560 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



tendency has been much greater than the possible temporary decrease of 

 employment available for women in certain firms would account for. In fact, 

 there is considered to be scope for introducing fresh women to the boot upper 

 trade, and at least one scheme exists and is in process at the Cordwainers' 

 College, London, for training women in fitting and closing, &c. These women 

 are taken mainly from the bookbinding trade, in which there is at present a 

 certain lack of employment, and the scheme is found to be very successful, the 

 women being easily placed when trained. 



In the general manufacture of leather goods, there has been a tendency for 

 women to shift from those firms where work was slack to those engaged on 

 Army work, i.e., at the present time this would roughly mean a shifting from 

 small to large firms, as there do not appear to be many large firms not engaged 

 on Army work. 



To sum up, the greatest demand for women's work in the leather trade is in 

 the military equipment branch. It is supplied : 



(a) To a certain extent from other firms that are slack, in the trade. 



{b) To a certain extent from light boot trade. 



(c) Largely from outside. 



(2) BIRMINGHAM. 



Apart from the actual production of munitions, the leather goods trade has. 

 benefited from the War to a much greater extent than any other. There is some 

 increase even in the male labour employed. The number leaving to enlist 

 has been small, largely because the proportion of men of military age employed 

 in this trade has for long been less than in most others. This is due to the fact 

 that the output of saddles and other heavier goods, the only branch of the 

 industry in which men are largely employed, has been small since the close of 

 the South African War, and, therefore, very few young men have entered this 

 occupation. 



The employment of women in the leather trade has increased to a very 

 much greater extent than that of men. The large proportion of women, 

 however, is not mainly the result of the substitution of female for male labour 

 in definite processes. For years, with the introduction of lighter machinery 

 and greater division of labour, an increasing proportion of leather work has been 

 performed by women. This movement has been accelerated by the War and 

 especially by the introduction of new machines, worked by women, to perform 

 processes which men previously did by hand. Even now, however, the propor- 

 tion of work done by men is considerably larger than the respective numbers of 

 men and women employed would suggest, as, owing to the shortage of skilled 

 labour, more overtime is being worked by the men than by the women. Although 

 the processes performed by women in the leather trade are not of the highest 

 order of skill, judged by the standards of male labour, yet they take some time 

 to learn. The learning period is decidedly costly to the firm on account of the 

 material damaged by the inexperienced hands. Early in the autumn one large 

 firm showed considerable foresight in transferring a hundred girls from the 

 manufacture of golf balls to the leather stitching department ; the immediate loss 

 to the firm was about lOOl., but the advantage since has been great. During the 

 course of the winter an increasing number of girls has been drawn from other 

 work to the leather trade, and though it is estimated to take about a year for 

 girls to become fully proficient many of them are already earning comparatively 

 high wages. 



As a precautionary measure one firm is training a few girls in the heavier 

 cutting processes, so that they may be able to take the places of men if more 

 of these leave the trade. Training schools have also been established in 

 London and elsewhere. 



There is unfortunately little doubt that there will be a great deal of unem- 

 ployment in this trade at the close of the War; this will be due, not mainly 

 to competition between men and women, but to the great diminution in the 

 demand for leather goods. Such a period of slackness of trade and considerable 

 unemployment in the leather industrv followed the South African War. It is 

 to be feared that the greater output during this War may make the subsequent 

 restriction of business even more serious. 



