Aim. The purpose of the article is to study and evaluate the formation of that part of Russian factory legislation of the late 19th - early 20th century, which affected the work of women, children and adolescents. Methodology. To achieve this goal, the research objectives were formulated: to present the historiography of the problem and the methodology for its consideration, to analyze the causes, course and consequences of legislative changes, to reveal the dynamics of the use of child and female labor in the factory and mining industry of Russia. In the course of the study, the authors used the basic historical and economic methodology - the chronological method and the comparative approach. Results. The article discusses the process of legislative decisions on the regulation of the work of children, adolescents and women in Russia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, their causes and consequences. The authors analyze statistical data on the dynamics of the use of this labor in the factory and mining industry of Russia. Research implications. For the first time the comparative study of the position of children in Russian industry is presented, the conditions of their production activities in Western Europe during the analyzed period being analyzed. The article puts forward a hypothesis about the main reason for the insufficient pace of resolving child and female issues in the industrial policy of Russia: the low level of development of the country's productive forces. The presented material can be used in the educational process when conducting classes on the history of economics.