512 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



Readjustments in Industry. 



Considerable attention has been devoted by some employers to the further 

 subdivision of process and grading of labour as well as the introduction of 

 jnechanical and other readjustments in order to facilitate the employment of 

 women.' Men's work has generally been that requiring more strength and more 

 skill than women's work and a greater differentiation of process as between 

 skilled and less skilled, lighter and heavier work, has made possible the further 

 employment of women in processes in which their economic value is equal to 

 that of an average man. In some cases this specialisation of function is 

 opposed by organised labour, as in the case of the cotton trade and railways," 

 among other reasons on the ground that the readjustments result in the wage 

 rates of men remaining the same while the arduous nature of the work they 

 have to do is increased. 



In this connection one point has come out somewhat forcibly. Throughout 

 most trades the extent to which up-to-date machinery and efficient organisation 

 have been introduced differs to an extraordinary degree as between different 

 firms. One firm will have introduced methods and machinery which in another 

 firm have not even been considered. To this lack of knowledge and initiative 

 is due .several of the difficulties experienced by some employers in extending 

 women's employment and releasing men. In normal times practical opinion sug- 

 gests that extreme specialisation may be a questionable advantage, as possibly 

 sacrificing quality to output. Skilled labour is so scarce owing to the War 

 that employers have necessarily to economise it. The present demand is 

 abnormal, but it shows the necessity for giving serious attention to the training 

 of skilled mechanics. 



The Training of Skilled Labour. 



A time of war is the time especially when the preparedness and fitness 

 of a nation is tested, and this applies to industry as much as to other more 

 militant activities of national life. The dangers of an insufficient supply of 

 skilled labour revealed by the present crisis have opened our eyes, as probably 

 nothing else could have done, to the importance of industrial training both in its 

 immediate and its permanent aspects. Experiments in the training of women 

 for industry and business are now being increasingly made to meet present 

 demands.' In spite of the special circumstances these developments have as 

 much a permanent as a temporary significance, and some examination of the 

 more permanent aspects of the problem may therefore be of value. 



It is obvious that the training of women as skilled workers depends upon 



(1) Circumstances, common both to men and women, relating to the organisa- 

 tion of industrial training. 



(2) Psychological, physical, and other conditions in which men and women differ. 

 These are discussed in Section IV. 



(1) The fact that many industries at present offer employment to large 

 numbers of unskilled workers of a nature which can be learned in a few weeks' 



' See Distributive Trades, page 525. 



' See pages 530 and 566. 



' The Interim Report of the Central Committee on Women's Employment 

 (Cd. 7848) contains some interesting suggestions on the promotion of new 

 openings for the permanent employment of women. Little of a practical 

 nature has, however, yet been done, although the suggestions made extend to 

 the following trades : Toy making, artificial flower making, and the making of 

 baskets, bonbon bags, hair nets, memorial wreaths, nets, polished wood fancy 

 articles, pota.sh (from seaweed), rugs (of a kind previously made in Austria), 

 slippers, stockinette knickerbockers, surgical bandages, tapestry, and tinsel 

 scourers, and also gold beating, the weaving of willow and rush for mats, 

 chairs, and baskets, and the cottage weaving industry. In these occupations 

 little opportunity occurs for displacing men by women ; they are mostly email 

 industries in some of which it was suggested that advantage might be taken 

 of the cessation of enemy competition. 



