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diff --git a/41703-0.txt b/41703-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12c6e27 --- /dev/null +++ b/41703-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10853 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41703 *** + +Note: Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/womeninmodernind00hutcrich + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + + + + + +WOMEN IN MODERN INDUSTRY + + * * * * * + +"What is woman but an enemy of friendship, an unavoidable punishment, a +necessary evil, a natural temptation, a desirable affliction, a constantly +flowing source of tears, a wicked work of nature covered with a shining +varnish?"--SAINT CHRYSOSTOM. + + "And wo in winter tyme with wakying a-nyghtes, + To rise to the ruel to rock the cradel, + Both to kard and to kembe, to clouten and to wasche, + To rubbe and to rely, russhes to pilie + That reuthe is to rede othere in ryme shewe + The wo of these women that wonyeth in Cotes."[1] + LANGLAND: _Piers Ploughman_, x. 77. + +"Two justices of the peace, the mayor or other head officer of any city +(etc.) and two aldermen ... may appoint any such woman as is of the age of +12 years and under the age of 40 years and unmarried and forth of service +... to be retained or serve by the year, week or day for such wages and in +such reasonable sort as they shall think meet; and if any such woman shall +refuse so to serve, then it shall be lawful for the said justices (etc.) +to commit such woman to ward until she shall be bounden to +serve."--_Statute of Labourers_, 1563. + +"Every woman spinner's wage shall be such as, following her labour duly +and painfully, she may make it account to."--JUSTICES OF WILTSHIRE: +_Assessment of Wages_, 1604. + +"Sometimes one feels that one dare not contemplate too closely the life of +our working women, it is such a grave reproach."--Miss ANNA TRACEY, +_Factory Inspector_, 1913. + +"The State has trampled on its subjects for 'ends of State'; it has +neglected them; it is beginning to act consciously for them.... The +progressive enrichment of human life and the remedy of its ills is not a +private affair. It is a public charge. Indeed it is the one and noblest +field of corporate action. The perception of that truth gives rise to the +new art of social politics."--B. KIRKMAN GRAY. + + * * * * * + + +WOMEN IN MODERN INDUSTRY + +by + +B. L. HUTCHINS + +Author of "Conflicting Ideals" and (with Mrs. Spencer, D.Sc.) +"A History of Factory Legislation" + +With a Chapter Contributed by J. J. Mallon + + + + + + + +London +G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. +1915 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It may be well to give a brief explanation of the scheme of the present +work. Part I. was complete in its present form, save for unimportant +corrections, before the summer of 1914. The outbreak of war necessitated +some delay in publication, after which it became evident that some +modification in the scheme and plan of the book must be made. The question +was, whether to revise the work already accomplished so as to bring it +more in tune with the tremendous events that are fresh in all our minds. +For various reasons I decided not to do this, but to leave the earlier +chapters as they stood, save for bringing a few figures up to date, and to +treat of the effects of the war in a separate chapter. I was influenced in +taking this course by the idea that even if the portions written in happy +ignorance of approaching trouble should now appear out of date and out of +focus, yet future students of social history might find a special interest +in the fact that the passages in question describe the situation of women +workers as it appeared almost immediately before the great upheaval. +Moreover, Chapter IVA. contained a section on German women in Trade +Unions. I had no material to re-write this section; I did not wish to omit +it. The course that seemed best was to leave it precisely as it stood, and +the same plan has been adopted with all the pre-war chapters. + +The main plan of the book is to give a sketch or outline of the position +of working women, with special reference to the effects of the industrial +revolution on her employment, taking "industrial revolution" in its +broader sense, not as an event of the late eighteenth century, but as a +continuous process still actively at work. I have aimed at description +rather than theory. Some of the current theories about women's position +are of great interest, and I make no pretence to an attitude of detachment +in regard to them, but it certainly appears to me that we need more facts +and knowledge before theory can be based on a sure foundation. Here and +there I have drawn my own conclusions from what I saw and heard, but these +conclusions are mostly provisional, and may well be modified in the light +of clearer knowledge. + +I am fully conscious of an inadequacy of treatment and of certain defects +in form. Women's industry is a smaller subject than men's, but it is even +more complicated and difficult. There are considerable omissions in my +book. I have not, for instance, discussed, save quite incidentally, the +subject of the industrial employment of married women or the subject of +domestic service, omissions which are partly due to my knowledge that +studies of these questions were in process of preparation by hands more +capable than mine. There are other omissions which are partly due to the +lack or unsatisfactory nature of the material. A standard history of the +Industrial Revolution does not yet exist (Monsieur Mantoux's valuable book +covers only the earlier period), and the necessary information has to be +collected from miscellaneous sources. In dealing with the effects of war, +my treatment is necessarily most imperfect. The situation throughout the +autumn, winter, and spring 1914-15, was a continually shifting one, and to +represent it faithfully is a most difficult task. Nor can we for years +expect to gauge the changes involved. With all our efforts to see and take +stock of the social and economic effects of war, we who watch and try to +understand the social meanings of the most terrible convulsion in history +probably do not perceive the most significant reactions. That the position +of industrial women must be considerably modified we cannot doubt; but the +modifications that strike the imagination most forcibly now, such as the +transference of women to new trades, may possibly not appear the most +important in twenty or thirty years' time. Even so, perhaps, a +contemporary sketch of the needs of working women; of the success or +failure of our social machinery to supply and keep pace with those needs +at a time of such tremendous stress and tension, may not be altogether +without interest. + +I have to express my great indebtedness to Mr. Mallon, Secretary of the +Anti-Sweating League, who has given me the benefit of his unrivalled +knowledge and experience in a chapter on women's wages. I have also to +thank Miss Mabel Lawrence, who for a short time assisted me in the study +of women in Unions, and both then and afterwards contributed many helpful +suggestions to the work she shared with me. To the Labour Department I am +indebted for kind and much appreciated permission to use its library; to +Miss Elspeth Carr for drawing my attention to the "Petition of the Poor +Spinners," an interesting document which will be found in the Appendix; +and to many Trade Union secretaries and others for their kindness in +allowing me to interview them and presenting me with documents. Miss Mary +Macarthur generously loaned a whole series of the Trade Union League +Reports, which were of the greatest service in tracing the early history +of the League. I regret that Mr. Tawney's book on Minimum Rates in the +Tailoring Trades; Messrs. Bland, Brown, and Tawney's valuable collection +of documents on economic history; and the collection of letters from +working women, entitled "Maternity," all came into my hands too late for +me to make as much use of them as I should have liked to do. + +B. L. H. + +HAMPSTEAD, _September 1915_. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + PART I + + CHAPTER I + SKETCH OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE + INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1 + + CHAPTER II + WOMEN AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 31 + + CHAPTER III + STATISTICS OF THE LIFE AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN 75 + + CHAPTER IV + WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 92 + + CHAPTER IVA + WOMEN IN UNIONS--_continued_ 154 + + CHAPTER V + SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF PART I. 178 + + + PART II + + CHAPTER VI + WOMEN'S WAGES IN THE WAGE CENSUS OF 1906 213 + + CHAPTER VII + THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN 239 + + APPENDIX TO CHAPTERS II., IV., AND VII. 267 + + AUTHORITIES 299 + + INDEX 305 + + + + +INTRODUCTORY + + +Little attention has been given until quite recent times to the position +of the woman worker and the special problems concerning her industrial and +commercial employment. The historical material relating to the share of +women in industry is extremely scanty. Women in mediaeval times must have +done a very large share of the total work necessary for carrying on social +existence, but the work of men was more specialised, more differentiated, +more picturesque. It thus claimed and obtained a larger share of the +historian's attention. The introduction of machinery in the eighteenth +century effected great changes, and for the first time the reactions of +the work on the workers began to be considered. Women and children who had +previously been employed in their own homes or in small workshops were now +collected in factories, drilled to work in large numbers together. The +work was not at first very different, but the environment was enormously +altered. The question of the child in industry at first occupied attention +almost to the exclusion of women. But the one led naturally to the other. +The woman in industry could no longer be ignored: she had become an +economic force. + +The position of the industrial woman in modern times is closely related, +one way or another, to the industrial revolution, but the relation cannot +be stated in any short or easy formula. The reaction of modern methods on +woman's labour is highly complex and assumes many forms. The pressure on +the woman worker which causes her to be employed for long hours, low +wages, in bad conditions, and with extreme insecurity of employment, is +frequently supposed to be due to the development of industry on a larger +scale. It is, in my view, due rather to the survival of social conditions +of the past in an age when an enormous increase in productive power has +transformed the conditions of production. New institutions and new social +conditions are needed to suit the change in the conditions of production. +It is not the change in the material environment which is to blame, so +much as the failure of organised society so far to understand and control +the material changes. The capitalist employer organised industry on the +basis of a "reserve of labour," and on the principle of employing the +cheapest workers he could get, not out of original sin, or because he was +so very much worse than other people, but simply because it was the only +way he knew of, and no one was there to indicate an alternative +course--much less compel him to take it. Much more guilty than the +cotton-spinners or dock companies were the wealthy governing classes, who +permitted the conditions of work to be made inhuman, and yet trampled on +the one flower the people had plucked from their desolation--the joy of +union and fellowship; who allowed a system of casual labour to become +established, and then prated about the bad habits and irregularity which +were the results of their own folly. + +Organised society had hardly begun to understand the needs and +implications of the industrial revolution until quite late in the +nineteenth century, and the failure of statesmanlike foresight has been +especially disastrous to women, because of their closer relationship to +the family. There is no economic necessity under present circumstances for +women to work so long, so hard, and for such low wages as they do; on the +contrary, we know now that it is bad economy that they should be so +employed. But the subordinate position of the girl and the woman in the +family, the lack of a tradition of association with her fellows, has +reacted unfavourably on her economic capacity in the world of competitive +trade. She is preponderantly an immature worker; she expects, quite +reasonably, humanly and naturally, to marry. Whether her expectation is or +is not destined to be fulfilled, it constitutes an element of impermanence +in her occupational career which reacts unfavourably on her earnings and +conditions of employment. + +The tradition of obedience, docility and isolation in the family make it +hard for the young girl-worker to assert her claims effectively; both her +ignorance and her tradition of modesty make it difficult for her to voice +the requirements of decent living, some of the most essential of which are +taboo--not to be spoken of to a social superior or an individual of the +opposite sex. The whole circumstances of her life make her employment an +uncertain matter, contingent upon all sorts of outside circumstances, +which have little or nothing to do with her own industrial capacity. In +youth, marriage may at any time take her out of the economic struggle and +render wage-earning superfluous and unnecessary. On the other hand, the +sudden pressure of necessity, bereavement, or sickness or unemployment of +husband or bread-winning relative, may throw a woman unexpectedly on the +labour market. It is a special feature of women's employment that, unlike +the work of men, who for the most part have to labour from early youth to +some more or less advanced age, women's work is subject to considerable +interruption, and is contingent on family circumstances, whence it comes +about that women may not always need paid work, but when they do they +often want it so badly that they are ready to take anything they can get. +The woman worker also is more susceptible to class influences than are her +male social equals, and charity and philanthropy often tend in some degree +to corrupt the loyalty and divert the interest of working women from their +own class. These are some of the reasons why associations for mutual +protection and assistance have been so slow in making way among women +workers. + +The protection of the State, though valuable as far as it goes, has been +inadequate: how inadequate can be seen in the Reports of the Women Factory +Inspectors, who, in spite of their insufficient numbers, take so large a +share in the administration of the Factory Act. Their Reports, however, do +not reach a large circle. The Insurance Act has been the means of a more +startling propaganda. The results following the working of this Act shew +that although women are longer lived than men, they have considerably more +sickness. The claims of women for sick benefit had been underestimated, +and many local insurance societies became nearly insolvent in consequence. +A cry of malingering was raised in various quarters, and we were asked to +believe that excessive claims could be prevented by stricter and more +careful administration. This solution of the problem, however, is quite +inadequate to explain the facts. There may have been some malingering, but +it has occurred chiefly in cases where the earnings of the workers were so +low as to be scarcely above the sickness benefit provided by the Act, or +even below it. In other cases the excess claims were due to the fact that +medical advice and treatment was a luxury the women had previously been +unable to afford even when they greatly needed it; or to the fact that +they had previously continued to go to work when unfit for the exertion, +and now at last found themselves able to afford a few days' rest and +nursing; or, finally, to the unhealthy conditions in which they were +compelled to live and work. As Miss Macarthur stated before the +Departmental Committee on Sickness Benefit Claims, "Low wages, and all +that low wages involve in the way of poor food, poor housing, insufficient +warmth, lack of rest and of air, and so forth, necessarily predispose to +disease; and although such persons may, at the time of entering into +insurance, have been, so far as they knew, in a perfectly normal state of +health, their normal state is one with no reserve of health and strength +to resist disease." Excessive claims may or may not, the witness went on +to show, be associated with extremely low wages. Thus the cotton trade, +which is the best paid of any great industry largely employing women, +nevertheless shows a high proportion of claims. Miss Macarthur made an +urgent recommendation (in which the present writer begs to concur), that +when any sweeping accusation of malingering is brought against a class of +insured persons, medical enquiry should be made into the conditions under +which those women work. If the conditions that produce excessive claims +were once clearly known and realised, it is the convinced opinion of the +present writer that those conditions would be changed by the pressure of +public opinion, not so much out of sentiment or pity--though sentiment and +pity are badly needed--but out of a clear perception of the senseless +folly and loss that are involved in the present state of things. Year by +year, and week by week, the capitalist system is allowed to use up the +lives of our women and girls, taking toll of their health and strength, of +their nerves and energy, of their capacity, their future, and the future +of their children after them. And all this, not for any purpose; not as it +is with the soldier, who dies that something greater than himself may +live; for no purpose whatever, except perhaps saving the trouble of +thought. So far as wealth is the object of work, it is practically certain +that the national wealth, or indeed the output of war material, would be +much greater if it were produced under more humane and more reasonable +conditions, with a scientific disposition of hours of work and the use of +appropriate means for keeping up the workers' health and strength. A +preliminary and most important step, it should be said, would be a +considerable reinforcement of the staff of women factory inspectors. + +Nor do conditions of work alone make up the burden of the heavy debt +against society for the treatment of women workers. Housing conditions, +though no doubt greatly improved, especially in towns, are often extremely +bad, and largely responsible for the permanent ill-health suffered by so +many married women in the working class, by the non-wage-earning group, +perhaps not much less than by the industrial woman-worker.[2] Two other +questions occur in this connection, both of great importance. First, the +question of the relation of the employment of the young girl to her health +after marriage--a subject which appears to have received little scientific +attention. Only a minority of women are employed at any one time, but a +large majority of young girls are employed, and it follows that the +majority of older women _must have been employed_ in those critical years +of girlhood and young womanhood, which have so great an influence on the +constitution and character for the future. The conditions and kind of +employment from this point of view would afford material for a volume in +itself, but the subject needs medical knowledge for its satisfactory +handling, and a laywoman can but indicate it and pass on. Second, the need +of making medical advice and treatment more accessible. This would involve +the removal of restrictions and obstacles which, however necessary under a +scheme of Health Insurance, appear in practice to rob that scheme of at +least half its right to be considered as a National Provision for the +health of women.[3] + +It will appear in the following pages that I see little reason to believe +in any decline and fall of women from a golden age in which they did only +work which was "suitable," and that in the bosoms of their families. The +records of the domestic system that have come down to us are no doubt +picturesque enough, but the cases which have been preserved in history or +fiction were probably the aristocracy of industry, under which were the +very poor, of whom we know little. There must also have been a class of +single women wage-earners who were probably even more easy to exploit in +old times than they are now, the opportunities for domestic service being +much more limited and worse paid. The working woman does not appear to me +to be sliding downwards into the "chaos of low-class industries," rather +is she painfully, though perhaps for the most part unconsciously, working +her way upwards out of a more or less servile condition of poverty and +ignorance into a relatively civilised state, existing at present in a +merely rudimentary form. She has attained at least to the position of +earning her own living and controlling her own earnings, such as they are. +She has statutory rights against her employer, and a certain measure of +administrative protection in enforcing them. The right to a living wage, +fair conditions of work, and a voice in the collective control over +industry are not yet fully recognised, but are being claimed more and more +articulately, and can less and less be silenced and put aside. The woman +wage-earner indeed appears in many ways socially in advance of the middle +and upper class woman, who is still so often economically a mere parasite. +Woman's work may still be chaotic, but the chaos, we venture to hope, +indicates the throes of a new social birth, not the disintegration of +decay. + +Among much that is sad, tragic and disgraceful in the industrial +exploitation of women, there is emerging this fact, fraught with deepest +consolation: the woman herself is beginning to think. Nothing else at long +last can really help her; nothing else can save us all. There are now an +increasing number of women workers who do not sink their whole energies in +the petty and personal, or restrict their aims to the earning and +spending what they need for themselves and those more or less dependent on +them. They are able to appreciate the newer wants of society, the claim +for more leisure and amenity of life, for a share in the heritage of +England's thought and achievements, for better social care of children, +for the development of a finer and deeper communal consciousness. This is +the new spirit that is beginning to dawn in women. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +SKETCH OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL +REVOLUTION. + + +The traces of women in economic and industrial history are unmistakable, +but the record of their work is so scattered, casual, and incoherent that +it is difficult to derive a connected story therefrom. We know enough, +however, to disprove the old misconception that women's industrial work is +a phenomenon beginning with the nineteenth century. + +It seems indeed not unlikely that textile industry, perhaps also +agriculture and the taming of the smaller domestic animals, were +originated by women, their dawning intelligence being stimulated to +activity by the needs of children. Professor Karl Pearson in his +interesting essay, _Woman as Witch_, shows that many of the folklore +ceremonies connected with witchcraft associate the witch with symbols of +agriculture, the pitchfork, and the plough, as well as with the broom and +spindle, and are probably the fossil survivals, from a remote past, of a +culture in which the activities of the women were relatively more +prominent than they are now. The witch is a degraded form of the old +priestess, cunning in the knowledge of herbs and medicine, and preserving +in spells and incantations such wisdom as early civilisation possessed. In +Thüringen, Holda or Holla is a goddess of spinning and punishes idle +persons. Only a century ago the women used to sing songs to Holla as they +dressed their flax. In Swabia a broom is carried in procession on Twelfth +Night, in honour of the goddess Berchta. The "wild women" or spirits +associated with wells or springs are frequently represented in legends as +spinning; they come to weddings and spin, and their worship is closely +connected with the distaff as a symbol. + +Women are also the first architects; the hut in widely different parts of +the world--among Kaffirs, Fuegians, Polynesians, Kamtchatdals--is built by +women. Women are everywhere the primitive agriculturists, and work in the +fields of Europe to-day. Women seem to have originated pottery, while men +usually ornamented and improved it. Woman "was at first, and is now, the +universal cook, preserving food from decomposition and doubling the +longevity of man. Of the bones at last she fabricates her needles and +charms.... From the grasses around her cabin she constructs the floor-mat, +the mattress and the screen, the wallet, the sail. She is the mother of +all spinners, weavers, upholsterers, sail-makers." + +The evidence of anthropology thus hardly bears out the assertion +frequently made (recently, _e.g._, by Dr. Lionel Tayler in _The Nature of +Woman_) that woman does not originate. A much more telling demonstration +of the superiority of man in handicraft would be to show that when he +takes over a woman's idea he usually brings it to greater technical +perfection than she has done. "Men, liberated more or less from the tasks +of hunting and fighting, gradually took up the occupations of women, +specialised them and developed them in an extraordinary degree.... +Maternity favours an undifferentiated condition of the various avocations +that are grouped around it; it is possible that habits of war produced a +sense of the advantages of specialised and subordinated work. In any case +the fact itself is undoubted and it has had immense results on +civilisation." + +Man has infinitely surpassed woman in technical skill, scientific +adaptation, and fertility of invention; yet the rude beginnings of culture +and civilisation, of the crafts that have so largely made us what we are, +were probably due to the effort and initiative of primitive woman, engaged +in a hand-to-hand struggle with the rude and hostile forces of her +environment, to satisfy the needs of her offspring and herself. + +I do not propose, however, to enter into a discussion of the position of +primitive woman, alluring as such a task might be from some points of +view. When we come to times nearer our own and of which written record +survives, it is remarkable that the further back we go the more completely +women appear to be in possession of textile industry. The materials are +disappointing: there is little that can serve to explain fully the +industrial position of women or to make us realise the conditions of their +employment. But as to the fact there can be no doubt. Nor can it be +questioned that women were largely employed in other industries also. The +women of the industrial classes have always worked, and worked hard. It is +only in quite modern times, so far as I can discover, that the question, +whether some kinds of work were not too hard for women, has been raised at +all. + +_Servants in Husbandry._--It is quite plain that women have always done a +large share of field work. The Statute of Labourers, 23 Edw. III. 1349, +imposed upon women equally with men the obligation of giving service when +required, unless they were over sixty, exercised a craft or trade, or were +possessed of means or land of their own, or already engaged in service, +and also of taking only such wages as had been given previous to the Black +Death and the resulting scarcity of labour. In 1388, the statute 12 +Richard II. c. 3, 4 and 5, forbids any servant, man or woman, to depart +out of the place in which he or she is employed, at the end of the year's +service, without a letter patent, and limits a woman labourer's wages to +six shillings per annum. It also enacts that "he or she which use to +labour at the plough" shall continue at the same work and not be put to a +"mystery or handicraft." In 1444 the statute 23 Henry VI. c. 13 fixes the +wages of a woman servant in husbandry at ten shillings per annum with +clothing worth four shillings and food. In harvest a woman labourer was to +have two pence a day and food, "and such as be worthy of less shall take +less." + +Thorold Rogers says that in the thirteenth century women were employed in +outdoor work, and especially as assistants to thatchers. He thinks that, +"estimated proportionately, their services were not badly paid," but that, +allowing for the different value of money, women got about as much for +outdoor work as women employed on farms get now. After the Plague, +however, the wages paid women as thatchers' helps were doubled, and before +the end of the fifteenth century were increased by 125 per cent. A statute +of 1495 fixed the wages of women labourers and other labourers at the same +amount, viz. 2-1/2d. a day, or 4-1/2d. if without board. At a later +period, 1546-1582, according to Thorold Rogers, some accounts of harvest +work from Oxford show women paid the same as men. + +In the sixteenth century the Statute of Apprentices, 5 Eliz. c. 4, gave +power to justices to compel women between twelve years old and forty to be +retained and serve by the year, week, or day, "for such wages and in such +reasonable sort and manner as they shall think meet," and a woman who +refused thus to serve might be imprisoned. + +_Textiles. Wool and Linen._--No trace remains in history of the inventor +of the loom, but no historical record remains of a time without some means +of producing a texture by means of intertwining a loose thread across a +fixed warp. Any such device, however rude, must involve a degree of +culture much above mere savagery, and probably resulted from a long +process of groping effort and invention. From this dim background +hand-spinning and weaving emerge in tradition and history as the customary +work of women, the type of their activity, and the norm of their duty and +morals. The old Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and German words for loom are +certainly very ancient, and Pictet derives the word _wife_ from the +occupation of weaving. In the Northern Mythology the three stars in the +Belt of Orion were called Frigga Rock, or Frigga's Distaff, which in the +days of Christianity was changed to Maria Rock, rock being an old word for +distaff. + +Spinning, weaving, dyeing, and embroidering were special features of +Anglo-Saxon industry, and were entirely confined to women. King Alfred in +his will distinguished between the spear-half and spindle-half of his +family; and in an old illustration of the Scripture, Adam is shown +receiving the spade and Eve the distaff, after their expulsion from the +Garden of Eden. This traditional distinction between the duties of the +sexes was continued even to the grave, a spear or a spindle, according to +sex, being often found buried with the dead in Anglo-Saxon tombs. + +In the Church of East Meon, Hants, there is a curious old font with a +sculptured representation of the same incident: Eve, it has been observed, +stalks away with head erect, plying her spindle and distaff, while Adam, +receiving a spade from the Angel, looks submissive and abased. + +In an old play entitled _Corpus Christi_, formerly performed before the +Grey or Franciscan Friars, Adam is made to say to Eve: + + And wyff, to spinne now must thou fynde + Our naked bodyes in cloth to wynde. + +The distaff or rock could on occasion serve the purpose of a weapon of +offence or defence. In the _Digby Mysteries_ a woman brandishes her +distaff, exclaiming: + + What! shall a woman with a Rocke drive thee away! + +In the _Winter's Tale_ Hermione exclaims: + + We'll thwack him thence with distaffs (Act I., Sc. ii.). + +Spinning and weaving were in old times regarded as specially virtuous +occupations. Deloney quotes an old song which brings out this idea with +much _naïveté_: + + Had Helen then sat carding wool, + Whose beauteous face did breed such strife, + She had not been Sir Paris' trull + Nor cause so many lose their life. + Or had King Priam's wanton son + Been making quills with sweet content + He had not then his friends undone + When he to Greece a-gadding went. + The cedar trees endure more storms + Than little shrubs that sprout on hie, + The weaver lives more void of harm + Than princes of great dignity. + +There is also a little French poem quoted and translated by Wright, which +runs thus: + + Much ought woman to be held dear, + By her is everybody clothed. + Well know I that woman spins and manufactures + The cloths with which we dress and cover ourselves, + And gold tissues, and cloth of silk; + And therefore say I, wherever I may be, + To all who shall hear this story, + That they say no ill of womankind. + +Spinning and weaving, as ordinarily carried on in the mediaeval home, +were, Mr. Andrews thinks, backward, wasteful, and comparatively unskilled +in technique. It is uncertain exactly at what period the spinning-wheel +came into existence--certainly before the sixteenth century, and it may be +a good deal earlier; but doubtless the use of the distaff lingered on in +country places and among older-fashioned people long after the wheel was +in use in the centres of the trades. Thus Aubrey speaks of nuns using +wheels, and adds, "In the old time they used to spin with rocks; in +Somersetshire they use them still." Yet weaving among the Anglo-Saxons had +been carried to a considerable degree of excellence in the cities and +monasteries. Mr. Warden says that even before the end of the seventh +century the art of weaving had attained remarkable perfection in England, +and he quotes from a book by Bishop Aldhelm, written about 680, describing +"webs woven with shuttles, filled with threads of purple and many other +colours, flying from side to side, and forming a variety of figures and +images in different compartments with admirable art." These beautiful +handiworks were executed by ladies of high rank and great piety, and were +designed for ornaments to the churches or for vestments to the clergy. St. +Theodore of Canterbury thought it necessary to forbid women to work on +Sunday either in weaving or cleaning the vestments or sewing them, or in +carding wool, or beating flax, or in washing garments, or in shearing the +sheep, or in any such occupations. + +Tapestry, cloth of gold, and other woven fabrics of great beauty and +fineness, besides embroidery, were produced in convents, which in the +Middle Ages were the chief centres of culture for women. So much was this +the case indeed, that the spiritual advisers of the nuns at times became +uneasy, and exhorted them to give more time to devotion and less to +weaving and knitting "vainglorious garments of many colours." In that +curious book of advice to nuns, the _Ancren Riwle_, composed in the +twelfth century, the writer showed the same spirit, and opposed the making +of purses and other articles of silk with ornamental work. He also +dissuaded women from trafficking with the products of the conventual +estates. These injunctions seem to indicate that women were showing some +degree of mental and artistic activity and initiative. Royal ladies worked +at spinning and weaving, and Piers Plowman tells the lovely ladies who +asked him for work, to spin wool and flax, make cloth for the poor and +naked, and teach their daughters to do the same. + +It is evident from old accounts that a good deal of weaving was done +outside by the piece for these great households, and of course spinning +and weaving were largely carried on in cottages as a bye-industry in +conjunction with agriculture. Bücher gives a very interesting account of +spinning as an opportunity for social intercourse among primitive peoples. +In Thibet, he says, there is a spinning-room in each village; the young +people, men and girls, meet and spin and smoke together. Spinning in +groups or parties is known to have obtained also in Germany in olden +times, and girls who now meet to make lace together in the same sociable +way still say that they "go spinning." Spinning-rooms exist in Russia. In +Yorkshire spinning seems to have been done socially in the open air, in +fine weather, down to the eve of the industrial revolution. + +Spinning was one of the first works in which young girls were instructed, +and thus spinster has become the legal designation of an unmarried woman, +not that she always gave up spinning at marriage, but because it was +looked upon as the young unmarried woman's chief occupation. Old +manuscripts also show women weaving at the loom, illustrations of which +can be found in the interesting works of Thomas Wright. + +In 1372 a Yorkshire woman spinner was summoned for taking "too much wages, +contrary to the Statute of Artificers." In 1437 John Notyngham, a rich +grocer of Bury St. Edmunds, bequeathed to one of his daughters a +spinning-wheel and a pair of cards (cards or carpayanum, an implement +which is stated in the _Promptorum Parvulorum_ to be especially a woman's +instrument). In 1418 Agnes Stebbard in the same town bequeathed to two of +her maids a pair of wool-combs each, one combing-stick, one wheel, and one +pair of cards. An illuminated MS. of the well-known French _Boccace des +Nobles Femmes_ has a most interesting illustration showing a queen and two +maidens; one maiden is spinning with a distaff, another combing wool, the +queen sits at the loom weaving. Women often appear in old records as +combers, carders, and spinners. Chaucer says rather cynically: + + Deceit, weeping, spinning God hath given + To women kindly, whiles that they may liven. + +And of the wife of Bath: + + Of clothmaking she had such an haunt + She passed them of Ipres and of Gaunt. + +The distaff lingered on for spinning flax. As late as 1757 an English poet +writes: + + And many yet adhere + To the ancient distaff at the bosom fixed, + Casting the whirling spindle as they walk; + At home or in the sheep fold or the mart, + Alike the work proceeds. + +Walter of Henley says: "In March is time to sow flax and hemp, for I have +heard old housewives say that better is March hards than April flax, the +reason appeareth, but how it should be sown, weeded, pulled, repealed, +watered, washen, dried, beaten, braked, tawed, heckled, spun, wound, +wrapped and woven, it needeth not for me to show, for they be wise enough, +and thereof may they make sheets, bordclothes (_sic_), towels, shirts, +smocks, and such other necessaries, and therefore let thy distaff be +always ready for a pastime, that thou be not idle. And undoubted a woman +cannot get her living honestly with spinning on the distaff, but it +stoppeth a gap and must needs be had." Further on, in reference to wool +(probably spun by wheel?), he draws the opposite conclusion: "It is +convenient for a husband to have sheep of his own, for many causes, and +then may his wife have part of the wool, to make her husband and herself +some clothes.... And if she have no wool of her own she may take wool to +spin of cloth-makers, and by that means she may have a convenient living, +an many times to do other works." + +Irish women were noted for their skill in dressing hemp and flax and +making linen and woollen cloth. Sir William Temple said, in 1681, that no +women were apter to spin flax well than the Irish, who, "labouring little +in any kind with their hands have their fingers more supple and soft than +other women of poorer condition among us." + +In the old Shuttleworth Accounts, reprinted by the Chetham Society, there +are minute directions to the housewife on the management and manipulation +of her wool. "It is the office of a husbandman at the shearing of the +sheep to bestow upon the housewife such a competent proportion of wool as +shall be convenient for the clothing of his family; which wool, as soon as +she hath received it, she shall open, and with a pair of shears cut away +all the coarse locks, pitch, brands, tarred locks, and other feltrings, +and lay them by themselves for coarse coverlets and the like. The rest she +is to break in pieces and tease, lock by lock, with her hands open, and so +divide the wool as not any part may be feltered or close together, but all +open and loose. Then such of the wool as she intends to spin white she +shall put by itself and the rest she shall weigh up and divide into +several quantities, according to the proportion of the web she intends to +make, and put every one of them into particular lays of netting, with +tallies of wool fixed into them with privy marks thereon, for the weight, +colour, and knowledge of the wool, when the first colour is altered. Then +she shall if she please send them to the dyer to be dyed after her own +fancy," or dye them herself (recipes for which are given). + +"After your wool is mixed, oiled and trimmed (carded), you shall then spin +it upon great wool wheels, according to the order of good housewifery; the +action whereof must be got by practice, and not by relation; only this you +shall be carefull, to draw your thread according to nature and goodness of +your wool, not according to your particular desire; for if you draw a fine +thread from wool which is of a coarse staple, it will want substance ... +so, if you draw a coarse thread from fine wool, it will then be much +overthick ... to the disgrace of good housewifery and loss of much cloth." + +_Weaving and Spinning as a Woman's Trade._--The employments carried on by +women in the household may have yielded money occasionally, as we have +seen from some of the foregoing quotations, but the work appears in these +excerpts to have been carried on rather as a bye-industry, as a means of +utilising surplus produce, than as a recognised trade for gain or profit. +Did women carry on the manufacture of woollen goods definitely as a craft +or trade? The evidence on this head is not very clear. A statute of Edward +III.[4] expressly exempts women from the ordinance, then in force, that +men should not follow more than one craft. "It is ordained that Artificers +Handicraft people hold them every one to one Mystery, which he will choose +between this and the said feast of Candlemas; and Two of every craft shall +be chosen to survey, that none use other craft than the same which he +hath chosen.... But the intent of the King and of his Council is, that +Women, that is to say, Brewers, Bakers, Carders and Spinners, and Workers +as well of Wool as of Linen Cloth and of Silk, Brawdesters and Breakers of +Wool and all other that do use and work all Handy Works may freely use and +work as they have done before this time, without any impeachment or being +restrained by this Ordinance." The meaning of this ordinance is rather +obscure, but the greater liberty conferred on women would seem to imply +that they were not carrying on the trades mentioned as organised workers +competing with men, but that they performed the various useful works +mentioned at odd times, incidentally to the work of the household. Miss +Abram says women were sometimes cloth-makers (see 4 Edw. IV. c. 1), and +often women cloth-makers, combers, carders, and spinners are mentioned in +the Parliamentary Rolls. There were women amongst the tailors of +Salisbury, and amongst the yeoman tailors of London, also among the dyers +of Bristol and the drapers of London. Women might join the Merchant Gild +of Totnes, and some belonged to the Gild Merchant of Lyons. + +There appear to have been women members of the Weavers' Company of London +in Henry VIII.'s time. Again at Bristol, in documents dating from the +fourteenth century, we find mention of the "brethren and sistern" of the +Weavers' Gild. + +In the next century, in the first year of Edward IV., complaint was, +however, made that many able-bodied weavers were out of work, in +consequence of the employment of women at the weaver's craft, both at home +and hired out. It was ordered that henceforward any one setting, putting, +or hiring his wife, daughter, or maid "to such occupation of weaving in +the loom with himself or with any other person of the said craft, within +the said town of Bristol" should upon proof be fined 6s. 8d., half to go +to the Chamber of Bristol and half to the Craft. This regulation was not, +however, to apply to any weaver's wife so employed at the time it was +made, but the said woman might continue to work at the loom as before. + +Professor Unwin quotes a rule of the Clothworkers of London, in the second +year of Edward VI., imposing a fine of 20 pence on any member employing +even his own wife and daughter in his shop. At Hull, in 1490, women were +forbidden working at the weaver's trade. But in 1564 the proviso was +introduced that a widow might work at her husband's trade so long as she +continued a widow and observed the orders of the company. The London +Weavers clearly recognised women members, for they enacted that "no man or +woman of the said craft shall entice any man's servant from him." But +another rule prohibited taking a woman as apprentice. The statutes of the +Weavers of Edinburgh in the sixteenth century provided that no woman be +allowed to have looms of her own, _unless_ she be a freeman's wife. +Probably it was felt in practice to be impossible to prevent a woman +helping her husband, or carrying on his trade after his death, although +there was evidently a desire to keep women out of the craft as much as +possible. By the seventeenth century Gervase Markham writes as if women +did no weaving at all. "Now after your cloth is thus warped and delivered +up into the hands of the Weaver, the Housewife hath finished her labour, +for in the weaving, walking, and dressing thereof she can challenge no +property more than to entreat them severally to discharge their duties +with a good conscience." At Norwich, in 1511, the Ordinance of Weavers +forbade women to weave worsted, "for that they be not of sufficient power +to work the same worsteds as they ought to be wrought." + +Records of rates of pay to journeymen weavers, tuckers, fullers, etc., +1651,[5] ignore women as textile workers altogether; the only women +mentioned in this assessment are agricultural workers and domestic +servants. Nevertheless, old accounts of the seventeenth century do show +payments to women, not only for spinning, but for weaving and "walking" +woollen cloth, and we can only conclude that while the progress of +technical improvements had made weaving largely a men's trade, it was yet +also carried on by women to a considerable extent. + +_Apprenticeship._--It seems appropriate here to give some little space to +the subject of apprenticeship. Miss Dunlop points out, in her recent +valuable work on that subject, that the opposition of some of the gilds to +women's work was not hostility to women as women, so much as distrust of +the untrained, unqualified worker. "At Salisbury the barber-surgeons +agitated against unskilled women who medelled in the trade." "In the +Girdlers' Company the officers forbade their members to employ foreigners +and maids, not out of any animosity to the women, but because unscrupulous +workmen had been underselling their fellows by employing cheap labour." At +Hull, as we have seen, the employment of women was forbidden, but so was +the employment of aliens. According to Miss Dunlop, the great difficulty +in the way of women was the onerousness of domestic work, which prevented +girls undertaking apprenticeship to a skilled craft. It appears that women +and girls were largely employed as assistants to the husband or father, +and that the requirement of apprenticeship by the Elizabethan Statute did +not check the practice, as it was so widespread and so convenient that the +law was difficult to enforce. It is exceptional, Miss Dunlop remarks, to +find a gild forbidding the practice, and in point of fact, the services of +his wife and daughter were usually the only cheap casual labour a man +could get. Apprentice labour was cheap, but could not be obtained for +short periods at a sudden pressure. "Girl labour, therefore, had a +peculiar value, and we may suppose that more girls worked at crafts and +manufactures than would have been the case if they had been obliged to +serve an apprenticeship." There was no systematic training and technical +teaching of girls as there was of boys, though in some cases they were +apprenticed and served their time, and in others, though unapprenticed, +they may have been as carefully taught. "But apprenticeship played no part +in the life of girls as a whole: they missed the general education which +it afforded, and their training tended to be casual and irregular": on the +other hand, their lives gained something in variety from the change of +passing from household to industrial work and _vice versa_. The system +must, however, have tended to keep women in an inferior and subordinate +position. "For although they worked hard and the total amount of their +labour has contributed largely to our industrial development, it was only +exceptionally that they attained to the standing of employers and +industrial leaders." The exceptions are rather interesting; it is evident +that London was broad-minded in its delimitation of the woman's sphere of +activity and there were many instances of girls being apprenticed. + +There were also women who, though unapprenticed, had the right of working +on their own account, and this, though never very common, was not so +unusual as to arouse comment or surprise. These were mostly widows who +carried on the work of their deceased husbands; others were the daughters +of freemen who claimed as such to be admitted to the gild or company, +basing their claims on rights of patrimony. This taking up of independent +work by no means implied that the women had themselves served +apprenticeship in youth; it seems merely to have meant the inheritance of +the goodwill and privileges along with the craftsman's shop. In the +Carpenters' Company Mary Wiltshire and Ann Callcutt took up their freedom +by right of patrimony, and there are other instances. + +_The Development of Capitalistic Industry._--The growth and development of +a capitalistic system of industry can be traced from the fifteenth +century, and forms one of the most interesting and dramatic episodes in +economic history. It is, however, not very easy to determine in what way +the change influenced women's employment. The more prosperous among the +weavers gradually developed into clothiers, employing many hands, but the +majority tended to become mere wage-earners. A petition of weavers in 1539 +stated that the clothiers had their own looms and weavers and fullers in +their own houses, so that the master weavers were rendered destitute. "For +the rich men the clothiers be concluded and agreed among themselves to +hold and pay one price for weaving, which price is too little to sustain +households upon, working night and day, holy-day and work-day, and many +weavers are therefore reduced to the position of servants." The Petition +of Suffolk Clothiers, 1575, says that the custom of their country is "to +carry our wool out ... and put it to sundry spinners who have in their +houses divers and sundry children and servants that do card and spin the +same wool." In the north of England also large clothiers employing many +hands were to be found as early as 1520. The subsequent development of the +industry, Professor Unwin tells us, took place in a very marked degree in +those districts which were exempt from the operation of the statutes +forbidding clothiers to set up outside market-towns. In other parts of the +country the struggle was acute. "The protection of industry from all +competition was the first and last word of the crafts. To employers and +dealers the monopoly of trade chiefly meant their own monopoly of +production and sale, while the wage-earner's predominant anxiety was to +keep surplus labour out of the craft, lest the regular worker might be +deprived of his comfortable certainty of subsistence." + +There was, however, a great expansion of trade and industry going on, and +labour was needed. The master who had accumulated a little capital perhaps +moved out to the valleys of Yorkshire or Gloucestershire in search of +water-power for his fulling mills or finer wool for his weavers, or +forsook the manufacturing town for some rural district where labour was +plentiful and he could escape the heavy municipal dues which his business +could ill afford to pay. The ordinances of Worcester, for instance, +contain regulations intended to prevent the masters giving out wool to the +weavers in other parts so long as there were people enough in the city to +do the work, "in the hindering of the poor commonalty of the same." + +The struggle between these two forms of industry, the craft carried on in +the towns and the dispersed industry under a more definitely capitalistic +organisation in the country, went on for centuries. From the earliest +years of the reign of Henry VIII. to the accession of Elizabeth, a +constantly increasing amount of legislation was devoted to the protection +of the town manufacture against the competition of the country. This +legislation was interpreted by Froude as a genuine endeavour to protect a +highly skilled, highly organised industry of independent craftsmen against +the evils of capitalism, but the closer researches of Professor Unwin show +that this is idealism; the craftsmen were merely pawns in the hands of +town merchants who dreaded to see some of the trade pass into the hands of +a new class of country capitalists. This is an historical controversy too +difficult to follow closely here; what we have to note is the part played +by women in the change. + +We may as well admit that women's work during this industrial transition +appears mostly as part of the problem of cheap unorganised labour. "The +spinners seem never to have had any organisation, and were liable to +oppression by their employers, not only through low wages, but through +payment in kind, and the exaction of arbitrary fines." Irregularity of +employment was another trouble: in the play of _King Henry VIII._ the +clothiers were shown making increased taxation a pretext for dismissing +hands. + + The clothiers all, not able to maintain + The many to them 'longing, have put off + The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers. + +To compensate their masters' greed and extortion they had recourse to +petty dishonesties on their own part, and were frequently accused of +keeping back part of the wool given out, or of making up the weight by the +addition of oil or other moisture to the yarn. In 1593 a Bill was +presented to Parliament which imposed penalties on frauds in spinning and +weaving, but also pointed out that the workers were partly driven to fraud +"for lack of sufficient wages and allowance," and proposed to raise the +wages of spinners and weavers by one-third.[6] This Bill (which may be +regarded as a kind of ancestor of Mr. Winston Churchill's Trade Boards +Act, 1909) failed to pass. + +In the seventeenth century the rates of spinners' wages appear very low, +even measured by contemporary standards. Mr. Hamilton has reproduced the +wages assessed at Quarter Sessions by the Justices of Exeter in 1654. +Weavers were to have 2-1/2d. a day with food or 8d. without. It is +difficult to guess whether these weavers were supposed to be men or women; +the rates fixed are less than those for husbandry labourers (which were +fixed at 3d. and 10d.), but rather more than those for women haymakers, +which were 2d. and 6d. Spinsters, however, were to have "not above" 6d. a +week with food or 1s. 4d. without. In 1713 at the same place spinsters +were to have not above 1s. a week, or 2s. 6d. if without board, which +again compares very unfavourably with the other rates mentioned. It is +difficult to understand the extreme lowness of these rates of pay to +spinsters, unless on the assumption that they were intended to apply to +servants actually living and working in the clothiers' houses; or that +spinning was supposed not to occupy a woman's whole time, which no doubt +was often the case. But the rates fixed on that assumption should of +course have been piece rates. Altogether Mr. Hamilton's research here +raises more questions than it can settle. + +No doubt the Poor Law helped in some degree to depress wages, for another +form taken by this many-sided industry of wool was that of relief work +under the Poor Law. Spinning was the main resource of those whose duty +under the Poor Law was to find work for the unemployed, and in +institutions such as Christ's Hospital, Ipswich, children were set to card +and spin from their earliest years. Such instances might be multiplied +indefinitely. A charitable workhouse in Bishopsgate used to give out wool +and flax every Monday morning to be spun at home to "such poor people as +desire it and are skilful in spinning thereof."