National Service, and the Women's Wages Section, and the Welfare
Section, and the Dilution Section of the Ministry of Munitions.
The most liberal department in employing women on well-paid
work which might have gone to men was the Ministry of Food.

It may be said that, even in the establishment divisions, their
appointment represented a victory, for so late as the autumn of
1915 one Service department, employing thousands of women and
girls, was refusing to pay any of its women university graduates
more than 403. a week, or to provide the staffs with a single woman in
authority to whom they could go if in difficulties. Hardly at all, and
only by the new type of minister, was the policy pursued of bringing
in distinguished women to deal with special women's problems,
although men with special experience were brought in by the dozen.
Such an experiment would have been of very great value. The
demobilization of these enormous bodies of women took longer than
had been expected ; in fact, it had hardly begun when the passing
of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act made it necessary for the
Civil Service commissioners to consider the terms on which they
should be admitted to the higher grades of the permanent service.
The task of framing the general principles under which they might
enter was entrusted by them to the newly formed National Whitley
Council for the clerical and legal departments of the Civil Service,
which, as it happened, was preparing to bring forward a scheme of
reorganization for the entire service. This scheme, since agreed to
by Parliament, provided that, with certain exceptions, women were
to be admitted to the general work of the Civil Service with the
same status as men. They were not, however, for an experimental
period not exceeding three years, to receive the same pay for their



work ; and they were not to compete for posts with men but were to
be appointed to a special proportion of posts which each department
was to reserve for them; nor were they to enter by competitive
examination but were to be chosen by a selection board. These
conditions, especially that dealing with pay, were accepted by the
women's representatives under protest, as they considered that the
Civil Service together with the teaching profession were fields in
which equal pay was not only eminently just but peculiarly desirable,
and its opposite calculated not merely to injure the prospects of the
women directly affected but to diminish their opportunities of doing
valuable work. It was necessary, however, to accept such terms as
part of the temporary bargain, and the Treasury proceeded to
appoint a Director of Women's Establishments and to persuade, or
endeavour to persuade, those branches of the service such as
the National Physical and Chemical Laboratories where women
scientists selected solely for their ability had been receiving the same
salaries as men, to reduce the scales of the women on their staffs in
accordance with the new arrangements for the clerical class. They
took no steps, however, to admit women to the higher grades of the
service, preferring to suggest that the Government should remove
from the purview of the Whitley Council the question of the em-
ployment of ex-service men in the Civil Service one of the matters
definitely referred to it under its constitution and hand it over to a
committee largely composed of members of Parliament. Under
shelter of the recommendations of this committee, which were at
once adopted by the Treasury, even though they conflicted with the
agreement signed by the same officials, the principle of admitting
women to the general work of the service was abandoned, and ex-
service men were appointed to all posts of which it could not definite-
ly be said that it was impossible to employ anybody but a woman,
including a number which had always been filled by women because
they were concerned with the health, welfare, wages, or conditions of
women. The appointments were made possible by a process of
combing-out which took no account of qualifications, knowledge, or
experience, and concerned itself solely with financial considerations.

On Aug. 5 1921 a debate took place in the House of Commons on
the regulations framed by the Civil Service commissioners for carry-
ing out the Whitley scheme. It was pointed out on behalf of the
women that the regulations ran counter to two separate votes of the
House in favour of equality of treatment, and a motion was brought
forward designed to secure for women the same pay and the same
conditions of service as are enjoyed by men doing the same work.
Under pressure from the Chancellor of the Exchequer a compromise
was finally accepted under which the regulations were confirmed for
three years; a promise was given that after that time women should
be admitted in the same way as men except that the Civil Service
commissioners should have power not to appoint a woman to any
post for which they considered a woman unsuitable and work
under the same conditions as men, except that they might not marry;
and that the question of equal pay was for further consideration.
It was also promised that women establishment officers should be
appointed in departments employing considerable numbers of
women, but a motion to the effect that some women should be ad-
mitted to every grade was not accepted.

Industries Chiefly Affected. The most striking transfers of work
from men to women naturally took place in the aircraft and metal
munitions trades, because it was they which expanded most during
the war, and they also were the objects of special pressure from the
dilution authorities. What that pressure amounted to may be shown
by the fact that in Jan. 1918 firms working for the Admiralty, which
controlled its own dilution, employed 458,000 males and 52,000
females, while firms working for the War Office, Ministry of Muni-
tions and Air Force employed 476,000 males and 235,000 females. In
Nov. of the same year the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory, Greenock,
employed 2,706 males and 372 females 13.7 %; while Woolwich Ar-
senal employed 40,000 males and 24,000 females, or 60 % of females.

