Bound by our Constitution : women, workers, and the minimum wage / Vivien Hart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hart, Vivien.

Series:

Princeton studies in American politics.

Princeton studies in American politics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Minimum wage--Law and legislation--United States--History.

Minimum wage.

Sex discrimination in employment--Law and legislation--United States--History.

Sex discrimination in employment.

Wages--Women--Law and legislation--United States--History.

Wages.

Women--Employment--United States--History.

Women.

Minimum wage--Law and legislation--Great Britain--History.

Sex discrimination in employment--Law and legislation--Great Britain--History.

Wages--Women--Law and legislation--Great Britain--History.

Women--Employment--Great Britain--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

What difference does a written constitution make to public policy? How have women workers fared in a nation bound by constitutional principles, compared with those not covered by formal, written guarantees of fair procedure or equitable outcome? To investigate these questions, Vivien Hart traces the evolution of minimum wage policies in the United States and Britain from their common origins in women's politics around 1900 to their divergent outcomes in our day. She argues, contrary to common wisdom, that the advantage has been with the American constitutional system rather than the British.Basing her analysis on primary research, Hart reconstructs legal strategies and policy decisions that revolved around the recognition of women as workers and the public definition of gender roles. Contrasting seismic shifts and expansion in American minimum wage policy with indifference and eventual abolition in Britain, she challenges preconceptions about the constraints of American constitutionalism versus British flexibility. Though constitutional requirements did block and frustrate women's attempts to gain fair wages, they also, as Hart demonstrates, created a terrain in the United States for principled debate about women, work, and the state--and a momentum for public policy--unparalleled in Britain. Hart's book should be of interest to policy, labor, women's, and legal historians, to political scientists, and to students of gender issues, law, and social policy.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER ONE. Constitutional Politics

CHAPTER TWO. No Sweat: Work and Women, Britain, 1895-1905

CHAPTER THREE. Low-Paid Workers: The Trade Boards Act, Britain, 1906-1909

CHAPTER FOUR. A Sex Problem: The Politics of Difference, U.S.A., 1907-1921

CHAPTER FIVE Police Power: The Welfare of Women, U.S.A., 1907-1921

CHAPTER SIX. Gender Trap: Protection versus Equality, U.S.A., 1921-1923

CHAPTER SEVEN. Due Process: The Welfare of the Economy, U.S.A., 1923-1937

CHAPTER EIGHT. Labor and Commerce: The Fair Labor Standards Act, U.S.A., 1937-1938

CHAPTER NINE. Conclusion: The Minimum Wage in the 1990's

ABBREVIATIONS

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-246) and index.

ISBN:

9786612752131

9781400816385

1400816386

9781282752139

1282752138

9781400821563

1400821568

9781400812011

1400812011

OCLC:

700688619