[7] Nevertheless we do +occasionally get glimpses of women as an important factor in industry. For +instance, in Edward VI.'s time, there had been an attempt to require +clothiers to be apprenticed. This law was repealed in the first year of +Queen Mary, with the remark that "the perfect and principal ground of +cloth making is the true sorting of wools, and the experience thereof +consisteth only in women, as clothiers' wives and their women servants and +not in apprentices." + +A still more remarkable development of female employment, perhaps, was the +beginning of the factory system in the sixteenth century. These were +chiefly in the west of England industry, and in Wiltshire. Leland in his +_Itinerary_ mentions a man called Stumpe who had actually taken possession +of the ancient Abbey of Malmesbury and filled it with looms, employing +many hands. A still more celebrated instance was the factory of John +Winchcomb, a prudent man who married his master's widow and had a fine +business at Newbury, described in a ballad which shows him employing 200 +men weaving, each with a boy helper, and 100 women carding wool: + + And in a chamber close beside + Two hundred maydens did abide + In petticoats of stammel red + And milk-white kerchiefs on their head. + + * * * * * + + These pretty maids did never lin + But in that place all day did spin. + +In 1567 the Weaver's Gild of Bristol prohibited its members from +underselling one another in the prices of their work, and also forbade +them to allow their wives to go for any work to clothiers' houses, which +at least implies that there was some demand for their labour. Now, +although the growth of capital may have seriously affected the position of +the male craftsmen, as Professor Unwin tells us, and reduced them to be +mere wage-earners, it seems not impossible that the economic position of +women may have been improved by the opportunity of work for wages outside +the home. Women had worked for the use and consumption of their own +households, and, as wives of craftsmen, they had worked as helpers with +their husbands. The new organisation of work by a capitalist employer +opened up the possibility to women and girls of earning wages for +themselves. The additional earnings of wife and children even if very +small make a great difference in the comfort of a labourer's family. It is +likely enough, indeed it is evident that their work was often grievously +exploited, and the reduction of the craftsman to the position of a mere +wage-earner may have diminished the spending power of the family. Of all +this we know little or nothing definitely, but it seems probable that the +supersession of handicraft by a quasi-capitalistic form of organisation +affected women less adversely than men. In the eighteenth century, the +palmy days of the domestic system, some women in the industrial centres +were earning what were considered very good wages. Arthur Young says of +the cloth trade round Leeds: "Some women earn by weaving as much as the +men." Of Norwich he says: "The earnings of manufacturers (_i.e._ +hand-workers) are various, but in general high," the men on an average +earning 5s. a week, and many women earning as much.[8] + +It must be also remembered that each weaver kept several spinners +employed, so that unless his family could supply him, he might easily be +forced to have recourse to the services of women workers outside. Mr. +Townsend Warner quotes an estimate that 25 weavers might require the +services of 250 spinners to keep them fully supplied with yarn. + +Mantoux thinks this excessive, though it has to be remembered, as Mr. +Townsend Warner points out, that the spinners usually did not give their +whole time. Again, the description of the organisation of the trade, end +of eighteenth century, quoted by Bonwick, conveys the impression that +women, in some cases at all events, were taking a responsible part. + + I went to York, to buy wool, and at that time it averaged about 1s. + per pound. I then came home, sorted and combed it myself. After being + combed, it was oiled and closed, that is, the long end of the wool and + the short end were put together to form a skein. It took a number of + skeins to make a top, each top making exactly a pound. Then I took it + to hand-spinners 20 or 30 miles distant. The mother or head of the + family plucked the tops into pieces the length of the wool, and gave + it to the different branches of the family to spin, who could spin + about 9 or 10 hanks per day; for the spinning I gave one half penny + per hank, and sometimes 1/2d. for every 24 hanks over. + +Another interesting account is given by Bamford: + + Farms were most cultivated for the production of milk, butter and + cheese.... The farming was mostly of that kind which was soonest and + most easily performed, and it was done by the husband and other males + of the family, whilst the wife and daughters and maid servants, if + there were any of the latter, attended to the churning, cheese-making, + and household work, and when that was finished, they busied themselves + in carding, slubbing, and spinning of wool and cotton, as well as + forming it into warps for the loom. The husband and sons would next, + at times when farm labour did not call them abroad, size the warp, dry + it, and beam it in the loom, and either they or the females, whichever + happened to be least otherwise employed, would weave the warp down. A + farmer would generally have 3 or 4 looms in his house. + +Of course it is not to be inferred that the women thus employed were +always free to control or spend their own earnings; in law they +undoubtedly were not, if married. The domestic system so picturesquely +described by Defoe (in his _Tour_), under which the family worked +together, each, from the oldest to the youngest, doing his or her part, no +doubt often involved a quite patriarchal distribution and control of the +resulting earnings. Still the mention of women as separate and individual +earners that occurs often in eighteenth-century works on the subject must +indicate that they were attaining a greater measure of individual +recognition and self-determination than formerly.[9] + +It is interesting also to notice that the cloth industry was sometimes +carried on socially in the eighteenth century. Bradford Dale was covered +with weavers and spinners, and the women and children of Allerton, +Thornton, and other villages in the valley, used to flock on sunny days +with their spinning wheels to some favourite pleasant spot, and work in +company.[10] + +_Frame-Work Knitting._--The frame-work knitting trade has many points of +resemblance with the woollen weaving trade. Hand-knitting, we are told by +Felkin, was not introduced till the sixteenth century. It became extremely +popular and was pursued by women in every class of life from the palace to +the cottage. A kind of frame or hand-machine was invented in the +seventeenth century by Lee. It is said that Lee invented this machine in a +spirit of revenge and bitterness against a young lady he had fallen in +love with, who was so intent on her knitting that she could never give him +her attention when he made love to her. From watching her at work he +acquired a mastery of the mesh or stitch, and anger at her being so +engrossed with her employment impelled him to make a machine that would +deprive her of her work. + +The frame-work knitters were incorporated under Charles II., and the +company made rather drastic rules, trying to exclude women from +apprenticeship, though they might become members on widowhood, as in so +many of the old guilds. Frame-work knitting also gave employment to women +and children in seaming up the hose. In the eighteenth century the trade +became sweated and underpaid. The hours of work were as much as fifteen a +day. Women, however, were paid at the same rates per piece, and were +subject to the same deductions, and some of them were good hands and could +earn as much as men. + +_Silk._--The broad difference between linen and woollen on the one hand, +and silk and cotton on the other, is that the two former, so ancient that +their origins are lost to history, arose as household industries at the +very early stage of civilisation in which the family is self-sufficient, +or nearly so, providing for its own needs and consumption by the work of +its own members; the two latter, on the contrary, appear chiefly as trades +carried on not for use but for payment, and are also sharply +differentiated from the more ancient industries by the fact that the raw +materials--silk and cotton--are not indigenous to these islands, but have +to be imported. + +In the manufacture of silk, women early appear as independent producers +and manufacturers, for in the fifteenth century they were sufficiently +organised to be able collectively to petition Parliament for measures to +check the importation of ribbons and wrought silk, and on their behalf was +passed an Act (1455) 33 Hen. VI. c. 5, which states that "it is shewed ... +by the grievous complaint of the silk women and spinners of the mystery +and occupation of silk-working, within the city of London, how that divers +Lombards and other strangers, imagining to destroy the said mystery and +all such virtuous occupations of women in the said realm, to enrich +themselves and to increase them and such occupations in other strange +lands, have brought and daily go about to bring into the said realm such +silk so made, wrought, twined, ribbands and chains falsely and deceitfully +wrought, all manner girdels and other things concerning the said mystery +and occupation, in no manner wise bringing any good silk unwrought, as +they were wont to bring heretofore, to the final destruction of the said +mysteries and occupations, unless it be the more hastily remedied by the +King's Majesty." The importation of silk, ribbons, etc., was forthwith +prohibited, and we find similar prohibitions in 3 Edw. IV. c. 3 and c. 4, +22 Edw. IV. c. 3, 1 Rich. III. c. 10, and 1 Hen. VII. c. 9. Henry VII. +dealt with several silk women for ribands, fringes, and so forth, as +recorded in his accounts. A statute of Charles II. 14 Ch. II. c. 15 says +many women in London were employed in working silk. + +The manufacture of silk was introduced into Derbyshire at the beginning of +the eighteenth century. John Lombe's silk mill was the first textile mill +at work in that county. A rather considerable manufacture of piece silks +and silk ribbons and braid grew up in Derby and Glossop, a large +proportion of women and girls being employed. The numbers of operatives in +this industry increased up to the census of 1851 and 1861, when about 6000 +operatives were employed, after which it began to go down, reaching the +low figure of 662 in the county in 1901; in 1911, 442. + +In Macclesfield silk-throwing mills were erected in 1756, the manufacture +of silk goods and mohair buttons having been already carried on for +centuries. The silk throwsters of Macclesfield for many years worked for +Spitalfields and supplied them with thrown silk through the London +manufacturers. In 1776, it is recorded, the wages paid to the millmen and +stewards were 7s. a week, the women doublers 3s. 6d., children 6d. to 1s. +The manufacture of broad silk was established at Macclesfield in 1790. We +know by inference that many women must have been employed, but information +is unfortunately scanty in regard to the social conditions of this trade, +so specially adapted to industrial women. It is evident, however, that +women kept their place in it, for the apprenticeship rules laid before the +Committee on Ribbon Weavers in 1818 expressly included women, both as +apprentices and journeywomen. + +The inherent delicacy of many of the processes, and the fact that silk as +a luxury trade is especially susceptible to changes of fashion, have +retarded the use of machinery and preserved the finer fabrics as an +artistic handicraft. But this, in itself a development to be welcomed, +must also indicate that capital and labour can be more advantageously +employed in the industries that have evolved more fully on modern lines, +for the silk trade is undoubtedly declining in England. + +_Other Industries._--If information respecting the traditional employments +of women in the linen and woollen trades is sparse and unsatisfactory, +much more is it difficult to trace out their conditions in other +industries of a less "womanly" character. Yet even in such callings it is +sufficiently evident that women were employed. Traill's _Social England_ +tells us of women making ropes as early as the thirteenth century. Women +are known to have worked in the Derbyshire lead mines, _temp._ Edward II. +They washed and cleaned the ore at 1d. a day, and were assisted by four +girls at 3/4d. a day, men being employed at the same time at 1-1/2d. a +day. Mr. Lapsley, in his account of a fifteenth-century ironworks, records +that two women, wives of the smith and foreman respectively, performed +miscellaneous tasks, from breaking up the iron-stone to blowing the +bellows. In 1652 a Parliamentary commission found that many of the surface +workers employed in dressing the ore (_i.e._ freeing it from the earth and +spar with which it was mixed) were women and children. An _Account of +Mines_, dated 1707, tells us that vast numbers of poor people at that time +were employed in "working of mines, the very women and children employed +therein, as well as the men, especially in the mines of lead." Women +worked in coal-mining at Winterton, "for lack of men," in 1581, and with +children were employed in the "great coal-works and workhouses" started by +Sir Humphrey Mackworth at Neath. They evidently worked underground, as +several deaths of women in mine explosions are recorded. In 1770 Arthur +Young found women working in lead mines and earning as much as 1s. a day, +a man earning 1s. 3d. + +In Birmingham trades, especially the making of buttons and other small +articles, women were employed as far back as we can find any records. At +Burslem, Young found women working in the potteries, earning 5s. to 8s. a +week. Near Bristol he found women and girls employed in a copper works for +melting copper ore, and making the metal into pins, pans, etc. At +Gloucester he found great numbers of women working in the pin manufacture. +In the Sheffield plated ware trade he found girls working, but does not +mention women. Of the Sheffield trades generally he says that women and +girls earn very good wages, "much more than by spinning wool in any part +of the kingdom." + +It is unfortunate that we have, so far, very little information in regard +to women's work in non-textile trades previous to the industrial +revolution. It is tolerably safe to infer that the above scattered hints +indicate a state of things neither new nor exceptional. There can be +little doubt that women constantly worked in these trades, either +assisting the head of the family, or as a wage-worker for an outside +employer. But we know so little that we cannot attempt to enlarge on the +subject. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WOMEN AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. + + He! an die Arbeit! + Alle von hinnen! + Hurtig hinab! + Aus den neuen Schachten + schafft mir das Gold! + Euch grüsst die Geissel, + grabt ihr nicht rasch! + Das keiner mir müssig + bürge mir Mime, + sonst birgt er sich schwer + meines Armes Schwunge: + + * * * + + Zögert ihr noch? + Zaudert wohl gar? + Zittre und zage, + gezähmtes Heer! + WAGNER, _Das Rheingold_. + + +The cotton trade is the industry most conspicuously identified with the +series of complex changes that we call the Industrial Revolution. Its +history before that period is comparatively unimportant; we have therefore +left it over from the previous chapter to the present. + +Cottons are mentioned as a Manchester trade in the sixteenth century, but +it seems probable that these were really a coarse kind of woollen stuff, +and not cotton at all. Cotton wool had, it is true, been imported from the +East for some time, but was used only for candle wicks and such small +articles, not for cloth. In the Poor Law of Elizabeth, cotton is not +included among the articles that might be provided by overseers to "set +the poor on work." The first authoritative mention of the cotton +manufacture of Manchester occurs in Lewis Roberts' _Treasure of Traffike_. +It appears from this tract, which was published in 1641, that the Levant +Company used to bring cotton wool to London, which was afterwards taken to +Manchester and worked up into "fustians, vermilions, dimities, and other +such stuffs." The manufacture had therefore become an established fact by +the middle of the seventeenth century, but its growth was not rapid for +some time. Owing to the rudeness of the spinning implements used fine yarn +could not be spun and fine goods could not be woven. In the second quarter +of the eighteenth century, however, Manchester and the cotton manufacture +began to increase very markedly in size and activity, and the resulting +demand for yarn served to stimulate the invention of machinery. "The +weaver was continually pressing upon the spinner. The processes of +spinning and weaving were generally performed in the same cottage, but the +weaver's own family could not supply him with a sufficient quantity of +weft, and he had with much pains to collect it from neighbouring +spinsters. Thus his time was wasted, and he was often subjected to high +demands for an article on which, as the demand exceeded the supply, the +spinner could put her own price." Guest says it was no uncommon thing for +a weaver to walk three or four miles in a morning, and call on five or six +spinners, before he could collect weft to serve him for the remainder of +the day, and when he wished to weave a piece in a shorter time than usual, +a new ribbon or a gown was necessary to quicken the exertions of the +spinner. The difficulty was intensified in 1738 by Kay's invention of the +fly-shuttle, which enabled the weaver to do twice as much work with a +given effort, and consequently of course to use up yarn in a similar +proportion. John Hargreaves, a Blackburn weaver, contrived a spinning +machine which multiplied eightfold the productive power of one spinner, +and was, moreover, simple enough to be worked by a child. Subsequent +developments and improvements were effected by Paul Wyatt and Arkwright, +and the latter being a good business man, unlike some other inventors, +made money out of his ideas. + +The changes effected in rural social life by the industrial revolution are +excellently described by W. Radcliffe. In the year 1770, when Radcliffe +was a boy nine or ten years old, his native township of Mellor, in +Derbyshire, only fourteen miles from Manchester, was occupied by between +fifty and sixty farmers; rents did not usually exceed 10s. per statute +acre, and of these fifty or sixty farmers, there were only six or seven +who paid their rents directly from the produce of their land; all the rest +made it partly in some branch of trade, such as spinning and weaving +woollen, linen, or cotton. The cottagers were employed entirely in this +manner, except at harvest time. The father would earn 8s. to 10s. 6d. at +his loom, and his sons perhaps 6s. or 8s. each per week; but the "great +sheet-anchor of all cottages and small farms," according to Radcliffe, was +the profit on labour at the handwheel. It took six to eight hands to +prepare and spin yarn sufficient to keep one weaver occupied, and a +demand was thus created for the labour of every person, from young +children to the aged, supposing they could see and move their hands. The +better class of cottagers and even small farmers also used spinning to +make up their rents and help support their families respectably. + +From the year 1770 to 1788 a complete change was effected in the textile +trade, cotton being largely used in substitution for wool and linen. The +hand-wheels were mostly thrown into lumber-rooms, and the yarn was all +spun on common jennies. In weaving no great change took place in these +eighteen years, save the increasing use of the fly-shuttle and the change +from woollen and linen to cotton. But the mule twist was introduced about +1788, and the enormous variety of new yarns now in vogue, for the +production of every kind of clothing--from the finest book-muslin or lace +to the heaviest fustian--added to the demand for weaving, and put all +hands in request. The old loom shops being insufficient, every +lumber-room, even old barns, cart-houses, and out-buildings of every +description were repaired, windows having been broken through the old +blank walls, and all were fitted up for weaving. New weavers' cottages +with loom-shops also rose up in every direction, and were immediately +occupied. It is said that families at this period used to bring home 40s., +60s., 80s., 100s., or even 120s. a week. The operative weavers were in a +condition of prosperity never before experienced by them. Every man had a +watch in his pocket, women could dress as they pleased, and as Radcliffe +records, "the church was crowded to excess every Sunday." Handsome +furniture, china, and plated ware, were acquired by these well-to-do +families, and many had a cow and a meadow. + +This prosperity was, however, ephemeral in duration. With the increased +complexity and elaboration of machinery, a change came. The profitableness +of the trade brought in larger capital, and led to the erection of mills, +with water power as the motive force. In such buildings as these machinery +could be set up, and labour could be drilled, organised and subdivided, so +as to produce a far greater return on the invested capital than in the +weavers' shops. These mills were built in places at some distance from +towns, and often in valleys and glens for the sake of water-power; they +were, however, kept as near towns as possible for the sake of markets and +means of transport. The first mills were exclusively devoted to carding +and spinning. The gradual increase of this system soon influenced the +prosperity of the domestic manufacturer--his profits quickly fell, workmen +being readily found to superintend the mill labour at a rate of wages, +high, it is true, but yet comparatively much lower than the recently +inflated value of home labour. The introduction of steam-power +considerably hastened the evolution of the factory industry. + +The power-loom was invented, or rather its invention was initiated, or +suggested, not by a manufacturer, or even by any one conversant with +textile work, but by a Kentish clergyman, named Cartwright. He heard of +Arkwright's spinning machinery in 1784 from some Manchester men whom he +met, apparently quite by chance, at Matlock. One of these remarked that +the machines which had just been perfected would produce so much cotton +that no hands could ever be found to weave it. Cartwright replied that in +that case Arkwright must invent a weaving mill. The Manchester men all +declared this to be impossible, and gave Cartwright all sorts of technical +reasons for their belief. He, however, went home and rapidly thought out a +rude contrivance which he employed a carpenter and smith to make under his +orders, got a weaver to put in a warp, and found that the thing worked, +though in a rough and unwieldy manner. Unfortunately, like so many +inventors, he had little or no business ability. His first factory was a +failure. He made a second attempt, in 1791, and erected considerable +buildings. By this time the weavers were already up in arms. Cartwright +received threatening letters, and the factory was burnt. Nevertheless, the +change was progressing, and where one failed, others were destined to +succeed. Several weaving factories were started in Scotland, at the end of +the century, and in 1803 Horrocks put up some iron automatic looms at +Stockport, which were soon copied in other towns of Lancashire. The +power-loom, however, was still imperfect in detail, and did not come into +general use until about 1833. The downfall of prices in weaving, which for +the workers concerned was as tragic as it was astonishing, can be seen in +a table in "Social and Economic History," _Victoria County History, +Lancashire_, vol. ii. p. 327. Miss Alice Law gives the prices for the +whole series of years 1814-1833; as the work is fairly accessible I +reproduce only samples, which show the trend sufficiently well. + +PRICES FOR WEAVING ONE PIECE OF SECOND OR THIRD 74 CALICO. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | 1814. | 1820. | 1821. | 1833. | + |--------------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------| + | |_s._ _d._|_s._ _d._|_s._ _d._|_s._ _d._| + |Average price per piece. | 6 6 | 2 11 | 3 2 | 1 4 | + |Average weekly sum a | | | | | + | good weaver could earn | 26 0 | 11 8 | 12 7 | 5 4 | + |Sum a family of 6, 3 being| | | | | + | weavers, could earn. | 52 0 | 23 4 | 28 3-3/4| 12 0 | + |Indispensable weekly | | | | | + | expenses for repair of | | | | | + | looms, fuel, light. | 5 3 | 5 3 | 5 3 | 4 3 | + |Sum remaining to six | | | | | + | persons for food and | | | | | + | clothing per week. | 46 9 | 18 1 | 23 0-3/4| 7 9 | + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +Subjected to the competition of power-looms, the hand-weavers were +compelled either to desert their employment and seek factory work, as in +fact the younger, more capable and energetic of them actually did, or to +reduce their rates of pay, which in time reached the point of starvation. + +It is extremely difficult to find much definite information as to the +condition of industrial women in this period. The technical changes, +commercial and political controversies, the startling growth of wealth, +and the conflicts of labour and capital that made up the more striking and +dramatic side of the industrial revolution have naturally impressed the +imagination of historians. Little attention has been given to the state of +women at this time. It is by inference from known facts rather than by +actual documentary evidence that we can arrive at an estimate of the +effects on women of these extraordinary changes. A certain proportion of +women, no doubt a very small one, must certainly have arrived at wealth +and prosperity through the rapid accession of fortune achieved by some of +the weavers and yeomen farmers, who became employers on a large scale. +This is scarcely the place to treat of this subject, though it is by no +means destitute of interest.[11] There were, further, women who distinctly +benefited by the improved wages of men in certain industries, when the +spending power of the family was increased by the new methods. This was +the case temporarily in the weaving trade during the period of expansion +through cheaper yarn noted above; Dr. Cunningham says that "the improved +rates for weaving rendered the women and children independent, and +unwilling to 'rival a wooden jenny.'"[12] Baines also tells us at a later +date, that where a spinner is assisted by his own children in the mill, +"his income is so large that he can live more generously, clothe himself +and his family better than many of the lower class of tradesmen, and +though improvidence and misconduct too often ruin the happiness of these +families, yet there are thousands of spinners in the cotton districts who +eat meat every day, wear broad cloth on the Sunday, dress their wives and +children well, furnish their houses with mahogany and carpets, subscribe +to publications, and pass through life with much of humble +respectability."[13] + +The effects of the industrial revolution on women other than the two +classes just indicated are more complicated. In the first place, the rural +labouring class suffered considerably from the loss of by-industries, +which in some districts had been a great help in eking out the wages of +the head of the family. + +_Decay of Hand-Spinning._--In regard to this subject the facts are fairly +well known. Towards the end of the eighteenth century spinning ceased to +be remunerative, even as a by-industry. As the work became more +specialised, as the machines came more and more into use, it became more +and more difficult for a mere home industry to compete with work done +under capitalistic conditions. Numbers of families, previously +independent, became unable to support themselves without help from the +rates. Sir Frederick Eden gives some concrete cases. At Halifax he notes +that "many poor women who earned a bare subsistence by spinning, are now +in a very wretched condition." He ascribes this to the influence of the +war in reducing the price of weaving and spinning, but no doubt the +competition of the machine industry was already an important factor. At +Leeds, where the new methods had been largely introduced, the workers were +better off. In another place he gives some instances of workers at Kendal +where the earnings of a whole family, the father weaving and the wife and +elder children weaving, spinning, or knitting, were insufficient to +maintain them without the aid of the Poor Law. In an article in the +_Gentleman's Magazine_ (May 1834, p. 531), the writer remarks, as if +noticing a new phenomenon, that the families of labourers are now +dependent on the men's labours or nearly so; and adds rather brutally +"they [the families] hang as a dead weight upon the rates for want of +employment." + +The loss of these by-industries as a supplementary source of income was no +doubt one of several causes that impelled the drift of labour from the +country to the town. It is also worth noting that the women lost, not only +their earnings, but something in variety of work and in manual training. + +_The Hand-Loom Weaver's Wife._--More miserable still was the fate of those +hand-weavers who found the piece-rates of their work constantly sagging +downwards, and were unable or unwilling to find another trade. It appears +that there was a kind of reciprocal movement going on between the spinners +and weavers during the transition, which is of interest as illustrating +the kind of skill and intelligence that was required. The weavers, who had +been enjoying a period of such unusual prosperity and might be expected +therefore to have more knowledge of the progress of trade and to be +possessed at least of some small capital, not infrequently abandoned the +loom, purchased machinery for spinning, and gradually rose more and more +into the position of an employer or trader rather than a mere craftsman. + +On the other hand, the spinner of the poorer sort, being unable to keep +pace with the growing expense of the improved and ever more elaborate +machinery, not infrequently threw aside the wheel and took to weaving, as +the easier solution of the immediate problem of subsistence for a +hand-worker who had neither capital nor business ability to enable him to +succeed in the new conditions of the struggle. Thus the ranks of the +hand-weavers tended to be swollen by the failures of other industries and +depleted of the most capable men, and as Mantoux notes, "the fall in +weavers' wages actually preceded the introduction of machinery for +weaving." + +From 1793 the reduction of weavers' rates was constant. The weaving of a +piece of velvet, paid at £4 in 1792, brought the worker only £2 : 15s. in +1794, £2 in 1796, £1 : 16s. in 1800. At the same time the quantity in a +piece was increased. This violent depreciation of hand-work was caused at +first by surplus labour, and was subsequently aggravated by machinism. The +workers who were most capable cast in their lot with the new system and +the new methods. But the misery of the slower, older, less energetic +worker was terrible. + +In the Coventry ribbon trade wages were lowered by the employment of young +people as half-pay apprentices, who were taken on for two, three or five +years, and bound by an unstamped indenture or agreement. These were +principally girls; the boys, for the sake of the elective franchise, were +generally bound for seven years. It was stated before Peel's Committee in +1816, by the Town Clerk of Coventry (p. 4), that in 1812, the demand for +labour being very great, numbers of girls had been induced to leave their +situations, for the sake of the higher wages in the ribbon trade. The boom +collapsed, and many of them came upon the poor rates, or, as it was +alleged, on the streets. Weavers' earnings were reduced by one half. +Another witness, a master manufacturer, saw in the system a transition to +the factory system, and prophesied that if the half-pay apprentice system +were not done away with, it would "cut up the trade wholly, so that there +will be no such thing as a journeyman weaver to be found.... We shall all +build large manufactories to contain from fifty to a hundred looms or +upwards, and we must all have these half-pay apprentices, and the +journeymen will all be reduced, and they must come to us and work for so +much a week or go to the parish." + +The effects of industrial change are felt by women directly as members of +the family; the impoverishment of the male wage-earner whose occupation is +taken away by technical developments means the anguished struggle of the +wife and mother to keep her children from starving. The wife could often +earn nearly as much as her husband, and the intensest dislike to the +factory could not stand against those hard economic facts. The Select +Committee on Handloom Weavers, 1834, took evidence from disconsolate +broken-hearted men, who showed that their earnings were utterly inadequate +for family subsistence and must needs be supplemented by the wives working +in factories. One poor Irishman said that he and his little daughter of +nine between them minded the baby of fifteen months. Another weaver, a man +of his acquaintance, must have starved if he had not had a wife to go out +to work for him. The bitterness of the position was accentuated by the +fact that the weaver's traditions and associations were bound up with the +domestic system, and in no class probably was factory work for women more +unwelcome. + +The change was resented as a break-up of family life. Hargreaves' spinning +jenny, Cartwright's combing machine, Jacquard's loom, to mention no +others, were at different times destroyed by an angry mob. With desperate +energy the unions long opposed the introduction of women workers. What +drove the men to these hopeless struggles was the lowering of wages that +they discerned to be the probable, nay, certain result of both changes. +The tragedy of the man who loses his work, or finds its value suddenly +shrunken by no fault of his own, is as poignant as any in history. It +means not only his own loss and suffering, but the degradation of his +standard of life and the break-up of his home. It is not simply man +against woman, but man _plus_ the wife and children he loves against the +outside irresponsible woman (as he conceives her) whose interests are +nothing to him. + +_The Factory._--The great inventions were not, as we so often are apt to +imagine them, the effort of a single brain, of "a great man" in the +Carlylean sense. Mechanical progress, in its early stages at all events, +is often the result of the intelligence of innumerable workers, brought to +bear on all kinds of practical difficulties, and mechanical problems. Thus +one of the many attempts at a spinning machine was set up in a warehouse +in Birmingham in 1741; the machine was set in motion by two asses walking +round an axis, and ten or a dozen girls were employed in superintending +and assisting the operation! This highly picturesque arrangement proved +unworkable and was given up as a failure. Again, at a later date, the +first spinning machines that came into general use by the country people +of Lancashire were small affairs, and the awkward position required to +work them was, as Aikin tells us, "discouraging to grown-up people, who +saw with surprise children from nine to twelve years of age manage them +with dexterity." In these cases and others like them, we still call the +work spinning, because the result is the same as from hand-spinning, viz. +yarn; but in reality the process is new, the work is a rearrangement of +human activity, rather than a transfer. + +We may very well admit, in the light of present day knowledge, that the +transfer of the occupation from the home to the outside factory or +workshop was by no means an unqualified loss, was indeed a social advance. +The discomfort of using a small and restricted home as a work place, the +litter and confusion that are almost inevitable, not to mention the +depression of being always in the midst of one's working environment, are +such as can hardly be realised by those who have not given attention to +industrial matters. But this was not the aspect that the poor weavers +themselves could see, or could possibly be expected to see. The break-up +of the customary home life endeared to them by long habit and association +was only a less misfortune than their increasing destitution. The family +ceased to be an industrial unit. The factory demanded "hands." The +machines caused a complete shifting of processes of work, a shifting +which, I need hardly say, is going on even up to the present time. Much +work that had previously been regarded as skilled and difficult, demanding +technical training and apprenticeship, became light and easy, within the +powers of a child, a young girl, or a woman. On the other hand, work that +had been done in every cottage, now was handed over to a skilled male +operative, working with all the help capital and elaborate machinery could +give him. + +The effects of the factory system were the subject of much keen and even +violent controversy during the first half of the nineteenth century. +During the first two or three decades child-labour was the most prominent +question; women's labour appears to have been very much taken for granted +(Robert Owen, for instance, says little about it) and it became a subject +of controversy only about the time of the passing of the first effective +Factory Act, in 1833. Baines, Ure, and the elder Cooke Taylor, may be +mentioned among those who took an extremely optimistic view of factory +industry and devoted much energy and ingenuity to proving it to be +innocuous, or even beneficial to health, and on the other hand were P. +Gaskell, John Fielden, Philip Grant, and others, who violently attacked +it. Even in modern times Schultze-Gävernitz and Allen Clarke have +presented us with carefully considered views almost equally divergent. The +modern reader, who tries to reconcile opinions so extraordinarily +antagonistic may well feel bewildered and despair of arriving at any +coherent statement. How are we to account for the fact, for instance, that +the development of the factory, with its female labour and machinery, was +viewed with the utmost hostility by the workers, and yet on the other hand +that the rural labourers streamed into the towns to apply for work in +factories, and could seldom or never be induced to go back again? How are +we to account for the extraordinarily different views of men of the same +period, intelligent, kind-hearted, and with fair opportunities of judging +the facts of social life? I am far from expecting to solve these questions +entirely, but a few considerations may be helpful. In the first place we +have to remember that the change brought about by the great industry and +the factory system was so far-reaching and so complex that it was +impossible for any one human brain at once to grasp the whole. Thus it +happened that one set of facts would appeal strongly to one observer, and +another set, equally strongly, to another observer. Each would overlook +what to the other was of the greatest importance. Political sentiment also +counted for a good deal, the landed interest (mostly Tories) being +extremely keen-sighted to any wrongdoing of the manufacturers and their +friends (mostly Liberal), while these last were not slow to reciprocate +with equally faithful criticism. By taking the optimists alone, or the +reformers alone, we get a consistent but inadequate view of industrial +conditions. By combining them we arrive at a contradictory, unsatisfactory +picture, which may, however, be somewhat nearer the truth than either can +give us alone. + +It is also necessary to bear in mind the unspoken assumptions, the +background, so to speak, existing in any writer's brain. It would make a +great difference in a man's view of social conditions in 1825, say, if he +was mentally contrasting them with the terrible scarcity and poverty that +prevailed at the turn of the century, or if his recollections were mainly +occupied with that bright period of prosperity enjoyed by the weavers some +years earlier, a prosperity brief indeed, but lasting long enough to make +a profound impression on the minds of those who shared in or witnessed it. + +Another consideration which is of use in clearing up the chaos of +historical evidence on these questions, is the immense variety in +conditions from one factory to another. This is the case even at the +present day, when the Factory Act requires a certain minimum of decency +and comfort. The factory inspectors record the extraordinary difference +still existing in these respects, and, as a personal experience, the +present writer well remembers the extreme contrast between two match +factories visited some years ago at a very short interval; the one +crowded, gloomy, with weary, exhausted, slatternly-looking girls doing +perilous work in a foul atmosphere; the other with ample space, light, and +ventilation, the workers cleanly dressed, and supplied with the best +appliances known to make the work safe and harmless. Such an experience is +some guide in helping the modern student to comprehend more or less why +Fielden wrote of _The Curse of the Factory System_, while Ure could +maintain: "The fine spinning mills at Manchester ... in the beauty, +delicacy and ingenuity of the machines have no parallel among the works of +man nor _in the orderly arrangement_, and the value of the products." + +There is no doubt that the early factories were often run by men who, +whatever their energy, thrift, and ability for business, did not mostly +possess the qualities necessary to a man who is to have the control, +during at least half the week, of a crowd of workers, many of them women +and children. Men like Owen and Arkwright were working out a technique and +a tradition, not only for the mechanical side, but for the human side of +this new business of employment on a large scale. But not all employers +were Owens or even Arkwrights. P. Gaskell writes: "Many of the first +successful manufacturers were men who had their origin in the rank of mere +operatives, or who had sprung from the extinct class of yeomen.... The +celerity with which some of these individuals accumulated wealth in the +early times of steam spinning and weaving, is proof that they were men of +quick views, great energy of character, and possessing no small share of +sagacity ... but they were men of very limited general information--men +who saw and knew little of anything beyond the demand for their twist or +cloth, and the speediest and best modes for their production. They were, +however, from their acquired station, men who exercised very considerable +influence upon the hordes of workmen who became dependent upon them." + +Here Gaskell has brought out a point which is singularly ignored by the +writers of what may be called the optimistic school. We may fully agree +with these last in their contention that the working class benefited by +the increased production, higher wages, and cheapened goods secured by the +factory system, or "great industry," as it is called. But they overlook +the point of the immense power that system put into the hands of +individual masters, over the lives, and moral and physical health of +workers. For the whole day long, and sometimes for the night also, the +operative was in the factory; the temperature of the air he breathed, the +hours he worked, the sanitary and other conditions of his work were +settled by those in control of the works, who were not responsible in any +way to any external supervising authority for the conditions of +employment, save to the very limited extent required by the early Factory +Acts, which were ineffectively administered. In a curious passage the +elder Cooke Taylor, who was in many ways a most careful and intelligent +observer, shows how completely he fails to grasp the position: + + A factory is an establishment where several workmen are collected + together for the purpose of obtaining greater and cheaper conveniences + for labour than they could procure individually at their homes; for + producing results by their combined efforts, which they could not + accomplish separately.... The principle of a factory is that each + labourer, working separately, is controlled by some associating + principle, which directs his producing powers to effecting a common + result, which it is the object of all collectively to attain. + Factories are therefore a result of the universal tendency to + association which is inherent in our nature, and by the development of + which every advance in human improvement and human happiness has been + gained. + +Every sentence here is true; but the combined effect is not true. Taylor +ingenuously omits one important fact. The "associating principle" is the +employer working for his own hand, and the "common result" is that +employer's profit. Marx saw that the subordination of the workman to the +uniform motion of machines, and the bringing together of individuals of +both sexes and all ages gave rise to a system of elaborate discipline, +dividing the workers into operatives and overlookers, into "private +soldiers and sergeants of an industrial army." But it is not necessary to +call in the rather suspect authority of Marx. Richards, the Factory +Inspector, who by no means took a sentimental view of mill work, had +written quite candidly: + + A steam engine in the hands of an interested or avaricious master is a + relentless power, to which old and young are equally bound to submit. + Their position in these mills is that of thraldom; fourteen, fifteen, + or sixteen hours per day, is exhausting to the strength of all, yet + none dare quit the occupation, from the dread of losing work + altogether. Industry is thus in bonds; unprotected children are + equally bound to the same drudgery.[14] + +This cast-iron regularity of the factory system was felt as a terrible +hardship, especially in the case of women, and often amounted to actual +slavery. + +Wholesale accusations were brought against the factory system as being in +itself immoral and a cause of depravity. Southey said of the factory +children, that: + + The moral atmosphere wherein they live and move and have their being + is as noxious to the soul, as the foul and tainted air which they + inhale is to their bodily constitution.... What shall we say then of a + system which ... debases all who are engaged in it?... It is a wen, a + fungous excrescence from the body politic. + +Here we may as well admit that the agitators, though possibly right in +their facts, did not represent them in a true perspective. Perhaps the +worst feature of working-class life at this time was the scandalous state +of housing. The manufacturing towns had grown up rapidly to meet a sudden +demand. The progress of enclosing, the decay of home industry, and the +call of capital for labour in towns had caused a considerable displacement +of population. The immigrants had to find house-room in the outskirts of +what had but lately been mere villages. Sanitary science was backward, and +municipal government was decadent and could not cope with the rush to the +towns. The immigrant population and the existing social conditions were of +a type favourable to a rapid increase in numbers, economic independence at +an early age not unnaturally tending towards unduly early marriage and +irresponsibility of character. Dr. Aikin writes: + + As Manchester may bear comparison with the metropolis itself in the + rapidity with which whole new streets have been raised, and in its + extension on every side toward the surrounding country; so it + unfortunately vies with, or exceeds the metropolis, in the closeness + with which the poor are crowded in offensive, dark, damp, and + incommodious habitations, a too fertile source of disease.[15] + +There is abundant evidence of equally bad conditions in other towns. Such +circumstances are inevitably demoralising, and they served to give the +impression that the factory population, as such, was extraordinarily wild +and wicked. But these particular evils were not specially due to the +factory system. In the matter of sanitation and housing there can be +little doubt that the rural population was no better, perhaps even worse +cared-for than the urban or industrial, the main difference of course +being that neglect of cleanliness and elementary methods of sewage +disposal are less immediate and disastrous evils among a sparse and +scattered population than they are in towns. + +Much has been written and spoken about the evils of factory life in +withdrawing the mother from the home, and causing neglect of children and +infants. Yet even this, an evil which no one would desire to minimise, is +not peculiar to factory towns. A report on the state of the Agricultural +Population says that: + + Even when they have been taught to read and write, the women of the + agricultural labouring class (viz. in Wilts, Devon, and Dorset), are + in a state of ignorance affecting the daily welfare and comfort of + their families. Ignorance of the commonest things, needlework, + cooking, and other matters of domestic economy, is described as + universally prevalent.... A girl brought up in a cottage until she + marries is generally ignorant of nearly everything she ought to be + acquainted with for the comfortable and economic management of a + cottage ... a young woman goes into the fields to labour, with which + ends all chance of improving her position; she marries and brings up + her daughters in the same ignorance, and their lives are a repetition + of her own. + +Material progress had completely outdistanced the social side of +civilisation. It was easy to see that old-fashioned restrictions on +commerce needed to be swept away, as a trammel and a hindrance; but where +was the constructive effort and initiative to shape the new fabric of +society that should supply the people's needs? + + It was the misfortune of the factory system that it took its sudden + start at a moment when the entire energies of the British legislature + were preoccupied with the emergencies of the French Revolution.... The + foundations on which it reposes were laid in obscurity and its early + combinations developed without attracting the notice of statesmen or + philosophers.... There thus crept into unnoticed existence a closely + condensed population, under modifying influences the least understood, + for whose education, religious wants, legislative and municipal + protection, no care was taken and for whose physical necessities the + more forethought was requisite, from the very rapidity with which men + were attracted to these new centres. To such causes may be referred + the incivilisation and immorality of the overcrowded manufacturing + towns.