TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 509 



of women, owing to their lack of training, found it impossible to take up 

 skilled work ia these trades, but, as stated generally above, the absence of 

 skilled workers amongst them has in its turn proved an almost insuperable 

 obstacle to the employment of any but a small proportion of the great waiting 

 army of willing but unskilled female labour. This shortage of skilled labour 

 is the cardinal feature of the industrial -position with which the nation is now 

 faced. It is true that by minor adjustments in the organisation of the trades 

 concerned the entry of a few extra women can be facilitated, but the situa- 

 tion in its broad aspects seems almost insoluble during the present time of war. 

 Certainly in a great many industries women are working on processes pre- 

 viously wholly or partially done by men, but the extent to which this is the case 

 is inconsiderable. The margin of difference, however, between actual fact and 

 possibility is yet to be discovered. 



(2) Extension of Women's Emyloyment. 



It is impossible with any accuracy to give figures indicating the extension 

 of women's work since the War. The trades in industry proper in which the 

 extension of women's employment has been most marked are engineering, 

 chemical trades (explosives), leather work, tailoring, meat preserving and grain 

 milling, basket (shell) making, elastic webbing, scientific instrument making, 

 brush making, electrical engineering, canvas sack and net making, leather 

 tanning, rubber work, hosiery, hardware, wire drawing, tobacco, boot and shoe 

 trade, shirt making, wool and worsted, silk and jute trade. Excluding the 

 munitions branch of engineering, the extra employment of women in these 

 trades probably does not exceed 100,000, and four months ago was little more 

 than half that number, compared with the same month in the previous year. 

 A small proportion of the extra women employed in these trades are, however, 

 doing men's work, the probable reasons for which are discussed on p. 514 scq. 

 Generally speaking, the extra employment of women in any branch of industry 

 proper has been effected by transference from trades that are depressed or 

 from branches of the same trade which are slack to those that are brisk. 



A marked acceleration in women's employment has also taken place in 

 non-industrial occupations such as shop assistants, bank clerks and in other 

 forms of clerical work, waitresses in hotels and elsewhere, and certain classes of 

 railway work. In these occupations women have probably replaced men, in the 

 sense of doing men's work, to a greater extent than in industry proper. The 

 supposed social status of an occupation rather than its pecuniary gain appeals 

 more generally to some women than to most men, and many women who find 

 their home surroundings somewhat dull and a shop counter or an office stool 

 comparatively attractive would never consider entering a factory or a workshop. 

 Consequently we find that for the most part women who have entered industry 

 proper since the War have had previous industrial experience in other trades, 

 and that where they have not been wage-earners previously they have been 

 attracted in a great many cases to the more ' lady-like ' occupations. Patriotic 

 motives have, however, supplied a stimulus to a number of women to enter 

 industry. Those branches concerned with the production of munitions and 

 direct war supplies have proved especially attractive in this respect. 



The relaxation of Trade Union and Home Office restrictions has also had 

 the effect of extending women's employment. Where a shortage of male labour 

 has been apparent the trade unions have in many cases — e.g., in the leather, 

 engineering, and metal trades, wool and worsted trades, &c. — agreed with 

 employers that, for the period of the War only, women may work on pro- 

 cesses which were previously done wholly or partially by men, on the condition 

 that the wage rates paid to the women shall be the same as those paid to 

 the men. The relaxation of Home Office regulations has only been made on 

 applications in particular cases, and is mostly connected with the extension 

 of overtime.' Many of the trades in which the War demands have been exten- 

 sive normally employ a larger number of women than men, and in these the 

 extension of women's employment has been considerably accelerated by the 

 War. 



' Vide Board of Trade Journal, July 8, 1915. 



