Women's Role in Creating the Field of Health and Safety Communication

Abstract

Crystal Eastman, Alice Hamilton, and the women who organized the Workers' Health Bureau helped shape the field of health and safety communication early in this century. In texts targeted to varied professional and popular audiences, they sought to prevent occupational accidents and disease by promoting voluntary efforts by employers, government regulation and compensation programs, and unions to incorporate health and safety standards in contracts. While both their approach to research and their argumentative strategies can be considered "feminine," this designation reflects a tendency to associate women with activities and behaviors that have been devalued.