[16] + +It is curious to compare the criminal neglect here indicated with the +self-complacency of the governing classes of this country, and the immense +claims for admiration and respect often put forth on account of their +control of home and local administration. In this tremendous crisis in the +social life of the country, the complex changes of the industrial +revolution, the classes in power sat by, apathetic and uninterested, +taking little or no pains to cope with the problem, or interfered merely +with harsh or even cruel repression of the workers' efforts to combine for +self-defence. Although Dr. Percival and Dr. Ferrier had drawn attention to +the disease and unhealthy conditions existing in factories as far back as +1784 and 1796, it was not until 1833 that a Factory Act was passed +containing any administrative provisions that could be deemed effective. +Public health measures came later still. Much as the industrial employers +were abused by the landowners, it is a fact that reforms and ameliorative +projects were started originally by the former. Sir Robert Peel, who owned +cotton factories, was the pioneer of factory legislation, and Robert Owen +gave the impetus to industrial reform by the humanity and ability that +characterised his management of his own mill, and the generosity of his +treatment of his own employees. + +_The Woman Wage-Earner._--The initiation of the factory system undoubtedly +fixed and defined the position of the woman wage-earner. For good or for +evil, the factory system transformed the nature of much industrial work, +rendering it indefinitely heterogeneous, and incidentally opening up new +channels for the employment, first, unfortunately, of children, afterwards +of women. + +In the case of spinning, the division of work between men and women was +attended with considerable complications, and it appears that the masters +confidently expected to employ women in greater proportions than was +actually feasible. A comparison of the evidence by masters and men +respectively given before the Select Committee on Artizans and Machinery +throws some interesting sidelights on the question, though it does not +make it absolutely clear. Dunlop, a Glasgow master, had frequent disputes +with the "combination" as the union was then called. He built a new mill +with machinery which he hoped would make it unnecessary to employ men at +all. In a few years he was, however, again employing men as before, and +his account of the matter was that this change of front was due to the +violence of the men's unions. Two of the operative leaders, however, came +up at a later stage to protest against Dunlop's version. They showed that +the persistent violence attributed to the men really narrowed down to a +single case of assault some years before, when there was not sufficient +evidence to commit the men accused. They denied the alleged opposition to +women's employment and declared that there was absolutely no connexion +between the outrage complained of and the substitution of men for women, +which had in fact been effected by Dunlop's sons during his absence in +America, and was due to the fact that the women could not do as much or as +good work on the spinning machines as men could. Dunlop also had given an +exaggerated account of the wages paid, making no allowance for stoppage +and breakdown of machinery, which were frequent. + +A few years later we find some interesting evidence as to the efforts of +further developments in spinning machinery. A Mr. Graham told the Select +Committee on Manufactures and Commerce that he was introducing self-acting +mules, and did not yet know whether women could be adapted to their use, +but hoped to get rid of "all the spinners who are making exorbitant +wages," and employ piecers only, giving one of the piecers a small +increase in wages. He was also employing a number of women upon a +different description of wheels, and others in throstle spinning. +According to him the women got about 18s. a week, a statement which it +would probably be wise to discount. Being asked whether the self-acting +mules or the spinning by women would be cheapest, he replied that it was +hoped the spinning by self-acting mules would be cheapest, as even the +women were combining and giving trouble. In 1838, Doherty, a labour man, +showed that although women were allowed to spin in Manchester, "whole +mills of them," the number was being reduced, the physical strength of +women being insufficient to work the larger wheels which had come into +use. It is useful to obtain some idea of the views of the employing class +at a time of such complex changes, and it seems evident that some at least +were almost taken off their feet by the exciting prospects opening out to +them, and hoped to dispense very largely with skilled male labour, or even +with adult labour altogether. + +At the present time though there have been great developments in +machinery, spinning is the one large department of the cotton industry in +which men still exceed women in numbers. The employment of women in +ring-spinning is increasing, but there are special counts which can only +be done on the mule, which is beyond the woman's strength and skill. +Between 1901 and 1911 male cotton-spinners increased in numbers 31 per +cent, female 60 per cent. The totals were in 1911 respectively 84,000 and +55,000. + +The introduction of the power-loom was a very important event in the +history of women's employment. Even in 1840 a woman working a power-loom +could do "twice as much" as a man with a hand-loom, and the assistant +commissioner who made this observation added the prophecy that in another +generation women only would be employed, save a few men for the necessary +superintendence and care of the machinery. "There will be no weavers as a +class; the work will be done by the wives of agricultural labourers or +different mechanics." Gaskell, a writer who gave much thought and +consideration to the problems before his eyes, and saw a good deal more +than many of his contemporaries, also thought that machinery would soon +reach a point at which "automata" would have done away with the need of +adult workmen. + +He says, however, on another page, that "since steam-weaving became +general the number of adults engaged in the mills has been progressively +advancing inasmuch as very young children are not competent to take charge +of steam-looms. The individuals employed at them are chiefly girls and +young women, from sixteen to twenty-two." + +Gaskell attributed the employment of women in factories, not so much to +their taking less wages, as to their being more docile and submissive than +men. + + Out of 800 weavers employed in one establishment, and which was ... + composed indiscriminately, of men, women, and children--the one whose + earnings were the most considerable, was a girl of sixteen.... The + mode of payment ... is payment for work done--piece-work as it is + called.... Thus this active child is put upon more than a par with the + most robust adult; is in fact placed in a situation decidedly + advantageous compared to him.... Workmen above a certain age are + difficult to manage.... Men who come late into the trade, learn much + more slowly than children ... and as all are paid alike, so much per + pound, or yard, it follows that these men ... are not more efficient + labourers than girls and boys, and much less manageable.... Adult male + labour having been found difficult to manage and not more + productive--its place has, in a great measure, been supplied by + children and women; and hence the outcry which has been raised with + regard to infant labour, in its moral and physical bearings. + +This passage, involved as it is in thought and expression, is not without +interest as a reflection of the mind of that time, painfully working out +contemporary problems. Gaskell confuses women's labour with child labour, +and it is difficult to discover from this book that he has ever given any +thought to the former problem at all. The family for him is the social +unit, and women are classed with children as beings for whom the family as +a matter of course provides. He omits from consideration the woman thrown +upon her own exertions, and the grown-up girl, who, even if living at +home, must earn. It is not difficult to find other instances of similar +_naïveté_; thus in the supplementary Report on Child Labour in Factories, +it was gravely suggested that it may be wrong to be much concerned because +women's wages are low. + + Nature effects her own purpose wisely and more effectually than could + be done by the wisest of men. The low price of female labour makes it + the most profitable as well as the most agreeable occupation for a + female to superintend her own domestic establishment, and her low + wages do not tempt her to abandon the care of her own children. + +Here again, there is apparently no perception of the case of the woman, +who, by sheer economic necessity, is forced to work, whether for herself +alone, or for her children also. + +It is hardly necessary to remark that the estimate quoted above, according +to which the girl weaving on a power-loom could do twice as much as a man +on a hand-loom, has since been enormously exceeded. Schultz-Gävernitz in +1895 thought that a power-loom weaver accomplished about as much as forty +good hand-weavers, and no doubt even this estimate is now out of date. +Partly for technical, partly for other reasons, the woman's presence in +the factory is now much more taken for granted. + +The girl who is to be a weaver begins work usually at twelve years old, +the minimum age permitted by law, and may spend six weeks with a relation +or friends learning the ways. She thus becomes a "tenter" or "helper," and +fetches the weft, carries away the finished goods, sweeps and cleans. At +thirteen or fourteen she may have two looms to mind, and will earn about +12s. a week. At sixteen she will be promoted to three looms, and later on +to four, beyond which women seldom go; a man sometimes minds six looms, +but needs a helper for this extra strain. The work needs considerable +skill and attention. Often a four-loom weaver will be turning out four +different kinds of cloth on the four looms. It is also fatiguing, as she +is on her feet the whole ten hours of her legal day, sometimes, +unfortunately, lengthened by the objectionable practice known as +"time-cribbing," which means that ten or even fifteen minutes are taken +from the legal meal times, and added to the working hours. It takes some +years to become an efficient weaver, and the drain on the weaver's +strength and vitality is considerable. Where steaming is used, colds and +rheumatism are very prevalent. It is noticed by the weavers that the +sickness rate is lower in times of bad trade, and indeed slack seasons are +regarded as times for much-needed recuperation. Women, although they equal +or here and there even excel men in skill and quickness, fail in staying +power. Many get fagged out by three o'clock in the afternoon. The great +increase in speed is also a factor in sickness. Weavers are now said to be +doing as much work in a day as in a day and a half twelve or thirteen +years ago, and the wages have increased, but not proportionately. The work +involves not only physical, but mental strain, and many cases of nervous +break-down and anaemia are known to occur among weavers. It should not be +forgotten that many women and girls have domestic work to do after their +day's work in the mill is over, and the high standard of comfort and +"house pride" in Lancashire makes this a considerable addition. + +Another large class of women cotton operatives are the card-room workers, +officially described as "card-and blowing-room operatives." In this +department men and women do different work. The men do the more dangerous, +more unhealthy, and also the better paid work. Women's work also is +dangerous, and unhealthy from the dust and cotton fibre that pervade the +atmosphere. An agitation is on foot to have a dust-extractor fixed to +every carding-engine. The operatives suffer chiefly from excessive speed +and pressure. They are continually pressed to keep the machines going, and +not to stop them even for necessary cleaning, and I am assured by a +card-room operative that in the card-room the highest percentage of +accidents for the week occurs on Friday, when the principal weekly +cleaning takes place, and the lowest on Monday, when cleaning is not +required; also that the highest percentage of accidents during the day +occurs on an average between 10 A.M. and 12 noon, when the dirtiest parts +of the machinery are usually wiped over. The chief cause of these +accidents is cleaning while the machinery is in motion. The present rate +of speed produces extreme exhaustion in the workers, and some consider +that card-room work is altogether too hard for women, and not suitable to +their physical capacity. It is said to be done entirely by men in +America. + +The male weaver is by no means extinct, as the prophets we have quoted +seemed to expect. Cotton-weaving offers the very unusual, perhaps unique +example of a large occupation employing both man and woman, and on equal +terms. The earnings of the male weaver are, however, very inferior to +those of the spinner, and he cannot unaided support a family without being +considerably straitened, according to the Lancashire standard. But, in +point of fact, a weaver when he marries usually marries a woman who is +also working at a mill, and if she is a weaver her earnings are very +likely as good as his. In this industry women attain to very nearly as +great skill and dexterity as do men; in some branches even greater. In +Lancashire the standard of working-class life and comfort is high, and a +woman whose husband is a weaver will not brook that her next-door +neighbour, whose husband may be a spinner or machine-maker, should dress +their children better, or have better window-curtains than she can. She +continues to work at her own trade, and the two incomes are combined until +the woman is temporarily prevented working at the mill. An interval of +some months may be taken off by a weaver for the birth of her baby, but +she will return to the mill afterwards, and again after a second; at the +third or fourth child she usually retires from industry. Later on the +children begin earning. Thus the male weaver's most difficult and troubled +times are when his children are quite young, his wife temporarily +incapacitated, and his earnings their sole support. When both husband and +wife are earning, their means are good relatively to their standard; and +again as the young people grow up, the combined income of the family may +be even ample. The young children whose mother is absent at work are +looked after in the day-time by a grandmother, or by a neighbour who is +paid for the work. It was stated, half-ironically, perhaps, before the +Labour Commission that there was a "standard list for this sort of +business." Opinions differ as to whether the children are or are not +neglected under this system. There is, however, evidence to show that many +Lancashire women, at least among those who are relatively well paid, are +good mothers and good housekeepers even though they work their ten hours a +day. They go to work because their standard of life is high, and they +cannot live up to it without working. + +_The Industrial Revolution in Non-Textile Trades._--This subject, though +sociologically of great interest, cannot here be treated at length; it +must suffice to indicate a few points in regard to women, trusting that +some later writer will some day paint for England a finished picture on +the scale of Miss Butler's fine study "Women and the Trades," of +Pittsburgh, U.S.A. + +The factory system has now invaded one manufacturing industry after +another, and the use of power and division of work in numerous processes +have opened a considerable amount of employment to women. There have been +two lines of development; on the one hand, occupations have been opened +for women in trades with which previously they had nothing, or very little +to do; on the other hand, industries hitherto almost entirely in the hands +of women, and carried on chiefly in homes or small workrooms or shops, +such as dressmaking, the making of underclothing, laundry work and so on, +have been to some extent changed in character, and have in part become +factory industries of the modern type. + +In 1843 the sub-commissioner who investigated Birmingham industries for +the Children's Employment Commission, was struck by the extent of women's +and children's employment. Very large numbers of children were employed in +a great variety of manufacturing processes, and women's labour was being +substituted for men's in many branches. In all trades there were at the +same time complaints of want of employment and urgent distress, involving +large numbers of mechanics. Mr. Grainger saw women employed in laborious +work, such as stamping buttons and brass nails, and notching the heads of +screws, and considered these to be unfit occupations for women. In screw +manufactories the women and girls constituted 80 to 90 per cent of the +whole number employed. A considerable number of girls, fourteen and +upwards, were employed in warehouses packing the goods, giving in and +taking out work. Non-textile industries were as yet quite unregulated, and +many of the reports made to this commissioner indicate very bad conditions +as to health and morals. The sanitary conditions were atrocious, except +where the employers were specially conscientious and gave attention to the +subject; there was little protection against accident, and child-labour +was permitted at very early years. Most of the abuses noted had to do +either with insanitary conditions or with child-labour. The women and +girls are described as having been often twisted or injured by premature +employment, and as being totally without education. One witness who gave +evidence considered that the lack of education was more disastrous for +girls than for boys. + +In 1864 the Children's Employment Commission found that the number and +size of large factories had grown since 1841, and the number of women in +the Birmingham district employed in metal manufactures was estimated at +10,000. + +In 1866, when the British Association visited Birmingham, Mr. S. Timmins +prepared a series of reports on local industries, the index of which gives +no less than thirty-six references to women, which is some indication how +widely they were employed. In the steel pen trade, for instance, which had +developed from a small trade in hand-made pens, costing several shillings +each, into a large factory industry, numbers of girls and women were +employed, and a comparatively small proportion of men. In 1866, there were +estimated to be 360 men, 2050 women and girls employed in Birmingham +pen-works. Women were employed extensively in the light chain trade, also +in lacquering in the brass trade, and in many other occupations. +Successive censuses show very rapid increases in the employment of women +in the metal trades generally, though, of course, they bear a much lower +proportion to men in these trades taken as a whole than in the textile +trades. + +Similar developments are taking place in food and tobacco trades, soap, +chemicals, paper and stationery. The boot and shoe trade is a good example +of the rapid opening-out of opportunities for women's employment. At the +time of the Labour Commission (1893) it was noted that Bristol factories +were mostly not up to date or efficient. Since that time there has been a +rapid extension of factory work for women, and the methods in the boot and +shoe trade have been revolutionised by the introduction of the power +sewing-machine, and by production on a large scale. The new factories in +or near Bristol have lofty rooms, modern improved sanitary and warming +apparatus, and the best are carefully arranged with a view to maintaining +the health and efficiency of the workers. + +In 1903 a committee of the Economic Section of the British Association +found in Sheffield that machinery had been displacing file cutlery made by +hand for fifteen years past, and some women were already finding +employment on the lighter machines. In Coventry the cycle industry +employed an increasing number of women; watchmaking was becoming a factory +industry, and the proportion of women to men had increased rapidly. Women +are even employed in some processes subsidiary to engineering, such as +core-making. But it should be remembered that these openings for women do +not necessarily mean permanent loss of work for men, though some temporary +loss there no doubt very often is. The rearrangement of industry and the +subdivision of processes mean that new processes are appropriated to +women; and it is likely enough that among factory operatives women are, +and will be, an increasing proportion. But therewith must come an +increasing demand for men's labour in mining, smelting and forging metal, +and in other branches into which women are unlikely to intrude. + +In the clothing trades the industrial revolution has made some way, and is +doubtless going to make still more way, but it is unlikely that the +older-fashioned methods of tailoring and dressmaking can ever be +superseded as completely as was the hand-loom weaving in the cotton trade. +Dress is a matter of individual taste and fancy, and much as the +factory-made clothing and dressmaking has improved in the last ten or +twenty years, it is unlikely ever to supply the market entirely. +Stay-making is a rapidly developing factory industry at Bristol, Ipswich +and elsewhere. In underclothing and children's clothing also the factory +system is making considerable advances. It is startling to see babies' +frocks or pinafores made on inhuman machines moved by power, with rows of +fixed needles whisking over the elaborate tucks; but if the resulting +article be both good and cheap, and the women operatives paid much better +than they would be for the same number of hours' needlework, sentimental +objections are perhaps out of place. + +In such factories as I have been permitted to visit, mostly non-textile, I +have noticed that men and women are usually doing, not the same, but +different kinds of work, and that the work done by women seems to fall +roughly into three classes. My classification is probably quite +unscientific, and indicates merely a certain social order perceived or +conceived by an observer ignorant of the technical side of manufacturing +and chiefly interested in the social or sociological aspect. In the first +place, there is usually some amount of rough hard work in the preparing +and collecting of the material, or the transporting it from one part of +the factory to another. Such work is exemplified by the rag-cutting in +paper-mills, fruit-picking in jam factories, the sorting soiled clothes in +laundries, the carrying of loads from one room to another, and such odd +jobs. I incline to think that the arrangements made for dealing with this +class of work are a very fair index to the character and ability of the +employer. In good paper-mills, for instance, though nothing could make +rag-cutting an attractive job, its objectionable features are mitigated by +a preliminary cleansing of the rags, and by good ventilation in the work. +In ill-managed factories of various kinds the carrying of heavy loads is +left to the women workers' unaided strength, and is a most unpleasing +sight to those who do not care to see their sisters acting as beasts of +burden, not to mention that heavy weight-carrying is often highly +injurious, provoking internal trouble. In the case of trays of boiling +fruit, jam, etc., it may lead to horrible accidents. In well-managed +factories this carrying of loads is arranged for by mechanical means or a +strong porter is retained for the purpose. + +The second class of work noticed as being done by women is work done on +machines with or without power, and this includes a whole host of +employments and an endless variety of problems. Machine tending, +press-work, stamp-work, metal-cutting, printing, various processes of +brass work, pen-making, machine ironing in laundries, the making of +"hollow ware" or tin pots and buckets of various kinds; such are a few of +the kinds of work that occur to me. Many of them have the interesting +characteristic of forming a kind of borderland or marginal region where +men and women, by exception, do the same kinds of work. It is in these +kinds of work that difficulties occur in imperfectly organised trades; it +is here that the employer is constantly pushing the women workers a little +further on and the male workers a little further off; it is here that +controversies rage over what is "suitable to women," and that +recriminations pass between trade unions and enterprising employers. These +kinds of work may be very hard, or very easy, they may need skill and +afford some measure of technical interest, or they may be merely dull and +monotonous, efficiency being measured merely by speed; they may be badly +paid, but on the other hand they include some of the best paid of women's +industrial occupations. They are in a continual state of flux, responding +to every technical advance, and change in methods; they represent the +industrial revolution at its tensest and most critical point. And to +conclude, it is here that organisation for women is most necessary and +desirable in the interests of all classes. + +The third kind of work noted by the detached observer is more difficult to +define in a word; it consists in the finishing and preparing goods for +sale, and in the various kinds of work known as warehouse work. As a +separate class it results mainly from the increasing size of firms and the +quantity of work done. Paper-sorting or overlooking in paper-mills is +typical of this class of work; it consists in separating faulty sheets of +paper from those that are good, and is done at great speed by girls who +have a quick eye and a light touch. It is said to be work that men +entirely fail in, not having sufficiently sensitive finger-tips. In nearly +all factories there is a great deal of this kind of work, monotonous no +doubt, but usually clean in character, and less hard and involving +considerably less strain than either of the two former classes of work. In +confectionery or stationery works, for instance, to mention two only, +troops of girls are seen busily engaged at great speed in making up neat +little packets of the finished article, usually with an advertisement or a +picture put inside. In china or glass works girls may be employed wrapping +the goods in paper, and similar jobs are found in many classes of work. In +a well-known factory in East London where food for pet animals is made or +prepared, I was told some years ago that no girls at all had been employed +until recently, when about forty were taken on for the work of doing up +the finished article in neat packets for sale. It is noticeable that the +girls who are thus employed are usually of a social grade superior to the +two former classes, though they by no means always earn better wages. They +are very frequently the daughters of artisans earning good wages, and +expect to marry in their own class and leave work. The women employed in +the second class of work indicated, viz. chiefly on or about the machines, +are on the whole more enterprising, and more likely to join unions. These +again are socially superior to No. 1. No. 1 class, those who do the rough +hard kind of work, are mainly employed for the sake of cheapness, are +often married women, and are probably doing much the same kinds of work +that were done by women in those trades before the transformation of +industry by machinery. (This is merely an inference of mine, and can +scarcely be proved, but it seems likely to be true.) The more perfectly +the industry develops and becomes organised, the more machinery is used +and different processes are adapted to utilise different classes of +skilled effort, the less need will there be for class No. 1 work to be +done at all. + +It should be noted before we leave this subject that No. 2 class work is +especially liable to change and modification, which means change in the +demand for labour, and often means a demand for a different class of +labour, or a different kind of skill. There are some who think +pessimistically that improved machinery must mean a demand for a lower +grade of skill. No doubt it often _has_ meant that, and still does in +instances. But it is far from being universally true. As the hand-press is +exchanged for the power-press, the demand occurs for a worker sufficiently +careful and responsible to be trusted with the new and more valuable +machinery. Again, when a group of processes needing little skill is taken +over by an automatic machine that performs the whole complex of +operations, several unskilled workers will be displaced by one of a higher +grade. The new automatic looms worked by electric power are, I am told, +involving the employment of a class of young women superior in general +intelligence and education to the typical weaver, though not necessarily +so in manual skill. + +_Conclusion._--Frau Braun sees in the machine the main cause of the +development of woman's industrial employment.[17] A more recent writer, +Mrs. Schreiner, takes exactly the opposite view: + + The changes ... which we sum up under the compendious term "modern + civilisation," have tended to rob woman, not merely in part, but + almost wholly, of the more valuable of her ancient domain of + productive and social labour; and where there has not been a + determined and conscious resistance on her part, have nowhere + spontaneously tended to open out to her new and compensatory fields. + It is this fact which constitutes our modern "Woman's Labour Problem." + Our spinning-wheels are all broken; in a thousand huge buildings + steam-driven looms, guided by a few hundred thousands of hands (often + those of men), produce the clothings of half the world; and we dare no + longer say, proudly, as of old, that we, and we alone clothe our + peoples.[18] + +It is a striking instance of the extraordinary complexity of modern +industry that two distinguished writers like Frau Braun and Mrs. +Schreiner, both holding advanced views on the feminist question, should +thus come to opposite conclusions as to the influence of the machine. In a +sense, the opposition is more apparent than real. Mrs. Schreiner is +thinking of production for use by the woman at home, and there is no +question that production for use is being superseded by production for +exchange. Frau Braun, in the passage quoted, is writing of wage-earning +employment. There can be little question that the evolution of machinery +has favoured woman's employment. Woman has no chance against man where +sheer strength is needed; but when mechanical power takes the place of +human muscle, when the hard part is done by the machine, then the child, +the girl, or the woman is introduced. The progressive restriction of +child-labour has also favoured women, so that over the period covered by +the factory statistics, the percentage of women and girls employed has +increased in a very remarkable way. + +It is possible to exaggerate the extent of the change made by the +industrial revolution in taking women out of the home. We must remember +that domestic service, the traditional and long-standing occupation of +women, is always carried on away from the home of the worker, and does in +fact (as it usually involves residence) divide the worker from her family +far more completely than ordinary day work. The instances given in Chapter +I. also show that not only agriculture, but various other industries, +afforded employment to women, long before the industrial revolution, in +ways that must have involved "going out to work." To the working classes +it was nothing new to see women work, and, in point of fact, we do not +find even the employment of married women exciting much attention or +disapproval at the outset of the factory system. In the non-domestic +industries the question of the wife taking work for wages was probably +then, as mainly it still is, a poverty question. The irregular employment, +sickness or incapacity of the male bread-winner that result in earnings +insufficient for family maintenance, occurred probably with no less +frequency in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries than now, +and these are causes that at all times drive married women to work, if +they can get work to do. The class that felt it most keenly as an evil and +a wrong, were the hand-loom weavers whose earnings were so depressed that +they could not maintain their families, and found at the same time that +the labour of their wives and daughters was more in demand than their own. +Where the industry had been carried on by the family working together, +and, for a time at least, had been sufficiently lucrative to afford a +comparatively high standard of comfort, the disintegration of this +particular type of organisation was, not unnaturally, resented as an +outrage on humanity. The iron regularity of the factory system, the +economic pressure that kept the workers toiling as long as the engines +could run, the fixation of hours, were cruel hardships to a class that had +formed its habits and traditions in the small self-contained workshop, and +made continuous employment a terrible strain on the married woman. As the +home centres round the woman, the problem for the working woman has been, +and is, one of enormous difficulty, involving considerable restatement of +her traditional codes and customs. + +Whatever may have been the social misery and disorder brought about by the +industrial revolution, one striking result was an increase in the earning +power of women. Proof in detail of this statement will be given in +Chapter VI.; for the present it will suffice to point to the fact. The +machine, replacing muscular power and increasing the productivity of +industry, does undoubtedly aid the woman in quest of self-dependence. In +the era of the great industry she has become to an increasing extent an +independent wage-earner. Low as the standard of women's wages is, there is +ample proof that it is on the whole higher under the factory system than +under other methods, and as a general rule the larger and more highly +organised factory pays higher wages than the smaller, less well-equipped. +The cotton industry, which took the lead in introducing the factory +system, and is in England by far the most highly organised and efficiently +managed among trades in which women predominate, has shown a remarkable +rise of wages through the last century, and is now the only large industry +in which the average wage of women is comparatively high. Another point is +that factory dressmaking, which has developed in comparatively recent +years, already shows a higher average wage than the older-fashioned +dressmaking carried on in small establishments, and a much smaller +percentage of workers paid under 10s. a week. Monsieur Aftalion, in a +monograph comparing factory and home work in the French clothing trade, +finds wages markedly higher under the factory system. Yet another instance +is offered by Italy, where women's wages are miserably low, yet they are +noticeably higher in big factories than in small. + +The development of the single young woman's position through the factory +system has been obscured by the abuses incidental to that system, which +were due more or less to historical causes outside industry. The absence +of any system of control over industrial and sanitary conditions +undoubtedly left many factories to become centres of disease, overwork and +moral corruption, and the victims of this misgovernment and neglect are a +reproach that can never be wiped out. On the other hand, later experience +has shown that decent conditions of work are easier to secure in factories +than in small work places, owing to greater publicity and facility for +inspection. The very fact of the size of the factory, its economic +importance, and its almost dramatic significance for social life, caused +attention to be drawn to, and wrath to be excited by, evil conditions in +the factory, which would have been little noticed in ordinary small work +places. + +The initiation of the "great industry" resulted in a kind of searchlight +being turned on to the dark places of poverty. State interference had to +be undertaken, although in flat opposition to the dominant economics of +the day, and the better sort of masters were impelled by shame or worthier +motives to get rid of the stigma that clung to factory employment. Now the +girl-worker has profited by this movement in a quite remarkable degree. +Domestic service is no longer her only outlook, and the conditions of +domestic service have probably considerably improved in consequence. Her +employment is no longer bound up with personal dependence on her own +family, or personal servitude in her employer's. + +The wage contract, though not, we may hope, the final or ideal stage in +the evolution of woman's economic position, is an advance from her servile +state in the mediaeval working class, or parasitic dependence on the +family. The transition thus endows her with greater freedom to dispose of +or deny herself in marriage, and is an important step towards higher +racial ideals and development. Grievously exploited as her employment has +been and still is, the evolution of the woman wage-earner, her gradual +achievement of economic individuality and independence, in however limited +a degree, is certainly one of the most interesting social facts of the +time. The remarkable intelligence and ability of Lancashire working people +was noticed by Mrs. Gaskell in _Mary Barton_, as long ago as 1848. And to +this day the Co-operative Movement and the Trade Union Movement flourish +among Lancashire women as they do not anywhere else. The Workers' +Educational Association draws many of its best students from these women +who toil their ten hours in the mill and use their brains for study in the +evening after work is over. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +STATISTICS OF THE LIFE AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. + + +No very detailed or elaborate statistics will be here employed, the aim of +this chapter being merely to draw attention to certain broad facts or +relations disclosed by the Census and the Registrar-General's Report. + +_The Surplus of Women._--It is a well-known fact that in this country +women exceed men in numbers. The surplus increased slightly but steadily +from 1851 to 1901, and remained almost stationary from 1901 to 1911. In +1901 and 1911 there were in every 1000 persons 484 males and 516 females. +The excess of females varies at different ages. The number of boys born +exceeds the number of girls in a proportion not far from 4 per cent, +sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. But boy infants run +greater risks at birth and appear to be altogether more susceptible to +adverse influences, for their death-rate is usually higher up to 3, 4 or 5 +years old. The age-group 5 to 10 varies from time to time; in 1901-1910 +the average mortality of girls was the higher: in 1912 the average +mortality of boys was very slightly higher. From 10 to 15 the female +death-rate is higher than the male. + +The age-group 15 to 20 shows very curious variations in the relative +mortality of males and females. From 1894 onwards the males of that group +have had a higher mortality than the females, whereas previous to that +date the female mortality was the higher, in all years of which we have a +record save two--1876 and 1890. The Registrar-General can suggest no +explanation of this phenomenon.[19] It may be remarked, however, that +girls generally now obtain more opportunity for fresh air and physical +exercise than in former years, which may account for some of their +comparative improvement in this respect; also that in the industrial +districts a great improvement has taken place in the administration of the +Factory Act since the appointment of women inspectors and the general +raising of the standard after the Act of 1891, and girls may naturally be +supposed to have profited more by this improved administration than have +youths of the other sex, who are not included under the Act when over 18 +years, and in many cases pass into industries unregulated by law. + +The following table shows the death-rates per 1000 of male and female +persons in England and Wales, 1913, and the ratio of male per cent of +female mortality at age periods, as calculated by the Registrar-General. + +DEATH-RATES AT AGES, 1913. + + +----------------------------------+ + |Ages.| M. | F. |Ratio M. per| + | | | | 100 F. | + |-----|-------|-------|------------| + | 0-1| 120 | 96 | 125 | + | 0-5| 39·2 | 32·2 | 122 | + | 5- | 3·1 | 3·1 | 100 | + | 10- | 1·9 | 2·0 | 95 | + | 15- | 2·7 | 2·5 | 108 | + | 20- | 3·5 | 3·0 | 117 | + | 25- | 4·6 | 3·8 | 121 | + | 35- | 8·0 | 6·5 | 123 | + | 45- | 15·0 | 11·5 | 130 | + | 55- | 30·7 | 23·0 | 133 | + | 65- | 64·5 | 51·1 | 126 | + | 75- | 140·4 | 117·5 | 119 | + | 85- | 266·8 | 241·0 | 111 | + |-----|-------|-------|------------| + |Total| 14·7 | 12·8 | 115 | + +----------------------------------+ + +As might be expected from these figures, the Census shows that males are +in excess of females in very early life, but are gradually overtaken, and +in later years especially men are considerably outnumbered by women. The +disproportion of women is mainly due to their lower death-rate, but also +in part to the fact that so many men go abroad for professional or +commercial avocations. Some of these are accompanied by wives or sisters, +but a large proportion go alone. + +The disproportion of women is more marked in town districts than in rural +ones. This may be partly due to the lower infant death-rate in the +country, for a high rate of infant mortality on an average affects more +boys than girls. But no doubt the large demand for young women's labour in +factories and as domestic servants is another cause of the surplus of +women in towns. In rural districts there is a surplus of males over +females up to the age of 25. The disproportion of women does not show any +marked tendency to increase except among the elderly, the preponderance +becoming increasingly marked towards old age. It would overload this +chapter too much to give figures illustrating the changes in the last half +century; those who wish to make themselves acquainted with the matter can +refer to the very full and interesting tables given near the end of Vol. +VII. of the Census, 1911. + +_Marriage._--The preponderance of young women, though not very +considerable in figures, is, however, in fact a more effective restriction +of marriage than might be expected, because women are by custom more +likely to marry young than men, and thus the numbers of marriageable young +women at any given date exceed the corresponding numbers of men in a +proportion higher than the actual surplus of young women in particular +age-groups. + +The old-fashioned optimistic assumption that women will all get married +and be provided for by their husbands, cannot be maintained. It is +possible, however, to be needlessly pessimistic on this head, as in a +certain weekly journal which recently proclaimed that "two out of every +three women die old maids." If we are to regard marriage as an occupation +(an idea with which, on the whole, I disagree), it is still the most +important and extensively followed occupation for women. In 1911 over +6-1/2 millions of women in England and Wales were married, or rather more +than one-half the female population over 15; and considerably more than +one-half of our women get married some time or other. In middle life, say +from 35 to 55, three-fourths of all women are married. In early life a +large proportion are single; in later life a large proportion are widows. +Or we might put it in another way. From the age of 20 to 35, only two out +of every four women are married, nearly all the rest being still single, +and a very small proportion widowed; from 35 to 55, three in every four +women are married; over 55, less than two in every four are married, most +of the others having become widows. The proportion of women married has +increased since the previous Census, but has decreased slightly at all +ages under 45. + +The following table displays the proportion married and widowed per cent +of the different age-groups. + + +-------------------------------------+ + | Ages. | Single.| Married.| Widowed.| + |--------|--------|---------|---------| + | 15-20 | 99 | 1 | 0 | + | 20-25 | 76 | 24 | 0 | + | 25-35 | 36 | 62 | 1 | + | 35-45 | 20 | 75 | 5 | + | 45-55 | 16 | 71 | 13 | + | 55-65 | 13 | 59 | 28 | + | 65- | 12 | 31 | 57 | + | | | | | + |All ages| 39 | 51 | 10 | + +-------------------------------------+ + +If the figures were drawn in curves, it would be seen that the proportion +of single women falls rapidly from youth onwards, and is quite small in +old age; that the proportion married rises rapidly at first, remaining +high for 20 or 30 years, and falls again, forming a broad mound-shaped +curve; while the proportion widowed rises all the way to old age. + +It will be seen that, even on the assumption that all wives are provided +for by their husbands, which is by no means universally true, a very +large proportion of women before 35 and after 55 are not thus provided +for, and that an unknown but not inconsiderable proportion never marry at +all. In the case of the educated middle class, as Miss Collet pointed out +in 1892, the surplus of women over men is considerably above the average, +and consequently the prospect of marriage is less in this than in the +working class. "Granted an equal number of males and females between the +ages of 18 and 30, we have not therefore in English society an equal +number of marriageable men and women. Wherever rather late marriage is the +rule with men--that is, wherever there is a high standard of comfort--the +disproportion is correspondingly great. In a district where boy and girl +marriages are very common, everybody can be married and be more or less +miserable ever after: but in the upper middle class equality in numbers at +certain ages implies a surplus of marriageable women over marriageable +men."[20] + +In some quarters the adoption of professions, even of the teaching +profession, by women, is opposed on the ground that women are thereby +drawn away from marriage and home-making. It is difficult to understand +how such an objection can be seriously raised in face of the facts of +social life. The adoption of occupations by women may in a few cases +indicate a preference for independence and single blessedness; but it is +much more often due to economic necessity. It is perfectly plain that not +all women can be maintained by men, even if this were desirable. The women +who have evolved a theory of "economic independence" are few compared +with the many who have economic self-dependence forced upon them. Human +nature is far too strong to make it credible that any large number of +women will deliberately decline the prospect of husband, home and children +of their own for the sake of teaching little girls arithmetic or +inspecting insanitary conditions in slums. If a woman has to choose +between marrying a man she cares for and earning her own bread, I am +sentimental enough to believe that nearly all women would choose the +former. The choices of real life are seldom quite so simple. When a woman +has to choose between an uncongenial marriage and fairly well-paid work, +it is quite likely that nowadays she frequently chooses the latter. In +former days the choice might easily have been among the alternatives of +the uncongenial marriage, the charity, willing or unwilling, of friends +and relations, and sheer starvation, not to mention that even the bitter +relief of the uncongenial marriage, usually available in fiction, is not +always forthcoming in real life. The case grows clearer every year, that +women need training and opportunity to be able to support themselves, +though not all women will do so throughout life. + +_Occupation._--If we have any doubt of the fact that there is still "a +deal of human nature" in girls and women, we have only to compare the +Census statistics of occupation and marriage. We have already seen that +the numbers married increase up to 45. As the number married increases the +number occupied rapidly falls off. The percentage of women and girls over +15 who are occupied was, in 1911, 35.5; an increase of 1.0 since 1901. + +This does not, however, mean that only a little more than one-third of all +women enter upon a trade or occupation. In point of fact a very large +proportion are workers in early youth, as the following tables show. In +order to illustrate the relation of occupation to marriage, we place the +two sets of figures side by side. + + +---------------------------------------+ + | |Percentage|Percentage| + | | Occupied.| Married. | + |-----------------|----------|----------| + |Girls aged 10-13 | 1·0 | .. | + | " 13-14 | 11·3 | .. | + | " 14-15 | 38·7 | .. | + | " 15-16 | 57·6 | } | + | " 16-17 | 66·8 | } | + | " 17-18 | 71·9 | } 1·2 | + | " 18-19 | 74·3 | } | + | " 19-20 | 73·4 | } | + |Women aged 20-25 | 62·0 | 24·1 | + | " 25-35 | 33·8 | 63·2 | + | " 35-45 | 24·1 | 75·3 | + | " 45-55 | 23·1 | 70·9 | + | " 55-65 | 20·4 | 58·4 | + | " 65- | 11·5 | 31·3 | + +---------------------------------------+ + +The highest percentage of employment therefore occurs at the age of 18. + +The next table shows the proportions of workers in age-groups. + +WOMEN AND GIRL WORKERS OVER TEN YEARS OLD. + + +--------------------------------------+ + | | Number. |Per cent of Total.| + |-------|-----------|------------------| + | 10-15 | 182,493 | 3·8 | + | 15-20 | 1,156,851 | 23·9 | + | 20-25 | 1,037,321 | 21·5 | + | 25-35 | 1,057,275 | 21·9 | + | 35-45 | 604,769 | 12·5 | + | 45-55 | 422,464 | 8·7 | + | 55- | 369,561 | 7·7 | + | |-----------|------------------| + | | 4,830,734 | 100·0 | + +--------------------------------------+ + +Over 49 per cent of the total are under 25, and are therefore in ordinary +speech more commonly termed girl than women workers. The rise in the +proportion married compared with the drop in the proportion occupied as +age advances, indicates how strong the hold and attraction of the family +is upon women. Conditions in factories are undoubtedly improved; many a +girl of 20 or 22, perhaps earning 18s. a week, with her club, her classes, +her friends, and an occasional outing, has by no means a "bad time." On +the other hand, the life of the married woman in the working class is +often extremely hard, taking into account the large amount of work done by +them at home, cooking, cleaning, washing, mending and making of clothes, +in the North also baking of bread, tendance of children and of the sick, +over and above and all but simultaneously with the bringing of babies into +the world. Moreover, the working girl is not under illusions as to the +facts of life, as her better-off contemporary still is to some extent. +Taking all this into consideration, the Census results shown above form an +illuminating testimony to the strength of the fundamental human +instincts. + +The distribution of women in occupations illustrates both the deeply +rooted conservatism of women and, at the same time, the modifying tendency +of modern industry. The largest groups of women's trades are still their +traditional activities of household work, the manufacture of stuffs, and +the making of stuffs into clothes. Two-thirds of the women occupied are +thus employed. + + +------------------------------------------------------+ + | | Number. | Per cent of | + | | |Total occupied.| + |----------------------------|---------|---------------| + |Domestic offices and service| | | + | (including laundry) |1,734,040| 35·9 | + |Textiles | 746,154| 15·5 | + |Dress | 755,964| 15·6 | + +------------------------------------------------------+ + +It is convenient to picture to oneself the female working population as +three great groups: the domestic group, the textile and clothing group, +and the other miscellaneous occupations, which also form about one-third +of the total. Now, while it is true that the two former groups, the +traditional or conservative occupations of women, are still the largest, +they are not, with the exception of textiles, increasing as fast as +population, whereas some of the newer occupations, the non-textile +industrial processes that have been transformed by machinery and brought +within the capacity of women, are, though much smaller in numbers, +increasing at a rapid rate. The following table shows the change from 1901 +to 1911 in the most important industrial groups including women. It +should be read bearing in mind that the increase of the female population +over 10 in the same period is 12·6 per cent. + +ENGLAND AND WALES, 1901-1911. + + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | Numbers. | | + | Occupations of Women |-------------------|Percentage| + | and Girls. | 1901. | 1911. | Change. | + |-----------------------------|---------|---------|----------| + |Domestic offices and service |1,690,722|1,734,040| +2·6 | + |Textiles | 663,222| 746,154| +12·5 | + |Dress | 710,961| 755,964| +6·3 | + |Dressmakers | 340,582| 339,240| -0·4 | + |Tailoresses | 117,640| 127,115| +8·1 | + |Food, drink, and lodging | 299,518| 474,683| +58·5 | + |Paper, books, and stationery | 90,900| 121,309| +33·5 | + |Metals, machines, etc. | 63,016| 101,050| +60·4 | + |Increase of female population| | | | + | over 10 | .. | .. | +12·6 | + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + +But even with the occupations I have dubbed "conservative," or +traditional, modern methods are transforming the nature of the work done +by women. The statistical changes in the so-called domestic group are an +interesting illustration of the changes we can see going on in the world +around us. Note especially the tendency towards a more developed social +life outside the home indicated by the large percentage increase in club +service, hotel and eating-house service; the tendency to supersede amateur +by expert nursing, shown in the large increase in hospital and +institutional service; and the slight but perceptible tendency for +household work to lose its domestic character. Not only do the charwomen +show an increase much larger than that of the group total, while the +domestic indoor servant has decreased, but a new sub-heading, "day +servants," has had to be introduced. The laundry is fast becoming a +regular factory industry, and shows a decrease in numbers, no doubt due to +the introduction of machinery and labour-saving appliances. + +CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN CERTAIN DOMESTIC OCCUPATIONS. + + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | | | + | | Numbers. | | + | | | | + | Occupation. |--------------------|Percentage| + | | | | Change. | + | | 1901. | 1911. | | + | | | | | + |-------------------------------|---------|----------|----------| + |Hotel, eating-house, etc. | 45,711| 63,368 | +38·6 | + |Other domestic indoor servants}|1,285,072|1,271,990}| +0·8 | + |Day girls }| | 24,001}| | + |College, club, etc. | 1,680| 3,347 | +99·2 | + |Hospital, institution, etc. | 26,341| 41,639 | +58·1 | + |Caretakers | 13,314| 18,633 | +39·95 | + |Cooks, not domestic | 8,615| 13,538 | +57·1 | + |Charwomen | 111,841| 126,061 | +12·7 | + |Laundry | 196,141| 167,052 | -14·8 | + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + +Textiles, which as a whole have increased exactly in proportion to +population, show a great variety in movement. The following shows the +movement in the numerically more important groups. + + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + | | Numbers. | Percentage | + | |-------------------| Change. | + | | 1901. | 1911. | | + |----------------------|---------|---------|------------| + |Cotton-- | | | | + | Card-room operatives| 46,135 | 55,488 | +20·3 | + | Spinning | 34,553 | 55,448 | +60·5 | + | Winding, warping | 64,742 | 59,171 | -8·6 | + | Weaving | 175,158 | 190,922 | +9·0 | + |Wool-- | | | | + | Spinning | 35,782 | 45,310 | +26·6 | + | Weaving | 67,067 | 67,499 | +0·6 | + |Hosiery | 34,481 | 41,431 | +20·2 | + |Lace | 23,807 | 25,822 | +8·5 | + +-------------------------------------------------------+ + +In "Dress" the most noticeable feature is that in a decade of rapidly +increasing wealth and certainly of no diminution in the feminine tendency +to adornment and display, the numbers of dressmakers decreased by a few +hundreds. Tailoresses, on the other hand, increased considerably more than +the increase in the whole group, and "Dealers" also show a large increase. +The Census unfortunately throws very little light so far on the +development of the various factory industries for making clothes, and the +Factory Department statistics are now so considerably out of date as to be +of little value. In default of further information we may guess that a +very considerable economy of methods has been effected in the making of +women's clothes by the introduction of machinery and the factory system, +and that some of the large mass of customers of moderate incomes are +tending to desert the old-fashioned working dressmakers and buy ready-made +clothes, which have noticeably improved in style and quality in recent +years. But the older-fashioned methods probably hold the larger part of +the field, even now. + +The increasing employment of women in metal trades is certainly a very +remarkable feature of the present Census, the numbers having jumped up +from 63,000 to 101,000 in ten years. The cycle and motor manufactures, +which employed less than 3000 women in 1901, employed not far short of +7000 in 1911. Nearly all the small groups and subdivisions of metal work +show an increase of female employment. For instance, women employed in +electrical apparatus-making increased from 2490 in 1901 to over 9000 in +1911. + +The whole subject is one of great interest, as illustrating the progress +of the industrial revolution in the trades affected, but is impossible to +treat here at length. + +_The Reaction of Status on Industry._--In spite of the increased range of +occupations open to women, it must be added that the position of woman is +a highly insecure one, and that she is considerably handicapped by the +reaction of status on occupation. We have seen that while most women work +for wages in early life, their work is usually not permanent, but is +abandoned on marriage, precisely at the time of life when the greatest +economic efficiency may be looked for. On the other hand, the superior +longevity of women and the greater risks to which men are exposed, leave +many women widows and unprovided for in middle or even early life. Some +women are unfortunate in marriage, the husband turning out idle, +incompetent, of feeble health or bad habits, and in such circumstances +women may need to return to their work after some years' cessation. But +factory industries and indeed nearly all women's occupations make a +greater demand for the young than for the middle-aged or old. Wages are +supposed to be based upon a single woman's requirements. Even if the +destitute widow or the deserted wife can succeed in obtaining fairly +well-paid work, there emerges the difficulty of looking after her home and +children simultaneously with doing work for wages. + +The ordinary view of the subject is that a woman need not be paid as much +as a man, because her requirements are less, and she is likely to be +partially maintained by others. The question of wages will be discussed in +a later chapter, but it may here be pointed out that the facts revealed by +the Census show that the status of women is a very heavy handicap to their +economic position. Normally, women leave their occupation about the time +when they might otherwise expect to attain their greatest efficiency, and +those who return to work in later years are under the disadvantage of +having spent their best years in work which by no means helps their +professional or industrial efficiency, though it may be of the greatest +social usefulness. If a woman cannot expect to be paid more than the +commercial value of her work when she has children entirely dependent on +her, it seems inconsistent that she should be expected to take less than +the value of her work when she is partially maintained at home; surely the +wiser course would be to strive to raise the standard of remuneration so +as to benefit those who have the heavier obligations. + +The same kind of thoughtless inconsistency is seen in dealing with the +problem of married women's work. Many observers of social life are struck +by the fact that it is sad and in some cases even disastrous for a woman +to go out to work and leave her infant children unprotected and untended. +The proposal is constantly forthcoming to prohibit married women's +employment. But many persons, even those who dislike the employment of +married women, think that when a woman is left a widow, the best thing is +to take her children away from her and get her into service.[21] In point +of fact, the young children of a widow need quite as much care and +attention as those who have a father living; and neither a married woman +nor a widow can give her children that care and attention if she is +without the means of subsistence. + +The pressure on widows to seek employment, whatever their home ties, is +seen with tragic pathos even in the bald figures of the Census. + + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + | |Single.|Married.|Widowed.|Total.| + |--------------------|-------|--------|--------|------| + |Percentage of women | | | | | + | and girls occupied| 54·5 | 10·26 | 30·1 | 32·5 | + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + +Although widows in the very nature of the case are older on an average +than married women, although the whole tendency of modern industry is +towards the employment of the young, yet the percentage of widows occupied +is three times as great as the percentage of married who are occupied. + +There are no short and easy paths to the solution of the difficulties of +woman, but those who uphold such measures as the prohibition of employment +to married women, are bound to consider, firstly, how the prohibition +should be applied in cases where the male head of the family is not +competent or sufficiently able-bodied to support it; secondly, whether +the children of widows can flourish on neglect any better than the +children who have a living father, and, if not, why it is more desirable +for the widow than for the married woman to go to work outside her home +and away from her children. + +_Conclusion._--The following points summarise the results obtained from a +study of the statistics in regard to women, supplemented by facts of +common knowledge. Women outnumber men, especially in later life. Not all +women can marry. A large majority of girls and a small minority of adult +women work for wages. A large majority of women marry some time or other. +The majority of young women leave work when they marry. Some women depend +upon their own exertions throughout life, and some of them have +dependents. Some women, after being maintained for a period by their +husbands, are forced again to seek work for wages; and many of these have +dependents. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS. + + +_Early Efforts at Organisation._--It is probably not worth while to spend +a great deal of time in the endeavour to decide what part women played in +the earlier developments of trade unionism, very little information being +so far obtainable. It seems, however, not unlikely that some of the loose +organisations of frame-work knitters, woollen weavers, etc., that existed +in the eighteenth century and later, may have included women members, as +the Manchester Small-Ware Weavers certainly did in 1756, and Professor +Chapman tells us that women were among the members of the Manchester +Spinners' Society of 1795. At Leicester there appears to have been an +informal organisation of hand-spinners, called "the sisterhood," who in +1788 stirred up their male friends and acquaintances to riot as a +demonstration against the newly introduced machines.