black states below women can be worked as long by night as by day." One of five maps illustrating an article by Josephine Goldmark of the National Consumers League on "Labor Laws for Women - Do You Live in a Black State?" Goldmark's article begins, "The maps here reproduced are designed to show at a glance the standing of each state in the protection afforded to working women from excessive hours of labor." While the details are critical in establishing the argument, the force of each map comes from the extent of the areas colored solid black: "No legal limitation" on women's hours.
Goldmark is particularly pointed in discussing the map illustrated on the cover of the article, "Laws Regulating Night Work of Women in Manufacture." All but three of these states are colored black: "No closing hour." As Goldmark says (554-55), "Most striking is the Stygian blackness of the map reproduced on the cover of this issue of The Survey. This shows that only three states in the Union . . . prohibit work at night in factories, after a fixed closing hour. . . . The fact that fourteen European nations have . . . signed a treaty to provide for women in industry at least eleven hours' rest at night brings out forcibly the inaction of our states on this momentous issue. Space does not allow us here even to enumerate the arguments in its favor."
This article, and the maps supporting it, are typical of the pioneering work of Josephine Goldmark in bringing scientific method to the fight for progressive social reform. Her work "argued on rational and scientific grounds for enlightened labor legislation, marshaling the reports of European and American factory inspectors, bureaus of labor statistics, health officials, and investigating committees, as well as the testimony of physicians and economists, to show that too-long working hours not only harmed workers, but also decreased productivity and efficiency." Bremner 1971, 60. Goldmark did outstanding work across a range of areas, including service on the committee established to investigate the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, and an exhaustive study for the Committee for the Study of Nursing Education which led to fundamental modernization of that profession. "Her most important work was in amassing the impressive medical, economic, and social data which her brother-in-law [Louis D. Brandeis] used in preparing his famous 'Brandeis briefs' in cases involving the constitutionality of progressive social legislation, most notably Muller v. Oregon (1908), in which the Supreme Court upheld a state law setting maximum working hours for women." Ibid.
In 1920, following passage of the 19th Amendment, a Women's Bureau was established in the U.S. Department of Labor. For one of the Bureau's persuasive maps, see ID #2317, "Night Work Laws for Women" (1935).
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- The Survey, v.29, n.17, week of January 25, 1913, pp. 535, 552-55.
- Cite As:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.