Working Women and Occupational Hazards

Throughout the 20th century, women were laboring in industries where their exposures to lead was very high. The document we are highlighting today is from 1928. It described the toxic effects of lead exposure on working-class women, who were often more vulnerable because they were forced into low paying jobs and encountered more work hazards than men.

This medical report, written by Dr. Myer Coplans and reprinted in the Daily Mail, argued that women were especially susceptible to lead because of its abortive effects.

The report also notes that women in lead factories were observed to be more likely to have aborted pregnancies, premature births, and stillborn infants. Still, even with both scientific trials and observed trends, lead continued to be used in a wide variety of industrial products until the late 20th-century.