[22] We find some +women organised in the unions that sprang up after the repeal of the +Anti-Combination Act in 1824. The West Riding Fancy Union was open to +women as well as men, and although the General Association of Weavers in +Scotland expressly excluded female apprentices from membership it added +the proviso, "except those belonging to the weaver's own family." + +In December the Lancashire Cotton Spinners called a conference at Ramsey, +Isle of Man, to consider the question of a national organisation. The +immediate motive of the conference was the failure of a disastrous six +months' strike at Hyde, near Manchester, which convinced the leaders that +no local unions could succeed against a combination of employers. At the +Ramsey Conference, after nearly a week's discussion, it was agreed to +establish a "Grand General Union of the United Kingdom," which was to be +subject to an annual delegates' meeting and three national committees. The +Union was to include all male spinners and piecers, the women and girls +being urged to form separate organisations. The General Union lasted less +than two years.[23] + +A few years later, in 1833, an attempt which met with limited success was +made by Glasgow spinners to procure the same rates of pay for women as for +men, in spite of the masters' protest that the former did not turn out so +much or so good a quality of work as the latter. No doubt the men's action +was taken chiefly in their own interests. Many of the male operatives +objected altogether to the employment of women as spinners and for a time +hindered it in Glasgow, though shortly after the great strike of 1837 as +many women were spinning there as men. In Manchester women were spinning +in 1838, and, indeed, had done so from early times. One regrets to note +that they acted as strike-breakers (along with five out of thirty-three +male spinners) in a mill belonging to Mr. Houldsworth, as the latter +reported in evidence to the Committee on Combinations of Workmen. A +representative of the Spinners' Association, Glasgow, J. M'Nish, gave some +rather interesting evidence before the same Committee. He said it was not +the object of the association that the employment of women should cease, +although they were "not fond of seeing women at such a severe employment," +but it was their object to prevent the women from being "paid at an under +rate of wages, if possible." Although the women spinners were not members +of the association, they were in the habit of appealing to it for advice +in the complicated business of reckoning up their rates of pay, and the +association had occasionally advised them to strike for an advance.[24] + +Some years later women were to be found among the members of the Spinners' +Unions in Lancashire. Objections were raised to their employment on the +grounds of health and decency, as the spinning-rooms were excessively hot +and work had to be done in the lightest possible attire. Probably the +strongest objection was the danger to wages and to the customary standard +of life through women's employment. The feeling was that women would not +resist the encroachment of the masters, that their customary wage was low, +and that many of them were partially supported at home, consequently that +when men and women were employed together on the same kind of work, the +wages of men must fall. The hand-loom weavers of Glasgow would not admit +adult women to their society, though many were in fact working; and the +warpers discouraged women warpers. In 1833, however, the Glasgow women +power-loom weavers are said to have had a union under the direction of +the male operatives.[25] + +The great outburst of unionism in 1833-34 fostered by Owen, the formation +of a "Grand National Consolidated Trades Union" did not leave the women +untouched. A delegates' meeting was held in February 1834 at which it was +resolved that the new body should take the form of a federation of +separate trade lodges, usually of members of one trade, but with provision +for "miscellaneous lodges," in places where the numbers were small, and +even for "female miscellaneous lodges." Within a few weeks or months this +union obtained an extraordinary growth and expansion. About half a million +members must have joined, including tens of thousands of farm labourers +and women, and members of the most diverse and heterogeneous classes of +industry. Among the women members we hear of lodges for tailoresses, +milliners and miscellaneous workers. Some women gardeners and others were +prominent in riots at Oldham. At Derby women and children joined with the +men in refusing to abandon the union and were locked out by their +employers. The Grand National endeavoured to find means to support them +and find employment, but the struggle, though protracted for months, ended +in the complete triumph of the employers. The Grand National did not long +survive. + +In some of the strikes and disturbances that took place in the following +years there is clear evidence that women took part, but very little can be +ascertained as to their inclusion in unions beyond the bare fact that the +Cotton Power-Loom Weavers' Union, as is generally stated, has always had +women members. In cotton weaving the skill of women is almost equal to +men's, in some cases even superior; and as the power-loom came more and +more into use, women were more and more employed, as we have seen. The men +had thus in their industry an object lesson of the desirability of +association and combination in the interests of both sexes. A Weavers' +Union of Great Britain and Ireland was formed in 1840 on the occasion of +the Stockport strike. But the establishment of unions on a sound basis was +a little later, about the middle of the century. + +_Cotton Weavers._--Numerous strikes occurred in Lancashire about the +middle of the nineteenth century, and several unions of cotton weavers +formed in those years are still in existence. The first sound organisation +of power-loom weavers was established at Blackburn in 1854, but the +Padiham Society and the Radcliffe Society can trace their existence back +to 1850. The organisation of cotton weavers thenceforward proceeded +rapidly. The Chorley weavers date from 1855, the Accrington Society from +1856, Darwen and Ramsbottom from 1857, Preston, 1858, Great Harwood and +Oldham and District, 1859. The East Lancashire Amalgamated Society was +also formed in 1859, and was afterwards known as the North-East Lancashire +Amalgamated Society. + +For many years, however, contributions were too small to admit of forming +an adequate reserve, and before 1878 the unions were not really effective. +A number of local strikes about that date led the Union officials to +perceive that higher contributions were necessary for concerted action, +and cases of victimising of officials brought home the need for larger +Unions with officials who could be placed beyond the risk of +victimisation. The new demands made upon the workers no doubt caused some +dismay. Some members were lost at first, but most of these returned after +a few months. In course of time the weavers have built up an organisation +which as far as women are concerned is without parallel in this country. + +The Weavers' Amalgamation was formed in 1884. It includes 38 districts in +Lancashire and Yorkshire, and one or two in Derbyshire, with nearly +200,000 members, the majority being women. In one or two districts +political forces have favoured the growth of rival Unions outside the +Amalgamation, and these also include a large proportion of women. This +division in the weavers' camp is greatly to be regretted, but the rival +societies do not appear so far to have done any great harm to the great +Amalgamation, whose lead they usually follow, save in political matters, +and from whose influence they, of course, indirectly benefit considerably, +though they pay no contributions to its funds. + +Piece rates in textile trades are extremely complicated. The lists and +exceptions are indeed so technical in their nature that many of the +operatives themselves do not understand them, and it is quite possible +that some employers do not fully grasp the working of the lists. + +The weaving operation begins when the warp, or the longitudinal threads of +the piece to be woven, has been fixed in position on the loom. The threads +used for the warp are what in spinning are called "twist." These long +threads, or "ends" as they are sometimes called, when placed on the loom +pass through the openings of the "reed," a sheet of metal cut like a comb +into spaces of the width required for the special coarseness or fineness +of the material to be woven. The twist also passes through loops known as +"healds." Thus the first element to be taken into account is the thickness +of the threads of the warp, the number of threads going to make up an inch +of width, and the total width of the piece to be woven. The work of the +loom is to throw across the warp the cross threads or "weft." These +threads are carried in the shuttle which flies to and fro and passes over +and under the warp threads alternately, or at such angles and intervals as +are provided for by the arrangement of the warp in the "healds" and +"reed." The weft or cross threads are termed "picks." Thus the second +element in determining the price is the fineness and closeness of the +weft. The fineness is determined by the number of counts of the yarn. The +closeness may be determined by counting the number of threads or picks in +a given length actually woven, or by a calculation based upon the +mechanical action of the machine. In many cases the number of picks can be +easily settled by counting, but in almost every instance the most exact +method is by calculation, based upon the sizes and divisions of the wheels +and of the "beam" in the loom. The "beam" is the bar or pole round which +the cloth is rolled in process of weaving. The third element is the total +length woven, and a fourth is the nature and quality of the material used. +This latter is an especially important element in price. The smaller the +openings in the "reed" through which the threads pass, the finer and +closer the crossing of the weft, the greater in number and more delicate +are the threads to be watched by the weaver, and the greater is the +liability to breakage of threads. Closer attention and greater dexterity +are needed in the weaving of fine than of coarse materials, but on the +other hand the weaving of the coarser yarns may mean harder physical +labour though not requiring so much skill. The harder work is paid for at +an increased rate, though less wages may be earned by the operative. + +The weavers' work is to fetch the cops of weft (unless they have tenters +or assistants to do the fetching and carrying), keep the shuttles full, +and repair broken threads. The standard upon which the uniform list is +based is calculated on the capacity of an ordinary loom, forty-five inches +in the reed space, weaving according to certain particulars given in the +list, which are somewhat too technical to set down here. The standard +conditions are in practice varied in every conceivable way, and exceptions +of every kind have to be provided for by making additions and deductions +per cent. There are also subsidiary lists for special kinds and qualities, +and local lists for special characters of goods made in certain districts. +To find the price of weaving the various allowances have to be deducted or +added one by one. A minute fraction of a penny per yard may make a +perceptible difference in a weaver's earnings. + +These lists are a comparatively modern development, and date from the time +of the labour troubles mentioned above. In 1853 the Blackburn Society +prepared a list of uniform prices for weavers as a basis for a permanent +agreement. This list was based upon prices previously paid at the various +mills in the town, on an average of a month's earnings. The Blackburn list +was in operation till 1892, and was the most important of all the lists +regulating weavers' wages. It was then, with many others, replaced by the +uniform list, which is now generally recognised throughout Lancashire, +but rates for some subsidiary processes are still regulated by local +lists. + +The complication of these lists has necessitated a high degree of +specialised skill in the secretaries, who must possess practical and +intimate experience of the work and a competent knowledge of arithmetic +for elaborate calculations. Subjects of complaint and suspected +miscalculations can be referred to the secretary, who immediately inquires +into the matter. If he considers the complaint justified or the +calculations incorrect, he visits the mill and puts the case before the +employer. The matter can very likely be settled amicably, as in point of +fact these matters often are, but if dispute occurs, it is referred first +to the local association, and may be settled by negotiation. In case of +failure there is a machinery needless to detail here by which meetings of +employer and employed can be arranged through successively higher grades +of representative authority, until in the last resort, if all attempts at +settlement fail, a strike is called. The impressive feature about all this +negotiation from our present point of view is that the whole strength of +the Union, the brains and time and care of the secretary, can be invoked +for the protection of the woman, the youthful or childish worker, as much +as for the adult skilled worker at a craft. + +Cases of wrongful withholding of earnings, as for instance unfair fines, +can be taken into the County Courts. In at least one district the +secretary has successfully asserted the right to visit the mill and +inspect cloth, when the employer claims deductions. The cotton weavers' +secretaries have in fact to play a part not unlike that of the solicitor +in other social grades. They have to look after their clients' interests, +protect them from fraud and injury, and advise them in cases of doubt as +to their legal rights and position. + +A fertile source of trouble is in bad cotton. Most of us have probably +laughed over the story of the pious weaver in the cotton famine who prayed +for supplies of raw material, "but, O Lord, not Surats!" The matter is far +from amusing to the workers themselves. Every breakage of a thread means +that their wages are stopped by so much, and defective material means that +they have to work harder and with more harass and interruption, and +accomplish less in the time. If inferior material is persistently +supplied, the cotton-workers consider themselves entitled to an increase +of 5 per cent or 7-1/2 per cent on earnings, and it is the secretaries' +duty to get it for them. + +It is perhaps worth while to note the peculiar sense given in Lancashire +speech to the expression "bad work." In Lancashire "bad work" means bad +cotton, and is actually so used in the terms of an agreement between +employer and employed as a subject for compensation to the worker. + +Constant anxious care is needed to safeguard the payment of wages. A +Weavers' Local Association advises their members that "whenever the earned +wages of a female or young person is being detained for being absent or +leaving work, except to the amount of damage their employer has sustained +in consequence, such a young person should at once lay their case before +the Committee."[26] Even at the present time it is not unknown for a girl +to be fined to the amount of a whole week's earnings, but, as my informant +added, such a case is now rare. As a rule the Trade Union Secretary will +be appealed to, will take the steps necessary, and the fine will be +returned or considerably reduced. + +Any one who is used to considering the case of the girl and women worker +in the unorganised trades of London or other great towns, any one who has +read in the Women Factory Inspectors' Reports of the difficulty of +enforcing the Truck Act and of the special proneness of the woman worker +to be oppressed and cheated out of what is morally or even legally her +due, will appreciate at once the extraordinary difference between her +position and that of the cotton weaver who is backed up by her +Association, and has an expert adviser to appeal to. + +The position of women (and of course of other members also) has been +greatly improved since the early days of power-loom weaving by the greater +financial strength and security of the Unions. The history of the Burnley +weavers is instructive on this point. The Union dates from about 1870, and +started with a few hundred members on penny contributions. Numbers, +however, increased, in spite of some troubles and persecution from +individuals of the employing class. In 1878, Lancashire, as we have seen, +was involved in a great industrial struggle. The Burnley Society, on its +penny contributions, was unable adequately to sustain its members through +the crisis, and only survived the crisis after a very severe strain. It +was decided to adopt a sliding scale of payments and higher contributions, +with the result that a good reserve was established, and benefits were +granted on a higher scale. Considerable sums are paid not only in this, +but in other Unions for breakdown or stoppage of work from various causes, +such as fire, accident, or failure of trade, stoppage of machinery for +repairs, dissolution of partnership, etc. The weavers give benefit to +members losing work through scarcity of cotton, or waiting for wefts or +warps. Whether it is altogether wise from the tactical point of view for +trade associations to devote so much of their funds to provident purposes +of this nature is not a question I propose to discuss; the relevant point +is the economic security given to the worker. The following shows the +contributions graded according to benefit, and the benefit accruing either +for strikes brought on by the Society's action, or for stoppage of work at +the mill. + +CHORLEY WEAVERS. + + Weekly Payments. Benefits. + 1d. per week (Tenters). 1/6 per week. + 3d. " 7/6 " + 4d. " 11/ " + 5d. " 13/6 " + 6d. " 16/ " + +The Weavers' Unions do not, as a rule, pay sick or maternity benefit save +under the Insurance Act. On the other hand, funeral benefit appears to be +the invariable custom, and disablement through accident also entitles +members to benefit. A penny per member per week is paid to the +Amalgamation towards a Central Strike Fund, the remainder of the +contributions being in the hands of the local branch. + + * * * * * + +The unusual strength of this Union, combining men and women in a single +organisation, seems to be due in the first place to the increasing local +concentration of the industry. In towns where many large mills are placed +near together the ease and rapidity with which a secretary can call a +meeting is surprising. In the second place, it must be remembered that +the organisation of women has been of great importance to the men, the +women forming the majority of the workers. It has been worth the men's +while to consider the women, and so far at least as the economic position +is concerned, they have done it with considerable effectiveness. The +organisation is utterly dependent on the membership and solidarity of +women, and it has successfully safeguarded their economic interests, but +it has been built up mainly by the initiative and under the control of a +minority of men. + +As a general rule, in spite of the exceptional success of the Weavers' +Unions in retaining the continued membership of women, the fact remains +that it is still unusual for women to be actively interested in the work +of organisation. As a general rule the women rarely attend meetings unless +they have a special grievance to be removed, and they seldom nominate one +of themselves for the Committee. There are places where no woman has ever +been nominated at all. This is a subject of regret and surprise, not only +to the secretaries, but to those women here and there who are themselves +keenly interested. These would fain see women representatives on the +Committee, and some proportion of women acting as secretaries and +collectors. Such women feel strongly that "we need the two points of +view," and it is disheartening and incomprehensible to them to find that +they cannot get their women friends to turn up at meetings and support the +nomination of a woman. There appears to be little ground for the +supposition that men would object to share their Committee labours with +women, and even if they did, it is obvious that in an industry where women +predominate, the latter could have no difficulty in packing the Committee +with their own representatives. In all these weavers' Unions the women +have precisely the same rights and privileges as men. All positions are +open to women, and women command a majority of votes. It is not the men's +fault that the management so often is mainly left in their hands. + +If we enquire as to the reasons for this apathy among women-workers, a +great many can be given. One is the danger of victimisation, which may +fall very hardly on collectors and Committee members. Another is the +fatigue of the long day in the mill, the natural desire for a little +amusement, or the amount of house-work to be done. Lancashire women are +"house-proud" to an extraordinary degree, and cannot be satisfied without +a high standard of comfort in such matters as cleanliness, food, and +furniture. All this means work, and though the high wages current in the +cotton towns might seem to make it possible to pay for household help, +such help is not very easy to come by. Domestic service has hitherto been +demanded only by a limited class in the community, because very few +outside that class could afford to pay for it. A highly paid industry like +the cotton trade makes servants scarce, and anything like a general demand +for domestic help on a broad democratic scale could not possibly be +satisfied as things are now. Even help in washing is not easily had. So +the Lancashire woman or girl contrives to work her ten hours in the mill, +and come back to a second day's work in the evening, with such assistance +as may be given by the older members of the family. Lancashire is really +suffering from the service question in an acute form, so acute that it is +taken for granted it cannot be answered. A surprising part of the matter +is that a class of women so intelligent, so industrious, and +comparatively so well-paid, should not ere this have made a concerted +demand for better labour-saving devices in their houses. + +But after all the domestic difficulty does not explain the whole problem +of woman's apathy and indifference in Trade Unions. Supposing the meeting +occurs only once a quarter, as in some places, house-work cannot be an +insuperable obstacle to attendance at such rare intervals. One weaver told +me she had been "bread-winner, nurse, and cleaner" at home, and yet had +found time to attend meetings. Probably the real explanation of the +attitude of women generally towards the Union is to be found in their +education and outlook. Lloyd Jones, in his life of Robert Owen, explained +the failure of the early co-operative societies by the fact that at that +time the working-class had no habit of association. The old forms had +gone; the new had been legally suppressed. Under the changed conditions of +modern life the working-class has had to evolve a new set of social habits +and a new code of social duty. The habit of association has developed more +slowly among women than among men, because to some extent it does +undeniably come in conflict with the traditional moralities of women. To a +great many women the idea of home duty means duty within the home; they +are only beginning to find out by slow degrees that their home is largely +dependent for its very existence on outside impersonal forces about which +it is incumbent on the home-maker to know something, even if she has to go +outside to get knowledge. The Weavers' Secretary, even in Lancashire, +still finds that "females are a deal more arduous to organise than males"; +he supposes, because "they've been brought up to be different." They cost +more in collecting expenses, and the propensity of girls to get married, +to leave work or change their occupation is a constant source of anxiety. +"They are always on the move," and perpetual watchfulness is needed to +enrol the young ones as they enter the mill. Tact and diplomacy are +expended in inducing the women-workers to keep an eye on the younger +members, to bring them in as early in their industrial careers as +possible. Even such homely arguments as "it saves your money from stamps," +are not disdained in the effort to persuade the women to use their own +personal influence to keep the flame alive. Small commissions are given to +a member of a Union who brings in a new member. But without commissions +women do a good deal of recruiting in the mills. The Lancashire cotton +Unions do not run themselves; their efficiency is very largely the result +of constant watchfulness and patient effort on the part of the officials, +backed up by the pluck, tenacity, and high standard of comfort of the +Lancashire woman herself. + +A strong feeling, however, is now arising that there is a need for +organisation of women within the Union, to induce them to come out more, +to take more pains to understand the civic machinery of life which so +largely controls their work, their livelihood, and the possibilities of +health and strength both for themselves and their children. There is +always a splendid remnant in Lancashire who feel themselves to be +citizens; but a more general movement seems now to be beginning. This +movement is partly due to economic changes in the distribution of the +industry. Some mills nowadays employ scarcely any men. Such are mills or +sheds for ring-winding, cop-winding, reeling and beaming, occupations +exclusively appropriated to women. In such mills there will be a man +employed as overlooker, and a mechanic to repair or look after the +machines, and there is or should be a man or strong lad to carry the +"skips," But the industry itself is here carried on by women, and in such +cases women often develop powers hitherto latent for undertaking the +Committee work and management of the Union. The same thing happens in +districts where the demand for male labour in other occupations is +sufficiently urgent to draw men away from weaving altogether. + +At Wigan the Committee is wholly staffed by women. At Stockport all but +the president, secretary, and one member are women. At Oldham about half +the Committee are women. In the largest centres of the industry things are +moving more slowly. In one very large and important Union the first woman +representative has recently been elected to the Committee. At Blackburn +two places on the Committee are now appropriated to the winders and +warpers, who are all women; this has the effect of reserving two places +exclusively for women. Here also the practice obtains of appointing a +worker in each mill as a representative of the Union, to keep the +secretary in touch with what is going on, and about twenty women, chosen +chiefly from the winders, now fill the post of mill representative. The +Insurance Act also has had the indirect effect of bringing in a certain +number of women as sick visitors or pay stewards. Women are thus gradually +being drawn forward, with results that indicate that custom is to blame +for their previous isolation, rather than any inherent incapacity or +unwillingness on their part. + +There is a good deal that men might do to meet the women half-way. The +secretary may regretfully remark that the women members make no use of the +handsome institute and comfortable rooms that are at the disposal of all +members of a Union, but the women complain privately that there is no room +appropriated to their use. This is felt as a difficulty by women, while it +is unnoticed and unconsidered by men. However heartily one may agree that +men and women would be better for the opportunities of social intercourse +such as an institute provides, however much one may wish to see women +making use of its amenities yet, as a beginning, perhaps always, it would +obviously be advisable to set apart for them a sitting-room of their own. +Women would like to go in to look at the papers and so on, but are +deterred by the idea that they are not expected, or not wanted, or that +their appearance may cause surprise in the minds of their male colleagues. +"They did stare a bit, but they weren't a bit disagreeable," one woman +weaver remarked after having valiantly entered her own institute and read +her own magazines. Pioneers may do these doughty deeds; the average young +woman, even in Lancashire, is singularly shy in some ways, however much +the reverse she may appear in others. There is no doubt that social life +in England suffers from the unwholesome segregation of women from the +affairs of the community. They are too much cut off from the interests of +men, most of which ought rather to be the interests of human beings. The +beginnings of better things are now being made, but comradeship and +consideration on both sides are needed. + +A movement for shorter hours is going on in the Cotton Operatives' Unions, +and has been sympathetically regarded for many years by the Women Factory +Inspectors, who realise the intensity of the work in cotton factories as +few outsiders can do. The actual operations of joining threads, removing +cops, replacing shuttles and so forth are not in themselves very +laborious. The strain occurs in the long hours the women are at work, most +of them having to stand all the time, and the close attention that has to +be given. Every broken thread means _pro tanto_ a stoppage of wages, and +eyes and fingers have to be constantly on the alert to see and do +instantly what is necessary. All this time, in most cases, the women are +on their feet; all this time, in many cases, breathing an unnaturally +heated air, sickened by the disagreeable smell of the oil and size, the +ceaseless din of machinery in their ears, dust and fluff continually ready +to invade the system. In recent years the increased speed has enormously +increased the strain of work. It would seem that here is a clear case for +shorter hours by law, but strange to say in practice some women are found +to be rather nervous about such a measure. I know one highly intelligent +girl who fears that shorter hours may mean increased speed, and thinks +that that would be "more than flesh and blood could bear." Others fear a +loss in earnings. These fears, however, are not shared by all, and after +considerable discussion with different persons, I incline to hope that +they are not justified. It is, of course, true that in the cotton trade +conditions are very different from those in certain trades where shorter +hours have resulted in an actual increase of output. The machinery is of +enormous value, and is already speeded up to such an extent that no great +increase of output on the present machines seems possible or thinkable. On +the other hand, there might quite possibly be a very much smaller deficit +on shorter hours than the uninitiated would expect. One result would +probably be a greater regularity of output through the day. Girls will own +that they literally cannot keep going all the time, that they are forced +to relax at intervals, and they add; "if we had shorter hours we should be +able to work right through." There are masters who think the early morning +hours' work is hardly worth the trouble. The Trade Union secretaries with +many years' knowledge and experience of the working of the Factory Acts +behind them, do not fear any permanent reduction of wages. A forty-eight +hours' week, or an eight hours' day would quite likely result in +diminished earnings for the first few weeks or months. But given time to +work itself out, it would regularise production and tend to smooth out +alternatives of "glut" and slack time. A second probable result would be +some increase in piece rates, and the workers would in no wise be worse +off. No doubt this change will meet with considerable resistance, but +judging by past history, it will probably not cause any permanent injury +to the interests of either labour or capital. + +_Winders._--Winding is the process of running the yarn off the spinner's +cop on to a "winder's bobbin." There are two processes, "cop-winding" and +"ring-winding," the latter being a comparatively new process. The winders, +though included usually in the same unions with weavers, are far less +strongly organised. Neither process has as yet a uniform list, but the +cop-winders have lists which cover large areas. The ring-winders are still +less protected, and as a result they are underpaid. + +Increasing discontent among the winders at Blackburn lately caused a +demand for direct representation on the Committee. The position is +curious, there being a woman winder and a warper now serving on the +Committee while the weavers, a larger and better paid body of women, are +represented only by men. Winding is said to be harder and worse paid than +weaving, and "driving" has been introduced in recent years. "If there is +one operative who earns the money she receives it is the winder."[27] +Nevertheless, there are some women who cannot stand the strain of weaving, +and take to winding. Further enquiry into this apparent inconsistency +elicited the fact that winding, although hard and monotonous work with its +continual removing cops and joining threads, is in some ways a less +continuous, unremitting strain than weaving.[28] Winders do not often work +on Saturday morning, and they may occasionally have short intervals of +rest. They also have the chance of promotion to be a warper, a post which +admits of much more sitting down than either of the other two, and is +consequently coveted. + +The defective organisation of the winders appears to be due to the absence +of men among the ranks. The close community of interests which produced +the exceptional success of the Weavers' Union has been lacking, and the +winders appear to have been overlooked. Faults in quality or mistakes made +in the spinning-room are often credited to the winder, beamer or reeler. +It is, however, constantly pointed out in the reports of the Amalgamation +that they have the remedy in their own hands, and should organise more +strongly to get the advantages enjoyed by the weavers. The recent +awakening at Blackburn, indicated above, is a most hopeful sign. At +Stockport also, the secretary is making a special effort to organise the +winders, and at Padiham it has recently been proposed to give them special +representation on the Committee as at Blackburn. + +_Card-room Operatives._--Unions of card- and blowing-room operatives began +to accept women members about 1870, or a little later. Women are now +organised in the same Union with men, and form about 90 per cent of the +workers. The work forms part of the process of preparing cotton for +spinning, and is heavy and dangerous in character. The conditions under +which, and the purposes for which, benefit is granted resemble those of +the weavers' Unions. The organisation of card-room operatives was greatly +improved from 1885 to 1890 or 1894, and may be now considered to have +reached a condition of comparative permanence and stability. The usual +complaint is, however, made that women are apathetic and take little +interest in Union affairs. This state of things is keenly regretted by the +secretary, who would gladly see women members on the Committee. The +difficulties in effective organisation of industries with so large a +proportion of young and irresponsible workers are seen in a recent report +of a card-room operatives' society. "Ring-room doffers are about the most +difficult class we have to deal with in the matter of keeping them +organised, and we can only assume, as most of them are young persons, that +it is mostly their parents who are to blame for this apparent +carelessness. So we appeal to the parents of this class of operative to +take a keener interest in the welfare of those for whom they are +responsible, and would remind them that the writer of this article well +remembers the time when this class of operative was looked upon as well +paid at 5s. 2d. per week, while at the present time the lowest wage paid +to our knowledge is 9s. 3d., an advance of 4s. 1d. per week. Surely the +few coppers required could easily be spared from this advance, and the +benefits returnable are as good an investment as it is possible to find." + +Card-room operatives have usually been regarded as socially somewhat +inferior to the weavers, the work being more arduous and done in more +dangerous conditions and the women usually of a rougher class. It seems, +however, probable that this condition is changing. Card-room work is +becoming more popular as comparatively good wages come at an earlier age +than in weaving. It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of +effective organisation to this class of workers. In its absence the large +proportion of women can be taken advantage of to lower conditions of work +all round. Closer co-operation with Unions of other classes of workers +might be very useful, especially on the question of speeding up. The +card-room operatives are speeded and "rushed," working under high +pressure, and at the same time the winder, beamer and warper complain of +bad cotton, and the weaver strikes on account of the same grievance. +Surely the remedy is obvious. + +Ring-spinners are often included in the same Union with card-room +operatives, and quite recently a special effort has been made to improve +the organisation of ring-room workers. A "universal list" was obtained in +1912.[29] + +_Other Workers._--Outside the cotton operatives there are a comparatively +small number of women organised with men in Unions of varying strength and +effectiveness. As regards linen and jute there is a Union at Dundee which +includes over 5000 women, but appears to have made little progress in +numbers in quite recent years. The secretary states that the majority of +women in the jute trade have very little conception of what Trade Unionism +really means, but that the same applies also to many of the men. He +considers that the women's outlook has become broadened within recent +years. There are some women now serving on the Committee, and the women +generally are reported to take a "fair amount of interest" in the work of +the society. The other Unions belonging to this industry are scattered +over Ireland and Scotland. + +Wool and worsted is backward in organisation, both for men and women. The +Union at Huddersfield includes 4000 women, but a correspondent writes that +the General Union, which has branches in all the important textile centres +of the West Riding, in actual strength is scarcely one in ten of its +possible membership. The apathy of the women, in the Huddersfield district +at all events, cannot be due to poverty, for the subscriptions are low +while the women's average wage is high. Nor is it due to the temporary +nature of women's work, for in this district many continue work after +marriage. The Yorkshire women are said by one correspondent to take little +interest in public affairs in any way; by another, "not as much as they +should, but more than they used to do. It's a big work organising and +keeping women in. Marriage, flightiness, lack of vision, lack of help and +encouragement from fathers and brothers all tend to make it hard. The +lower the wages, the harder the task of making them into Unionists." The +difficulty of organising them is great, and outside Huddersfield they are +extremely badly paid--so badly, indeed, that in our correspondent's +opinion the trade needs to be scheduled under the Trade Boards Act. At +Bradford considerable efforts have been made from time to time to get the +women into the Union, but these have failed; and even during the last +boom, due to the flourishing state of trade and to the Insurance Act, very +little progress has been made. + +The Clothing Unions are making rapid progress, including nearly 10,000 +women in 1912, and the Trade Boards will assist the movement. In Leeds +there has been some natural indignation at the low minimum fixed, which +has impelled to organisation. The Unions follow the Lancashire pattern in +organising women along with men. The standard rate for women in the +Amalgamated Society of Clothiers operatives at Leeds is 4d. an hour, which +is held to be achieved if the piece rates yield as much to 70 per cent of +any section or grade of work. In the Boot and Shoe Unions a considerable +percentage increase was registered for 1910 to 1912, and the numbers +reached 8720 in the latter year. + +Printing offers some of the most difficult problems connected with the +organisation of women.[30] Men in these trades have undeniably offered +serious obstacles to the inclusion of women. In 1886 a Conference of +Typographical Societies of the United Kingdom and of the Continent, held +in London, being "of the opinion that women are not physically capable of +performing the duties of a compositor," resolved to recommend their +admission to societies upon the same conditions as journeymen, to be paid +strictly the same rate. This resolution was adopted by the London Society +of Compositors, and it became practically impossible for a woman to join +the society, as women could not keep up to the standard and efficiency of +men. One woman joined in 1892, but subsequently left. The women were +practically excluded from the Compositors' Union by the fixing of equal +rates of pay. This was not so much discrimination against women because +they were women, as a demonstration against the black-leg competition of +the unskilled against the skilled. It is stated that women compositors are +regarded as so inferior to men that only among employers in a small way of +business, working with small capital, where low wages constitute an +advantage sufficient to counter-poise the lack of technical skill, can +they find employment. In 1894 a militant Union of women was organised, and +struck for increased wages and improved conditions, the women going out to +show their sympathy with the men, who had been locked out. In recognition +of the women's sympathy the men gave some help and support to this Union, +which, however, after increasing to 350 began to decline. It was +subsequently recognised as a branch of the Printers, Stationers, and +Warehousemen. + +In the cigar trade, as in printing, it has to be owned that women came in +"not for doing more, but for asking less." Their labour was at first +employed chiefly for the less skilled branches, a small number only being +employed in skilled work; but in both divisions they worked for a lower +rate than men. It was not until 1887 that a Union for women was +established. They still, unfortunately, continued to undersell men, until +at last the men, who at first were hostile to their female competitors, +saw that it was hopeless to try and keep them out, and that for their own +sakes amalgamation was the wiser course. The adjustment of the wage-scale +was a problem of some delicacy. To raise the scale of women's wages to the +same as men's would probably have meant driving the women from the trade; +to leave them on the lower scale would mean that women would contrive to +undersell men. It was finally decided to take the highest existing rates +of pay for women as the basis of the women's Union rates. After the +Amalgamation had been achieved, women's wages rose 25 per cent, and the +recognised policy of the Union was to make advantageous terms with each +employer opening a new factory. Women are not, on the whole, such valuable +workers as are men; they are slower, and often do not remain very long in +the trade.[31] Lower rates of pay, as long as they are not permitted to +fall indefinitely, are a distinct advantage to women in getting and +keeping employment. The numbers in Unions in food and tobacco were only +2000 in 1910, and have since fallen slightly. + +There are also a good many small Unions of women only, some of which are +affiliated to the Women's Trade Union League. The numbers of women +organised in the trades especially their own, such as dressmaking, the +needle trades, and domestic work, are disappointingly small. It has to be +remembered, however, that such occupations as these are still for the most +part carried on either in the employers' or the workers' homes. The +factory system has begun to make some way in dressmaking, but not to a +considerable extent. It is not surprising that the workers in these +industries are behind the factory workers in learning the lesson of +combination for mutual help and protection. + +Unions in the lower grade industries, which till lately have been +unorganised, will be treated in a later section. + +_The Women's Trade Union League._--The Society now known as the Women's +Trade Union League was founded mainly by the efforts of a remarkable woman +named Emma Smith, afterwards Mrs. Paterson (1848-1886). She was the +daughter of a schoolmaster and became the wife of a cabinet-maker. Her +life from the age of eighteen was devoted to endeavours on behalf of the +working class and especially of women. Being a woman of natural ability +and remarkable concentration of purpose, she succeeded in starting pioneer +work of a difficult and unusual kind. She was secretary for five years to +the Workmen's Club and Institute Union, and afterwards secretary to the +Women's Suffrage Association. She was the first woman admitted to the +Trade Union Congress, and attended its meetings from 1875 until 1886, with +the exception only of one year, in which her husband's last illness +prevented her attendance. Although the name of the League has been +altered, and its policy considerably widened and in some measure modified, +it is pleasant to note that it still keeps up a continuity of tradition +with Mrs. Paterson's Protective and Provident League. Her portrait, as +foundress, hangs upon the office wall, and the annual Reports are numbered +continuously from the start in 1875. + +Sick benefit was the main feature of the propaganda initiated by the +League in its early years. The first society formed was for women employed +in the printing trade. The need of a provident fund had been badly felt +by these women during a trade depression three years previously, and there +was no provision for the admission of women as members of the men's +societies, even if women's wages had been (as they were not) sufficient to +pay the necessary subscription to the men's society. Mr. King, Secretary +of the London Consolidated Society of Bookbinders, however, promised to +support and assist the efforts to organise women in this trade. The appeal +for a separate organisation of women met with a ready response. Some +hundreds of women employed in folding, sewing, and other branches of the +bookbinding trade, attended the first meeting, held in August 1875; a +provisional committee was formed, and in October the society was formally +established with a subscription of 2d. per week, and an entrance fee of +1s. Its history, however, was uneventful. It refused to join with men in +making demands upon the employers, and its representatives at Trade Union +Congresses and elsewhere were imbued with Mrs. Paterson's prejudice +against the Factory Act, and resisted legal restrictions upon labour. +Employers have been known to urge the formation of "a good women's Union," +on the ground that the fair-minded employer was detrimentally affected by +the "gross inequalities of price" that existed. The backwardness and +narrow views of the Women's Union were resented by the men, and in the +time of the eight hours agitation, 1891-1894, would not take part, and +there was considerable ill-feeling between the two sections. This society +was mainly a benefit club, and the same remark holds good of other early +societies established by the Women's Protective and Provident League, +which included societies for dressmakers, hat-makers, upholsterers, and +shirt- and collar-makers. The foundress, although a woman of unusual +energy and initiative, whose efforts for the uplifting of women-workers +should not be forgotten, was in some degree hampered by the narrow +individualism characteristic of what may be designated as the Right Wing +of the Women's Rights Movement. She was an opponent of factory legislation +for grown women, and did not lead the Unions under her control to attempt +any concerted measures for improving the conditions of their work. The +first Report of the League indicates her attitude in the remarks which she +reports (evidently with sympathy) from a Conference held in April 1875: +"It was agreed" (viz. at this Conference) "that any further reduction of +hours, if accompanied by a reduction of wages, _as it probably would be if +brought about by legislation_, would be objectionable." (Italics added.) +In the same Report (pp. 14-15) the writer, doubtless Mrs. Paterson +herself, sums up the advantages to be obtained for women through union. +The League is to be a "centre of combined efforts" to "improve the +industrial and social position of ... women"; it is "to acquire +information which will enable friends of the working classes to give a +more precise direction than at present to their offers of sympathy and +help. _Without interfering with the natural course of trade_, the +Societies will furnish machinery for regulating the supply of labour...." +(Italics added.) "The object of the League is to promote an _entente +cordiale_ between the labourer, the employer, and the consumer; and +revision of the contract between the labourer and employer is only +recommended in those cases in which its terms appear unreasonable and +unjust to the dispassionate third party, who pays the final price for the +manufactured goods and is certainly not interested in adding artificially +to their cost." No direct action for raising wages is suggested. + +Delegates from three Women's Societies--shirt-makers, bookbinders, and +upholsterers--were admitted to the 8th Annual Trade Union Congress, held +at Glasgow, October 1875.[32] At the meeting of the T.U. Council in 1879, +five women representing Unions were not only present but took an active +part in the proceedings, successfully moving a resolution for additional +factory inspectors, and for the appointment as such of women as well as +men. + +In 1877, the Amalgamated Society of Tailors having been asked by one of +its branches to resist the increasing employment of women in that trade, +resolved instead that the work of women should be recognised, and the +women organised and properly paid. The League was asked to co-operate in +forming a Union, and a Tailoresses' Union was subsequently formed. At +Brighton a Union of Laundresses was formed. Various other societies were +formed in these early years, many of which are now defunct. + +Mrs. Paterson died in 1886, at the sadly early age of thirty-eight. During +the years following, the policy of the League was enlarged and developed +in a very considerable degree. Miss Clementina Black was secretary for a +few years, and her second Report (1888) contains interesting remarks on +the position of women: "All inquiry tends to show more and more that +disorganised labour is absolutely helpless; good wages, lessened hours, +better general conditions, and, on the whole, better workmanship prevail +in the trades that are most completely organised. It also tends to show +the injury done to men and women alike by the payment to women of +unfairly low wages.... Even in employments in which the work can be done +by women at least as well as by men, the wages of women are greatly +inferior to those of men. And in those branches in which superior +efficiency is shown by the male workers, the inferiority of the wages of +the female employees is altogether out of proportion to the difference in +the character of the work done by the two sexes. From this cause--the +payment of unfairly low wages to women simply because they are +women--arises a desire on the part of grasping employers to reduce the +wage-standard by engaging women in preference to men, while in many cases +the conditions of female employment are onerous and oppressive to an +extent which involves the greatest danger to health." + +In 1889 the representation of the Society of Women Bookbinders at the +Trade Union Congress, held at Dundee, moved a resolution in favour of the +appointment of women factory inspectors, which was adopted. In the same +year, at the International Workers' Congress, held in Paris, the +representative of the London Women's Trade Council, Miss Edith Simcox, +moved the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted by the +representatives of all nationalities: "That the Workmen's Party in all +countries should pledge itself to promote the formation of trade +organisations among the workers of both sexes." + +The policy of the League in regard to legislation was broadened. The +protection of women through the instrumentality of the Factory Act was no +longer resisted, but was recognised as a powerful force for good, to be +aided in its administration and developed whenever possible. The League +also indicated by the adoption of the title "Trade Union League," and by +gradually dropping the former style, "Protective and Provident," that it +was inaugurating a more active policy. As a matter of tactics the League +officials when appealed to for help in labour difficulties among +women-workers, always endeavour _first_ to get the matter settled by +negotiation; but direct action is now by no means excluded from their +programme, and strikes have been called in recent years, sometimes with +considerable success. + +The W.T.U.L. is not a Union: it has no strike fund and pays no benefits. +It is an organisation to promote, foster, and develop the formation of +Unions among women. Any Union of women, or Union in which women members +are enrolled, can be affiliated to the W.T.U.L. All secretaries of +affiliated London Unions are _ex-officio_ members of the League Committee, +on which also are a certain number of members elected at the Annual +Meeting. The W.T.U.L. also enjoys the services of an Advisory Committee of +leading Trade Unionists, who are present at the Annual Meeting. + +The officials of the League are a Chairman, a Secretary, two Official +Organisers, and an Honorary Treasurer. The League acts as the agent of +women Trade Unionists in making representations to Government authorities +or Parliamentary Committees in regard to the legislation required. Abuses +or grievances in particular industries are brought forward in the House of +Commons by members who are in touch with the League. Complaints of +breaches of the Factory and Workshop Acts can be sent to the League, and +are investigated by its officials and forwarded to the proper department. +A legal advice department also forms part of the League's functions, and +deals with such matters as the assessment of compensation, disputes with +Insurance Companies, deductions from wages, non-payment of wages, wrongful +dismissal, claims for wages in lieu of notice, and such cases. A few +instances, culled from recent Reports, will give an idea of the range and +complexity of these cases. + +A worker in a sweet-factory was injured by the strap of the motor falling +on her head, and suffered from shock and chorea. The employers were +foreign, and it was with special difficulty that they were got to admit +that the accident had even happened. Being threatened with proceedings, +the matter was referred to their Insurance Company, who eventually paid +the full wages during incapacity. + +In the slack season seven dressmakers' hands, some of whom had been three +years in employment, were dismissed without notice. The League's adviser +applied for a week's wage in lieu of notice for each worker. After some +correspondence the money owing was handed over. This last case is a sample +of many similar ones, and points to the urgent need of organisation in the +dressmaking trade. + +A syrup boiler in a jam-factory slipped on the boards which, owing to +imperfect drainage, were slippery with syrup, and fractured her left arm. +Compensation was paid at the rate of 5s. 6d. a week. + +The League has always been singularly successful in attracting the +sympathy, interest, and service of able and gifted helpers, both men and +women. It has been also happy in securing active co-operation with many +Trade Unions, and also with societies such as the British Section of the +International Association for Labour Legislation, and the Anti-Sweating +League, with both of which it is closely connected in work and sympathy. +No less than 170 societies--societies, that is to say, constituted wholly +or partly of women members--are now affiliated to the League. The most +recent activities of the League have been a campaign of instruction and +organisation to explain the provisions of the Insurance Act, and a special +effort of propaganda and organisation among the workers in some of the +low-grade and ill-paid industries now coming under the Trade Boards Act. + +A comparison of the list of affiliated societies now appended to the +League's Report with the societies first enrolled shows not only, as would +be expected, a considerable widening of the field, but also a change in +character. Whereas the societies first formed were of women only, and in +London, nearly all the societies at present enrolled are mixed, and most +of them are not London societies at all. The great textile societies, the +weavers, winders, beamers, twisters, and drawers, card-room operatives, +and so forth, form the great majority of organised women; and in these, +women are organised either together with, or in close connection with, +men. Some of the largest are many years older than the League, but have +affiliated in comparatively recent years. There are also a vast number of +Unions of miscellaneous trades--tobacco, food, tailoring, etc.; and even +societies mainly masculine are affiliated, such as the London Dock and +General Workers' Union (including sixty women in 1910). Many Trade Unions +consisting wholly of men make donations to the League as a recognition of +the importance of its work in organising women. + +In Manchester there are two societies to promote the organisation of +women-workers, which are doing excellent educational work in fostering the +habit or tradition of association among workers in miscellaneous trades, +many of which are totally unorganised and grievously underpaid. If we +compare these Manchester societies with the policy of the Women's Trade +Union League in London, a certain difference of outlook is perceptible. +The Manchester societies prefer organising women by and for themselves; +the Women's Trade Union League is in touch with the larger Labour Movement +and favours joint organisation wherever possible. + +_The Movement among Unorganised Workers._--The "New Unionism for Women," +if we may so term it, first attracted public attention in July 1888, when +a few scattered paragraphs found their way even into the dignified columns +of the _Times_. There was a strike among the match-girls in the East End. +Meetings were held, and next came the inevitable letters from the +employers, representing the admirable condition of their factory, the +desire of terrorised workers to return to work, the responsibility of +"agitators" for the strike. Then a small Committee of Inquiry was started, +its headquarters being at Toynbee Hall, and this Committee reported that +it found the girls' complaints to be largely justified. The piece rates +had been cut down on the introduction of machinery more than in proportion +to the saving of labour per unit produced. Vexatious charges for brushes +and excessive fines were imposed without reckoning or explanation. The +wages ranged upwards from 4s.