Why would a historian consider the "maternalist reforms" an ironic or peculiar aspect of the progressive era? they made settlement houses, which primarily served women and children in poverty, seem discriminatory to modern eyes. they were necessary because new developments in the labor industry, including the forming of new unions, excluded women. they sought legislation that would improve the lives of women and children, though these improvements came at the expense of limiting the rights of men. they introduced gender bias into state laws, limiting women's economic independence at a time when women sought the right to vote.