ABSTRACT
A heterogeneous network of progressive activists, of which academics were a constituent, fought for enactment of protective labor legislation, while conservative efforts, primarily embodied by Lochner era Federal Courts, upheld freedom of contract and laissez-faire. This chapter considers the progressive Columbia University of women economists as an important exception to the sexist progressive trend. Emilie Josephine Hutchinson and Elizabeth Faulkner Baker viewed labor legislation, in particular minimum wage legislation, as a full-blown "labor problem" rather than a "sex problem". They proposed universal extension of labor legislation as a fundamental pillar for socio-economic improvement of American capitalist society. Such a far-reaching outlook posed a convincing challenge to feminist opponents of protective labor legislation, who, starting from the beginning of the 1920s, fought against minimum wages in the name of equal opportunities. The chapter discusses two indispensable components for Baker's and Hutchinson's reform agenda: unionization and socio-economic education.