--4s. to 6s. predominantly--and never +exceeded 13s. + +Such were the charges, among others which were considered to be +substantiated by the investigations of the four social workers, who showed +their impartiality by the careful letter in which they reproduced the +explanations and defence of the employers. The Toynbee Hall Committee in +its third letter characterised the relation of employer and employed in +this factory to be deplorable, and the wages paid as so small as to be +insufficient to maintain a decent existence. + +On the 16th, the _Times_ had a small paragraph describing the strike as +being "the result of the class-war which the body of Socialists have +brought into action." Subsequently the London Trades Council took up the +match-girls' cause, distributed strike pay to the amount of £150 among 650 +boys, girls, and women, and formed a Committee of the girls to co-operate +with the London Trades Council. The employers agreed to receive a +deputation. + +On Wednesday 18th July, the strike was declared to be at an end, after the +meeting of the first deputation from the L.T.C. and the match-girls' +representatives with the directors. The directors agreed to abolish fines +and the deductions complained of, to recognise an organised Trade Union +among the employees in order that grievances might be represented straight +to the heads instead of through the foreman, and to reinstate the workers +concerned in the strike. The extraordinary success of this strike appears +to have been due to the unusual steadiness and unity of the girls +themselves, to the able and tactful generalship of Mrs. Besant, and +largely also, of course, to the support of the London Trades Council. + +As a result of this strike a Match-makers' Union was formed, and seems to +have lasted until 1903; but it subsequently disappears from the Women's +Trade Union League Reports, and is known no more. + +About the time of the great Dock Strike, 1889, a concerted effort to +organise East End women-workers was made by Miss Clementina Black, Mrs. +Amie Hicks, and Miss Clara James. Mrs. Hicks had been in the habit of +meeting some of the women rope-makers in connexion with the parochial work +of St. Augustine's Church, and had observed that many of them had bandaged +hands and were suffering from injuries resulting from machinery accidents. +Inquiries made by her brought to light the fact that the women's wages +were only about 8s. to 10s. Disputes were frequent in the trade. Mrs. +Hicks determined to open her campaign of organisation with the +rope-makers, although she was warned that she would find them a rough, +wild and even desperate class of women. Nothing daunted, she called on +several, and invited them to a meeting. The supposed viragos said they +were afraid, and Mrs. Hicks advised them to come all together. A room was +hired, and about 90 to 100 women walked there in a body, a proceeding +which greatly alarmed the inhabitants, some of whom fled into their houses +and barred the doors. The meeting, however was successful. Nearly all the +women signed their names as members of a Union, and Mrs. Hicks became +their secretary, a post which she retained for ten years. It is recorded +that not one of the original members was lost to the Union otherwise than +by death, and that not one of them ever "said a rough word" to their +secretary. + +Mrs. Hicks and Miss James, after making urgent representations, were +admitted to give evidence before the Labour Commission, which apparently +had not originally contemplated hearing women witnesses at all. Mrs. Hicks +was able to show that the conditions of the work were most unhealthy, the +air being full of dust, and no appliance provided to lay it. In some works +even elementary sanitary requirements were not provided. Cases were known +of the women being locked in the factory, and in at least one instance a +fire occurred which was fatal to the unfortunate women locked in. In spite +of these shocking conditions, however, many women refused to join the +Union for fear of victimisation and dismissal. As Mrs. Hicks put it, the +condition of the women was so bad in East London that an employer had only +to say he wanted some work done, fix his own rate of pay, and he would +always find women glad to take it. + +Miss Clara James also gave evidence in regard to the Confectioners' Trade +Union. The Union was very weak in numbers, the women being afraid to join, +several, including the witness, having been dismissed for joining a Union. +In one factory six girls who had acted as collectors for the Union were +dismissed one after another, although the Union had never acted +offensively or used threats to the employer. In this trade the workers +were subjected to very bad sanitary conditions, rotting fruit, syrup, +etc., being left a week or more in proximity to the workrooms. Wages were +stated at from 7s. to 9s., 12s. being the highest and very unusual, but +even these low rates were subject to deductions and fines, and workers +might be dismissed without notice. In both these trades it will be evident +at once that the great need for women workers was to combine and stand +together, but owing to their poverty and dread of dismissal this was +precisely what it was most difficult for them to do. The frequent disputes +mentioned by both witnesses are, however, a sign that the traditional +docility of the woman-worker was even then beginning to give place to a +more militant spirit. + +In other industries there have been many signs of activity in more recent +years. In October 1906 the ammunition workers at Edmonton struck against +a reduction of wages, and the matter being referred to arbitration, was +compromised in a manner fairly favourable to the workers, and other +concessions were subsequently secured. A Union was formed as a branch of +the National Federation of Women Workers, and this Union is still in +active existence. Members are entitled to strike pay and also have a sick +benefit fund in addition to the Insurance Act benefit, and a thrift +section. The secretary is a convinced believer in the value of +organisation to women, and thinks that women are beginning to appreciate +it themselves far more than formerly. + +In 1907 Miss Macarthur succeeded in reorganising the Cradley Heath +chain-makers, whose Union, always feeble, had all but flickered out. The +making of small chains is an industry largely carried on by women in homes +or tiny workshops, and although the district does an enormous trade in the +world market, this had not prevented the local industry becoming almost a +proverb for sweating. The reorganisation of the Union, however, was +effected in the nick of time. The society was affiliated to the National +Federation of Women Workers, an association which has been formed in +co-operation with the W.T.U.L., to bring together the women in those +industries where no organisation already exists for them to join. + +In 1909 the Trade Boards Act was passed, and the making of small chains +was one of the group of sweated trades first included under the Act. The +organisation which had already been started was now of great service in +facilitating the administration of the Act, the Women's Union being able +to choose the persons who should represent it on the Board. Subsequently +when the Board of Trade called a meeting to elect workers' +representatives, the candidates chosen by the Union were voted for by the +women with practical unanimity, and as the work of the Board progressed it +was possible at each stage to consult the workers and obtain their +approval for the action taken by their representatives in their name. In +the absence of effective organisation this would have been much more +difficult. + +The history of the first determination of the chain-makers' Board forms +one of the most singular passages in industrial history. The Board, +constituted half of employers and half of employed, having got to work, +found itself compelled to fix a minimum wage which amounted to an increase +in many cases of 100 per cent, or even more. The previous wages had been +about 5s. or 6s., and the minimum wages per week, after allowing for +necessary outlay on forge and fuel, was fixed at 11s. 3d. Poor enough, we +may say. But so great an improvement was this to the workers themselves +that their comment is said to have been: "It is too good to be true." The +change did not take effect without considerable difficulties. The Trade +Boards Act provides that three months' notice of the prices fixed by the +Board shall be given, during which period complaints and objections may be +made either by workers or employers. At Cradley this waiting period was +abused by some of the employers to a considerable extent. Many of them +began to make chains for stock, and trade being dull at the time they were +able to accumulate heavy reserves. Thus the workers were faced with the +probability of a period of unemployment and starvation, in addition to +which a number of employers issued agreements which they asked the women +to sign, contracting out of the minimum wage for a further period of six +months. This was not contrary to the letter of the law, but was terribly +bitter to the poor workers, whose hopes, so near fulfilment, seemed likely +again to be long postponed. They came out on strike, and were supported by +the National Federation of Women Workers, in conjunction with the Trade +Union League and the Anti-Sweating League. A meeting was arranged between +the workers' representatives and the Manufacturers' Association, at which +the latter body undertook to recommend its members to pay the minimum rate +so long as the workers continued financial support to those women who +refused to work for less than the rates. This practically of course +amounted to a request from the employers that the workers' Trade Union +should protect them against non-associated employees. It has been remarked +that this agreement is probably unique in the annals of Trade Unionism. + +After long consideration the workers agreed. An appeal for support was +made to the public, and met with so good a response that the women were +able to fight to a finish and returned to work victorious. Every employer +in the district finally signed the white list, and more recently the Board +has been able to improve upon its first award. The organisation has so far +been maintained. Thus a real improvement has been achieved in the +conditions of one of the most interesting, even picturesque of our +industries, though unfortunately also one of the most downtrodden and +oppressed. + +No one who has ever visited Cradley can forget it. The impression produced +is ineffaceable. So much grime and dirt set in the midst of beautiful +moors and hills--so much human skill and industry left neglected, despised +and underpaid. The small chains are made by women who work in tiny sheds, +sometimes alone, sometimes with two or three others. Each is equipped with +a bellows on the left of the forge, worked by the left hand, a forge, +anvil, hammer, pincers, and one or two other tools. The chains are forged +link by link by sheer manual skill; there is no mechanical aid whatever, +and we understand that machines for chain-making have been tried, but have +never yet been successful. The operation is extremely ingenious and +dextrous, and where the women keep to the lighter kind of chains there +would be little objection to the work, if done for reasonable hours and +good pay. It is carried on under shelter, almost in the open air, and is +by no means as drearily monotonous as many kinds of factory work. On the +other hand, in practice the women are often liable to do work too heavy +for them, and the children are said to run serious risks of injury by +fire. + +At the time of the present writer's visit, now about ten years ago, these +poor women were paid on an average about 5s. 6d. a week, and were working +long hours to get their necessary food. Most have achieved considerable +increases under the combined influence of organisation and the Trade +Board, and probably 11s. or 12s. is now about the average, while some are +getting half as much again. When the strike was over there was a +substantial remainder left over from the money subscribed to help the +strikers. The chain-makers did not divide the money among themselves, but +built a workers' Institute. Surely the dawn of such a spirit as this in +the minds of these hard-pressed people is something for England to be +proud of. + +In August 1911 came a great uprising of underpaid workers, and among them +the women. The events of that month are still fresh in our memories; +perhaps their full significance will only be seen when the history of +these crowded years comes to be written. The tropical heat and sunshine of +that summer seemed to evoke new hopes and new desires in a class of +workers usually only too well described as "cheap and docile." The strike +of transport workers set going a movement which caught even the women. In +Bermondsey almost every factory employing women was emptied. Fifteen +thousand women came out spontaneously, and the National Federation of +Women Workers had the busiest fortnight known in its whole history of +seven years. + +Among the industries thus unwontedly disturbed were the jam-making, +confectionery, capsule-making, tin box-making, cocoa-making, and some +others. In some of the factories the lives led by these girls are almost +indescribable. Many of them work ten and a half hours a day, pushed and +urged to utmost speed, carrying caldrons of boiling jam on slippery +floors, standing five hours at a time, and all this often for about 8s. a +week, out of which at least 6s. would be necessary for board and lodging +and fares. Most of them regarded the conditions of their lives as in the +main perfectly inevitable, came out on strike to ask only 6d. or 1s. more +wages and a quarter of an hour for tea, and could not formulate any more +ambitious demands. An appeal for public support was issued, and met with a +satisfactory response. The strike in several instances had an even +surprisingly good result. In one factory wages were raised from 11s. to +13s.; in others there was 1s. rise all round; in others of 2s. or 2s. 6d., +even in some cases of 4s. In one case a graduated scale with a fixed +minimum of 4s. 7d. for beginners at fourteen years old, increasing up to +12s. 4d. at eighteen, was arranged. One may hope that the moral effect of +such an uprising is not wholly lost, even if the resulting organisations +are not stable; the employer has had his reminder, as a satirical observer +said in August 1911, "of the importance of labour as a factor in +production." + + * * * * * + +Many women were enrolled in new branches of the National Federation of +Women Workers. Not all of these branches survive, but there was some +revival of Unionism in the winter, 1913-14, and many of the workers who +struck in 1911 will be included under the new Trade Boards. + +Perhaps even more remarkable was the prolonged strike of the hollow-ware +workers in 1912. Hollow-ware, it may not be superfluous to remark, is the +making and enamelling of tin vessels of various kinds. This was once a +trade in which British makers held the continental markets almost without +rivalry; it was then chiefly confined to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and +Bilston. But small masters moved out into the country in search of cheaper +labour, and settled themselves at Lye and Cradley, outside the area +protected by the men's Unions. In 1906 the Unions endeavoured to improve +conditions for the underpaid workers, and drew up a piece-work list of +minimum rates applicable to all the centres of the trade. But they had not +strength to fight for the list, and wages went down and down. As one +consequence, the quality of the work had deteriorated, shoddy goods were +sent abroad, and foreign competitors improved upon them.[33] This in turn +was used as an excuse for further driving down wages. The hollow-ware +trade, like chain manufacture, employs women as well as men. In 1912 many +of these women were working for a penny an hour, tinkering and soldering +buckets, kettles, pots and pans from early morning until night; at the +week-end taking home 6s. for their living. + +It should also be remembered that some processes, especially the making of +bright frying-pans, entail serious risk of lead-poisoning. Galvanised +buckets are dipped in baths of acid, and the fumes are almost blinding, +and stop the breath of an unaccustomed visitor. The work done by women is +hard enough. But they did not take much notice of the hardness or of the +risk of industrial disease. Their preoccupation was a more serious one: +how to get their bread. Wages were rarely more than 7s. a week, and in +1912 a considerate and attentive visitor found their minds concentrated on +the great possibility of raising this to--12s.? 14s.? 15s.? What the +hollow-ware workers of Lye and Cradley had set their minds on was merely +10s. a week, and to attain this comparative affluence they were ready to +come out weeks and weeks on end. As a result of conferences between +representatives of the National Federation of Women Workers and twenty of +the principal employers, during the summer 1912, it was decided to demand +a minimum wage of 10s. for a fifty-four-hour week. Not, of course, that +the officials considered this a fair or adequate wage, but because they +hoped it would give the women a starting-point from which they could +advance in the future, and because, wretched as it seemed, it did in fact +represent a considerable increase for some of the women. + +The best employers yielded at once, but several refused to adopt the terms +proposed. In October 840 men handed in their notices for a 10 per cent +increase of wages and a fifty-four-hour week. Twelve firms conceded these +terms at once, leaving 600 men still on strike against thirty-three firms. +As a result many women-workers were asked to do men's work, and it seemed +not unlikely that the men might be thus defeated. The National Federation +of Women Workers decided to call out the women to demand a 10s. minimum, +and at the same time support the men in their demands. All the women +called out received strike benefit. There was, however, another body of +women and girls, whose work stopped automatically because of the strike, +and these were not entitled to any strike pay. A public appeal was +therefore issued by the _Daily Citizen_ and also by the Women's Trade +Union League, and the response evoked was sufficient to tide the workers +over the crisis. The struggle ended with complete victory for the workers, +and as an indirect but most important result, the trade was scheduled for +inclusion in the Revisional Order under the Trade Boards Act. + +In the North also the last two or three years have witnessed increased +activity in the organisation of underpaid trades. In the flax industry the +strike of a few general labourers employed in a certain mill resulted in +the locking out of 650 women flax-workers. Although the preparing and +spinning of flax is a skilled industry, the highest wage paid in the mill +to spinners was 11s. including bonus, reelers occasionally rising to 13s., +and the common earnings of the other workers were from 7s. 6d. to 9s. +Several small strikes had taken place, but the women being unorganised +and without funds were repeatedly compelled to return to work on the old +terms. By the efforts of the Women's Trade Union Council of Manchester a +Union was now formed, and a demand made for an increase of 2s. all round. +With the help of public sympathy and financial support the women were able +to stand out, and after a lock-out of nearly three weeks a settlement was +arrived at under which the women got an increase of 1s. all round and the +bonus was rearranged more favourably for the workers. The whole of the +women involved in this dispute joined the Union. + +A dispute in another flax mill was much more prolonged, and lasted for +over sixteen weeks. It was eventually arranged by the intervention of the +Board of Trade, and some concessions were obtained by the workers. In both +these disputes the men and women stood together. There is perhaps no +feature so hopeful in this "new unionism" of women, as the fact that women +are beginning to refuse to be used as the instruments for undercutting +rates and injuring the position of men. + +Many other such efforts might be recorded did space permit. Many of them +do not unfortunately lead to stable forms of association. The difficulties +are enormous, the danger of victimisation by the employers is great, and +in the case of unskilled workers their places, as they know so well, are +easily filled from outside. A correspondent writes to me that "fear is the +root cause of lack of organisation." The odds against them are so great, +the hindrances to organisation and solidarity so tremendous, that the +instances recorded in which these low-grade workers do find heart to stand +together, putting sex jealousy and sex rivalry behind them, disregarding +their immediate needs for the larger hope, are all the more significant. +Several of the labourers' Unions now admit women, notably the Gas-Workers' +and General Labourers' Union and the Workers' Union. + +_The National Federation of Women Workers._--The most important Union for +women among the ill-defined, less skilled classes of workers is the +National Federation of Women Workers, which owes its existence mainly to +the initiative and fostering care of the Women's Trade Union League. The +form of organisation preferred by the Women's Trade Union League in the +twentieth century is that men and women should wherever possible organise +together. This is the case with the firmly-established Lancashire weavers +and card-room operatives and with the progressive Shop Assistants' Union. +In the numerous trades, however, in which no Union for women exists, a new +effort and a new rallying centre have been found necessary. The National +Federation of Women Workers was formed in 1906 for the purpose of +organising women in miscellaneous trades not already organised. It has +made considerable progress in its few years of existence, and has a number +of branches in provincial and suburban places. The National Federation is +affiliated to the Trades Union Congress and to the General Federation of +Trade Unions, and insured in this last for strike pay at the rate of 5s. +per week per member. The branches are organised in different trades, have +local committees and local autonomy to a certain extent. Each branch +retains control of one-sixth of the member's entrance fee and +contribution, together with any voluntary contributions that may be raised +for its own purposes. The remainder of the funds go to a Central +Management Fund from which all strike and lock-out money is provided, and +a Central Provident Fund. Branches may not strike without the permission +of the Executive Council. + +The National Federation of Women Workers has an Insurance Section in which +about 22,000 women were enrolled in 1913. At the time of writing a special +effort is being made for the organisation of women in those industries to +which the Trade Boards Act has recently been extended. + +_Women's Unions in America._--In America women are fewer in numbers in the +Trade Union movement, but they have occupied a more prominent place in it +there than in our own country. The American labour movement may roughly be +dated from the year 1825. In that year the tailoresses of New York formed +a Union and went on strike, and from that time to the present women +wage-earners have constantly formed Unions and agitated for better pay and +conditions of work. + +The first women to enter factory employment were native Americans, largely +New England girls, the daughters of farmers, girls who would naturally be +more independent and have a higher standard of comfort than the factory +hand in old countries. Several important strikes occurred among the +cotton-mill girls at Dover, New Hampshire, in 1828 and again in 1834, and +also at Lowell in 1834 and 1836. It does not appear that these strikes +resulted in any stable combinations. + +Subsequently, between 1840 and 1860, a number of labour reform +associations were organised, chiefly among textile mill girls, but +including also representatives of various clothing trades. These societies +organised a number of successful strikes, increased wages, shortened the +working day, and also carried on a successful agitation for protective +legislation. The leader of the Lowell Union, Sarah Bagley, had worked for +ten years in New England cotton mills. She was the most prominent woman +labour leader of the period, and in 1845 became president of the Lowell +Female Labour Reform Association, which succeeded in obtaining thousands +of operatives' signatures to a petition for the ten hours' day. + +The Female Industrial Association was organised in New York, 1845, a Union +not confined to any one trade but including representatives from +tailoresses, sempstresses, crimpers, book-folders and stitchers, etc. +Between 1860 and 1880 local branches were formed and temporary advantages +gained here and there by women cigar-makers, tailoresses and sempstresses, +umbrella sewers, cap-makers, textile workers, laundresses and others. +Women cigar-makers especially, who were at first brought into the trade in +large numbers as strike breakers, after a struggle were organised either +as members of men's Unions or in societies of their own, and once +organised "were as faithful to the principles of unionism as men." The +Umbrella Sewers' Union of New York gave Mrs. Paterson, then visiting +America, the idea of starting the movement for women's Unions in London. +The women shoemakers formed a national Union of their own, called the +Daughters of St. Crispin. + +In this period there was little organisation among the women of the +textile mills, and the native American girls were to some extent ousted by +immigrants having a lower standard of life. There were, however, a number +of ill-organised strikes which for the most part failed. + +In the war time the tailoresses and sempstresses, already suffering the +double pressure of long hours and low wages, had their condition +aggravated by the competition of the wives and widows of soldiers, who, +left alone and thrown into distress, were obliged to swell the market for +sewing work as the nearest field for unskilled workers. Efforts, however, +were made to form Trade Unions among the sewing women; many of these were +short-lived and unsuccessful. The growing tendency among men to realise +the importance of organising women is seen in a resolution passed by a +meeting of tailors in June 1865: + + RESOLVED that each and every member will make every effort necessary + to induce the female operatives of the trade to join this association, + inasmuch as thereby the best protection is secured for workers as well + as for the female operatives. + +In 1869 the International Typographical Union admitted women to equal +membership, after years of opposition, to the entrance of women into the +printing trade. + +In 1873 and onwards Trade Unionism among women, as among workers +generally, suffered from the trade depression of those years. During this +period, however, a number of eight-hour leagues were formed, both of men +and women members, who found in the short-time idea a significant and +vital measure of reform. The Boston League (1869) was the first to admit +women. In this and other similar societies they served as officers and on +committees. + +A remarkable organisation of female weavers was formed in Fall River in +January 1875. The Male Weavers' Union had voted to accept a reduction of +10 per cent; but the women called a meeting of their own, excluding all +men excepting reporters, and voted to strike against the reduction. The +male weavers, encouraged by their action, decided to join the movement. +Three thousand two hundred and fifteen strikers, male and female, were +supported by the Unions, and the strike was successful. Work was resumed +late in March. + +From 1880 the organisation of women again progressed in the labour +movement of the Knights of Labour. For the first time in American Labour +history women found themselves encouraged to line up with men on equal +terms in a large general organisation. They could also form their own +Unions in alliance with the Knights of Labour, and almost every +considerable branch of women's industry was represented in these +organisations, the most prominent being the Daughters of St. Crispin +(shoe-workers). The first women's assembly under the Knights of Labour was +held in September 1881. From its first institution this association had +realised the necessity of including women. The preamble to this +constitution, adopted by the first national convention of the Knights of +Labour in January 1878, included on this subject two significant +provisions. One called for the prohibition of the employment of children +in workshops, mines and factories before attaining their fourteenth year. +The other gave as one of the principal objects of the order: "To secure +for both sexes equal pay for equal work." And the founder of the Order, at +the second national convention in 1879, asked for the formulation of an +emphatic utterance on the subject of equal pay for equal work. "Perfected +machinery," he said, "persistently seeks cheap labour and is supplied +mainly by women and children. Adult male labour is thus crowded out of +employ, and swells the ranks of the unemployed, or at least the +underpaid." The women not only demanded better wages but appealed for +protective legislation. + +The numbers increased steadily till May 1886, when twenty-seven local +branches, entirely composed of women, were added in a month. But a decline +set in, and in the next following six years, the whole strength of female +Unionism under the Knights of Labour disappeared. It had probably never +exceeded 50,000.[34] + +The policy of labour organisations generally has, however, considerably +developed in regard to the affiliation and membership of women. The +General Federation of Trade Unions, which formerly had been indifferent or +hostile to women-workers, had come to recognise even in the 'eighties that +women occupied a permanent place in industry, and that it was both +necessary and desirable that they should be organised. The position was +summarised in an article in the _Detroit Free Press_.[35] + + _An Equal Chance._ + + Woman is now fairly established in the labour-market as the rival of + man. Whether this is the normal condition of things is a point doubted + by some political economists; but whether it be so or not, it is + likely to remain the order of things practically for generations to + come. This being so it must be accepted, and every fair-minded person + must wish her to have an equal chance in the competition. A woman + supporting her mother and little brothers and sisters is a very + common spectacle; and the fact that Professor Somebody regards her as + abnormal does not make her bread and butter any cheaper. She is + entitled to at least as much sympathy as the man who supports a wife + and children. For his charge, it must always be remembered, is + voluntary--he took it on himself. She could not help her + responsibilities; he assumed his of his own accord. It is therefore + quite just that she should have an equal chance. + +In more recent years the growth of industry and the increasing use of +mechanical power has constantly tended towards larger utilisation of +women's labour. The American Federation's declared policy is to unite the +labouring classes irrespective of colour, sex, nationality, or creed. +Unionism among working women has been promoted, women delegates have been +appointed to serve at the Convention, and local Unions of women have been +directly affiliated. Many national Unions, of course, are not directly +concerned with female labour, and a small number entirely forbid the +admission of women. Of these are the barbers, watch-case engravers, and +switchmen. + +Moulders do not admit women, and penalise members who give instruction to +female workers in any branch. Core-making, for instance, employs some +women, and the Union seeks to restrict or minimise it. The operative +potters, upholsterers, and paper-makers admit women in certain branches +but not in others. The upholsterers admit them only as seamstresses. But +in all trades making these restrictions the number of women employed is +small, and the effect of the restrictions is probably insignificant. Other +Unions encourage the organisation of women-workers. In some of these men +predominate, as in the printers, cigar-makers, boot- and shoe-makers, and +women compete only in the lighter and less-skilled branches. In others +women predominate, as among the garment workers, textile workers, laundry, +glove, hat and cap workers. Some Unions make special concessions to women, +_e.g._ a smaller registration and dues, in order to induce them to join. +The motive for these concessions is clear, as the proportion of women to +men in these industries is much higher than the same proportion in the +Union. + +In San Francisco the steam laundry workers have been organised with +considerable success. Down to 1900 the condition of these women was +extremely bad. "Living in" was the prevailing custom. The food and +accommodation were wretched in the extreme, the hours inhumanly long, +sometimes from 6 A.M. to midnight, wages eight to ten dollars a month for +workers living in, ten to twenty-five for other workers. An agitation was +started to give publicity to these facts, and an ordinance was passed to +prohibit work in laundries on Sundays or after 7 P.M. The ordinance was +not observed, however, and the girls formed a committee and complained to +the press. It was proposed to form a Union. Three hundred men employed in +the industry applied for a charter to the Laundry Workers' International +Union. The men did not wish to include girls as members, but the +International would not give the charter if women were excluded. On the +other hand, the women were timid and afraid of victimisation. One girl +with more courage or more initiative than the others, however, was chosen +to be organiser, and carried on her work secretly for about sixteen weeks +with extraordinary energy and effectiveness. Suddenly it came out that a +majority of employees in every laundry had joined the Union. They had +refrained from declaring themselves until they had a large and +influential membership, and then came out with a formal demand for shorter +hours, higher wages, and a change of system. Public sympathy was aroused, +and by April 1901 the conditions in the San Francisco laundries were +revolutionised. Boarding was abolished, wages were increased, hours +shortened to ten daily, with nine holidays a year. In more recent years +these capable organisers have succeeded in obtaining the eight hours day +by successive reductions of the working time. + +In the same city an interesting case is recorded in which the girls in a +cracker (or biscuit) factory struck against over-pressure. The packers, +who had to receive and pack the crackers automatically fed into the bins +by machinery, found the work speeded up to such a degree that they could +not cope with it. Their complaints were received with apparent respect and +attention, but after a short interval the same speeding-up occurred again. +With some difficulty, many of the girls being Italian and speaking little +English, a Union was formed and affiliated to the Labour Council, whose +representative then approached the employers. The matter was settled by +arranging to have extra hands so as to meet the extra work occasioned by +speeding, and an arrangement was also made to allow each girl ten minutes' +interval for rest both in the morning and afternoon spell. + +The Industrial Workers of the World, a Labour Society with a revolutionary +programme, has a large membership of unskilled workers, in textile and +other industries. It doubtless includes many women, for women took part in +a conflict with the city government of Spokane, Washington, over the +question of free speech, the city having attempted to prevent street +meetings. The workers were successful, but not without a severe struggle, +in the course of which 500 men and women went to jail, many of whom +adopted the hunger-strike. + +In the great strike of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912, a +remarkably spontaneous effort was made by the Polish women-weavers at the +Everett mill. The hours of work had been reduced by legislation from 56 to +54 per week, and the employees demanded that the same money should be paid +to them as before the change. In the Everett mill about 80 per cent of the +weavers were Poles. In one of the weave-rooms the Polish weavers, almost +all women, stopped their looms after receiving their money on January 11, +and tried to persuade the workers in some other sections of the mill to +come out with them.[36] The story of this strike shows that women are +fully capable of feeling the wave of class-consciousness that brings about +the development of what is called "New Unionism"; but probably the +difficulty of their taking a serious part in control and management is +even greater than in craft Unions. Information is, however, very scanty as +to the relation of women to the I.W.W., which in its literature is quite +as prone as the more aristocratic craft Union to ignore the part taken by +women in organisation. + +In 1908, when the Bureau of Labour made its enquiry into the conditions of +women wage-earners in the U.S.A., the number of Unions containing ten or +more female members was 546, and the number of female members was only +63,989, estimated at only 2 per cent of the total membership of the +Unions. + +The largest group of women Unionists are those engaged in the making of or +working at men's garments; these number over 17,000. The textile workers +came next with 6000; the boot and shoe workers, hat and cap workers, and +tobacco workers form three groups of over 5000 each. + +This census, however, was taken at a most unfavourable moment, when many +Unions were suffering from the trade depression of the previous autumn and +winter. It is also true that the numbers in actual membership are not a +complete measure of the numbers under the direct influence and guidance of +the Unions. It has been found that the numbers of women ready to come out +on strike and enrol themselves in Unions or enforce a particular demand at +a particular moment are considerably in excess of the number normally +enlisted. + +At the same time there is little use in denying that, speaking generally, +the results attained by women's organisations, after eighty or ninety +years of effort, are disappointing. Women's Unions in America have been +markedly ephemeral in character, usually organised in time of strikes, and +frequently disappearing after the settlement of the conflict that brought +them into being. + +A great obstacle to the organisation of women is no doubt the temporary +character of their employment. The mass of women-workers are young, the +great majority being under twenty-five. The difficulty of organising a +body of young, heedless, and impatient persons is evident, especially in +the case of girls and women who do not usually consider themselves +permanently in industry. In the words of the Commissioner: + + To the organiser of women into Trade Unions is furnished all of the + common obstacles familiar to the organiser of male wage-earners, + including short-sighted individual self-interest, ignorance, poverty, + indifference, and lack of co-operative training. But to the organisers + of women is added another and most disconcerting problem. When men + marry they usually become more definitely attached to the trade and to + the community and to their labour Union. Women as a rule drop out of + the trade and out of the Union when marriage takes them out of the + struggle for economic independence. + +Another great difficulty is the opposition of the employers. "Employers +commonly and most strenuously object to a Union among the women they +employ." When once an organisation has attained any size, strength, or +significance, the employers almost always set themselves to break it up, +and have usually succeeded. In Boston, for instance, a Union of some 800 +members was broken up by the posting of a notice by the firm that its +employees must either join its own employers' Union or quit work. Some +employers look upon female labour as the natural resource in case of a +strike, as see the case quoted by Miss Abbott (_Women in Industry_, p. +206). There are reasons why employers object even more strongly to Unions +among women than among men. In a number of cases production is mainly +carried on by women and girls, only a few men being required to do work +requiring special strength and skill. In such instances the employers do +not particularly object to the organisation of their few men, whom, as +skilled workers, they would anyhow have to pay fairly well. But when it +comes to organising women and demanding for them higher wages and shorter +hours, the matter is much more serious. + +The present unsatisfactory condition of women's Unions is, however, only +what might be expected in the early years of such a movement. Men's Unions +have all gone through a similar period of weak beginnings, and in America +there are special difficulties arising from the presence of masses of +unskilled or semi-skilled workers of different races and tongues, and +varying in their traditions and standard of life. There is much +encouragement to be derived from the fact that the leaders in men's +Unions, both national and local, now have more faith than formerly in +Unionism for women. The American Federation of Labour calls upon its +members to aid and encourage with all the means at their command the +organisation of women and girls, "so that they may learn the stern fact +that if they desire to achieve any improvement in their condition it must +be through their own self-assertion in the local Union." From 1903 onward +every Convention has favoured the appointment of women organisers. Women +also are developing a greater sense of comradeship with their fellows and +of solidarity with the Labour Movement generally. As we have seen, there +are now few Unions which discriminate against women in their +constitutions, and the universal Trade Union rule is "equal pay for equal +work for men and women." + +Even the special condition of this instability in industry, the temporary +nature of women's work, which is so great an obstacle to organisation, is +thought to be changing. Within the last thirty or forty years, changes in +industrial and commercial methods have opened up numerous lines of +activity to women, in addition to the factory work, sewing and domestic +service, which used to be her main field: "marriage is coming to be looked +upon less and less as a woman's sole career, and at the same time the +attitude in regard to wage-earning after marriage is changing. The +tendency of these movements is to create an atmosphere of permanency and +professionalism for woman as a wage-earner, especially among women in the +better-paid occupations, which in time may markedly change her attitude +toward industrial life." Such a change of outlook and habits of mind must +doubtless be slow, but there are signs that it is in progress on both +sides of the Atlantic. The future of Unionism for women is therefore not +without hope, however unsatisfactory the immediate prospect may be. Miss +Matthews, the writer of an interesting study of women's Unions in San +Francisco, sums up her observations on the subject as follows: + + Experience in contesting for their rights in Union seems to have + developed leaders among the Trade Union women. Wages, hours, and shop + conditions have all shown the impress of the influence exerted by the + organised action of the workers. But if wages, hours, and shop + conditions did not enter into the question at all, still Trade + Unionism among women would show its results in a higher moral tone + made possible by the security which comes from the knowledge that + there are friends who will protest in time of trouble and offer hope + for better days; it would display its influence in a more awakened and + trained intelligence; it would make evident its effort in a happier + attitude towards the day's work, arising from the fact that the worker + herself has studied her industry and has participated in determining + the conditions under which she earns her livelihood. + +In 1903-4 a Women's Trade Union League, on the lines of the organisation +of the same name in England, was formed, and is doing excellent work to +promote solidarity and union among women-workers. + + + + +CHAPTER IVA. + +WOMEN IN UNIONS (_continued_). + + +_Women's Unions in Germany._[37]--In Germany the obstacles have been far +greater than in England. The relative prevalence of "Hausindustrie" and +the greater poverty stood in the way of women's organisation, and until a +few years back the law did not allow women to join political societies. +Women were not, it is true, prohibited from joining Trade Unions, but the +line between political and trade societies is not in practice always easy +to draw, and full membership of Unions has thus been often hindered. + +The first Women's Unions were started in the early 'seventies of the last +century, by middle-class women who were also in the forefront of the +battle for the Suffrage. The authorities dissolved the societies. +Women-workers did not long maintain the alliance with the "Women's Rights" +Party. An independent organisation was formed, which greatly exceeded the +previous efforts in numbers and significance. The immediate impulse to the +formation of this Union was given by the proposal of the Government to put +a duty on sewing-thread, which would have been a great burden on the +needle-women who had to provide the thread. Three societies were formed, +the first being the "Verein zur Vertretung der Interessen der +Arbeiterinnen," which was followed by the "Nordverein der Berliner +Arbeiterinnen" and the "Fachverein der Mäntelnäherinnen," both of which +were founded and controlled by working women. Investigations of the wages +and conditions of working women were undertaken by these societies, in +consequence of which a debate in the Reichstag took place, followed by an +official enquiry into the wages of the women-workers in the manufacture of +underclothing and ready-made garments, which only confirmed the conclusion +already reached by private enquiry. The Truck Act was made more stringent, +in response to the working women's movement, but as a secondary result all +the societies were dissolved and the leaders prosecuted. The authorities +were taking fright at the increase in the Socialist vote and in the +membership of Trade Unions; and the Reichstag, under the tutelage of +Bismarck, in 1878 passed the notorious Anti-Socialist Law, under which not +only Socialist societies but even Trade Unions were harassed and +suppressed. During the twelve years in which the law was in force, +however, propaganda work was still carried on with heroic courage and +perseverance, and the solidarity and class-consciousness of the workers, +both men and women, was developed and strengthened by their natural +indignation against the persecution suffered. + +The men's attitude towards the women-workers, which had been formerly +reactionary and sometimes hostile, gradually changed, partly because of +the energy and courage the women had shown, partly through a growing +recognition, which was intensified by the enormous increase in women +industrial workers shown in the Census Report, 1895, that exclusion of +women from the men's Unions could only exasperate industrial competition +in its worst form. In 1890 a Conference was held at Berlin at which the +Central Commission of German Trade Unions was founded, and its attitude +towards women was indicated by the fact that a woman was a member of its +Committee. Measures were taken that in the committees of societies which +excluded women from membership, resolutions should be proposed for an +alteration of rules, and in most cases these were adopted. Under their +guidance an agitation was set on foot to induce women to join Unions. Into +this agitation the women organisers put an energy, patience, and +self-sacrifice that is beyond praise. Now the German Free Unions ("freie +Gewerkschaften") are not identified with any political propaganda, and +cannot legally spend money for political purposes if they have members +under eighteen. But in practice they are largely led and controlled by +members of the Social Democratic Party, and thus it has happened that +working women, who were forced to abandon their own societies and to join +forces with the general Labour Movement, are now largely under the +influence and identified with the movement for social democracy. It is +incorrect to speak of the Unions as "Social Democratic Unions," and yet in +fact the two forces do work in harmony. + +In the Labour Movement women found their natural allies. Their +co-operation secured men against "blackleg" competition, and on the other +hand the social democrats have worked for women. In 1877 they petitioned +for improvements in the working conditions of women, and in 1890, that +women should have votes for the industrial councils that were then under +consideration. Bebel's _Die Frau und der Sozialismus_ appeared about this +time, and made a profound sensation. In this work the relations of the +social question with the woman question were analysed. "Nothing but +economic freedom for woman," said Bebel, "could complete her political and +social emancipation." + +In 1908 some of the remaining obstacles that impeded women from taking +part in political and trade societies were done away with by the Federal +Association law. The outstanding fact at the present time is the enormous +relative increase in the numbers of women Unionists. Frau Gnauck gives the +numbers in 1905 as 50,000 in the "Free" or social democratic Unions, +10,000 in the Christian. The figures for 1912, from the _German +Statistical Year-Book_, will be found at the end of the section.