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now in industry have got there owing to national necessity. The 

 big trade unions must consider what their members will say when 

 they come back and find their old positions occupied by women, possibly 

 at less wages. 



THE CHAIRMAN : As no one has yet spoken for the textile trades, 

 in which women are largely employed, and as I represent a society of 

 which about 97 per cent, of the members are women, I hope that 

 the conference will allow me to make a few comments. It is scarcely 

 true to say that married women would not be in industry if it were not 

 for the strain of economic circumstances the facts are against it. 

 Dr. Phillips admits that in Lancashire, in the cotton industry, the 

 wages of women are high, and in that industry are the largest number 

 of married women. She also said that women must be organised by 

 women organisers if they are to be gained in full numbers, but the 

 women have been more largely and better organised in the cotton 

 than in any other industry in the country, and by men organisers. 

 Further on she said that women, even in the cotton industry, have not 

 claimed an equal share in management with the men. They have not 

 claimed this, but they, have the right when they care to exercise it 

 our committees and official positions are open to female members 

 equally with the men, and they take their place on many committees 

 with the men. On my own committee there is a majority of women, 

 and they show as much intelligence and grasp of business as the men. 



DR. PHILLIPS' REPLY. 



To take the Chairman's comments first : the facts are not against 

 me. In the cotton industry the trade union is the oldest one on a large 

 scale in the country, and women were in that employment from the 

 beginning, which creates a rather different situation from that of the 

 mass of unskilled and semi-skilled labour that exists in other parts of the 

 country. I quite agree that the cotton industry has organised the workers 

 without having women organisers, but they have not yet succeeded in 

 developing amongst the women that consciousness of the importance 

 of trade union work that we would like to see, and this is reflected 

 in the fact that they do not come forward to take the administrative 

 posts. As to wages : I do not say that the prevailing wage for women 

 now is about 20s., as there are far more women above that wage than 

 there used to be above the old wage of 11s. The figure is not an average, 

 but the figure at which the greatest number of women are paid and 

 there are a very large number above it. Women taking men's places 

 are, on the whole, getting well above that rate ; but of course the 

 biggest increase of women in industry has been in the industries in 

 which they were previously employed ; so that while it is true that 

 20s. is not such a big increase when we consider what it will buy, the 

 hopes of women are very much higher than ever because of the possi- 

 bility of getticg really big wages. In munition factories some are 



