530 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



It is difficult to draw definite conclusions from information which cannot 

 fully be produced in statistical form, but the following general remarks are 

 suggested by the foregoing evidence : 



(1) The replacement of men by women has occurred to a larger extent in the 



distributive trades, and especially in grocery, than in most other trades 

 and occupations. Practically the only limitations to women's employ- 

 ability in these trades have been in work requiring physical strength or 

 technical knowledge. 



(2) The movement of labour into these trades has been from trades which 



are depressed owing to the War, such as millinery, dressmaking, and 

 luxury trades generally. Girls from fifteen to eighteen years of age, 

 mostly from secondary schools and women from comparatively well-to-do 

 families hit by the War, have also been absorbed to a considerable extent. 

 The movement into the heavier branches of the trades has been largely 

 from lower-paid or less attractive occupations, such as some kind of 

 factory-work, domestic service, and laundry-work. In few cases have 

 married women returned. 



(3) In the opinion of the majority of employers, the actual value of a woman 



as a worker is about 30 per cent, below that of an average man employed 

 in the same capacity, the difference being due partly to physical strength 

 and partly to incapacity of continued employment because of marriage. 



(4) A minority of employers, however, find that, with improved organisation 



and greater subdivision of processes, many places can be found for women 

 in which their economic value is equal to that of an average man. 



(5) The actual wages of women tend to be lower in proportion to those of men 



employed in similar capacities than would be justified even by a less 

 favourable estimate of their economic value. This discrepancy appears 

 to be due to custom and to the inferior economic status of women as 

 workers. 



Railways. 



1901 Board of Trade Returns— Total (Men and Women) = 575,834 

 1913 „ „ „ Total „ „ = 643,135 



= + 11 '6 increase per cent. 

 1901 Census : Women, 1,411. 1911 Census : Women = 2,636 = 82-9 increase 

 per cent. 



Prefatory Note. 



[Since this Report was written an agreement has been reached between the 

 railway companies of Great Britain and the National Union of Railwaymen, to 

 take effect as from August 16, 1915, in regard to the rates of wages paid to 

 women. This agreement is as follows : 



' An assui-ance was asked for and given that the employment of women in 

 capacities in which they had not formerly been employed was an emergency 

 provision arising out of the circumstances created by the War and would not 

 prejudice in any way any undertaking given by the companies as to the employ- 

 ment of men who had joined the colours on the conclusion of the War.' 



' It was agreed that the employment of women during the War in capacities 

 in which they had not been previously employed is an emergency arising 

 entirely out of the War and is without prejudice to the general question of the 

 employment of women.' 



' The pay of women employed in grades in which they were not employed 

 prior to August 1914 shall, for the duration of the War, be the minimum pay of 

 the grade.' 



Its application, therefore, is to women employees on the operative staff only 

 (and not the clerical staff) and includes : 



Ticket collectors and examiners, messengers, halt and platform attendants, 

 office porters, pneumatic tube attendants, checkers, shippers, weighbridge clerks, 

 time-keepers and carriage cleaners. 



