[求助]GWD12Q8

Acting on the recommen-

dation of a British government

committee investigating the

Line high incidence in white lead

(5) factories of illness among

employees, most of whom

were women, the Home Sec-

retary proposed in 1895 that

Parliament enact legislation

(10) that would prohibit women from

holding most jobs in white lead

factories. Although the

Women’s Industrial Defence

Committee (WIDC), formed

(15) in 1892 in response to earlier

legislative attempts to restrict

women’s labor, did not dis-

count the white lead trade’s

potential health dangers, it

(20) opposed the proposal, view-

ing it as yet another instance

of limiting women’s work

opportunities. Also opposing

the proposal was the Society

(25) for Promoting the Employment

of Women (SPEW), which

attempted to challenge it by

investigating the causes of ill-

ness in white lead factories.

(30) SPEW contended, and WIDC

concurred, that controllable

conditions in such factories

were responsible for the devel-

opment of lead poisoning.

(35) SPEW provided convincing

evidence that lead poisoning

could be avoided if workers

were careful and clean and

if already extant workplace

(40) safety regulations were

stringently enforced. How-

ever, the Women’s Trade

Union League (WTUL), which

had ceased in the late 1880’s

(45) to oppose restrictions on

women’s labor, supported the

eventually enacted proposal,

in part because safety regu-

lations were generally not

(50) being enforced in white lead

factories, where there were no

unions (and little prospect of

any) to pressure employers to

comply with safety regulations.