A Unanimous Vote to Push Women Out of the Beer Halls
The Washington House backed a bill barring women from working anywhere intoxicating liquor was sold—aimed at waitresses and 'beer rulers' in variety theaters and saloons.
Representative Milroy's bill to prohibit the employment of females in places where intoxicating liquors are sold as a beverage was passed by unanimous vote. If this bill becomes a law it will dispose of the 'beer rulers' and waitresses in all the variety theaters and beer halls of the state. Bills of this character have been introduced in former legislatures but have failed to pass. That there was not a dissenting vote against Milroy's measure demonstrates that the lower house is surprisingly moral.
“If this bill becomes a law it will dispose of the 'beer rulers' and waitresses in all the variety theaters and beer halls of the state.”
Moral-reform laws often masquerade as protection. This 1895 measure would have stripped women of livelihoods in the name of public morality, a pattern that echoes in later fights over sex work, bartending, and workplace regulation.
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