TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION F. 019 



unanimously state that it is their intention to take back those of their former 

 employees who return, not necessarily in their former positions, but at any rate 

 in positions not inferior to those which they left, and in many cases definite 

 promises have been given. In some cases — e.g., the railw<ays — the men have 

 been promised to be taken back not only in their former positions, but in those 

 to which they would in the natural course of things have been promoted. The 

 change of taste and outlook will be a factor which after the War is likely to dis- 

 courage some men from returning to their old positions. One large retail 

 drapery store from which many men went during the South African War states 

 that of those who returned to England only 6 per cent, wished to return to 

 their former occupations. The problem then was of course insignificant com- 

 pared with the present, and the instance given merely illustrates a factor which 

 many employers feel will prevent a considerable number of men from return- 

 ing to the workshop and bench and especially to the office. 



In some cases of course the experience gained during the War has shown 

 that certain jobs, e.g., lift attendants, can be as efficiently done by women as 

 by men. In such cases employers intend either to take back the men who return 

 and as they are promoted or fall out of industrial life to substitute women in 

 their places, or else better jobs will be offered to the men and the women will 

 be kept on. It is probable that when girls have replaced boys in blind-alley 

 occupations they are likely permanently to remain, as they have proved in most 

 cases more efficient and reliable and are likely to remain longer. 



Attitnde to Employment of Women after War. 



With regard to the women the problem appears to have been very little 

 considered, most employers treating the extra employment of women as a 

 purely temporary measure to be dropped on the conclusion of war. When 

 friction has occurred with the trade unions with regard to the replacement of 

 men by women an agreement has generally been arrived at in which the 

 employer has promised to take on women for the duration of the War only. 

 The general attitude to the women, therefore, is that at the end of the War 

 they will be dispensed with. 



It has before been noted in this Report that, as far as the present position 

 is concerned, women in industry proper for the most part have had previous 

 industrial experience. They have either come from trades which are depressed 

 owing to the War, or from other branches of the same trade in which work 

 was slack, or they are in a few cases married women returned to the trade, 

 or else belong to the fringe of casual labour with which too many industries 

 are badly embroidered in times of peace. Those who have been drawn from 

 other industry will no doubt return as their trades revive and the others will 

 return to their normal occupations. In non-industrial occupations, with the 

 exception of railways, a large number of the women are likely to remain after 

 the War. 



Permanent Increase of Women's Labour after the. War. 



The great increase of women's employment can hardly fail to have per- 

 manent results, especially in non-industrial occupations such as clerical work and 

 the retail distributive trades, where for many years a considerable increase of 

 women's employment has occurred, these trades being peculiarly suitable for 

 the further employment of women. It will probably persist in those manufac- 

 tures where the processes are minutely subdivided and repetition work pre- 

 dominates. The newly built munition factories which are staffed by women 

 may continue to be so staffed, if it is possible after the War to employ them 

 on some product other than munitions. Where female labour is either underpaid 

 or is obviously superior to male labour, a special inducement offers itself to 

 emiployers to retain the women, and no doubt this will result in a number of the 

 women remaining after the War. 



We may, therefore, anticipate that after the War the proportion of women 

 in industry will be greater than before and the competition of men and women 

 will increase. In order to minimise the bad effects which may result the 

 following measures suggest themselves : 



