The laws that protected women from work

Recorded at the CEPR Paris Symposium. During the first half of the 20th century, the US introduced state laws that imposed restrictions on when and how women were permitted to work outside the home. These laws seem bizarre in 2025. Why were they introduced – and why were they eventually repealed? In the first of three episodes to celebrate International Women’s Day, Tim Phillips talks to Anne Hannusch of the University of Mannheim about what motivated the movement to keep women out of the workplace, and what, eventually, brought them back in.