Mary van Kleeck, Lillian Gilbreth and the Women’s Bureau study of gendered labor law

Abstract

This paper examines the 1928 Women’s Bureau report, The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of Women. It argues that this was a landmark study, demonstrating that scientific management had the potential to develop into a mature applied social science which could play an important role in the identification, measurement and amelioration of recurrent social problems. It further argues that the report demonstrated the usefulness of scientific management in measuring impartially the effects of gender‐specific labor legislation. The paper highlights the instrumental role Mary van Kleeck and Lillian Gilbreth played in bringing feminism and scientific management together and the manner by which they utilized the Women’s Bureau report to advance the social and economic interests of women.

Citation

Nyland, C. and Rix, M. (2000), "Mary van Kleeck, Lillian Gilbreth and the Women’s Bureau study of gendered labor law", Journal of Management History (Archive), Vol. 6 No. 7, pp. 306-322. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552520010359333