TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION F. 559 



employers to say yet whether they consider the work so inferior as to be merely 

 a ' make-shift ' during the present shortage, or whether there is any permanent 

 scope for it ; they seemed doubtful and undecided about it. 



The question of the women stitchers, &c., who have been attracted into the 

 trade since the War is, of course, much more serious, and there is a serious 

 possibility of there being no scope for them when the Government contracts are 

 over and many will have to leave the trade. Some employers regard the whole 

 thing as a purely temporary inflation of the demand for women in the trade, 

 and consider that after the War, not only will the War entrants into the trade 

 have to go, but a considerable time will elapse before private connections are re- 

 established, and in the meantime there may be a slump which will involve even 

 a dismissal of a proportion of the pre-War staff. However this view is not 

 universal, and it is possible that other counteracting factors might enter into 

 consideration, tending to increase the scope for women's work in this branch 

 after the War. It would depend on the state of foreign trade and on many 

 other far-reaching considerations which it is impossible to foresee. 



Reasons for very Limited Substitution. 



(1) Most articles require stitching or machining, and this has been for 

 some years past women's work, i.e., in a large proportion of the firms here 

 dealt with, women had been introduced long before the War, and the initial 

 prejudice having therefore been overcome their employment had in most cases 

 been ' pushed ' up to the limit, that limit depending largely only on physical 

 ability— where women had not ever been used before it was as a rule because 

 the whole article was too heavy. 



(2) There would be considerable scope for the employment of women in the 

 trunk trade, but there is great resistance from the men, who are independent at 

 present, as they know they cannot be replaced — if there were a still greater 

 shortage of labour than there is now they might consent to it, as they would 

 be ' held ' up in some processes through lack of labour in others. 



(3) Most of the men's work (especially in bags and portmanteaux) is highly 

 skilled, and mainly constructive, i.e., can only be handled after long experience. 

 If girls were apprenticed to the trade in the same way as boys there is a 

 possibility that they might ultimately become skilled workers in the men's jobs, 

 though they would have to be carefully selected for strength and physique, as 

 the majority of the work is undoubtedly too heavy for the average woman. 

 However, as long experience and training would be required there could be 

 no question of substitution in connection with a ' War ' scarcity of labour. 

 Employers state that from a business point of view it would pay them better 

 to refuse orders than to undertake such training schemes for a temporary 

 purpose. 



Variation and Shifting of the Demand for Labour in Different Branches of the 



Leather Trade. 



The increased demand for labour in the leather trade since the War has, of 

 course, been in those branches that are working on War contracts, i.e., initially 

 there would be an increase of labour required in the tanning and dressing of 

 heavy leather. Here (as already stated) there is no scope for women at all, 

 and it is fair to say that, however great the shortage of labour might become, 

 the place of men could never be filled by women in this branch. 



Again, in the boot trade, the great increase in the demand has been for heavy 

 Army boots, and here, again, the demand can only be supplied by women's work 

 to a very small "extent. On the other hand, in those firms where the bulk of 

 the work is at present Army work, the amount of work available for women 

 would tend to decrease (owing to the large extent to which the Army boot is 

 made by men). In any case, there has been a very considerable tendency for 

 women to leave the light boot trade and to go into the military equipment work. 

 Women's wages in the boot trade are not particularly good, and the present 

 high wages to be obtained at equipment work are a great attraction. Skilled 

 women from the boot trade would, of course, be more readily taken on for 

 military work than women coming into the trade for the first time. Thia 



