The Other Women's Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America

Dorothy Sue Cobble's The Other Women's Movement uncovers the story of a generation of labor women almost forgotten in most historical accounts of American feminism. These women grew up in the Depression, operated factories during the War, and later struggled for benefits and rights of the working mother and wife. Cobble, a professor of labor studies, history, and women's and gender studies at Rutgers University, emphasizes that this group of social feminists believed that the inequalities that women faced resulted from a variety of sources and therefore required an array of social reforms to improve their inferior status. In this way, these activists opposed the individualistic "equal rights feminism" of the National Women's Party that is the premise for the ERA. Labor feminists of this generation strove for the attainment of "full industrial citizenship" to secure fundamental economic rights and benefits for all women. Moreover, these activists fought for the social rights and social supports for women's lives outside of wage work, particularly the right to care for one's family. As the balance of work and family continues to be a primary concern for women today, Cobble reminds us of the pioneering women of the postwar generation who made tremendous inroads in securing equality and fairness in the workplace for all women.