[38] It +will be observed that although, as with us, the largest group of organised +women is in the textile trades, the members are more generally +distributed, and the non-textile Unions show larger numbers, both +absolutely and relatively, than is the case in England. + +The centralised Unions undoubtedly owe their origin chiefly to the Social +Democratic exertions, and are strongly class-conscious. They, however, +favour the view that it is the duty of the State to protect the workers by +legislation from excessive exploitation, and that it is the main business +of the Unions to achieve as far as possible immediate improvements in +wages and labour conditions. The comparative ease with which new Unions +have been built up and existing Unions amalgamated is very largely due to +Social Democratic influence. Before Trade Unions existed to any extent +worth mentioning, Lassalle's campaign for united action had taught the +workers that the engineer and his helper, the bricklayer and his labourer, +were of one class and had one supreme interest in common; that there was +only one working class, and varieties of calling and degrees of skill were +not the proper basis of organisation even for trade ends. The ideal no +doubt is one great Union of all workers, regardless of occupation. This is +in practice unattainable; but the Germans, in whom class-consciousness is +so strong, are reducing the Unions to the smallest possible number, and +are also linked closely together by means of the General Commission. + +The General Commission of Trade Unions has its office in Berlin. It +publishes a weekly journal called a _Korrespondenzblatt_, containing +information of value to Trade Unionists and students of Trade Unionism. +Connected with the Commission is a secretariat for women, the work of +which is to promote organisation among women-workers. Still more recently +it has been arranged that each Union with any appreciable membership of +women should have a woman organiser. The rapid increase among women +members is an indication of the increasing interest taken by the women +themselves. Considerable diversity in the scale of contributions is one +characteristic--young persons, as well as women, being admitted members +along with adult males. + +It is evident that the German form of organisation is much better +calculated to catch the weaker and less-skilled classes of workers than is +the more aristocratic and old-fashioned craft Union of our own country. +The Germans hold that the organisation of the unskilled labourer is as +important as that of the mechanic, and their great industrial combinations +include all men- and women-workers within the field of operations, +irrespective of their particular grade of skill. Endeavours are made to +enrol all workers in big effective organisations, and the success of these +tactics has been most significant. While in Germany two and a half million +workers are organised in forty-eight centralised Unions, all affiliated to +the General Commission as the national centre, in England there are more +than a thousand separate Unions with about the same total membership. In +England barely one million Unionists out of the two and a half belong to +the General Federation. These facts are not without bearing on the +position of women-workers. English working men complain of the competition +of women; the moral is, organise the women. + +Another important field of Trade Union activity is in the education of +their members. There is a Trade Union School at Berlin supported entirely +by Trade Union funds and managed by Trade Unionists. Care is also taken +that members of Unions should be politically educated to understand their +rights and duties as citizens. Women-workers in all the "freie +Gewerkschaften" enjoy the same privileges as men, and are eligible for all +boards or elected bodies of their respective Unions. There are as yet, +however, only two Unions in Germany which have a woman president, and the +majority on the executives of the other Unions are men. This is not due to +opposition by men, or to rules impeding the appointment of women on these +bodies, but rather to the indifference of many women-workers, who, as in +England, fail to interest themselves in the affairs of their Unions. This +lack of enthusiasm on the part of women is ascribed to their position in +the home and to the difficulty that they have in combining household work +with wage-work, and at the same time retaining any leisure or energy to +concern themselves with Union matters. + +Contributions and benefits are usually somewhat lower than in the case of +men, because women's earnings are usually less. Five national Unions have, +however, adopted the principle of equal scales for men and women. In these +cases the amount of contribution varies according to the wages earned, and +benefits are graduated to prevent the risk of women becoming a greater +burden on the funds than men. + +It is a patent fact that the number of organised women-workers is very +small when compared with men in the same organisation, but the relative +increase is great, and the spirit of association is said to be gaining a +strong hold on women. The fact that so many German women continue work +after marriage is said to be one cause of the increasing interest taken in +Unions, their position as wage-earners being not merely a temporary one, +to be abandoned in a few years' time. + +The "Christian" Trade Unions contain no very large numbers of women +compared to the "free" societies. They were also considerably later in +coming into existence, and appear, though ostensibly non-political, to be +largely due to reactionary political influences, and organised in +opposition to the Socialist party. The Home Workers' Union is mainly +philanthropic and controlled by ladies. The Christian Unions have +enemies on both sides, as they are naturally regarded with considerable +suspicion by the "Free" or "Central" Unions, but nevertheless are +also disapproved of by the authorities of the Catholic Church. The +Christian Unions started with the aim of being inter-denominational +("interkonfessionelle"), including Protestants as well as Catholics, and a +considerable degree of sympathy with labour was combined with their mainly +reactionary propaganda; they even considered strikes a possible and +ultimate resource, although they desired to avoid them. In many cases, +pressed forward perhaps by the rank and file, they have co-operated with +the "Free" Unions, who are so much stronger in numbers and finance than +themselves. These tendencies excited the displeasure of the strict +Catholic body, and not only the German Bishops, but the Pope himself, have +shown hostility to the Christian Unions, which have thus been rent by +internal dissensions. Catholic Unions of a strictly denominational type +have been formed in opposition to the inter-denominational Christian +Unions, and though the former are of little importance as organisations, +they no doubt have some effect in weakening the body from which they have +branched off. However that may be, the numbers in the Christian Unions, +though showing a considerable percentage increase, are insignificant +compared to the large "Free" Unions. In quite recent years the Christian +Unions have lent themselves to strike-breaking and are becoming +discredited in the labour world. The Hirsch-Duncker Unions have only a +very small number of women members, and are of little importance for the +women's labour movement. These Unions were founded and are partly +controlled by middle-class Liberals. + +It may be interesting here briefly to compare the views of two +distinguished German women writers on the question of Trade Unionism for +women. Frau Braun, writing in 1901, says that the development of the +great industry is the force that impelled men to combine successfully +together, but industrially women are about a century behind men, and +before they can be successfully organised, home-work must be repressed in +every form, and women's work must develop into factory industry much more +completely than it has yet done. Home-work tends to perpetuate the +dependence of women, enabling the home-keeping wife or daughter to carry +on a bye-industry, and is therefore an evil. Again, the poverty of women +is a great obstacle to their organisation. Economic history shows that +well-paid workers organise more quickly and effectively than those who are +isolated, oppressed and degraded. Women-workers most urgently need to be +enlightened, but this cannot happen until they have been lifted out of the +intense pressure of physical need; they must be given time to read, to +follow the news of the day, to get beyond the horizon of their own four +walls. This cannot be attained by Trade Union action alone. Legislative +measures must be taken for the relief of the women-workers. English +history shows that Lancashire women weavers before the Factory Act were as +incapable of organisation, as easy a prey to the exploiter of their work, +as the majority of women-workers are to-day. It was only after the law had +restricted their hours of work that they began to organise in Trade Unions +and Co-operative Societies. + +In Frau Braun's opinion women-workers will lose more than they gain by +adopting the style of the women's movement in the bourgeois sense. Save +where absolutely necessary, organisation for women only is a source of +weakness to the women-workers' movement. The numerous societies for +women-workers' education, the independent Socialist women's congresses, +and especially the women's Unions promoted by the advocates of "women's +rights," all these are dangerous. + +A working woman's movement fully conscious of its aims and principles will +permit this class of organisation only in the case of Unions for trades +exclusively feminine, or of educational clubs or institutes when no other +is accessible to women-workers. In principle they should all be avoided, +for they can only confuse the issue, and exaggerate the one-sided feminist +point of view which leaves out of account the class solidarity of workers +and women-workers, the indispensable condition of any successful effort by +the proletariat. And it follows from this point of view that co-operation +with the bourgeois woman's movement should be refused, whether in the form +of admission to "bourgeois" women's societies or the inclusion of +"bourgeois" advocates of women's rights in women-workers' societies. Both +England and France, Frau Braun thinks, offer examples of the reactionary +effect of such co-operation; the numberless work-girls' clubs, holiday +homes and the like, managed by ladies of the upper and middle classes in +England are one cause of the political backwardness of the English working +women. Co-operation is too apt to degenerate into tutelage. The German +women's movement has steadily refused any co-operation with the bourgeois +movement, because it recognises the complete divergence of principle lying +at the back of the two movements, and the difference of standpoint as well +as of aim. + +Not that every Socialist is sound on the woman question! Far from it. Frau +Braun recognises that in many a Social democrat there lurks the old +reactionary philistine feeling about woman: "Tout pour la femme, mais +rien avec elle." The increase of women's employment has considerably +shaken this conviction in the Trade Unions, because the organisation of +women is seen more and more to be a condition of their very existence. But +more than this, they need to recognise the vast importance of educating, +enlightening the working woman, binding her closer and closer to the +Socialist cause. Women have the future destiny of men in their hands. They +mould and shape the character of the children. If Socialism can gain the +women, it will have the future with it. To bring the women into closer +community with the labour movement, to translate their paper equality into +living fact, is no fantastic dream; it is part of the obligation of the +modern "knights of labour" in the interest of themselves and their cause. + +Frau E. Gnauck-Kühne writes in sympathy with the Catholic Unions of the +older type, viz. the "Interkonfessionelle." Like Frau Braun, she greatly +prefers organisation for working women along with men to separate Unions. +Separate organisations, she remarks, require double staff, double expenses +of book-keeping, finance and secretarial arrangements, and are more +costly, not to mention that the women's wages are so low, the +contributions they can make are so small that a sound and effective Union +of women only is scarcely possible. Frau Gnauck lays stress on the +psychological difficulties of organising women. For ages men have been +accustomed to work in common, to subject themselves to discipline; their +work brings them into relation with their fellows of the same calling, +with their equals. The traditional work of women, on the contrary, has +kept them in isolation; the private household was, and is still, a little +world in itself, and in this world the woman has no peers--she has as +housewife no relation to other housewives, and there is nothing to connect +her work at home with the outside world or public matters. She is very +slow to perceive the advantages of new methods, labour-saving devices, +co-operation and so forth, which might so greatly lessen domestic toil if +intelligently applied. With a certain sly humour Frau Gnauck points out +that the housewife has no expert criticism to undergo, for her husband is +often out the whole day, and understands nothing of housekeeping or the +care of children if he were at home. The housewife as worker (not, be it +observed, as wife) is in the position of an absolute ruler; she has no +one's opinion to consider but her own, no inspection or control to regard; +she is a law unto herself. This habit of mind is not calculated to fit +woman for combined action; rather does it tend to promote individualism +and a lack of discipline, which hinders concerted effort in small things +or in great. This is not to deny that many women are capable of the +greatest devotion and sacrifice, even to the point of self-annihilation. +The loftiest courage for personal action and self-sacrifice, as Frau +Gnauck keenly remarks, is nevertheless in its way an emphasis of +individual will and action, a heightening of self, even though for +unselfish ends. Concerted action demands a surrender of individuality, the +power to find oneself in the ranks with one's equals. Men are better +trained for this kind of corporate action than women normally are. The +older women are too much burdened, and continually oppressed with the +thought of meeting the week's expenses, the young ones are indifferent +because they expect to get married. + +Frau Gnauck, however, refuses to despair even of organising the +woman-worker. We must, she says, put ourselves in her place; we must +realise that as no man can see over his horizon, we must bring something +that the woman worker _can_ see over her horizon, something that will +strike her imagination, something that will build a bridge from her over +to those large ideas, "class-interest," "general good," which so far she +has neither time, spirit, nor money enough to understand. She must be +drawn at first by the prospect of some small but concrete improvement in +her own condition, which will make it seem worth while to give the time +and money that the Union wants. Appeal to the feeling all women have for a +home of their own. Explain to them in simple language that the Union would +prevent underbidding and undercutting, and thus raise men's wages. More +men could marry on these higher wages, married women need not go to work, +and both the single woman and the married would benefit. + +Frau Gnauck is in agreement with Frau Braun as to the advisability of +common organisation, for if the women cannot join the men's Unions, they +are helpless, and if they form a Union of their own, they will probably be +too weak to avoid being played off against the men. She takes, on the +other hand, a much more favourable view than Frau Braun of the various +philanthropic clubs and societies formed by women of a superior class. +These organisations do not of course do anything to improve the economic +position, they cannot in any way take the place of Trade Unions, but they +provide a kind of preparatory stage, a training in association, an +opportunity for discussion, and in the present circumstances, with the +isolated condition in which working women and girls so often have to live, +all these experiences are a means of development and an educational help +to more serious organisation later on. This is borne out by Dr. +Erdmann,[39] who, whilst opposed to the Catholic Unions as reactionary, +admits that even in these Unions the workers soon begin to feel the need +of Trade Union organisations, and often end by joining the Socialist +Union. + +NUMBERS OF WOMEN IN UNIONS--GERMANY. + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Largest Occupation Groups. | Number.| Per cent of Total.| + |---------------------------------|--------|-------------------| + | FREIE GEWERKSCHAFTEN. | | | + | (Total women, 216,462.) | | | + |Textile workers | 53,363 | 24·6 | + |Metal | 26,848 | 12·4 | + |Factory workers | 25,146 | 11·6 | + |Tobacco | 17,918 | 8·2 | + |Bookbinders | 15,979 | 7·4 | + | CHRISTIAN UNIONS. | | | + | (Total women, 28,008.) | | | + |Textile workers | 12,811 | 45·7 | + |Home workers | 8,188 | 29·2 | + |Tobacco | 3,088 | 11·0 | + | HIRSCH-DUNCKER UNIONS. | | | + | (Total women, 4950.) | | | + |Textile workers | 1,880 | 38·0 | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + +_The Outlook._--It will be seen from the preceding chapter and section +that a general view of women in Unions presents a somewhat ambiguous and +contradictory picture. In one industry, cotton, there are in England two +large Unions of remarkable strength and effectiveness, in which women are +organised with men, and form a majority of the Union. The women cotton +weavers and card-room operatives form nearly 70 per cent of all the +organised women. In the other textile industries, in the clothing trades, +and some others, a comparatively small number of women are organised, +either with men, or in branches closely in touch with the men's Unions, +but these Unions are of various degrees of strength, and in no case +include a large proportion of the women employed. There are also some +women organised in Unions of general labourers and workers, and their +numbers have increased rapidly in the last few years, but are not as yet +considerable. We also find many small Unions of women only in various +occupations, but it is a curious fact that women have so far evolved very +little organisation in their most characteristic occupations such as +domestic service, nursing, dressmaking and millinery. Unions of some kind +in these occupations are not unknown, but they are quite inconsiderable in +comparison with the numbers employed. Yet the strategic position of the +workers in some of these occupations is in some respects strong. A fairly +well-organised strike of London milliners in the first week in May, or of +hotel servants and waitresses along the south coast, say about the last +week in July, would probably be irresistible. The same applies to women in +certain factory processes when the work is a monopoly of women and cannot +be done by men's fingers. Paper-sorting is a typical instance; a +paper-sorters' strike just before the Christmas present season might be +highly effective. In such occupations as these, nevertheless, Unionism is +mostly conspicuous by its absence. + +There is little use in denying that there are special difficulties in the +way of the organisation of women. The old difficulty of the hostility of +men Unionists is largely a thing of the past, but many others remain. +There are difficulties from hostility and indifference on the part of the +employers; long hours of work; family ties and duties; educational +deficiencies among working women themselves, and the intellectual and +moral effects that result from ignorance. An immense difficulty is the low +rate of wages characteristic of so many women's employments, which makes +it impossible in most cases to pay contributions sufficient for adequate +benefit during a strike. Competition is another difficulty, especially in +low-grade and unspecialised trades, where places can easily be filled. +There is the constant dread among workers of this class and low-grade home +workers that, if they attempt any resistance, some other woman will go +behind them and take the work for still less wages. Even collecting +contributions is often a considerable difficulty; if it is done at the +factory it may subject the collector to disfavour and victimisation; if +not, the labour is very considerable. Another great difficulty in +organising women is the prospect of marriage. A girl looks upon her +industrial career as merely a transition stage to getting married and +having a home of her own. This need not in itself hinder her being a "good +trade unionist," for after all the industrial career of a girl, beginning +at twelve, thirteen, or fourteen, may well be eight or ten years long, +even if she marries young, but it no doubt does tend to deflect her +energies and sentiment from Unionism. The prospect of marriage, which to a +young man is a steadying influence, making for thrift and for the +strengthening of his class by solidarity and corporate action, is to a +young girl a distraction from industrial efficiency, an element of +uncertainty and disturbance. + +Again, the position of women renders them especially amenable to social +influences. Social differences between different grades of workers keep +them apart from one another and make combination difficult. Women are more +susceptible than men to the influence of their social superiors. In the +past, and even in the present, though less than formerly, no doubt, the +influence of upper class women has been and is used against the Trade +Union spirit. Charity and philanthropy have tended to counterbalance the +forces that have been drawing the working class together. Miss Collet +found in investigating for the Labour Commission that the homes and +hostels for the working girls run by religious and benevolent societies +had an atmosphere unfavourable to Trade Unionism, and influenced the girls +to look coldly on agitation for improved material conditions. Lack of +public spirit is, in short, the great difficulty with women. Their +economic position, their training and education, the influence of the +classes considered superior, above all perhaps the pressure of custom and +tradition, all these have combined to prevent or postpone corporate action +and class solidarity. + +Must we admit that women are inherently incapable of organisation, which +by a kind of miracle or chance has been achieved successfully in one +district and in one industry only? A further consideration of the Board of +Trade figures gives a rather different complexion to the matter. + +In the building, mining, metal and transport trades there are practically +no women unionists, but with the exception of metal there are only a very +few women employed in these trades at all. In the other non-textile +trades the proportion of women organised is very small, and the proportion +of organised women to organised men is also small. But it happens that in +most of these trades the women employed are also few compared with the +men, and the men themselves are not strongly organised. In the woollen and +worsted trade organisation is not strong for either sex. In cotton alone +do we get a really strong organisation of both men and women. It begins to +dawn upon us at this point that the weak organisation of women is after +all part and parcel of the general problem of organisation in those +trades. No doubt it is an extremer and specially difficult form of the +problem. But on the whole, with the exception of the metal trades, it +holds good that where women are employed together with men, they are +strongly organised where men are strongly organised, weak where men are +weak. Even in metal trades the exceptions are more apparent than real. The +strong Unions are in branches of work that women do not do; and a glance +down the list of those metal workers who make the small wares and fittings +in which women's employment is increasing does not reveal any great +strength of male Unionism, except perhaps in the brass-workers, who +exceeded 7000 in 1910. Directly we realise this intimate connexion of +women's unionism with the Labour Movement as a whole, a light is thrown on +many puzzling discrepancies. + +In the case of women there have been in the last forty years or so two +tendencies at work. One is towards the sporadic growth of small +unco-ordinated Unions of women only. Financially weak and in some cases +governed by a retrograde policy, numbers of such Unions spring up and die +down again. A few achieve some measure of success, and occasionally a +very small Union will show a very considerable degree of persistence and +vitality without perceptible increase of numbers. Occasionally such Unions +are competing with mixed Unions in the same occupation, each of course +regarding the other as the intruder. It matters very little who is to be +blamed for the overlapping. The only important thing is to recognise that +such tactics mean playing into the enemy's hands, with disastrous results +for labour. Apart from such unfortunate instances, it would be foolish to +deny that the small Unions of women only have provisionally at least a +considerable usefulness. The women must be roped in somehow, and even the +most precarious organisation may have a distinct educational value in +evoking in its members the germ of a sense of class-solidarity and +membership with their fellows. I am almost tempted to say that any force +that brings women consciously into association with aims higher than petty +and personal ones is ultimately for good, however destructive it may seem +to be in some of its manifestations. + +The other tendency is towards the organisation of women either jointly +with men or in close connexion with men's Unions. In these cases there +have been many failures and some successes. The question of adjustment is +highly complicated, and cannot be settled on broad lines as with the +cotton weavers. "Equal pay for equal work" is not a ready-made solution +for all difficulties, for the work is very often not equal at all. In most +cases it is absolutely distinct, and in many there is a troublesome margin +where the work of men and women is very nearly the same but not quite. + +The men often regard women as unscrupulous competitors, and though they +have mostly abandoned the old policy of excluding women, they are apt to +try and organise them from their own point of view, without regard to the +women's special interests. Rough measures of this kind only give a further +impulse to schism, confusion and bitterness. At present undeniably there +is here and there a good deal of ill-feeling, especially in districts like +Manchester or Liverpool, with a number of ill-organised, ill-paid trades, +and competing unco-ordinated Unions. + +If Trade Unionism is to be effective, if membership is to be co-extensive +with the trade and compulsory, as in the future we hope it will, there is +no question that better methods are needed, greater centralisation, a more +carefully thought-out policy, to avoid the present waste and competition. + +It is not so much a change of heart as a coherent policy that is needed. +The organisation of women has been taken up merely where it was obviously +and pressingly needful, in order to safeguard the interests of the men +immediately concerned. In the case of the cotton weavers, an altogether +special and peculiar class, the problem was comparatively simple. It was +of vital importance to the men to get the women in, and on the other hand, +the men could do for the women a great deal which at that stage of social +development and opinion the women could not possibly have done for +themselves. The cotton weavers exhibit an interlocking of interests, so +patent and unmistakable that it was not only perceived but acted upon. The +card-room operatives lagged behind for a time, the organisation of women +being not quite so evident and apparent a necessity, but they have now +almost overtaken the weavers. In other industries the problem is more +complicated and has taken much longer to grasp. Take the interesting and +suggestive industry of paper-making. How is the strongly organised, +highly-paid paper-maker to realise that it matters very much that women +should be organised in his trade? His daughter may earn pocket-money at +paper-sorting, but merely as a temporary employment. She will marry a +respectable artisan and abandon work on marriage. The rag-cutters, on the +other hand, belong to an altogether different class, being usually wives +or widows of labourers. There is not enough class feeling to bind together +such different groups. It is true enough that the problem of labour is a +problem of class-solidarity, and that the women must in no wise be left +out. "Whoever can help to strengthen Trade Unionism among women workers +will be conferring a benefit on more than the women themselves."[40] But +the depth and truth of this statement is by no means fully realised, and +in many cases women have little chance of being organised by the men of +their own trade. As Mr. Cole has told us, the weakness of British labour +is the lack of central control and direction. + +Outside the special case of the skilled workers in cotton, the +organisation of women becomes more and more a question, not of craft, but +of class. This is seen in the different form and type of organisation +demanded by the "new unionism." The cotton weavers need in their secretary +before all things the closest and minutest acquaintance with the technical +mysteries of the craft. The secretary of a modern labour Union including +all sorts of heterogeneous workers cannot possibly possess intimate +technical knowledge of each. Personality, power of speech, the force and +warmth of character that can draw together oppressed and neglected workers +and make them feel themselves one, these are the elementary gifts needed +to start a workers' Union, whether of men, women, or both together. But +also if such a body is to be kept together and do effective work, it is +especially in the "new unionism" that the need of central control and +direction is felt. A national policy must take into consideration the +needs of women and harmonise their interests with those of men. The +success of the Women's Trade Union League is very largely due, not merely +to the personality of its leaders, though no doubt that has been a +considerable asset, but to the fact that it has a national policy and a +definite aim. + +Frau Braun eleven years ago saw that the labour woman ran some danger of +being caught into the feminist movement and withdrawn from her natural +place as an integral part of the Labour Movement itself. It is to be hoped +that she has followed English social history in the interval with +sufficient closeness to be aware of the far-sighted statesmanship shown by +the leaders of the Trade Union League in avoiding such a pitfall. + +However unsatisfactory and inadequate the organisation of women has been +and still is, a review of the situation does not suggest any inherent +incapacity of women for corporate action. In the cotton weavers' +societies, although the main responsibility for organisation has rested on +men's shoulders, yet the women and girls have consistently paid +contributions amounting now to a relatively high figure, and they have +constantly aided in the work of recruiting new members. Experience is now +showing that in certain districts where the industry is becoming more and +more a woman's trade, the women have not been lacking in capacity to take +over the work of managing the Union's affairs. The absence of women from +the Committee of so many weavers' Unions at the present day is due to +inertia and long surviving habit rather than to any real incapacity. In +the recent ballot on the question of political action, the enormous +proportion of votes recorded shows that a large proportion of women must +have used the vote. In many of the small women's societies in Manchester a +working woman is the secretary. In certain cases local Unions of women +have been successful, notably the Liverpool upholstresses, the Edmonton +ammunition workers and some others. The working woman is in fact beginning +to show powers, hitherto unsuspected, of social work and political action. +The Insurance Act has demanded women officials as "Sick Visitors" and "Pay +Stewards," and the new duties thrown on the secretaries and committee by +that Act are likely to bring about an increasing demand for the +participation of women. The rapidly increasing numbers of women in the +Shop Assistants' Union, the movement for a minimum wage in the +co-operative factories, the increasing number of women in general labour +Unions, all these are hopeful signs of a movement towards unity. The +milliner and dressmaker in small establishments and the domestic servant +will probably be the last to feel the rising wave. Even of these we need +not despair. With the development of postal facilities, easy transit and +opportunities for social intercourse, such as we may foresee occurring in +the near future, there may be a considerable development of +class-consciousness even among the workers among whom it is now most +lacking, while the Women's Co-operative Guild and the Women's Labour +League, in their turn, are finding a way for the association of +non-wage-earning women in the working class. + +FEMALE MEMBERSHIP OF TRADE UNIONS, 1913. + + +----------------------------------------------------+ + | | |Per cent| + |Occupation |Numbers.| of | + | | | Total. | + |----------------------------------|--------|--------| + |Textile-- | | | + | Cotton preparing | 53,317| 14·9 | + | Cotton spinning | 1,857| 0·5 | + | Cotton weaving | 155,910| 43·8 | + | Wool and worsted | 7,738| 2·2 | + | Linen and jute | 20,689| 5·8 | + | Silk | 4,247| 1·2 | + | Hosiery, etc. | 4,070| 1·1 | + |Textile printing, etc | 9,453| 2·6 | + | |--------|--------| + | Total | 257,281| 72·1 | + |Non-Textile-- | | | + | Boot and shoe | 9,282| 2·6 | + | Hat and cap | 3,750| 1·1 | + | Tailoring | 9,798| 2·7 | + | Printing | 5,893| 1·7 | + | Pottery | 2,600| 0·7 | + | Tobacco | 2,060| 0·6 | + | Shop assistants | 24,255| 6·8 | + | Other trades | 8,742| 2·4 | + | General labour | 23,677| 6·6 | + | Employment of Public Authorities| 9,625| 2·7 | + | |--------|--------| + | Total | 99,682| 27·9 | + | |--------|--------| + | Grand Total | 356,963| 100·0 | + +----------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF PART I.[41] + + +_Changes effected by the Industrial Revolution._--We have seen that the +industrial employment of women developed partly out of their miscellaneous +activities as members of a family, partly out of their employment as +domestic servants, partly out of the work given out from well-to-do +households to their poorer neighbours. Weaving and spinning, the most +typical and general employments of women, were carried on by them as +assistants to the husband or father, or as servants lending a hand to +their masters' trade, or were done direct for customers. In the last case, +the work might be done either for the use of the manor or some other +well-to-do household, or in the case of spinning and winding, the product +might be sold to weavers directly or through a middleman. To a more +limited extent, the same kind of conditions probably applied to work other +than textile. The women acted as subordinate helpers or assistants, +whether in the family or out of it. In the former case they were probably +not paid but took their share of the family maintenance; in the latter +they were earners. When the circumstances of the trade were favourable, +_e.g._ when the demand for yarn exceeded the supply, women-workers may +have earned very fair wages; but on the whole it appears that they were in +an unfavourable position in selling their labour. The fact of working for +nothing, as many did in the home, would not promote a high standard of +remuneration, and the women who took in work from the manor or other +wealthy households would probably be expected to regard employment as a +favour.[42] + +When the industrial revolution came, and the man with capital found +himself in the exciting position of being able to obtain large returns +from his newly-devised plant and machinery, the women and children were +there waiting to be employed. Enormous profits were made out of the cheap +labour of women and girls. The only alternative occupation of any extent +was domestic service, then an overstocked and under-paid trade. The women +and girls, accustomed to work at home, were not aware how greatly their +productive power had increased, and had no means of justifying claims to +an increased share of the produce, even if they had known how to make +them. Many, as we have seen in Chapter II., were reduced to terrible +poverty through the failure of work to the hand-loom weavers, and were +ready to take any work they could get to eke out the family living. + +_The Survival of Previous Standards and Conditions._--The development of +the great industry, the use of machinery and the concentration of capital, +came at a time when the working class was peculiarly helpless to help +itself, and the governing class was unable or unwilling to initiate any +adequate social reform. The Enclosure Acts had weakened the spirit and +independence of the agricultural working-class and increased destitution +and pauperism, while wages were kept down through the operation of the +allowance system under the Old Poor Law. Local depopulation in rural +districts sent numbers of needy labourers, strong, industrious, and inured +to small earnings, to swell the industrial population of towns.[43] But +the crowning cruelty, the extremest folly, was the prohibition to combine. +The special characteristic of the industrial revolution was the +association of operatives under one roof, performing co-ordinated tasks +under one control to produce a given result. Now this new method of +associated labour was not only immensely more productive, but it also +potentially held advantages for the workers. It brought them together, it +gave them a common interest, it brought all sorts of social and civic +possibilities within their reach. But to realise these possibilities it +was essential that they should be able to join together, to take stock of +the bewildering new situation which confronted them, to achieve some kind +of corporate consciousness. This was denied them under various pains and +penalties. Yet the State did not for a long time itself take action to +give the factory class the protection they were forbidden to seek for +themselves. The effect was that while the workers were bound, the +employers were free or were restricted only to the very slight extent of +the regulations of the early factory acts, and could impose very much such +conditions of work as they pleased. What those conditions were has been +reiterated often enough. Work far into the night, or even both night and +day; sanitation of the rudest and most defective kind where it was not +absent altogether; industrial disease from dust, fluff and dirt, or from +damp floors and steaming atmosphere; workrooms overheated or dismally +cold; wages low, and subject to oppressive fines and fraudulent +deductions,--such, and worse, is the dreary recital of the treatment meted +out to the workers. The introduction of power machines was not _per se_ +the cause of these evils. Women had been accustomed to do the work that no +one else wanted to do. The servile position of the woman-worker, the +absence of combination among the operative class, and the lack of State or +Municipal control over the conditions of industry and housing, all +combined to provide "cheap and docile workers" for the factory system. And +no doubt the factory system took full advantage of the opportunity. +Capital inevitably seeks cheap labour. The governing class had carefully +and deliberately provided that labour should be cheap. + +_What the Factory Act has done._--The awakening class-consciousness of the +factory workers in Lancashire and Yorkshire led to agitation and petitions +for a restriction of the hours of work. Leaving out of account the earlier +Factory Acts, which were ill-devised and weak, the first effective +regulation was the Factory Act of 1833. This Act was timid in the +regulations imposed, which were too elastic to effect very much, but in +the providing for the appointment of a staff of factory inspectors it +asserted the right and duty of the State to control the conditions of +industry, and also indirectly secured that the Government should be kept +in possession of the facts. Only young persons under eighteen were +included under this Act, but in 1844 women also were included, and in 1847 +and 1850 the working day was restricted to ten hours, and the period of +employment was carefully defined to prevent evasion. In 1864 some +dangerous trades were brought within the scope of the Acts, which had +previously included textile and allied industries only, and in 1867 other +non-textile industries and workshops were added. In 1878 a consolidating +Act was passed to bring the employment of women and young workers under +one comprehensive scheme. The plan of the Act of 1878 was retained in the +Act of 1901, but a considerable number of new regulations, especially in +regard to health and safety, were included. In 1893 a step of great +importance for working women was taken, in the appointment of women +factory inspectors. + +It does not come within the scope of this volume to describe the history +of factory regulations and control, but we may here ask ourselves the +question, How much has been done for the women in industry by the State? +What is the present position of the woman-worker? + +In the first place, we note that sanitary conditions in factories and +workshops are greatly improved and conditions as to health are more +considered than was formerly the custom. This is not entirely due to the +regulations of the Factory Act, but partly to the progress of public +health generally, and to the development of scientific knowledge and +humaner ideals of social life and manners. It is true that we are only at +the beginning of this movement, and much remains to be done, as any one +can satisfy himself by getting into touch with industrial workers, or by +studying the Factory Inspectors' Reports, but it can hardly be doubted +that the woman-worker of to-day has a very different, a very much more +civilised industrial environment than had her mother or her grandmother. +The appointment of women inspectors counts for a great deal here, for in +earlier times the needs of women-workers were not considered, or if +considered were not known with any accuracy. In the second place we note +that there has been a considerable development of special precautions for +dangerous trades, and that in one instance of a dangerous substance, viz. +white phosphorus, its use has even been prohibited, and the terrible +disease known as "phossy jaw," formerly the bane of match-makers, has been +stamped out. In regard to certain sweated industries measures have been +taken to regulate wages through the instrumentality of the Trade Boards, +and, as it appears, with a considerable measure of success. + +_Present Position of the Woman-Worker._--Otherwise it is strange to notice +how very little the position of the woman-worker has been improved in +recent years. She is still liable to toil her ten hours daily, just as her +grandmother did, for five days in the week, though on Saturdays the hours +have been somewhat curtailed. In non-textile factories ten and a half +hours are permitted, though in many of the industries concerned a shorter +day has become customary, whether through Trade Union pressure or a +recognition on the employers' part that long hours "do not pay." Ten +hours, or ten and a half, with the necessary pauses for meal-times, +involve working "round the clock," which is still the recognised period of +employment even for young persons of fourteen and over. The five hours' +spell of continuous work is still permitted in non-textile factories and +workshops, although the inspectors have long been convinced that it is +too long for health and energy, and Miss Squire reports that it is now +condemned by all concerned with scientific management. In certain trades +overtime is permitted, and the result is that girls and women may be +employed fourteen hours a day, and if the employer takes his full +advantage of it, as occasionally he does, the inspector can do nothing, +the proceedings being perfectly legal.[44] + +While the hours of work have been but very little shortened since 1874, +the strain of work has been considerably increased, as we have seen, +through the increased speed at which the machines are run. This is +especially the case in the cotton trade, though it occurs in other factory +industries. The demand upon the worker is much greater than formerly, and +the reduction of hours has by no means kept pace with the increased +strain. The backwardness of the Factory Act in these and some other +matters is almost inconceivable. So important a matter as the lighting of +work-places is still outside the scope of regulation. The nervous strain +and serious risk to eyesight involved by doing work requiring close and +accurate visual attention in a bad light need hardly be emphasised. The +inspectors receive many complaints of badly-adjusted or otherwise +defective artificial lighting of work-places, but have no weapon to use +but persuasion, which happily is in some cases successfully invoked. + +Another serious factor in the working woman's position is the weakness of +the Truck Act, especially in regard to fines and deductions. Deductions, +_e.g._ for spoilt work, are sometimes made on a scale altogether out of +proportion to the weekly wages, and fines for being a few minutes late, or +for trivial offences of various kinds, are often oppressive to a degree +which can only be described as preposterous when compared with the value +of the worker's time and attention measured in the payments they receive. +In some cases convictions and fines are secured, and in other cases, even +in some which are outside the law, the inspectors are able to obtain the +adoption of reforms by employers, but many hard cases remain unredressed +owing to the difficulty of interpreting the Acts. + +All along the line our social legislation has been characterised by +timidity and procrastination. Dr. Thomas Percival's statement of the case +for State interference in factories (1796) was left for six years without +notice from the Central Government, and the first Factory Act, 1802, was +applied to apprentices only at a time when the apprenticeship system was +falling into disuse. Later on, in response to the high-souled agitation of +Sadler, Oastler, and Lord Ashley (afterwards Shaftesbury), after years of +hesitation and vacillation, various inadequate measures were taken, but +never quite the right thing at the right moment, never designed as part of +a far-sighted policy that would recreate English industrial life and make +it worth living--as it might be made--for the toilers of field and +factory, workshop and mine. This weakness and backwardness in the policy +of the Home Department is no doubt largely due to the covetousness of the +capitalist and the control he is able to exercise on politics. It should +be remembered, however, that the capitalist, or rather the capitalist +employer, does not present an unbroken front. In point of fact the best +manufacturers do not oppose social legislation. They understand the need +of a common rule, and the regulations of the Factory Acts have usually +been modelled on the existing practice of the better kind of employer. +Labour legislation is weakened and kept back by several causes other than +the greed of employers. Among these may be mentioned the cumbersome and +out-of-date procedure of the House of Commons, and the interminable delays +that dog the progress of non-Governmental measures, even when these have +the approval of all parties. Other causes are to be found in the class +selfishness of the upper strata of society, their indifference to the +needs of the people, their ignorance of the whole conditions of the +industrial population's life. With bright exceptions, such as the late +Lord Shaftesbury and some now living whose names will occur to the reader, +not only the aristocracy and the very rich, but the conservative +middle-class, the dwellers in suburbs and watering-places, cling to the +idea of a servile class. They object to industrial regulations which give +the workers statutory rights amongst their employers; they object to +increasing the amenity of factory life and diminishing the supply of +domestic servants. Labour legislation remains backward and undeveloped for +want of the support of an enlightened public opinion. + +_The Strain of Modern Industry._--With the ill effects of the present +system it is impossible for a non-medical writer to deal fully, but no one +can have any talk with a doctor or a sick visitor under the Insurance +Committee in a big industrial town without hearing terrible facts about +the injury to women from the persistent standing at work. It seems likely +also that these injuries are not only due to overstrain among women after +marriage and before and after confinement, but result in part from the +fatigue endured by adolescent girls. Parents are too anxious to send +children to work, and girls of fourteen and upwards are sometimes working +in competition with boys, and suffer from trying to do as much. Pressure +is put on girls to work three looms or even four, before they are really +equal to the effort. It may, of course, be admitted that some of this +strain and drive is self-inflicted. It is part of the admirable tenacity, +self-reliance, and high standard of life of Lancashire women that they are +keen about their earnings, and I have been told of girls who will return +to the shed during meal-hours, or even go to work at 5.30 in summer-time, +busying themselves in sweeping or making ready for work before the engine +starts. These practices are illegal, and the employers often protect +themselves by putting up a notice that any woman or young worker found in +the shed out of working hours will be dismissed, or by sending an employee +to clear the shed at the proper hour. Nevertheless in many cases the +employer has a certain moral responsibility for these evasions of the law, +although they appear to indicate perversity on the worker's part. Girls +and women are indirectly set to compete one with another, and with boys +and men. There is a constant pressure on the weaker to keep pace with the +stronger, the immature or old with the worker in the full flower of +strength. The overlooker usually receives a small percentage on all the +earnings of all the weavers, and has therefore an incentive to keep them +at full tension, and the overlooker's average is again criticised by the +manager. Lancashire people are remarkably articulate and also quick in +apprehension, and the sarcasms launched at girls who, on pay-day, have +earned less than the average are pointed enough to be well understood. The +whole system is like an elaborate mechanism to extract the last unit of +effort from each worker, and dismissal hangs always over the head of the +slower and less competent worker. In the Factory Inspectors' Report for +1913 Miss Tracey tells how children lose their colour and their youthful +energy in the drudgery of their daily toil, how the girls fall asleep at +their work and grow old and worn before their time. "Sometimes one feels +that one dare not contemplate too closely the life of our working women, +it is such a grave reproach." I have myself been seriously assured that +cases of suicide result from the difficulty of maintaining at once the +quantity and quality of work under such conditions. + +Anaemia is a frequent result of overstrain, not to mention the constant +colds and rheumatism due to overheated rooms. The sickness among women +from these and other worse evils alluded to above have become apparent for +the first time through the serious strain put on sick benefit funds in the +first year of the Insurance Act. At one very important centre of the +cotton trade, out of 8056 members 2800 received sick benefit in the first +twelve months. The Insurance Act, whatever its defects, has at all events +given many poor women the chance to take a little rest and nursing that +they sorely needed and could not afford. The sneer of "malingering" is +easily raised, but it is doubtful whether real malingering has much to do +with it. The conditions of industry, greatly improved as they are from the +sanitary point of view, are certainly increasing the kind of strain that +women are constitutionally least able to bear. The industrial efficiency +in the young girl that she and her employer are often so proud of may be +paid for later in painful illness and incapacity. Mr. Arthur Greenwood +quotes medical opinion to the effect that the industrial strain to which +several generations of women in the textile districts have now been +subjected is responsible not only for serious disease, but even for +sterility among women.[45] So far the subject of the declining birth-rate +has been discussed chiefly as a theme for homilies on the "selfishness" of +women, who, it is alleged, prefer ease and comfort to unrestricted +child-bearing. If Mr. Greenwood is right, the cause, in part at all +events, is the force of capitalistic competition feeding on the very life +of the people. Surely the subject needs medical study and investigation of +a more searching kind than it has yet received. + +_The Exclusion of Women: A Counsel of Despair._--In view of the tremendous +strain incidental to certain kinds of industrial work, as at present +organised, there occurs the difficult problem, what kind of work women are +to do. In the case of work underground in mines, and also of a few +industrial processes specially injurious to women, the State has exercised +the right to exclude women altogether, and however undesirable such +legislative exclusion may be in the abstract, there can be little doubt +that it was justified in the cases referred to, the evils being flagrant +and the women concerned as yet unorganised and with no means of demanding +adequate regulations for their own safety. There are even those who doubt +whether woman should take part in manufacturing industry at all, and hope +that ultimately she may disappear from it altogether. Those who take this +view should clear their minds as to what exactly they mean by industry. +They probably do not wish to exclude women from those occupations which +are almost a feminine monopoly, such as dressmaking, needlework and +household work. But to restrict any class of workers to a narrow range of +occupations undoubtedly has a very depressing effect on their wages. We +may also note that improvements in the position and conditions of the +woman-worker have begun always outside, not inside; in the factory before +the workshop; in the workshop before the home; in industry before +needlework. The Wage Census of 1907 shows that women's wages are higher in +the great industry than in the smaller and more old-fashioned +establishment. State regulation of factory work in the first half of the +nineteenth century led to enquiries into the condition of needlewomen and +others, who, as the Children's Employment Commission showed, were in worse +case than factory workers. The factory industry, it was immediately +recognised, was more amenable to control either by the State or by +Unionism, or both, than was the home worker, or the worker in small +workshops. Through the factory, in spite of its many abuses, women have +attained not only an improvement in their economic circumstances, but also +the experience of comradeship and even of a citizenship which, although +incomplete, is very real as far as it goes. + +Women have undoubtedly gained on the whole by the widening of their sphere +of employment. But women cannot possibly do all kinds of industrial work, +and to leave the matter unregulated either by law or by Trade Union action +is to leave too much to the discretion of the employer, with whom profit +is naturally the first consideration. + +If the matter is fought out between the employer and the men's Unions, the +women's interests are not sufficiently considered. Some years ago at +Birmingham the question was being disputed whether women should or should +not polish brass in brass-works. The Trade Union pronounced polishing to +be filthy and exhausting work, and degrading to women, and declared the +employers only wanted to set women on it for the sake of cheapness. The +employers on the other hand said the Union only opposed the employment of +women because they wanted to keep women out of the trade as much as +possible. Probably motives were mixed on both sides. + +Such disputes not infrequently arise in manufacturing industry, and the +middle-class person arriving on the scene is very apt to take a one-sided +view. If he is a mildly reactionary, conservative, sentimental person, he +probably wants women to be prevented from doing anything that looks +uncomfortable and happens to be under his eyes at the moment. If he (or +particularly if she) happens to be burning with enthusiasm for the rights +of women as individuals and scornful of old-fashioned proprieties and +traditions, he (or she) will most likely jump to the conclusion that the +objections raised to the employment of women in the particular process are +merely sex-prejudice and sex-domination. Neither the sentimentalist nor +the individualist, however, sees the full bearing of the situation. In +this connection an article by Mr. Haslam[46] may be studied with advantage +as being eminently thoughtful and fair-minded. In the Lancashire cotton +trade a peculiarly complicated instance of the woman question occurs in +mule-spinning. In this, the best paid and most highly skilled process in +the industry, a shortage of boy labour has somehow to be met. The +proportion of helpers or "piecers" needed is much larger than the +proportion of boys who can hope to find a permanent occupation in +mule-spinning. With advancing education, aided, no doubt, by recent good +trade and demand for labour in the trades, boys and their parents have +become increasingly aware of the disadvantages of "piecing" as a trade, +and as a result the deficiency of juvenile labour threatens to become +acute. An obvious solution is to introduce girls as piecers, which, as it +happens, is not a new idea but the revival of an old one. Girls were +formerly employed to some extent at piecing, but were prohibited by the +Union twenty-six or twenty-seven years ago, so far as the important +centres of cotton-spinning are concerned. The prohibition was removed some +years later, but for a long time women showed no inclination to return to +this work. Only in quite recent years, with the increasing shortage of +boy-labour, have women and girls been induced to go back to the +mule-spinning room. Now women never become mule-spinners; the Union will +not allow it. A peculiar feature of the occupation is that the operative +spinners themselves, who employ and pay their piecers, are thus interested +in obtaining a supply of cheap labour, just as any capitalist employer is, +or supposes himself to be. They consistently oppose women becoming +spinners, usually alleging physical and moral objections to this +occupation, but are willing to allow them to become piecers in order to +supply the deficiency of boy-labour, and to lessen the prejudice against +piecing as a "blind-alley" occupation for boys. Now, as Mr. Haslam points +out, the employment of women as piecers is both physically and morally +quite as objectionable as their working as spinners.