Abstract
The article examines the activity of several political groups who debated women's labor - such as feminist groups, catholic politicians and members of Vargas government. It assumes that the integration of women in the labor market needs to be examined together with the idea of family, once that was the way both subjects were treated historically. The construction of gender differences, in Brazil, also expressed itself in the labor legislation related to women's work, to which public and private order were intermingled.
Key-words:
women's work; feminism; Vargas; maternity