The Safety Trap: Why Women Earn LessHow protective laws created the modern wage gap

From the show

Hidden Architecture of Patriarchy

Legal definitions of women as dependents formed the basis for restricting their working hours in Muller v. Oregon. This framing of exclusion as protection barred women from lucrative industrial trades. The 1908 ruling established the structural foundation for modern occupational segregation and the persistent earnings gap in hazardous fields.