Protective legislation limited the number of hours that a woman or child could work in certain jobs and guaranteed them a minimum wage. The legal result, however, was that men and women were treated differently in the work place. The major justifications were that physical differences between men and women would make it dangerous for women to work; the chronic fatigue of long hours would result in the deterioration of women's health; and future generations would be affected by this deterioration in women's health. Although these laws guaranteed a minimum wage for women and children, they created unintentional inequities. Protective legislation gave courts the grounds for rendering inequitable decisions. It was not until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that women enjoyed legislation granting equality in the workplace and the firm legal grounds to enforce such laws in court. In employment, as in suffrage and possession of property, the legal history of women's struggle for equality mirrored what was happening in the society at large and amplifies our understanding of it.

What spark the Seneca Falls Declaration and Resolutions? Women wanted to call the attention to unfair treatment of women. The Seneca Falls Declaration convention began the empowerment of women. It was time for women to become whatever they wanted to be and not have to worry about fact that they are females. The resolutions demanded equality with men before the law, in education and employment. Also women began to speak out about the right to vote. Elizabeth Cady Stanton