[47] Indeed, granting +for the sake of argument that women should be employed in the +mule-spinning room at all, by far the least objectionable arrangement +would be for them to work two together on a pair of mules, which would +diminish the physical strain and obviate the moral dangers which arise +from the present plan of subordination to a male spinner in an unhealthy +environment. In this case women need organisation and combination to +protect their interests from the operative spinners, who are virtually +their employers, almost as much as a labouring class needs to be protected +from capitalist employers. And, as Mr. Haslam shows in his weighty and +temperate statement, it is quite true that there are very great and +serious objections to female employment in this trade. The heat, the +costume, the attitudes necessitated by this work, all render it a +dangerous occupation for girls to work at in company with men. Mr. Haslam +gives painful evidence in support of this statement, for which readers can +be referred to his article. + +The moral of the whole story is by no means that unrestricted freedom of +employment for women is the way of salvation. Rather is it that women must +not only organise but must take a conscious part in the work of directing +their organisation. At present they are too often the shuttlecock between +the opposing interests of the employer and the men's Union. It is not that +the Trade Union is always wrong in wanting to keep the women out; or that +the employer (whether capitalist or operative) is always right in wanting +to take the women on. The point is that each party in these disputes is +usually influenced mainly by his own interests and easily persuades +himself that what is best for him is best also for the woman-worker +concerned. The hardest and most unhealthy work may be done by women +without a protest from men's Unions if it does not bring women evidently +into competition with men. Nothing can clear up the situation but the +enlightenment and better organisation of women themselves. They must learn +not to take their cue implicitly from the employer or from the men's +Union--certainly not from the teaching of women of another class. They +must learn--they are fast learning--to think for themselves and to see +their needs in relation to society as a whole, to become articulate and +take part in the control of their organisation. It is quite likely that +when they do so they will not adopt the ideal of complete freedom of +competition. + +I remember some years ago hearing a lecture on the subject of the mining +industry given to a society of women of advanced views, the lecturer, a +professional woman, taking the line that women should not have been +excluded from work underground in mines, as they were by the Act of 1842, +and that the evils of such work had been exaggerated. Some little time +afterwards an experienced woman cotton-operative was invited to address +the same society, and incidentally remarked in the course of her lecture +that card-room work was "not fit for women to do." The contrast was +instructive, especially taking into consideration that card-room work in +the twentieth century, whatever its objections, cannot be nearly as +dangerous and injurious as underground work in mines was in 1842. +Legislative exclusion of women from dangerous and unhealthy occupations, +is, we may admit, an undesirable remedy from many points of +view--especially perhaps because it affords too easy relief to the +conscience of the employer, who may take refuge in the idea that he need +not trouble to improve conditions if he employs only men. It is better to +make the conditions of industry fit for women than to drive women out of +industry; better to strengthen the organisation of women and give them a +voice in deciding what processes are or are not suitable to them than to +increase the competition for home work. + +It seems, however, highly improbable, from what one knows of the working +woman's point of view and outlook, that as she becomes able to voice her +wishes she will favour an indiscriminate levelling of sex-restrictions in +industry; on the contrary, it seems likely that as she becomes more +articulate and has more voice and influence in the organisation she +belongs to, she will favour regulations of a fairly stringent nature in +regard to the processes within an industry which may be carried on by +women. Many of the observations that have been made on industrial women in +recent or comparatively recent years show that although at times they are +driven by stress of need to compete with men or to do work beyond their +strength, yet that they regard themselves mainly from the point of view of +the family and believe that to keep up the standard of men's wages is as +important as to raise their own.[48] + +_The Middle-Class Woman's Movement._--There is, however, a complication +between the labour woman's movement and the woman's movement for +enfranchisement and freedom of opportunity generally, and great care is +necessary to avoid confusing the issues. The labour woman's movement is a +class movement in which solidarity between man and woman is all important. +The women's rights movement aims at obtaining full citizenship for women; +that is to say, not only the Suffrage but the entrance to professions, the +entrance without special impediments to local governing bodies and, +generally, the abolition of belated and childish restrictions that hinder +the development of personality and social usefulness. Now these two +movements are not in principle opposed, and there is no reason why the +same women should not take part in both, as in fact many do. The +opposition consists rather in a difference of origin and history. The +labour movement is born of the economic changes induced by the industrial +revolution, and tends towards a socialistic solution of the problem. The +women's rights movement is the outcome of middle-class changes, especially +the decreasing prospect of marriage, which, together with the absence of +training and opportunity for work, has produced a situation of extreme +difficulty. The middle-class woman's agitation was inevitably influenced +by the ideals of her class, a class largely engaged in competitive +business of one kind or another. Equality of opportunity, permission to +compete with men and try their luck in open market, was what the women of +this type demanded, with considerable justification, and with admirable +courage. The working woman, on the other hand, the victim of that very +unrestricted competition which her better-off sister was demanding, before +all things needed improved wages and conditions of work, for which State +protection and combination with men were essential.[49] + +There is, however, no fundamental opposition between these movements. Just +as the working classes are striving through Syndicalism to express a +rising discontent, not only with the economic conditions of their work, +but also with the fact that they have no voice in its regulation and +control, so women are striving, not only for political freedom and +economic betterment, but for a voice in the collective control of society. +Women have, until very lately, been left out from the arrangement even of +matters which most vitally concern them and their children. The following +incident in the history of the Factory Department will illustrate this +fact. In 1879 the then Chief Inspector of Factories, Sir Alexander +Redgrave, discussed in his annual report a tentative suggestion for the +appointment of women inspectors that some person or persons unnamed had +put forward. With the utmost kindliness and gentleness he negatived the +proposal altogether, first on the assumption that the inspection of +factories was work impossible for women and "incompatible with (their) +gentle and home-loving character"; secondly, on the ground that in regard +to the sanitary conditions in which women were employed "it was seldom +necessary to put a single question to a female," and consequently there +was no need to appoint women inspectors.[50] Thirteen years later came the +Labour Commission. At that time it was unheard of for women to be +appointed on Commissions, even when the subject was one in which women +were most chiefly concerned. It is said, and I see no reason to doubt the +statement, that the Labour Commission of 1892 did not at first intend even +to hear evidence from women witnesses as to conditions in which women +were employed. Having yielded to the urgency of two women who were working +hard at the organisation of sweated workers in the East End and demanded +to be heard, the Commission, as an afterthought, appointed women Assistant +Commissioners, whose researches and reports subsequently led to the +appointment of women Factory Inspectors--sixty years after the first +appointments of men. Anyone who is likely to read this book will probably +be already aware that women factory inspectors had no sooner been +appointed than they very speedily were informed of flagrant sanitary +defects in factories and workshops which had been suffered to continue +simply because no woman official had been in existence, and men, with the +best intentions, did not know what to look or ask for. The exclusion of +women had involved in this case not merely a narrowing of the field of +opportunity for professional women--a comparatively small matter--but a +scandalous neglect of the elementary decencies of life for millions of +women and girls in the working-class. It is unnecessary here to do more +than remind my readers that until lately women were excluded also from +local governing bodies which control the health, education, and conditions +of life and work of women and children. + +Men are not alone to blame for this state of affairs. If women have long +been excluded from posts in which their services were greatly needed, it +is very largely because of the ideals set up by the women themselves. The +wretched education given to girls in the Victorian era, the egotistic +passion for refinement which made it a reproach even to allude to the +grosser facts of life, much more to the perils and dangers run by women in +a lower class, all this was due quite as much to the influence of women +as of men. It was not surprising that men of the upper classes, accustomed +by their mothers and wives to believe that for women ignorance and +innocence were one, and that no painful reality must ever be mentioned +before them or come near to sully their refinement, should recoil from the +idea of trusting them with difficult duties and responsible work. It is to +the few pioneer women like Florence Nightingale, Josephine Butler, and +others who came out and braved reproach--from women as well as men--that +we owe the introduction of worthier social ideals. + +_The New Spirit among Women._--As the women's movement draws towards the +labour movement, as it is now so rapidly doing, it tends to lose the +narrow individualism derived from the middle-class ideals of the last +century. Mere freedom to compete is seen to be a small thing in comparison +with opportunity to develop. The appeal for fuller opportunity is now +stimulated less by the desire merely to do the same things that men do, +more by the perception that the whole social life must be impoverished +until we get the women's point of view expressed and recognised in the +functions of national life. On the other hand, the women Unionists, who +have long been taxed with apathy and lack of interest in their trade +organisation, are drawing from the women's movement a new inspiration and +enthusiasm. Observers in Lancashire tell you that there is a new spirit +stirring among the women. They are no longer so contented to have the +Union efficiently managed for them by men; they want to take a conscious +part in the work of organisation themselves. The same movement is visible +in the plucky and self-sacrificing efforts for solidarity made by the +workers in trades hitherto unorganised; and, at the other end of the +social scale, in the deep discontent with the life of parasitic dependence +which has been so powerfully expressed in the _Life of Florence +Nightingale_, and in Lady Constance Lytton's book on _Prisons and +Prisoners_. + +_The Potential Changes the Industrial Revolution carries with it._--We +have endeavoured to analyse the changes effected in the position of women +by the industrial revolution. Social changes, however, take a long time to +work themselves out, and many features in the position of the woman-worker +at the present day, as we have seen, are the result not so much of the +industrial revolution as of the status and economic position of women in +earlier times, and still more of the neglect of the governing classes to +take the measures necessary for the protection of the people in passing +through that prolonged crisis which may be roughly dated from 1760 to +1830. Let us now try as far as possible to free our minds from the +influence of these disturbing factors and ask ourselves what are the +potential changes in the position of the working woman effected by the +industrial revolution, and what improvement, if any, she might expect to +achieve if those changes could work themselves out more completely than +social reaction and hindrances have yet permitted them to do. Let us, in +short, pass from the consideration of What Is to the contemplation of What +Might Be. + +1. _By the use of mechanical power, the need for muscular strength is +diminished, and greater possibilities are opened up to the weaker classes +of workers._--We are accustomed to view this change with disfavour, +because it often takes the form of displacing men's labour and lowering +men's wages. But that is mainly because we see things in terms of +unorganised labour. With proper organisation we should not see women +taking men's work at less than men's wages; we should see both men and +women doing the work to which their special aptitudes are most +appropriate, each paid for their special skill. We should not see women +dragging heavy weights or doing laborious kinds of work which are +dangerous and unsuitable to them; we should see them using their special +gifts and special kinds of skill, and paid accordingly. There is no +reason, save custom and lack of organisation, why a nursery-maid should be +paid less than a coal-miner. He is not one whit more capable of taking her +place than she is of taking his. For generations we have been accustomed +to assume that any girl can be a nursery-maid (which is far from being the +truth), and from force of habit we consider the miner has to be well paid +because his occupation demands a degree of strength and endurance which is +comparatively rare, and also because he has the sense to combine and +unfortunately the nursery-maid so far has not. The factory system is doing +a great deal for women, directly by widening the field of occupation open +to them, and indirectly by heightening the value of special aptitudes, +some of which are peculiar to women. When mechanical power is used, +strength is no longer the prime qualification for work, and the special +powers of the girl-worker come into play. + +The factory system, also, by its immensely increased productivity, is +altering the old views of what is profitable, and a new science of social +economics is evolving which would have been unthinkable under the old +regime. In Miss Josephine Goldmark's recent most interesting book, +_Fatigue and Efficiency_, she has gathered together the results of many +experiments made by employers to ascertain the effects of shorter hours. +There is practical unanimity in the results of these experiments. +Obviously there must be a limit to the degree in which shortening hours of +work would increase the output, but no one appears yet to have reached +that limit. In the Factory Inspectors' Report for 1912 many cases are +mentioned where employers have voluntarily reduced hours of work and find +that they, as well as their work-people are benefited by the change. In +one case of a large firm which had formerly worked from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. +it was arranged to cease at 7, a decrease of a whole hour, which +necessitated engaging extra hands, but at the end of the year it was found +that the annual cost of production was slightly diminished and the output +considerably increased. Others expressed an opinion that 8 to 6.30 was +"quite long enough," and that if these hours were exceeded the work +suffered next morning. The same may be said in regard to other +improvements in working conditions, such as ventilation, cleanliness, the +provision of baths, refectories, medical aid, means of recreation; those +who have taken such measures have found themselves rewarded by increased +output. Even from the commercial standpoint we do not appear to have +nearly exhausted the possibilities of betterment. There can be little +doubt, judging from existing means of information, that if the whole of +the industry of the country were run on shorter hours, higher wages, and +greatly improved hygienic conditions, it would be very much more +productive than it is. From the social point of view such betterment is +greatly needed, especially in the case of the young of both sexes, whose +health is most easily impaired by over-strain, and who are destined to +be the workers, parents, and citizens of the next generation. + +2. _Status._--A still more important result of the industrial revolution +is _the changed status of the wage-earner_. Here it appears to me that +women have profited more than men. Broadly speaking, men, whatever their +ultimate gain in wages, lost in status through the industrial revolution. +The prospect of rising to be masters in their own trade, though not +universal, was certainly very much greater under the domestic system of +working with small capital than under the modern system of large +concentrated capital. In this respect women did not lose in anything like +the same proportion as did men, because they had very much less to lose. +The number of women who could rise to be employers on their own account +must have been small. No doubt a larger number lost the prospect of +industrial partnership with their husbands in the joint management of a +small business. But for women wage-earners the industrial revolution does +mean a certain advance in status. The woman-worker in the great industry +sells her work per piece or per hour, not her whole life and personality. +I shall perhaps be told indignantly that the poor woman in a low-class +factory or laundry is as veritable a drudge as the most oppressed serf of +mediaeval times, and I do not attempt to deny it. But we are here +discussing potential changes, not the actual conditions now in force. The +drudgery performed by women under the great industry is of the nature of a +survival, and results from the fact that women can still be got to work in +such ways for very low wages. These conditions are largely the heritage of +the past and can be changed and humanised whenever the women themselves +or society acting collectively makes a sufficiently strong demand. + +Nor must it be forgotten that in modern industry women have a further +advantage in being paid their own wages instead of being merely +remunerated collectively in the family, as was often the case formerly. +Modern industry thus holds for the woman-worker the possibility of a more +dignified and self-respecting position than the domestic system of the +near past. + +3. _The Possibilities of State Control._--We next note that _the +industrial revolution has led to State control_, and that the Factory Act, +whatever its defects in detail and its inadequacy to meet the situation, +has greatly improved the status of the woman-worker by giving her +_statutory rights against the employer_. This aspect has often been +overlooked by leaders of the women's rights movement, who at one time +tended to regard factory legislation as putting the woman in a childish +and undignified position. But the true inwardness of the Factory Act is +the assertion that workers are _persons_, with rights and needs that are +sufficiently important to override commercial requirements. It has not +only aided the progress of industrial betterment, but it has taught women +that they are of significance and importance to the State, and has brought +them out of the position of mere servility. A great deal more may be +effected in the future when the governing class attain to more enlightened +views of civics and economics, and when the women themselves become +politically and socially conscious of what they want. + +4. _Association. The factory system has also made it possible for women to +strengthen their position by association and combination._--Such +association affords women the best opportunity they have ever yet had of +attaining economic independence on honourable conditions. And it is +interesting to note that just as women are now awakening to social +consciousness, and beginning to feel themselves members of a larger whole, +so the Trade Unions are now reaching out to issues broader than the mere +economic struggle, and are beginning to give more attention to social care +for life and health. In the past the Unions have very largely taken what +might be termed a juristic view of their functions. They have been +concerned mainly with wage-questions, with the prevention of fraud through +"truck," oppressive fines and unfair deductions; they have penalised +backwardness in the improvement of machinery. As the management of a +cotton mill concentrates on extorting the last unit of effort from the +workers, so the Unions in the past have very largely concentrated on +securing that the workers at any rate got their share of the results. But +in more recent years the Unions are beginning to see that this, though +good, is not enough. Industrial efficiency may be too dearly bought if it +involves a loss of health, character, or personality, and recent reports +of the cotton Unions show that the officials are increasingly aware of the +seriousness of this matter from the point of view of health. _E.g._, the +heavy rate of sickness among women-workers disclosed by the working of the +Insurance Act has turned the attention of the Weavers' Amalgamation +towards the insanitary conditions in which even now so many operatives do +their work. "Fresh air, which is such an essential to health, is a bad +thing for the cotton industry; what is wanted is damp air, and calico is +more important than men and women. When they are not well they can come on +the Insurance Act. We want to talk less about malingering and more about +insanitary conditions, which is the real cause of excessive claims."[51] +Just as the woman's movement is widening its vision to understand the +needs of labour, so the Unions now are widening theirs to understand the +claims of life and health. The officials are already alive, if +unfortunately the Lancashire parents are not, to the evils of the +half-time system. And the co-operation of women in the active work of the +Union will strengthen this conviction. + +_The Future Organisation of Women._--As women come more and more into +conscious citizenship they will, as Professor Pearson prophesied twenty +years ago, demand a more comprehensive policy of social welfare. We may +expect in the future that the care of adolescence and the care of +maternity will be considered more closely than it ever has been; also that +such social provision for maternity as may be made will be linked up with +the working life of women, so that marriage shall not be penalised by +requiring women against their will to leave work when they marry, and on +the other hand, that the home-loving woman of domestic tastes shall not be +forced, as now so often happens, to leave her children and painfully earn +their bread outside her home. + +One of the great obstacles in the way of attaining such measures of reform +has been, not only the comparative lack of organisation of women-workers +but the difficulty of adapting existing organisations, devised for the +trade purposes of the workers at a single industrial process, to these +broader social purposes. The majority, as we have seen, in Chapter III., +leave work on marriage, and the problem results, how to bridge the +"cleft"[52] in the woman's career and give her an abiding interest in +organisation. How, the old-fashioned craft organiser asks with a mild +despair, how is he to organise reckless young people for whom work is a +meanwhile employment, who go and get married and upset all his +calculations? How are women, whose work is temporary, to be given a +permanent interest in their association? For some women, no doubt, their +work _is_ a life-work, but it is most unlikely it will ever be so for the +majority. Mr. Wells's idea, shared with the late William James, of a kind +of conscription of the young people to do socially necessary work for a +few short years has a curious applicability to women. There are certain +distinct stages in a woman's life which the exigencies of the present +commercial society fit very badly. One can foresee a society arranged to +do more justice to human needs and aptitudes in which girls might enter +certain employments as a transition stage in their careers; then marry and +adopt home-making and child-tending as their occupation for a period; +then, when domestic claims slackened off in urgency, devote their +experience and knowledge of life to administrative work, social, +educational, or for public health. Other women with a strong leaning to a +special skilled occupation might prefer to carry it on continuously. +Different types of organisation will be needed for different types of +work. If the craft Union cannot fit all types of male workers, much less +can it fit all women. Trade Unionism as we have known it mostly +presupposed a permanent craft or occupation, and one of the great troubles +of Trade Unions for women is that so many women do not aspire to a +permanent occupation. The "clearing-house" type of Union suggested by Mr. +Cole to accommodate workers who follow an occupation now in one industry, +now in another, might possibly be adapted to meet the needs of women. +Perhaps a time will come when the Unions that include the "woman-worker" +will be linked up with societies like the Women's Labour League or the +Women's Co-operative Guild, whose membership consists mainly of "working +women," that is to say of women of the industrial classes who are not +themselves earners. + +These speculations may seem to run ahead of the industrial world we now +know. But all around us the Trade Unions are federating into larger and +larger bodies, and when these great organisations have attained to that +central control and direction they have been feeling after for +generations, they will certainly discover that it is essential for them to +develop a considerable degree of interdependence between the Trade Unions +and consumers' co-operation. Therewith they can hardly fail to grasp the +latent possibilities of the membership of women. The woman is much less an +earner, much more a consumer and spender than is the man; she is more +interested in life than in work, in wealth for use than in wealth for +power. She suffers as a consumer and a spender both when prices go up and +when wages go down. It is difficult to believe that the working classes +will not before long develop some effective organisation to protect +themselves against the exploitation that is accountable, in part at least, +for both processes. Mrs. Billington Greig's masterly study of the +exploitation of the unorganised consumer is a demonstration of the need of +awakening some collective conscience in a specially inert and +inarticulate class, and Miss Margaretta Hicks is making most valuable +experiments in the practical work of organising women as consumers. The +supposed apathy and lack of public spirit in women has been largely due to +the lack of any visible organic connection between their industrial life +as earners and their domestic life as spenders and home-makers. Probably +the future of the organisation of women will depend on the degree in which +this connexion can be made vital and effective. + + + + +PART II + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +WOMEN'S WAGES IN THE WAGE CENSUS OF 1906. + +BY J. J. MALLON. + + +Until a few years ago no statistics comprehensive in character relating to +women's wages were available. In 1906, however, the Board of Trade took +"census" of the wages and hours of labour of the persons employed in all +the industries of the country, and the result has been a series of volumes +which, though becoming rapidly out-of-date, nevertheless throw much light +on the general level of wages in various trades and occupations. + +The enquiry made by the Board of Trade was a voluntary enquiry: that is to +say, it was left to the public spirit and general amiability of the +employer to make a return or not as he pleased. There was no penalty for +failure to furnish information. The response to the Board of Trade efforts +was not, however, unsatisfactory, and returns were forthcoming, roughly +speaking, in respect of nearly half the wage-earners employed in the +different industries. Unfortunately, however, the fact that the +authorities were dependent for their information on the goodwill of the +employers has probably given the statistics a certain bias. The schedules +supplied were somewhat forbidding in appearance, and often troublesome to +fill in, and it may fairly be surmised that it was the good rather than +the bad employers who put themselves to the trouble of complying with the +official request. Hence of all the workers employed in the United Kingdom +it was probably those who were more fortunately placed in regard to whom +we now have statistics. The condition of those working for employers who +thought that the less said about their wages-sheets the better, still +remains obscure. The statistics upon which comments are now offered may +therefore convey a more favourable impression than the facts, if fully +known, would justify, especially when it is remembered that 1906, the year +of the census, was one of good trade. On the other hand, it needs to be +borne in mind that since the enquiry was made, the level of wages in many +trades is known to have been raised. + +The Earnings and Hours of Labour Enquiry, as it was officially called, was +directed primarily to ascertaining for each of the principal occupations +in the various trades what were _the usual earnings or wages of a worker +employed for full time in an ordinary week_, the last pay week in +September being the particular week suggested subject to the employer's +view as to its normality. + +With a view to supplementing or checking the details of actual earnings in +a particular week, information was also sought with respect to the _total_ +wages paid in an ordinary pay week in each month, and also with respect to +the total wages paid in the year. From this last-mentioned body of +information it is possible to deduce some tentative conclusions in regard +to the extent to which the industry suffers from seasonal variations. +This matter will be further considered below. It is, however, mainly the +information in regard to full-time earnings in an ordinary week with which +it is proposed to deal. Statistics, it may safely be assumed, are abhorred +of the general reader; but they are the alphabet of social study and +cannot be dispensed with, and certain tables must now be introduced +showing the relative wage level for women in a number of important +industries. It should be noted that the abstract "woman" who is dealt with +in the statistics is a female person of eighteen years of age or over. She +may be, though is not likely to be, a new recruit or learner. She may, on +the other hand, be very old and infirm, though here again the +probabilities are against it. In all cases, however, she works full time, +which roughly we may regard as being about fifty to fifty-two hours a +week. + +The following table shows the average weekly full-time earnings of women +employed in the principal textile industries. In addition to the average, +which may of course be a compound of a great many widely differing +conditions, the proportion or percentage of women whose earnings fall +within certain limits is also shown.[53] + +TABLE A + + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + | | Percentage numbers of | | + | | women working full time | | + | | in the last pay-week of | | + | | September 1906, whose | | + | | earnings fell within the| | + | Industry. | undermentioned limits. | Average | + | |-------------------------|earnings for| + | |Under| 10s. and |15s. and| full time. | + | | 10s.|under 15s.| over. | | + |--------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + | | | | | s. d. | + |All textiles | 13·3| 38·8 | 47·9 | 15 5 | + |--------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |Cotton | 3·0| 20·9 | 76·1 | 18 8 | + |Hosiery | 14·5| 44·4 | 41·1 | 14 3 | + |Wool, worsted | 10·7| 55·6 | 33·7 | 13 10 | + |Lace | 18·1| 49·3 | 32·6 | 13 5 | + |Jute | 6·2| 66·4 | 27·4 | 13 5 | + |Silk | 38·9| 47·8 | 13·3 | 11 2 | + |Linen | 41·7| 49·1 | 9·2 | 10 9 | + +-----------------------------------------------------+ + +The cotton industry stands out conspicuously as showing a relatively high +level of earnings, and we find in marked contrast to the other trades in +this group that only 3 per cent of the women earned less than 10s. a week. +The results coincide of course with popular impression, it being well +known that the mill lasses of Lancashire are the best paid--probably +because the best organised--large group of women workers in the country. + +The woollen and worsted industry, like the cotton, is localised, being +confined mainly to Yorkshire, though the woollen industry of the lowlands +of Scotland is also important. In this trade the results are much less +satisfactory, the average being 13s. 10d., and considerably more than half +the total number employed earning less than 15s. It may be noted, however, +that in one town, Huddersfield, where women and men are engaged largely +on the same work, the average, 17s. 1d., is considerably higher than that +for the United Kingdom. + +Hosiery is also strongly localised, the majority of the workpeople being +employed in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and certain neighbouring +parts of Derbyshire. It will be seen that in order of average earnings +this industry stands next to, though a good distance from, cotton, the +average being 14s. 3d. The best-paid centre is Leicester itself, where the +average is 16s. 2d. Even in this relatively highly paid trade, however, +more than half of the women earned less than 15s., and it should be noted +that this result applies to factory workers only. In the hosiery trade a +considerable amount of homework is also carried on, and though statistics +are not at present available, it may safely be assumed that earnings in +the homework section of the trade are less than in the factory section. + +At the bottom of the list is the linen industry. The average here is only +10s. 9d.; less than one-tenth of the women employed earned more than 15s., +while between one-third and one-half earned less than 10s. The industry, +as is well known, is centred mainly in the North of Ireland, but is also +carried on to a considerable extent in Scotland and to a small extent in +England. The figures for Ireland, however, are not markedly lower than +those for the other districts. It is true that for the whole of Ireland +outside Belfast the average is only 9s. 9d., but the figure for Belfast +itself, namely 10s. 10d., coincides with that for England. + +The manufacture of jute is carried on almost entirely in the neighbourhood +of Dundee. The average is therefore a local average. + +The other industries require no special comment. + +The second large group of trades, important from the point of view of +women's employment, is the clothing industry. Although the averages in +this group do not show the extremes of the textile group, the industry is +nevertheless one in which a great variety of skill and remuneration +prevails. The following are the statistics, certain of the smaller trades +such as silk and felt hat-making and leather glove-making being omitted +for the sake of brevity:-- + +TABLE B + + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | Percentage numbers of | | + | | women working full time | | + | | in the last pay-week of | | + | | September 1906, whose | | + | | earnings fell within the| | + | Industry. | undermentioned limits. | Average | + | |-------------------------|earnings for| + | |Under| 10s. and |15s. and| full time. | + | | 10s.|under 15s.| over. | | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + | | | | | s. d. | + | All clothing | 21·6| 45·1 | 33·3 | 13 6 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |Dress, millinery, etc. | | | | | + | (factory). | 12·6| 39·5 | 47·9 | 15 5 | + |Tailoring (bespoke) | 15·4| 42·4 | 42·2 | 14 2 | + |Dress, millinery, etc. | | | | | + | (workshop) | 28·0| 36·2 | 35·8 | 13 10 | + |Shirt, blouse, | | | | | + | underclothing, etc. | 22·2| 46·0 | 31·8 | 13 4 | + |Boot and shoe (ready-made) | 12·4| 58·9 | 28·7 | 13 1 | + |Tailoring (ready-made) | 24·0| 46·6 | 29·4 | 12 11 | + |Laundry (factory) | 20·5| 52·0 | 27·5 | 12 10 | + |Corsets (factory) | 28·8| 48·3 | 22·9 | 12 2 | + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +It will be seen that the dress, millinery and mantle-making group is +divided into two according to whether the place of manufacture is a +workshop or factory. For this purpose a workshop means a place where +mechanical power is not used, and a factory a place where such power is +used. The distinction also roughly corresponds to the difference between +ordered or bespoke and ready-made garments, ordered garments being made +principally in workshops, and ready-made garments principally though not +so exclusively in factories. This being the case it may perhaps be +surprising that the average for the workshop section, namely 13s. 10d., is +so appreciably below that for the factory section, namely 15s. 5d., and +the statistics in this respect serve to indicate that the introduction of +mechanical power and other labour-saving devices into industry by no means +implies that from the point of view of wages the workers employed will be +any worse off. + +The workshop section of the dress, etc., trade is almost entirely a +woman's trade, the number of men and boys being insignificant. Within the +trade itself a considerable range of earnings exists. Fitters and cutters +form the aristocracy of the profession, but one which is recruited from +the humbler ranks. The average earnings for the United Kingdom of those +who "lived out" amounted to 33s. 5d., and of those who "lived in" 27s. 9d. + +The practice of "living in" and being provided with full board and +lodging, or at any rate being provided with partial board, is a feature of +this section of the trade, some 2500 women and girls out of 40,000 +included in the returns being noted as receiving payment in kind in +addition to their cash wages. + +Another feature of the trade is the relatively large number of apprentices +or learners who received no wages at all, 8·7 per cent of the women and +girls in the dressmaking trade, 43 per cent of the milliners, and 17 per +cent of the mantle-makers being so returned. These, of course, would be +mostly under eighteen years of age, and their inclusion in the statistics +would not affect the average given in the table for women. Considering the +general level of earnings which the statistics disclose, one can only +conjecture that, as in certain men's professions, the existence of a few +well-paid posts exercises an attraction to enter the trade, the strength +of which is out of all proportion to the chance of obtaining one of these +prizes. + +Factory dressmaking is at present a relatively small but at the same time +rapidly-growing group. Being confined mainly to the production of +ready-made clothes the process of cutting is capable of being standardised +and systematised in such a way that the degree of skill required is much +less than that looked for in the highly-paid cutter and fitter of the +"made-to-order" workshop. The other processes also tend to conform to a +certain uniform standard of skill. Hence the range of earnings is much +less wide than in the workshop section of the trade, though as before +noted the general level is higher. It should also be observed that while +time-work is the usual method adopted in the workshops, payment by piece +is very common in factories, and the detailed statistics furnished in the +official report make it clear that this method gives the diligent and +rapid worker a distinct advantage. It is worth noting that the group +showing the highest earnings is that of hand or foot machinists on piece +work. In the dress and costume section the average was 16s. 2d., and in +the mantle section 17s. 8d., as compared with 15s. 5d. for all women. +Statistics also indicate that the fluctuations of employment are much less +extreme in the factory than in the workshop section of the trade, and on +the whole, therefore, it is probably not a matter for regret that the +factory-made article is tending to displace that of the workshop. That the +process of displacement is rapid is indicated by the fact that while, +according to returns made in connection with the Factory and Workshop +Acts, the employment of women in dress, millinery and mantle-making +factories increased by 16 per cent between 1904 and 1907, the numbers +employed in workshops diminished by 7 per cent. The change from the one +system to the other does not always imply a change of workers or even of +premises. The introduction of an electric motor to drive some of the +sewing-machines is sufficient to alter the denomination of an +establishment from workshop to factory; though at the same time it is +probable that such an innovation would not take place unless some +alteration in the general method or organisation of work were also +contemplated. + +The tailoring trade has many points of contact with the dress and +mantle-making trade which has just been reviewed. It too is divided with +some sharpness into a made-to-order or bespoke, and a ready-made section. +The distinction does not imply perhaps quite so clear a division between +factories and workshops, though in this trade also it may be taken as +broadly true that the bespoke is the workshop and the ready-made is the +factory section. In this connection one interesting point of contrast is +presented by the statistics, for it will be seen that while, as before +noted, the factory section of the dress and mantle-making trade showed a +higher general level of earnings than the workshop section, the reverse is +true of the tailoring trade. This is probably due principally to two +facts. The first is that while the work in the bespoke shop is usually +skilled, it does not necessitate any exceptionally well-paid work such as +that done by cutters and trimmers in the dressmaking establishment. The +cutting and other highly-skilled work is done by men, so that women enter +the trade without the inducement afforded by the chance, however small, of +rising to 35s., £2, or even £3 a week which is offered by the dressmaking +workshop. It is probable, moreover, that the small dress and mantle-making +shop enjoys a certain reputation of "gentility" which is less marked in +the tailoring establishment, and finds its equivalent in higher wages. The +second fact is that the processes of simplification and subdivision which +broadly are the characteristics of factory as distinct from workshop +methods can be carried further in the manufacture of men's suits than in +that of ladies' dresses and costumes, so that the general level of skill +requisite to the factory worker is somewhat lower in the one case than in +the other. We thus find that while the average in tailoring workshops is +14s. 2d. as compared with 13s. 10d. in dressmaking shops, the average in +tailoring factories is 12s. 11d. as compared with 15s. 5d. in dressmaking +factories. + +Since the statistics were compiled minimum rates have been fixed under the +Trade Boards Act to apply to the ready-made and wholesale bespoke sections +of the tailoring trade, and there is no doubt that with the minimum rate +of 3-1/4d.[54] an hour, fixed for Great Britain, statistics relating to +the present time would show a marked improvement on those relating to +1906, since a _minimum_ rate of 3-1/4d. probably implies in most cases an +average rate of 3-1/2d. or even 3-3/4d. Moreover, on the testimony of +employers themselves the introduction of a minimum rate has had a +stimulating effect on the trade, bringing about on the part of employers a +vigilance and alacrity to make improvements in organisation, which have +had an effect on the efficiency of the workers and consequently on their +earnings, so that in many cases the Trade Board minimum has become merely +a historical landmark left behind on a road of steady progress. + +So far as the 1906 figures are concerned it will be seen that the average +for the United Kingdom in the bespoke section was 14s. 2d. The detailed +statistics show that London was the highest-paid district, with 16s. 2d., +and Ireland the lowest, with 12s. + +As ladies' costume-making has points of contact with men's tailoring, so +the tailoring trade merges almost imperceptibly through various gradations +of linen and cotton jackets, overalls, etc., into the shirt-making trade, +and this again is closely combined, and, indeed, for statistical purposes +forms one group with the manufacture of blouses and underclothing. + +The shirt, blouse and underclothing trade has become a factory trade to a +much more marked extent than either dressmaking or tailoring. By tradition +shirt-making is the sweated trade _par excellence_. But, as in many other +instances, tradition has outlived the fact, the statistics showing that +while the average earnings, 13s. 4d., are low absolutely, the trade is +nearer the top than the bottom of the clothing trade list, notwithstanding +the fact that the manufacture of shirts is combined for the purpose of the +statistics with that of articles, such as baby linen, in respect of which +the wages are almost certainly much lower than those for men's shirts. It +should be noted, however, that the wages of home-workers are nowhere +included in the statistics. + +The boot and shoe trade, unlike most of the others in the clothing group, +is mainly a man's trade, considerably more than half of the total number +employed being males. Women are employed chiefly as machinists or upper +closers, or as fitters in both cases, being concerned with the manufacture +of the top or upper. The trade is carried on in many centres, the +principal being, perhaps, Leicester, Northampton, Kettering, Bristol, +Norwich, Leeds, and Glasgow. The highest earnings of women are recorded +for Manchester, the average being 17s. 6d., and the lowest for Norwich, +where the average is only 10s. 6d. It is worth noting that the high +average for women in Manchester is combined with a relatively low average +for men, namely, 27s. 8d. + +The laundry trade gives employment to a large number of women, the Factory +Returns for 1907 showing that 61,802 were employed in laundries using +mechanical power, and 26,012 in laundries where such power was not used. +For the whole of the United Kingdom the averages for power and for hand +laundries were practically the same, being 12s. 10d. in the one case and +12s. 9d. in the other. In the case of power laundries Ireland is at the +bottom of the list with an average of 10s. 4d., and the best-paid +districts, namely, London, show an average of only 13s. 6d. A recent +attempt to bring the power laundry industry within the scope of the Trade +Boards Act has failed, the employers opposing the Provisional Order mainly +on the ground of certain alleged technical defects of definition. + +Of other trades in which women are largely employed the following +selection may be made forming a somewhat miscellaneous group. + +TABLE C + + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | Percentage number of | | + | | women working full time | | + | | whose earnings in the | | + | | last pay-week of | | + | Industries. | September 1906 fell | | + | | within the | | + | | undermentioned limits. | Average | + | |-------------------------|earnings for| + | |Under| 10s. and |15s. and| full time. | + | | 10s.|under 15s.| over. | | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |All paper, printing, etc., | | | | s. d. | + | trades | 26·5| 52·2 | 21·3 | 12 2 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |Bookbinding | 19·3| 55·4 | 25·3 | 12 10 | + |Printing | 28·0| 49·2 | 22·8 | 12 3 | + |Cardboard, canvas, etc., | | | | | + | box manufacture | 24·7| 55·1 | 20·2 | 12 3 | + |Paper stationery manufacture| 30·4| 49·5 | 20·1 | 11 11 | + |Paper manufacture | 25·9| 55·8 | 18·3 | 11 11 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |All pottery, brick, glass, | | | | | + | and chemical | 31·0| 49·7 | 19·3 | 11 10 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |Explosives | 32·3| 35·0 | 32·7 | 13 1 | + |Soap and candle | 24·3| 50·5 | 25·2 | 12 5 | + |Porcelain, china, and | | | | | + | earthenware | 29·0| 50·0 | 21·0 | 11 11 | + |Brick, tile, pipe, etc. | 25·7| 64·4 | 9·9 | 11 5 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |All food, drink, and tobacco| 37·8| 44·2 | 18·0 | 11 5 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |Tobacco, cigar, cigarette, | | | | | + | and snuff | 31·1| 46·0 | 22·9 | 12 0 | + |Cocoa, chocolate, and sugar | | | | | + | confectionery | 40·5| 37·2 | 22·3 | 11 9 | + |Preserved food, jam, pickle,| | | | | + | sauce, etc. | 44·4| 43·0 | 12·6 | 10 11 | + |Biscuit making | 33·6| 53·5 | 12·9 | 10 10 | + |Aerated water, etc., | | | | | + | manufacture and general | | | | | + | bottling | 54·8| 42·7 | 2·5 | 9 7 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |Miscellaneous | .. | .. | .. | 12 4 | + |----------------------------|-----|----------|--------|------------| + |Umbrella, parasol, and | | | | | + | stick making | 10·1| 38·5 | 51·4 | 15 7 | + |Portmanteau, bag, purse, and| | | | | + | miscellaneous leather | | | | | + | manufacture | 20·3| 56·3 | 23·4 | 12 8 | + |India-rubber, gutta-percha, | | | | | + | etc. | 14·7| 68·3 | 17·0 | 12 8 | + |Saddlery, harness, and whip | | | | | + | manufacture | 37·5| 55·7 | 6·8 | 10 7 | + |Brush and broom | 47·0| 42·5 | 10·5 | 10 6 | + +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ + +Of the above trades, cardboard box-making, sugar confectionery, +jam-making, and food preserving come within the scope of the Trade Boards +Act, and for these occupations minimum wages have been fixed. The jam and +food preserving trade showed in 1906 the low average for women of 10s. +11d., 45 per cent of the women employed earning less than 10s. and over 26 +per cent less than 9s. for a full week. This trade is also remarkable for +heavy seasonal fluctuations. + +By whatever standard the average weekly earnings of women in the trades +which have been noted are judged, the outstanding conclusion is that they +are generally low to a degree which suggests a serious social problem. +Averages of less than 13s. are frequent in all three Tables which have +been presented, and the reader should be again reminded that these +averages are for women over eighteen years of age working a _full_ week. +Girls and also women working short time have been excluded. For the sake +of brevity, details have not been given in many cases of the percentages +of women earning wages between certain stated limits. But it needs to be +recognised that an average suggests wages which are below as well as above +that figure. Generally it may be stated that where an average is given, +from 40 to 50 per cent of the women employed earn wages at less, and in +many cases at very much less than the average. + +Various attempts have been made to calculate the minimum sum required by a +woman living independently of relatives to maintain herself in decency and +with a meagre degree of comfort. The estimates point to a sum of from 14s. +6d. to 15s. a week as the minimum requirement, and this assumes that the +worker possesses knowledge, which she has probably in fact had no chance +to acquire, of how best to spend her money and satisfy her wants in the +order not of her own immediate desires, but of their social importance. At +present prices the minimum would be 17s. or 18s. + +In the light of this estimate we may note that in the clothing trade +group, for example, 25·9 per cent of those returned earned less than 10s. +per week, and applying this percentage to the total number as shown by the +Factory Returns to have been employed in this particular industry in 1907, +namely, 432,668, we arrive at the conclusion that no fewer than 111,681 +women were in receipt of wages which, measured by a not very exacting +standard, were grossly inadequate. + +The figures with which we have been dealing are, however, those for a week +of full time. No allowance has been made for sickness or holidays, and +what is more important, short time or slackness. + +Almost every trade fluctuates throughout the year, and in many cases this +fluctuation is considerable. For example, in the Dress, Millinery +(workshop) Section the wages paid in the month of August were only 78 per +cent of the monthly average, or, for London alone, 66 per cent. Though +short time in one month is partially offset by overtime in another, there +is but little doubt that in most trades and in most years the balance +comes out on the wrong side, and, properly studied, the Wage Census +volumes reveal the fact that unemployment and short time are important +factors when considering women's wages from the point of view of the +maintenance of decent conditions of living. + +In many respects the wages for a full-time week which we have so far been +considering are indeed an artificial figure. High weekly wages in a trade +where there is much slackness may obviously be less than the equivalent of +low wages in a trade where conditions are steadier. If we are to consider +wages in relation to the needs of the worker, therefore, it is the year +rather than the week which should be taken as the unit. For many reasons, +however, earnings _per year_ are extremely difficult to determine, and +nothing more than an approximation is practicable. + +Dr. Bowley's[55] method is to compare the full-time weekly wage multiplied +by fifty-two with the total wage bill for the year, divided by the number +employed in the busiest week: that is, the week when it may be assumed +that all persons dependent on the trade will be employed except those who +are prevented by ill-health. Supposing, for example, the total wages bill +in a certain trade were £400,000, and the number of persons employed in +the busiest week were 16,000. The average amount per person per year would +be £25 as compared with, say, £29 : 5s., which represents 52 times an +assumed full-time weekly wage of 11s. 3d. We can thus say in this +supposititious case that the yearly earnings of the workers in fact equal +only 52 × 25/29-1/4, or 44 weeks at the full-time weekly wages. + +Owing to certain gaps in the statistical information these results are +subject to certain qualifications of a nature somewhat too technical to +enlarge upon in such a book as this. They may be accepted, however, as +substantially establishing the fact that overtime does not in general +counterbalance short time and slackness, and that in the foregoing review +of earnings on the basis of a full-time week we have been dealing with +figures which are distinctly rosier than the facts warrant. + + +THE MOVEMENT AND TENDENCIES OF WOMEN'S WAGES + +A retrospect of women's wages based on such data as are available confirms +the view that, low as is the present level, the movement is nevertheless +in an upward direction. + +In the cotton trade, employing more than half the women in all textile +trades, women's wages have risen continuously throughout the period of +which we have information. Mr. G. H. Wood, F.S.S., who has made the +movement of wages his special study, estimates that taking the general +level of women's wages in 1860 as 100, the level in 1840 would be +expressed by 75 and in 1900 by 160, so that in the period of sixty years +covered by these figures women's rates of wages would appear to have +increased by more than 100 per cent. Though perhaps not so considerable, a +similar movement has occurred in other trades, and it is interesting to +note that in Mr. Wood's view women's wages have risen relatively more than +men's. Unfortunately, however, the statistics which are available, and on +which his conclusion is based, do not include the great clothing and +dressmaking industry which, from the point of view of women's employment, +is so important. An enquiry on the lines of the 1906 Census was indeed +attempted in the year 1886, but the results are meagre. It may be noted, +however, that comparison of the results with those for 1906 tends to show +that in some branches of the clothing trades wages declined. This fall in +the rate of wages, if such a conclusion is justified, is, however, +probably to be regarded as an exception to the general tendency as +exhibited in the cotton and certain other trades. + +The occupation of women in many fields of employment with which they are +still principally associated, such as spinning and the making of clothes, +is probably as ancient as the industries themselves. The employment of +women as wage-earners in such work is, however, comparatively recent. As a +member of a family, or as a servant or retainer, woman has worked for +generations in many tasks which formerly were, but now, with the increased +specialisation of industry, have ceased to be, part of the ordinary +routine of domestic activity. From this condition it was an easy +transition to the frequent employment of women to assist in their master's +craft, or in the deliberate production for sale of a surplus of articles +beyond what were required for family needs. + +It was probably not until the factory system developed, however, in the +latter half of the eighteenth century, that women were employed to any +considerable extent as wage-earners in industry, and even when they were +so employed there was an intermediate stage in which it was not unusual +for the father or head of the family to appropriate their earnings and +apply them as he pleased. Gaskell lamented the fact that the custom was +creeping in of paying individual wages to women and children, thinking +that it would break family ties. Though it still sometimes happens that +members of a family work together in mills, Gaskell's fears were +undoubtedly justified. Family ties, however, are of many kinds, and it is +probably not correct to assume that the disintegration of the family as a +producing or industrial unit indicates a relaxation of these emotions of +affection, loyalty, and responsibility which spring to mind when the +family is regarded in its social and ethical relationships. + +The fact must, moreover, be noted as bearing directly upon the chief +problem of women's wages that although the family as a producing unit is +no longer of considerable importance, as a spending unit it exercises a +fundamental influence on the industrial system. From the point of view of +food, lodging, medicine, and other items of expenditure, a person is more +interested as a rule in the collective income of the family group to which +he belongs than in his own individual contribution. Many mining districts +in which men can earn large wages show a low wage level for women, while +in such a district as Hebden Bridge, where, as the phrase goes, it pays a +man better to have daughters than sons, the opposite condition prevails. +In both cases the wages are influenced, broadly speaking, by the standard +of comfort of the family rather than by that of the individual. + +If it were the invariable rule for a worker to belong to a family group, +and if families were uniform as regards the number and sex distribution of +their members, there would be no great cause to regret the influence of +the collective family budget upon wages. But conditions are not uniform, +and in districts or trades in which the wage level is largely affected by +the presence of women whose fathers and brothers are relatively +well-to-do, the position of a woman living alone in lodgings is apt to be +a hard one. Where a father earns enough to maintain his family in +reasonable comfort, the daughters going to work in a factory may be +willing to accept wages no more than sufficient to provide them with +clothes and pocket-money, but quite inadequate to afford their workmate +who is living independently a sufficient livelihood. + +These considerations are closely connected with the question whether, in +estimating what is a fair wage for a woman, we should proceed on the basis +of a woman living alone in lodgings, or whether we should admit as a +proper consideration the fact that in many cases the woman would live with +her parents and family, and would have the advantage, if not of assistance +from them, at least of that economy in expenditure which the family group +represents. + +Statistics as to the number of women who live independently are difficult +to obtain, and it is doubtful whether such women form the majority of +those employed. It may be granted, however, that in certain districts and +certain trades the proportion is small, and in these cases it might be +asked whether we should not ignore the type which is exceptional and +consider the wages paid on the basis of actual rather than hypothetical +needs. This, it may be argued, is already done in the case of children or +young persons, in connection with whom the question is never asked whether +the wages paid are sufficient to maintain them independently. + +The answer appears to be clear, though it brings us up against certain +moral considerations. It may be true that the women in a certain industry +or town, in spite of low wages, are all in fact well nourished and +comfortable, members as they are of families which as families are +well-to-do. Great as may be the respect which kinship deserves, it is +submitted, however, that no normal woman should be compelled by economic +exigencies to live with persons towards whom she has not voluntarily +undertaken responsibilities, and that the freedom which economic +independence implies is a right to which every woman willing to work may +properly lay claim. + +Even, therefore, though we dismiss from consideration the great number of +women who have no choice but to live entirely on their own earnings, there +are still grounds on which the position can be maintained that the single +woman living alone with reasonable frugality is the proper test by which, +from the point of view of what is right and desirable, wages should be +measured. + +It should be noted, moreover, that the issue is not solely between women +who live alone and women who are partly supported by their families. There +are also the women who have dependents. According to the 1911 population +Census over one-fifth[56] of occupied women were not single, but married +or widowed, and many of these doubtless have children to support. The +Fabian Women's Group enquiry showed that about half the women workers +canvassed had dependents. The Labour Commission of the United States, in +course of investigating the condition of women and child wage-earners, +found that in a group of 300 families 43 per cent of the family income was +contributed by unmarried women over sixteen.