Next perhaps comes Jransport, with its uniformed women driving
cars, collecting tickets and acting as conductors, guards, goods
porters and signal-women. After these and the land, the change was
most easily seen in the brewing industry, and in hotels and public-
houses, both of which successfully employed large numbers of
women on men's work during the war. Possibly 25,000 women came
on to aircraft wood-work during the war.

Inaircraft work, women in one Government factory by the end of
the war were making the entire fuselage, including the really skilled
work of propeller-shaping, and all over the country they were mak-
ing, covering, and doping the wings, and doing all but the heaviest
erecting. This is essentially mass-production work, as every smallest
stick is cut to its size before the women touch it, and,- as such, it is
women's and not men's work, and peculiarly suited to them.

Women's Work Characterized. It may be said that now for the
first time the industrial capacity of women has been minutely con-
sidered by critics both hostile, impartial, and biased in their
favour. The results of this scrutiny, from whatever source, are
favourable, and fairly uniform. The women were more adaptable
than the mass of observers had supposed them, they possessed more
latent intelligence and greater physical strength, and they withstood
far better the effects of monotony. On the other hand, as compared
with men, they possess certain general defects which may be
summed up as follows: insufficient strength; lack of initiative; lack



1052



WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT



of interest in the technical side of their work or desire to im-
prove their position by training or qualifying for work requiring
more skill or responsibility; comparatively bad health; lack of
care in dealing with machines, materials and tools supplied by
the employer; lack of steadiness shown in the frequency with
which they left their situations; their bad time-keeping and ir-
regular attendance. It was also frequently given by employers as a
reason against their employment that, where they were working
with men, the men's output tended to decrease until it was no more
than the women's. Excluding labouring work, they were said as a
rule, when on men's work, to be worth two-thirds of a man, but
where details were given the discrepancy appeared to be less. On
some work light repetition work or work where skilful fingers were
required they were universally acknowledged to be better than
men, turning put more work and more contented. On more skilled
work demanding more individual variation they were said to pro-
duce from 40 % to 60 % of a man's output. These complaints were
put forward as characteristic of women, but it seems possible that
some at any rate were characteristic rather of the conditions under
which women work in industry. The first contention that they
lack the strength of men is of course true, though women are
stronger than the pre-war employer with his underfed girls was apt
to imagine. The progressive improvement that took place in the
health and output of those employed under anything approaching
reasonable conditions with regard to hours and lodgings showed
the effect that good wages, good food and a certain amount of care
will produce in even a few months. Moreover, a great deal of the
work that men are now expected to do is not only too heavy for
women but too heavy for men as well, and ought not to be imposed
on any human being. The result of this is that men employed in-
dustrially are more and not less adversely affected by the conditions
of their work than women, though their health again is greatly
superior to that of married women working in their homes the
most suffering class in the community. But, obviously, women are
not so suitable as men for heavy work and cannot be made so by
any methods which can be foreseen. The most carefully planned
schemes all ended by being prohibitive in cost. Another group of
defects, their lack of discipline, their bad time-keeping and bad
attendance, were really alleged against the married women hampered
by household duties. Single women were as good time-keepers as
men. If they changed their situations more often it was often due
to preoccupations arising out of the war. They wanted to be near
the hospital to which their brother or lover had been sent, or they
wished to change from shells to aircraft work because their man had
entered the air force. All this population of women was preoccupied :
often too they had taken up work for the first time without much
considering the wages paid and, as the pinch of the war made
itself felt, found themselves obliged to go where they could earn
enough to keep themselves.

Their lack of initiative and ambition was put down by the em-
ployers as due to their knowledge that the work was temporary, and
would be brought to an end either by the end of the war or by mar-
riage. The trade unions frequently added that employers, for the
same reason, would not be willing to give women a lengthy training.
It is probably true that the majority of wage-earning women are so
affected by the expectation of marriage that they are unwilling to
expend mental effort on their work. But it should be remembered,
on the one hand, that the wages of women before the war were
so low as seriously to affect their vitality, and, on the other, that the
experiment of offering them training in skilled work had never been
made. They are perfectly ready to learn weaving, or the skilled
work in the dressmaking and millinery trades. The experience of
the war would seem to show that a minority of women would
welcome it and benefit by it in other occupations. Another thing
shown by the war is that apprenticeship periods for the skilled
trades, though convenient both for masters and men as long as the
school-leaving age remains where it is, are iar longer than is neces-
sary to secure industrial efficiency. A skilled worker cannot be
produced in six months, but that does not mean that his apprentice-
ship must last for five or seven years. If anything were to occur
which modified this period the increased employment of women on
skilled work would become more feasible.

