Four operators connect calls while working at a switchboard.

Hold the Line

As telephony developed, so did a workforce of switchboard operators—all women—who were ultimately rendered obsolete by technological progress.
A Victorian boy and girl excitedly welcoming their father home, while their mother stands and watches

How Government Helped Create the “Traditional” Family

Since the mid-nineteenth century, many labor regulations in the US have been crafted with the express purpose of strengthening the male-breadwinner family.
A bartender in 1951

How Women Fought for the Right to Be Bartenders

As Life magazine put it, “angry barmaids are tough opponents in any hassle.”
Susan Faludi

Backlash Then, Backlash Now

“No feminist ever said the women’s movement was about women ‘having it all,’” Susan Faludi said. “In the 80s, it was falsely held up as a feminist promise broken.”
Daughter sitting in working mothers lap

Class and Choice in “Mommy Track” Jobs

During a childcare crisis, it's important to listen to mothers who have made sacrifices for their kids. But not all sacrifices are identical.
An African American worker carrying a tool in a factory

This Wrench Smashes Patriarchy: Women and Tools

After World War II, many women in industrial jobs put down their wrenches. But the spirit of Rosie the Riveter couldn't be denied.
Vintage Portrait of two Babies in an Old Fashioned Antique Baby Carriage Buggy

This Isn’t the First Baby Bust

And it's unlikely to be the last. One scholar looks at the factors that contributed to the increase in childlessness at the turn of the twentieth century.
A family poses for a portrait in front of a fabric backdrop on the veranda of their home, in the early 1900s.

What the Reconstruction Meant for Women

Southern legal codes included parallel language pairing “master and slave” and “husband and wife.”
Alice Guy

Hollywood Froze Out the Founding Mother of Cinema

French filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché was the first female film director, and renowned as an innovator in the field. Then she moved to Hollywood.
An unwrapped stick of butter

Women Made Butter a Behemoth

In the 19th century, butter production became a valuable way for women to profit off their farms-- and it soon became a major agricultural product.