Women at Work by a woman of firsts Margaret Bourke-White Photography

Margaret Bourke-White, [Indian prostitutes peeking out from the doorways of their brothel, Lahore], 1946


Margaret Bourke-White (1904–1971) was a woman of firsts: the first foreign journalist allowed to take pictures of industries in the Soviet Union; the first female photographer hired by Life magazine and its first female war correspondent. In fact, her work graced the first Life cover in November 1936. Bourke-White’s interests ranged far and wide, from photographing the drought victims of the Dust Bowl to chronicling the combat zones of World War II and the violence of the India/Pakistan partition.

One of themes she kept returning to was that of women, specifically women and their work.  She photographed working women in a number of countries in a manner that illustrated the dignity of their work, no matter how controversial. See for more ...

Margaret Bourke-White, [Because the laws of Islam prohibit women from speaking loudly, this professional Muslim female beggar is holding a card, which has a message written in Urdu saying she is a widow with two children and no one to support her, Delhi], 1946

Margaret Bourke-White, Streetcar Conductor: Moscow, ca. 1931

Margaret Bourke-White, At the Lathe, “Hammer & Sickle” Factory: Moscow, ca. 1931

Margaret Bourke-White, [Nurse Clara Stull prepares typhoid inoculation for flood victims at refugee aid station at Hikes Grade School, Louisville], 1937