In the late 1800s and early 1900s, political progressives pursued economic and political reforms. Many pushed hard to improve working conditions for men, women, and children laboring in shops and factories. At the same time, the women’s movement pressed for the right to vote and the right to exercise autonomy in legal and economic affairs just as men enjoyed. They did not want the government policing them based on their sex. However, some argued there were inherent differences between men and women, and considering women’s physique and their maternal and societal roles, they needed to be protected in the workplace. The State of Oregon passed an act that aligned with this idea and limited the hours a woman could work in a twenty-four-hour period to ten hours.