"THE MOTHERS OF THE RACE" IN WORLD WAR I.

In the 1960s, two Federal steps against sex-based discrimination, the Civil Rights Act and the "Equal Pay" amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, signaled victory for the heirs of the women who had fought for both equal pay and equal employment opportunities during World War I. The wartime government had embraced cautiously the demand for equal pay, had equivocated on the rights of working women, and in the end, had left a checkered legacy. Among the government's most important agencies, which dealt with women workers, was the National War Labor Board (NWLB). The NWLB administered America's first comprehensive experiment in labor-government-management relations. The American Federation of Labor named five labor leaders to represent employees, and the National Industrial Conference Board selected five industrialists to speak for the nation's employers. From the outset, the NWLB employee members urged sweeping reforms and the employer representatives stood firm against change. The board's principles, which had been drafted in an effort to reconcile the two groups' conflicting demands, were themselves ambiguous.