Lack of initiative, lack of care and lack of attention to detail are
more fundamental charges. They are possibly true, though to what
extent they are true can hardly be proved by the experiment made
under war conditions. Most of the women had been Hying in cir-
cumstances which precluded the development of initiative or a
scientific thoroughness. Very few minds show initiative with regard
to a totally unfamiliar technique so fenced about with terrors as
engineering, so immemorially fixed as work on the land or so trivial
as most clerical occupations. Nor, to put it mildly, was women's
initiative encouraged during the war, though without it there would
have been no women doctors and no women in the fighting services.
And as those responsible for the education of naval officers know, this
quality, like others, reacts to stimulation. What is certain is that
in the strength and skill of its women the war showed that Great
Britain possesses a valuable industrial resource, whose wider use
under suitable conditions would benefit both the women themselves
and the industries they entered. Before such conditions can be
established, however, a number of problems must be faced, including



the determination of the proper ratio of a woman's wage to that of a
man performing similar work. (A. B. W.)



UNITED STATES






In 1916 there were probably about 10,000,000 women wage
earners in the United States, comprising about one-quarter
of the total number of persons gainfully employed. In manu-
facturing there were about 1,500,000, three-fourths of whom
were in the food, textiles, tobacco and wearing-apparel industries,
but very few in those industries producing implements of war.
The first demands for women were met, as in England, by
drawing seasoned workers from such industries as the lighter
textiles, millinery, corset-making, domestic service, laundries,
stores and offices. After the supply of seasoned workers was
exhausted, efforts were turned toward securing women outside
the wage-earning class. Married women, many of them former
industrial workers, were urged to return to industry. Part-time
work was offered and occasionally a day nursery was estab-
lished. In one city an organized publicity campaign for new
workers resulted, after the first 'two weeks, in a 50% increase
in employed women and after the first four weeks in a 100%
increase. It was estimated that about 4,000,000 women were
employed in war trades and that 2,500,000 remained in the
newer fields in 1919.

English experience taught the American authorities to keep
the most skilled men at home where they could continue in
their usual fields of work, but in attempting to supply the
increased demand for workers two main problems arose; first,
to secure women to fill routine or semi-skilled positions; second,
to secure in those industries which were greatly swollen by war
demands not only routine workers but also skilled employees.
The demand for additional women in war industries was well
illustrated by conditions in the iron and steel industry, where,
in 1916, less than 4% of the employees were women. During
the war in every branch of this industry the number of women ;
employed increased, between the first and second draft, from
18% to over 200%. In the industry as a whole the increase j
was nearly 70%, while the number of men increased only about
5% and in some branches actually decreased in numbers. In
in plants making explosives only 73 women were reported in j
1914, whereas after the second draft, 25 plants employed nearly
12,000 women. In this industry women constituted about half
the total employees. In the manufacture of hand grenades,
about 19 out of every 20 were women. In one gas-mask plant
with 12,000 employees, 8,500 were women.

Industries showing the largest per cent of increase in the
number of women after the second draft were cars, steam and
electric railways, automobiles, metal and metal products,
lumber and its remanufacture, chemicals and allied products.
Industries showing decrease in per cent of women employed
were textiles, hat and cap making, tobacco and tobacco prod-
ucts. Industries showing the greatest ratio of substitution were
motor-cycles, bicycles and parts, cars, steam and electric railways,
automobiles, airplanes, seaplanes and parts, ship and boat
building, agricultural implements, lumber and its remanufac-
ture and iron and steel; the latter industry substituted by far the
largest number of women. In practically no case did all the
different establishments in any industry employ women and an
even smaller number substituted them for men. The practice
of the employment and substitution of women was largely a
matter determined by the individual establishment. In iron !
and steel, for example, out of 2,140 firms reporting after the ;
second draft, only 1,011 employed women and only 430 sub- 1
stituted women for men.

Before the war women were employed in clerical work in con-
nexion with the railways and as ticket sellers on a few street
railways. One of the most striking war innovations was the
employment of women in such positions as station agents, I
ticket sellers, cleaners, section hands, and elevator operators,
in connexion with the railways, and as conductors on the street '
railways. It is estimated that by Oct. 1918 there were over
100,000 women employed on the railways, and many large



WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT



1053



.'cities had installed women as conductors on the street cars. In
N.Y. State alone 2,180 were substituted for men on the steam
roads and 1,346 on the electric roads. In this state a law was
passed limiting hours of women on street cars to nine a day and
prohibiting night work between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. In Wisconsin
hours were limited to eight a day and night work was prohibited
between 5 P.M. and 8 A.M., which practically prevented the
employment of women on street cars during the rush periods.
Other large cities employing women and limiting their hours were
Chicago and Boston as ticket agents, and Kansas City, Detroit
and Cleveland as conductors. In the latter city a controversy
occurred over their continued employment, involving several
hearings before Federal authorities. The men's union was
strongly opposed to them and finally secured an agreement
with the company to dismiss all the women and reinstate the
men which was carried out early in 1919. A similar situation
arose in Detroit with a similar result, but in Kansas City the
union did not oppose the women and the War Labor Board
ordered equal pay for equal work. In most cases the women
were out of the service by 1921, but on railway work 81,000
were reported as still employed in Jan. 1920. The majority of
these were in clerical positions, but there has been also a perma-
nent increase in the number of women employed as station
agents, ticket sellers, watchmen, and in the business offices.
When the roads were under Federal control, the minimum
monthly salary for clerical positions was fixed at $87.50, while
executive positions often commanded as much as $225 a month.
Efficiency. The new fields of work tested, as never before, the
abilities of women. Although before the war women were employed
in practically every kind of work, they were usually occupied on
routine or standardized processes. But the war opened to them a
new door. " Instead of ' tending ' or ' tripping ' or ' feeding work,'
measured and marked for her, into a machine especially adjusted
or constructed to perform a specialized or standardized process,
the emergency created by the war forced the experiment of teach-
ing the woman worker to read blue prints, to understand the char-
acters of different metals, to grasp the purposes and capabilities of
various machine tools, to adjust their mechanism, to set up, to
measure and to mark her own work and be responsible for its quality
as well as for its quantity." In these new fields there were of course
failures, due sometimes to personal defects but more often to
ill-advised assignment of tasks, lack of proper instruction and super-
vision such as was so successfully carried on in English munitions
work, and also because of lack of proper equipment and accommo-
dations for women. It must also be pointed out that because of
America's shorter war period there was but little time for technical
training. Although a few trade schools were utilized, reports indi-
cate that training was usually done by the " foremen, " " forelady,"
" skilled operators," or " the gang boss." On the whole, however,
testimony of manufacturers from all parts of the country, as reported
by several independent investigations, agreed that the women were
unquestionably successful. The output of women, according to 66
firms out of 99 in the important metal trades, " was equal to or
greater than that of men in the operations in which both were
employed." In another investigation from 50% to 90% of the
managers in a variety of industries reported that the production,
attendance, and promptness of women was equal to or greater than
that of men. Employers stated: "On our 24-in. Fellows gear
shapers the women turn out from 20 to 30 more pieces in a g-hour
day than men." " In our filling and burring machines . . .
they overrun the men about 250 pieces." "On our drill press work
. . . they have increased the production 1,200 pieces in a g-hour
day." The president of a recording and computing machine stated :
" In the machine department women became expert and got out much
greater production in running turret lathes, punch presses, bench
lathes, milling machines, drill presses, grinding machines and
engraving machines, and in addition to the operation of these
machines we taught them to grind their tools, to act as job setters,
and to superintend some of the departments. In the inspection
department practically every inspector was a woman. In the
assembly departments, as well as in the inspection departments,
all were women, and they did better work and got out more produc-
tion than men whom we tried on the job at various times without
success. We found, too, that we could place as much, if not more,
dependence on women in coming to their work and remaining on
the job, which accounts for our having the lowest turnover in help
in any factory ever heard of, which was less than 4% per year.
We taught women to inspect tools and check them over according
to the drawings after they came from the tool shop, in which depart-
ment women became expert." Although much of the work done by
women was repetitive and semi-skilled, requiring mainly dexterity
and lightness of touch, yet testimony shows that they frequently
and successfully competed with the highly skilled men.



Standards of Work. In Oct. 1918 the Women in Industry Serv-
ice (later the Women's Bureau of the Labor Department) formu-
lated certain standards intended to govern the employment of
women. These standards were indorsed by the War Labor Policies
Board and after the Armistice were revised to serve as a basis for a
programme for reconstruction. The recommendations included the
8-hour day, Saturday half-holiday, one day of rest in seven, and the
prohibition of night work between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. They urged
equal pay for equal work and an occupational, rather than sex,
determination for wage rates, with a minimum which would cover
the cost of living for dependents as well as for the individual.
Proper conditions of work were specified, and included the pro-
hibition of employment where poisons which are more injurious
to women than to men were used. The standards also urged that
joint negotiations between employers and employees be established
for enforcement purposes. The War Labor Policies Board ordered
all contracts of the Federal Government to require full compliance
with the labour laws of the state in which the goods were manu-
factured.

Hours, Wages and Conditions. With but few exceptions pressure
of work did not reach the high pitch which England experienced,
and, on the whole, hours and conditions of employment in the
United States did not greatly change as a result of the war; the
United States' profited also by England's experience in regard to
the futility of excessive hours of labour, and although many attempts
were made to enact state laws which would abolish or lower the