[57] Again, Miss Louise +Bosworth, in a study of _The Living Wage of Women Workers_, published in +1911, found that "the girls working for pin-money were negligible +factors." So far from girl workers being mostly supported at home, it +appears that in many cases the earnings of the single daughter or sister +living with her family, small as they are, are an important element in the +family income. + +It has been shown in the previous section that even in the relatively +well-paid women's trades there are large numbers of adult women in receipt +of wages which are scarcely compatible with mere physical existence, much +less a decent and comfortable life. Men's wages, even in low-paid trades, +are usually sufficient to enable a man who has not undertaken family +responsibilities--which after all are entirely voluntary--to obtain a +sufficiency of food and warmth. The remuneration of working-class women +are in the majority of cases, however, barely adequate to satisfy this +austere standard. We naturally ask, therefore, why this difference should +exist. + +The occupations in which men and women are indifferently employed are +relatively few in number. Even where men and women are employed side by +side in the same trade they are usually engaged on different processes. +The points where overlapping occurs are, however, sufficiently numerous to +enable us to make the generalisation that in those industrial processes in +which both men and women are employed the efficiency or output of the man +is greater than that of the woman worker. In other words, the man is +_worth_ more, and his higher wages are an expression of this fact. + +Even where the man's dexterity or skill is no greater than that of the +woman's his wages still tend to be greater. Usually if an employer can get +both men and women workers he is prepared to pay somewhat more to a man +even though the man's output per hour is no greater than that of a woman. +Put bluntly, a male worker is less bother than is a female worker. A +female staff is always to some extent an anxiety and a source of trouble +to an employer in a way that a male staff is not, and to many employers it +has the great defect of being less able to cope with sudden rushes of +work. Men are, after all, made of harder stuff than women, and only in the +grossest cases do we ever give a thought to men being overworked. With +women, however, not only the Factory Act, but also decent feeling requires +an employer to be vigilant to see that undue strain is not placed on them. + +The greater remuneration of men in those occupations where both men and +women are employed on the same processes is then due to the fact that the +men are preferred to women, and employers are accordingly willing to pay +more to get them. + +Such occupations, however, probably form the exception rather than the +rule, and we have to consider the cases where there is apparently no sex +competition whatever. The nursery-maid wheels the baby's perambulator on +the pavement; the mechanic drives his motor van in the road. They do not +compete for employment in any sense. Generally, indeed, custom has +indicated with a fair degree of preciseness what are men's occupations and +what are women's. Why, then, in distinctively women's occupations should +the wages paid be lower than men's? The answer is not easy, but the key to +the problem is to be found in the broad statement that the field of +employment of women is much more restricted than that of men. Hence the +competition of women for employment reduces their general wage level to a +lower point than that of men, or, as an economist would put it, the +marginal uses of female labour are inferior to those of male labour. + +What is needed, therefore, is an enlargement of the sphere in which women +can find employment; not, be it noted, an increase merely in the number of +occupations, but in the _kinds_ of occupations. Pursuit of this end will +no doubt raise questions regarding the displacement of male labour, but it +is fortunate that in many cases woman's claim would be most strenuously +contested in respect of those occupations which are least suited to her, +and which she ought not to enter. The need of discrimination must be +emphasised. An excursion to the black country should convince even the +most ardent feminist that at the present time tasks are permitted to women +which from every point of view--their dirtiness, their arduousness, and +the strain which they impose on certain muscles--are entirely unsuitable. +It would be folly to increase the number of such tasks. Attention should +be directed to those occupations in which womanly characteristics would +have their value, and in which a woman would not be physically at a +disadvantage. It is to be hoped that public sentiment would then be the +ally rather than the enemy of the movement. The displacement of male +typists by female typists, and the larger employment of women in clerical +occupations, and as shop assistants, to say nothing of the introduction of +women officials in the sphere of local and central government, undoubtedly +represent an advance in the right direction. Paradoxical as it may seem, +an effective means of enlarging the field of women's activities might be +found in the awakening of public feeling against employments which are +unsuitable. The process of analysis and comparison which is implied by +criticism of such employments would undoubtedly indicate directions in +which women's work could be utilised more satisfactorily. This is a +consideration of paramount importance in view of the opportunities and +necessities to which the present war has given and will give rise. It is +for those who influence public opinion to see that in the readjustment of +the economic relationship between men and women reasonable discrimination +is exercised. + +The prohibition of the employment of women on unsuitable work, combined +with educational effort which would make women capable of better and more +responsible work, would give women-workers access to many kinds of +employment from which they are practically excluded at present. Much that +is unsatisfactory and regrettable in industrial life is the result of +sheer inertia and drift, and many an employer would find new and cleaner +and more remunerative methods of employing women if stimulated by the law +and encouraged by an ability on the part of the women to respond to new +methods. The principle of the Factory Acts, and of the minimum wage, +requiring a minimum of safety or comfort and of remuneration, should be +reinforced and strengthened not merely for the sake of its face +value--great though it is--but also for the sake of its stimulating effect +on the management of businesses and its consequent tendency to increase +remuneration. At the same time an attempt should be made to encourage in +girls some sense of craftsmanship and loyalty to their callings, so that +their organisation in trade unions or guilds would become possible. With a +few exceptions collective bargaining and the collective maintenance of a +standard of remuneration are, as regards women's employment, merely +sporadic and intermittent. It is the young woman, the irresponsible +immature untrained amateur worker, without an industrial tradition to +guide her, who is the despair of organised labour. The irresponsibility +and indifference to organisation which she displays are, as often as not, +due to the fact that her employment may not afford a decent livelihood, +and that she is forced to look forward to and seek marriage as the only +way out of an impossible life. But it is also true to say that her +inadequate wages are due to her irresponsibility and indifference. There +is inextricable confusion between cause and effect--a vicious circle which +can only be broken by patient methods of training, helped by the initial +impulse of a legal minimum wage and a legally prescribed standard of +general conditions. + + + + +CHAPTER VII[58] + +THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN + + +_The Shock of War._--The great European War broke out in the summer of +1914. + +The shock was felt at once by trade and industry. July ended in scenes of +widespread trouble and dismay. The Stock Exchange closed, and the August +Bank Holiday was prolonged for nearly a week. Many failures occurred, and +there was at first a general lack of confidence and credit. Energetic +measures were promptly taken by the Government to restore a sense of +security, and unemployment among men during the ensuing year was much less +than had been anticipated. Unemployment among women was for a time very +severe. For this unfavourable position of women there are several reasons. + +In the first place, any surplus of male labour was met at once by a +corresponding new demand for recruits and the drafting of many hundreds of +thousands of young men into the army, aided by the rush of employment in +Government factories and workshops, served to correct the dislocation of +the male labour market. Women were unfortunate in that the cotton trade, +by far the largest staple industry in which a majority of the employees +are women, was also the trade to suffer the greatest injury by the war. + +_The Cotton Trade._--Employment had begun to be slack some time +previously, and the cutting off of the German market was naturally a +considerable blow. Exact statistics are almost impossible to obtain, as +the numbers of looms stopped or working short time varied from week to +week; but figures collected for the week ending October 3 show that +between 58,000 and 59,000 members of the Amalgamated Weavers' Association +were out of work, and over 30,000 were on short time. At Burnley, over +half the looms were stopped; at Preston, over a third. In November, when +things had greatly improved, about 36 per cent of the looms were still +standing idle. + +The amount of short time, or "under-employment," was also very +considerable, as is shown by the fact that the reduction in earnings +exceeded the reduction in numbers employed. The following table is taken +from the _Labour Gazette_, December 1914, and shows the state of +employment in the principal centres of the cotton trade. The figures +include men as well as women; but as women predominate in the industry, +they may be considered as a fair index to the women's position. + +WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 28, 1914, COMPARED WITH SAME MONTH IN PREVIOUS YEAR. + + +-------------------------------------------------+ + | |Decrease per cent in| + | Districts. | Numbers | Amount of| + | |Employed.| Earnings.| + |----------------------------|---------|----------| + |Ashton | 17·6 | 26·2 | + |Stockport, Glossop, and Hyde| 11·6 | 22·0 | + |Oldham | 8·4 | 17·5 | + |Bolton | 2·6 | 13·5 | + |Bury, Rochdale, etc. | 7·4 | 17·7 | + |Manchester | 3·3 | 15·5 | + |Preston and Chorley | 14·6 | 31·7 | + |Blackburn, etc. | 18·0 | 40·9 | + |Burnley, etc. | 4·3 | 47·6 | + |Other Lancashire towns | 15·4 | 32·0 | + |Yorkshire towns | 13·0 | 20·1 | + |Other districts | 11·2 | 20·6 | + | |---------|----------| + | Total | 12·1 | 27·1 | + +-------------------------------------------------+ + +In all these districts women would be affected much the same as men, and +would be out of work in about the same proportion, but as women form a +majority of the occupation, a much larger number of women were in distress +and were without any resource comparable to that open to the men of +recruiting age. In these circumstances the funds of the Unions suffered a +terrible strain. The workers' organisations were faced with the dilemma +whether to pay stoppage benefit to members with a generous hand, in which +case they ran the risk of depleting their funds and losing the strength +necessary for effective protection of the standard of life; or, on the +other hand, to guard their reserve for the future and leave many of their +members to suffer distress with the inevitable result of loss of health +and efficiency. + +As the winter 1914-15 wore onwards unemployment in the cotton trade +gradually became less acute, but for several months the suffering of the +operatives must have been considerable. + +_Some other Trades._--In London the position was of course extremely +unlike that of Lancashire, but we again find the women suffering heavily, +and (but for comparatively a few) without the support and assistance of a +union. At the first news of war, dressmakers, actresses, typists, +secretaries, and the followers of small "luxury trades" (toilet +specialities, manicuring, and the like) were thrown out of work in large +numbers. Not only in London, but in the country at large, the following +trades were greatly depressed: dressmaking, millinery, blouse-making, +fancy boot and shoe-making, the umbrella trade, cycle and carriage making, +the jewellery trade, furniture making, china and glass trades. In some +cases the general dislocation was intensified by a shortage of material +due to war: the closing of the Baltic cut off supplies of flax from +Russia, on which our linen trade largely depends. The closing of the North +Sea to fishers stopped the curing of herrings, which normally employs +thousands of women, and both the chemical and confectionery trades +suffered from the stoppage of imports from Germany. + +The Board of Trade's Report on the State of Employment in October 1914 +gave the reduction of women's employment in London as 10·5 per cent in +September, 7·0 per cent in October. But this estimate was for all +industries taken together, some of which were in a state of "boom" owing +to the war, and it is certain that the occupations referred to above must +have suffered much more heavily than the average. Many girls spent weeks +in the heart-sickening and exhausting search for employment. In November +the dressmaking, mantle-making, and shirt- and collar-making were in a +worse condition than in the previous month, although trade generally had +improved. + +_The Woollen and Clothing Trades._--In these trades the war brought a +veritable "tidal-wave" of prosperity. The industrial centres of our Allies +were to a considerable extent in the hands of the enemy; thus, not only +new clothes for our regular troops and reserves, and uniforms for the new +armies that were shortly recruited, but also those for the troops of our +Allies were called for in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The woollen towns +of this district became the busiest places in the world, and orders +overflowed into Scotland and the somewhat decayed but still celebrated +clothing region of the West of England. + +The first expedient to cope with the enormous pressure of orders was to +relax the Factory Act. In normal times no overtime is allowed in textile +industries to workers under the operation of the Act (viz. women, girls +under eighteen, boys under eighteen, and children), and employment is +limited to ten hours a day. In view of the tremendous issues involved, +permission was given to employ women and young persons for two hours' +overtime. The results, as it turned out, soon showed, however, that +overtime is bad economy, for the number of accidents increased greatly in +the period of greatest pressure, and averaged one a day in the December +quarter, and the secretary of the Union also reported that the period +during which these very long hours were worked coincided with a +remarkable increase of illness among the operatives involved. Probably +one-third more cases were on the Approved Societies' books during December +than in September and October.[59] Although the women rose most pluckily +to the occasion and did their heavy task cheerfully in the consciousness +of supplying their country's need, it is certain that many were taxed +beyond their strength, and in January 1915 the overtime permitted was +reduced to nine hours weekly. The women, when they complained, complained +not of overwork but of insufficient pay. An increase of 1-1/2d. per hour +during overtime was asked, and considering the strain involved, seems a +far from excessive demand; but the trade is unfortunately much less well +organised than the cotton trade, and female workers--73 per cent of the +whole--could not in most districts enforce this claim. Khaki is more +trying to the operatives than some other kinds of cloth to which they are +better accustomed, and it is more difficult to weave. Even with overtime +work the women did not earn much more than they would working usual hours +on ordinary cloth. The wages paid appear to have been, as so often is the +case with women's work, chaotic. Many employers honourably paid a fair or +recognised price; others took advantage of the weakness of the workers to +pay rates not far from sweating prices. In the clothing trade the +Government was conscientiously paying handsome rates to contractors for +the making of uniforms, but without effectively enforcing the payment of +fair wages to labour by the contractors. Hence even the Trade Board +minimum--a low standard, especially considering the rise of prices--was +successfully evaded by some firms.[60] + +_Maladjustment and Readjustment._--The question may well be asked, why +women should suffer unemployment in war-time at all. War produces an +urgent demand for a great deal of the work women are best fitted to do, +such as nursing, the making of clothes and underclothes, the manufacture +of food stuffs and provisions on a large scale, the organisation of +commissariat and hospitals, the collection and overlooking of stores. In +point of fact, the requirements of the troops, as we have seen, provided +increased employment for some women, though probably not for nearly as +many as those who suffered from the shrinkage of ordinary trade at the +beginning of the winter; later on the demand became so great that there +was an actual scarcity of women workers in many trades. + +One strange feature of those autumn months of 1914 was that while recruits +were continually to be seen marching in plain clothes, without a uniform, +numbers of London tailors and tailoresses were without employment. Many of +the recruits were also, at first at all events, unprovided with needful +elementary comforts, and amateurs were continually pressed to work at +shirts and knitting for them. Women employed in the manufacture of stuffs +or clothing for the troops or in certain processes of the manufacture of +armaments or appurtenances were overworked, while other women were totally +or partially out of work. The characteristic immobility of labour was +perhaps never more clearly seen. + +It may be admitted of course that a wholesale transference of workers from +the area of slump to the area of boom would never be possible all at once. +The machines necessary for special work will not at first be forthcoming +in numbers sufficient to meet a demand suddenly increased in so enormous a +proportion. Then, again, a new demand for labour is usually a demand +predominantly for young workers, and the older women thrown out of work +may find it very difficult to adapt themselves to new requirements. Skill +and practice in the handling of machines are necessary; machines differ +very greatly. A dressmaker cannot, off-hand, be set to make cartridges or +even uniforms. In some branches of industry a high degree of specialised +skill may be a positive disadvantage in acquiring the methods of an allied +but lower skilled trade; _e.g._ it has been found that tailors and +tailoresses who have become expert in the handwork still largely used for +the best "bespoke" work, the aristocracy of the trade, cannot easily adapt +themselves to the modern "team work" tailoring, in which division of +labour and the use of machinery play a considerable part; they may even +impair their own special skill by attempting it.[61] In some processes a +delicate sensitiveness of finger is a first essential for the work, and +the operatives dare not take up any rough work which might impair this +delicacy, their stock-in-trade and capital. Again, the difference of +wage-levels in different industries is a cause of immobility of labour. +Lancashire cotton workers might have adapted themselves without much +difficulty to the processes of the Yorkshire woollen trade, but they could +not have accepted the rates current in an imperfectly organised trade, and +there would have been obvious difficulty in paying imported workers at a +scale higher than those enjoyed by the local operatives. + +A good deal of dovetailing, however, can be done to bring the work to the +workers or the workers to the work, and much more could have been done if +the Local Government Board had taken the question of unemployment more +seriously in the years preceding the war. But the local bodies were +uninstructed, and in many cases had little idea of anything better than +doles. In spite of the funds collected, there can be little doubt that +much suffering, especially among women, was neglected and let alone, and +the irregular payment of separation allowances at the beginning of the war +added to the distress. + +Voluntary effort, it needs hardly saying, was instantly ready to do its +best to meet the occasion. The Suffrage Societies, in especial, did +splendid work in improvising employment bureaux and relief workrooms for +the sufferers. A special fund and committee were also formed, under the +style of the Central Committee for Women's Employment, to find new +channels of employment for women. This Committee was presided over by the +Queen, and was aided in its labours by specialists highly versed in +industrial conditions, and its efforts for adjustment are full of +interest. + +The primary aim of this Committee was to equalise employment in factories +and workshops. The problem was how to achieve the adaptation, as far as +possible, of unemployed firms and workers to new and urgent national +needs. It had been supposed that only certain special firms could make +army clothing, and that the numerous women and girls thrown out of work in +ordinary wholesale tailoring would be unable to do unaccustomed work. A +business adviser of the Committee suggested to the War Office authorities +some simplifications in the make of military greatcoats and uniforms. The +experiment was tried, with the result that many thousand great-coats and +uniforms were made by firms which under the dominance of red tape must +have stopped work. In the shirt-making, also, much unemployment occurred +at first, and the Committee gave information to firms not previously +employed by Government that they could apply for contracts. Carpet-yarn +factories were utilised for the supply of yarn to satisfy the enormous +demand created by the war. Numbers of orders for shirts, socks, and belts +were placed in dressmakers' workrooms, and carried out by women whose +normal occupation had failed them. + +Another field of this Committee's work was to stimulate the introduction +of new trades and open new fields of work for women wage-earners. This is +a difficult undertaking at a time when spending power must be much +curtailed, but it may be destined to have good results in happier times, +and in any case any widening of the field of employment for women, any +development of their technical skill, is much to be welcomed.[62] + +Besides these deeply interesting attempts at regulating and adjusting the +market for skilled labour, there remains the vast army of the unskilled. +Here we had during the first winter of war the influence of a new idea +working, the perception that something better than relief work, something +infinitely better than charity, was possible. In some of the workrooms +started by voluntary effort orders were obtained for underlinen, toys, +etc. On a small scale there need be no great objection to this if the +educational factor were prominent, but it is necessary to point out that +no real adjustment of the labour market is effected by inducing ladies to +make purchases in a workroom that they might otherwise have made in an +ordinary shop, the employees of those shops probably themselves suffering +from shortage of employment. The workrooms started under the Central +Committee for this class of workers adopted the plan of setting them to +make useful articles, not for sale but for distribution among the poor, +such as layettes for infants and clothing for necessitous mothers, also to +the mending or remodelling of old clothes, the manufacture of cradles from +banana crates, and so forth. In most workrooms a good meal was provided in +the middle of the day, and some of the women were instructed in its +cooking and service. + +The leading idea of workrooms on these lines is that temporarily the +workers should be taken off the labour market altogether, that they should +be paid not wages but relief, and that the relief should be robbed of its +degrading associations by being combined with a system of training the +women to do something they could not do before, or at all events to do it +better than before. The requirement of attendance at the workroom (usually +for forty hours weekly) was a guarantee of genuine need. This method of +dealing with the problem of distress is probably as satisfactory as any +that could be devised off-hand, though the workrooms did not escape +criticism on the score of attracting girls away from "normal +employment."[63] This is no doubt possible, the scale of women's wages in +"normal employment" being still unfortunately so low. Ten shillings a week +would not attract workers away from decently paid work done under decent +conditions. The criticisms, however, point to the desirability of such +arrangements being carefully co-ordinated to avoid overlapping, especially +with the technical training provided by the Education Authority. + +Although the working of the plan was good as far as it went, it went +unfortunately only a little way. By the first week in November a couple of +dozen centres of employment had been started, and perhaps 1 per cent of +the unemployed women had been provided with work in the workrooms.[64] +There were besides uncounted thousands whose work and wages were reduced +to a mere fraction of what they had previously been. Had the local +authorities been already educated by the Local Government Board to take a +broader view of their responsibilities and more scientific measures in +discharging them, a great deal more of the ground might have been +effectively covered. It is to be hoped that if similar measures are needed +after the war, as seems likely to be the case, the experience of 1914-15 +will bear fruit. + +_The New Demand for Women's Labour._--With the continuance of war an +unexpected situation gradually shaped itself. The clothing and +accoutrement of the great army that was speedily recruited, as well as +urgently-needed supplies for France, and for Russia, so far as they could +be transported thither, created a huge demand for labour, and by December +the shortage of skilled labour was a serious problem. More especially was +this the case with the munitions group of trades, which became the largest +and busiest of all. With some lack of foresight too many men from these +industries had been allowed to enlist, and eventually some were even +brought back from the front. Thousands of women poured into armament +making; factories have been adapted to meet the new demands; trade union +rules and legislative requirements have been considerably relaxed; women +to a limited extent are replacing men. These are some of the outstanding +features of a situation which is already bewildering in its complexity. + +The shortage of skilled workers which has formed and still forms so +serious a difficulty in supplying the army, is due not only to the +enlistment of skilled men, but also to the tendency which the past thirty +years or so have unfortunately shown to be increasing, for the +displacement of the skilled by the unskilled worker. The ignorance of +parents and the attraction of the "blind alley" occupations for the +children of poor homes, where every shilling counts, combined with the +organisation of business primarily for profit and the inadequacy of social +safeguards in this matter, have created a difficult position. The lack of +training and experience is, however, much more general among women than +among men, and has formed a serious obstacle to their employment. The +replacement of men by women in manufacturing industry has thus been less +than might have been expected. Women have to a considerable extent +replaced men in commercial and clerical work, in some occupations in and +about railway stations, also as shop assistants, lift-attendants, etc. +There are even suggestions that the underground railway service of London +might be entirely staffed with women; but up to the time of writing this +has occurred only to a limited extent. There has of course been an +enormous increase in women's employment, but a large part of the war +demand is for goods on the manufacture of which women normally +predominate, as clothing, food-stuffs, etc. Another large part of the +demand is for work on such processes as the filling of shells, and is now +swollen to an unparalleled degree. What has happened has been that +subdivision of processes and grading of labour have been introduced, as +well as mechanical adjustments to facilitate the employment of women. As +usually happens when women are introduced to a new trade or branch of a +trade, the work is more or less changed in character. No doubt the +pressure of war conditions has had the effect that women are now +performing processes that were previously supposed to be beyond their +strength or skill or both, especially in leather, engineering, and the +wool and worsted trades. The line of demarcation between men's and women's +occupations is drawn higher up. But women have not to any great extent +replaced men in the skilled mechanical trades, the immediate and +insurmountable obstacle to such replacement being their lack of skill and +training. In certain trades, however, where women have been given +opportunity and facilities to undertake work involving judgment and skill, +they have, aided by the stimulus of patriotism, shown both intelligence +and initiative, revealed unexpected powers on processes hitherto performed +by men, and done work "of which any mechanic might be proud" (see report +mentioned below; compare the _Engineer_, Aug. 20, 1915). + +The lack of training therefore may perhaps explain the very small results +that have so far followed from the appeal to women to register for +war-work, made by the Government in March 1915. As to the origin of this +appeal, little is definitely known. It may have been intended as a +recognition of the efforts and sacrifices already made by women during the +war. It may have been, as some suggest, probably not without foundation, +that the measure was instigated by the Farmers' Union, in the hope of +getting cheap labour on the land instead of raising the wages of men. The +women's organisations were not consulted, and even the Central Committee +on Women's Employment, then anxiously engaged in reviewing and where +possible adjusting the dislocation of women's employment, had, we believe, +no previous notice of the appeal. A very small proportion only of the +women who registered were called upon to work within the next few months; +only three or four thousand out of 80,000. This small result is said to be +due to the fact that only a very small proportion were capable of the +skilled jobs awaiting them.[65] In great part the new demand for labour +has been met by the overflow from other industries, though it has been +supplemented by the addition of voluntary workers of the class usually +termed "unoccupied," that is to say, not working for wages. There are +obvious risks in bringing women from the upper and middle classes into a +labour market the conditions of which are usually much against +working-women; on the other hand, such an arrangement as was made, _e.g._ +that amateurs should train so as to replace ordinary working women for the +week-end, seems an admirable device to use the superfluous energies of +the leisured so as to give the workers time for rest and recuperation. + +Another problem arising out of the present extension of women's employment +relates to the enormous strain imposed upon the women and the inadequate +pay they have in many cases received. We have touched on this point above +in connection with the wool and worsted trades. Incidentally these +conditions show that the unorganised state of women prevents their taking +full advantage of the labour market even when the position is +strategically in their favour. In some of the processes on which women +have been introduced the skill required is quite considerable, and the +output varies, depending greatly on the worker's health and strength. High +speed cannot be maintained without proper intervals of rest; prolonged +fatigue reduces capacity. The prime conditions for a persistently high +output are a scientific adjustment of hours of work, adequate food, +ventilation, and necessary comforts. These facts in the twentieth century +are not unknown, but in war-time they were practically ignored. Many of +the women on war-work were grievously overworked, and though praised for +their patriotism in working overtime, did not receive wages sufficient to +afford them the extra nourishment and comforts they should have had. In +some cases, especially if doing men's work, they were highly paid; in +others the pay was not only below the standard of a man, but was +inadequate to maintain the physical endurance required. The patriotic +feelings of women-workers were shamefully exploited, and the state of mind +revealed by persons who should have known better was deplorable. In one +case of a prosecution by the Home Office the magistrate refused to +convict, although a girl under eighteen had been employed twenty-four +hours without a break, after which she met with an accident. + +Yet another problem arises out of the substitution of women for men. We +have seen reason to suppose that this is taking place less extensively +than is supposed, but it undeniably occurs, and may assume much greater +proportions before the war is over. + +Are women who replace men to be paid merely the wages that women of the +same grade of skill usually are paid? In that case they will be +undercutting men, and preparing a position of extreme difficulty after the +war. Or are the women to be paid the same wages as the men they replace? +They certainly should, wherever the work is the same. As we have seen, in +many cases the women do not do exactly the same work as men, and indeed in +the interests of their health and efficiency it is often highly desirable +they should not do quite the same. It may be quite easy, _e.g._, for a +woman to cut off yards of cloth to sell across the counter, but it may +happen that the man she replaces not only did this but also at intervals +handled heavy bales of goods which are beyond her strength. In such cases +as this a rearrangement of work with due regard to relative strength is +desirable, and a rigid equality of wages should not be insisted on. +Organisation of all women-workers employed to replace men is become a more +pressing need than ever, to ensure first that women should not be paid +less than men merely because they are women; second, that women should not +have work thrust upon them that is an injurious strain on their +constitutions; third, that the future interests of the men now serving in +the field should not be disregarded. The point insisted on in Chapter +IV., that women need not only to be enrolled in Unions but to have a voice +in the management and control where they are organised along with men, has +been made plainer than ever. So strongly was this felt at Manchester that +a special committee was formed for the protection of women's interests in +munition work, and for co-operation with the interested trade unions in +any movement towards the organisation of the women. A special campaign for +the organisation of munition workers was initiated and carried on by the +National Federation of Women Workers. + +_The Results the War may have._--It is impossible as yet to estimate what +effects the war will ultimately have in modifying the position of women. +The surplus of women, in itself a source of much social ill, will be +increased; the young girls of to-day have a diminished prospect of +marriage. At the same time the spending power of the community must almost +certainly be curtailed, and apart from military requirements there will be +a less demand for women's work in many occupations. Thus at the very time +that women will need more than ever to be self-dependent, their +opportunities of self-dependence will be narrowed. Another aspect, a more +hopeful one, is that the scarcity of men may improve the position of women +and lead to their being entrusted with posts, not necessarily identical +with those of men, but more responsible and more dignified than those +women have usually filled. Objections of a merely conventional nature are +likely to disappear. It seems also possible that the present shifting of +women's employment out of the luxury trades that ebb and flow according to +fashion and idle caprice, into Government service and trades vitally +necessary to national existence, may remain after the war, only that +women's energies may then, as we hope, be turned once again to save life +rather than destroy it. + +There are signs that a deeper and more intimate consciousness of society +as a whole may operate in favour of women. The recruiting campaign, for +instance, may induce certain reflections. Between 1891 and 1900, 781,475 +male infants died under a year old in England and Wales alone, making an +average death-rate of 168 per thousand births. If even the very mild +measures for the improvement of sanitation and the care of infants and +nursing mothers that have been adopted in recent years had been customary +twenty years ago, we should have now in England some hundreds of thousands +more lads of recruiting age or approaching it than are actually here, and +many of those who survived the high death-rate of those years would have +escaped damage in early years and be stronger and finer men than they are. +If we now adopted much more generous measures to the same end, we could +probably save some hundreds of thousands more to serve their country in +twenty years' time. And all this would cost an infinitesimal sum in +comparison with what is now being poured forth to make these young men as +strong and fit for the field as possible. The militarists, if they were +consistent, would realise that at the back of the army stands another +army--the army of the poor working women, underfed, overworked, badly +housed, and insufficiently clad. The patriots, if they were more +clear-sighted in regard to their own desires, would spend a great deal +more time and energy in demanding, for the sake of military efficiency, +that the conditions under which the nation's babies are brought into the +world and the mother nursed and nourished should be changed in a quite +revolutionary manner. Some of us may not love this style of argument; the +view of men as "food for powder" and women as mere feeders of the army may +seem an ignoble one. Those who hold such views will, however, have to +consider their implications more closely. + +It was a curious coincidence, perhaps even not a wholly fortuitous one +(who can say?), that in the very week preceding our declaration of war, +when Europe was already resounding with the tramp of armed men and the +rumble of artillery wheels, the Local Government Board should have issued +its first memoranda on the subject of Maternity and Child Welfare. These +circulars, addressed to County Councils and Sanitary Authorities, +advocated a considerable extension of the work of Public Health +Departments in the direction of medical advice and treatment for pregnant +and nursing mothers and their infants, and an extensive development of the +system of home-visiting of women and infant children already in existence +in some places. Parliament has already voted a grant to the extent of 50 +per cent of the cost in aid of local schemes for Maternity and Child +Welfare. The immediate appeal of the War Relief Fund and the difficulties +of its administration have, no doubt, combined with the inertia +characteristic of many local authorities to efface any very bold +initiative on the more fundamental but less clamant questions raised in +the Local Government Board memorandum. Still, the fact remains that the +needs of the woman and the young child have been at last recognised as +vital, however inadequate the means taken to meet them have so far been. +These needs will be urged by Women's Societies and by labour +organisations, and the war will have the effect of bringing them into +stronger relief as time goes on, and may supply the impetus for a still +more drastic scheme, on the lines advocated by the Women's Co-operative +Guild.[66] + +It is now recognised, or is coming to be recognised, that it is not alone +the soldier who serves his country in war; the great part played by +industry in building up the nation's life is equally vital. "Industry and +commerce," writes Mr. Arthur Greenwood, "are not primarily intended as a +field for exploitation and profit, but are essential national services in +as true a sense as the Army and Navy." Such a recognition should have its +effect in raising the woman's position, the special economic weakness of +which is, that her value to the community is greater than any that can be +measured in pounds, shillings, and pence, while nevertheless she, like +others in a competitive society, is compelled to measure herself by +competitive standards. During the war industrial women have been working +day and night to supply military and naval requisites, taking their part +in national defence as truly as if they could themselves aid in +slaughtering the enemy, and not without considerable overstrain and damage +to their own health and strength. Others, again, have spent their time and +strength toiling to make good the deficiencies in Government organisation, +not only for the relief of distress and unemployment, but even for the +needs of recruits themselves. Working women in their homes bear a +disproportionately heavy share of the burden of trouble and anxiety caused +by the rise of prices in the necessaries of life. Vast numbers of women +have offered up their sons and brothers in battle; hundreds of thousands +have lost their employment and been reduced to poverty and distress. The +efforts and sacrifices made by women cannot have passed wholly unnoticed +by the Government, and we may hope that some real development of the +position of woman, especially of the working woman, will follow the +hoped-for settlement of this terrible crisis. + +Even the thoughtless sentimentality of the well-to-do leisured woman has +been touched to finer issues. Impelled to "do something" for the soldiers, +she turned instinctively to the traditional or primeval occupations of +women, and wanted to make shirts, etc., with her own hands. She was, +however, here confronted with the new idea that the needs of the +unemployed working woman must be considered. In the autumn it was +suggested those who could afford new clothes should order some to +stimulate employment. In the spring and early summer, on the contrary, the +utmost economy was advocated, capital being scarce. The most irresponsible +class in the community were thus asked to realise themselves as members of +society, to understand that philanthropy was not merely an opportunity for +them to save their own souls, that even their personal expenditure was not +a merely private matter, but that both must be considered in relation to +the needs of the commonweal.[67] + +_Constructive Measures._--The experience of the war should certainly lead +to some better-thought-out method of dealing with times of stress and +unemployment than has ever yet been in operation, especially with regard +to women. It would be beyond the scope of this volume to draw up such a +scheme in detail, but some points may be indicated. The need of better +training has become plain. To raise the upper limit of school attendance +is urgent, if education is to be worthy of the name. A better all-round +training at school would give girls more choice of occupation, and would +not leave them so much at the hazard of one particular process or trade. +Develop a girl's intelligence, train her hand and eye, and she will be +helped to master the technical difficulties of whatever occupation she may +wish to follow or work she may need to do. For older girls special +technical and domestic courses may be most valuable, especially if taught +in such a manner as to occupy the mind and increase the capacity, and not +as mere mechanical routine. It was noted during the boom of work for the +army that girls who had been trained in a trade school could adapt +themselves more readily to a new and unaccustomed process than could those +who had only ordinary workshop training. As a further development of the +education question the experience of 1914-15 should lead to the provision +of increased facilities for physical exercise in the open air (and time to +use them) for young people of both sexes. In the first winter of war we +were all amazed at the change effected by a few months' training and fresh +air, at the fine well-set-up young men who had lately been weedy clerks +and pale-faced operatives. It may perhaps dawn upon us after the war that +if the country can afford to satisfy the elementary needs of healthy life +in young men when they stand a good chance of dying for her, it might be +worth while to do something of the same kind for those who are to live for +her and make her future. Perhaps eventually even the physical health and +soundness of girls may be held to justify some provision for exercise in +the open air. + +In the second place, the local authorities should at times of stress offer +all the useful employment they possibly can find to women at fair rates of +wages. The more genuine employment a municipal body can find for women in +time of need the better, whether by anticipating work that would normally +be wanted a few months later or by increasing the efficiency of special +services, such as the educational or health services, district nursing, +cleansing and sweeping of schools and other buildings. Why not organise a +grand "spring cleaning" of neglected homes, with domestic help to aid the +overtaxed mothers of families? Special investigation of particular +industrial or sanitary conditions as to which information was needed might +well be carried out at times when educated women of the secretarial and +clerical professions are unemployed. + +It is evident that we need a better scheme of Employment Bureaux for +women. There should be a centre of information and a clearing-house where +workers, found superfluous in their previous occupation, could be drafted +into such new ones as they were capable and willing to undertake, and this +might possibly be worked in conjunction with a system of training. The +comparative success of the work hurriedly improvised, and with many +difficulties, by the Central Committee on Women's Employment, is a clear +indication that some similar organisation on a larger scale, say a +National Advisory Council, linked up with the Labour Exchanges and +representative of women's organisations, might be infinitely valuable. + +Another constructive movement that seems to be gaining ground is that for +the organisation of women as consumers. At the end of Chapter V., written +early in 1914, I ventured to prophesy that some such form of association +would be needed as a complement to the work of organising industrial +women-workers. In June 1915 a number of women's societies were engaged in +forming an association to take measures to counteract the war scarcity and +increase the supply of food, to extend agricultural and horticultural +training for women, to improve the feeding of children in schools, to +establish cost-price restaurants for the poor, and to urge the Government +to form an Advisory Committee to deal with the whole subject and take +steps to control the rise of prices, such a committee to include +representatives of women householders.[68] Such an association may have +great results, directly in the attainment of the objects set forth, +indirectly in the stimulating of public spirit and a sense of citizenship +among women. + +There is, however, little ground for hoping that the war will of itself +lead to social measures of reconstruction or to the development of a +better-organised state, whether in regard to women or in regard to labour +generally. Some can find spiritual comfort and sustenance in the idea that +by fighting German militarism we are destroying tyranny and despotism +among ourselves. On the contrary, it may be that in fighting we are +impelled to use as a weapon and may be giving a new lease of life to +precisely those tendencies, those forces in our own social life which we +are opposing among the Germans for all we are worth. Class domination, the +rule of the strongest, and the idealisation of brute force are not +peculiar to Germany, although unquestionably, as we have been driven to +see, they have there reached an extraordinary exuberance. But the same +tendencies are here, and we may be sure democracy will not come of itself, +merely as a result of the war. War inevitably means for the time the +predominance of man over woman, the predominance of the soldier over the +industrial, the predominance of reaction over democracy. It is significant +that the stress of war was quickly seized as a pretext for suspending the +protection of industrial workers by the State, and for relaxing the +Education Acts which normally interpose some hindrance to the exploitation +of children by the capitalist employer. The clamour for compulsion and the +shameless underpayment of women in some branches of war work are signs of +the same reaction. Yet in the long run the apparently weaker elements of +society are as vitally necessary as the stronger, and to ignore or silence +their needs is to strike at the heart of life. The problems offered by the +great war, gigantic and staggering as they are, are not so different in +kind from, though vaster in degree and more appalling than, the problem of +the industrial revolution itself. Each is a problem of the development of +material civilisation, which has (we know it now too poignantly) far +outdistanced the growth of civilisation on its social and spiritual side. +Each includes the question whether man is to be the master or the slave of +the mechanic powers his own genius has evoked. Neither can ever be solved +without the conscious co-operation of Woman and Labour, failing which we +must for ever fall short of the highest possibilities of our race. "If +Great Britain is to lead the way in promoting a new spirit between the +nations, she needs a new spirit also in the whole range of her corporate +life. For what Britain stands for in the world is, in the long run, what +Britain is, and when thousands are dying for her it is more than ever the +duty of all of us to try to make her worthier of their devotion."[69] + +CHANGES IN EMPLOYMENT DURING THE WAR 1914-1915. + + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + | I. _Contraction of Employment of Women and Girls. | + | Board of Trade Figures._ | + |---------------------------------------------------------------| + | Reduction in Numbers as compared with July 1914. | + |---------------------------------------------------------------| + | Sept 1914. | Oct. | Dec. | Feb. 1915. | + |-----------------|--------------|------------|-----------------| + | 8·4 | 6·2 | 3·2 | 1·5 | + |===============================================================| + | II. _Cotton Trade. All Work-people, Women predominating._ | + |---------------------------------------------------------------| + | | Reduction of Employment | Reduction of Earnings | + | |per cent of previous year. |per cent of previous year. | + | 1914. |---------------------------|---------------------------| + | | Lancashire and | Burnley. | Lancashire and | Burnley. | + | | Cheshire. | | Cheshire. | | + |-------|----------------|----------|----------------|----------| + | Aug. | 42·1 | 46·0 | 60·9 | 70·7 | + | Oct. | 18·3 | 32·6 | 37·1 | 57·7 | + | Dec. | 9·7 | 19·3 | 20·8 | 38·5 | + | Feb. | 6·3 | 9·3 | 9·0 | 11·4 | + | April | 6·7 | 10·4 | 4·9 | 4·7 | + | June | 6·9 | 6·7 | 5·8 | 6·5 | + |===============================================================| + | III. _Percentage Increase or Decrease compared with | + | same Month in Previous Year._ | + |---------------------------------------------------------------| + | | Sept. | Nov. | Jan. |March. | May. | + | | 1914. | | 1915. | | | + |-----------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| + |London Dressmakers, | | | | | | + | chiefly West End | -11·6 | -14·9 | -14·7 | -15·4 | -13·2 | + |Court ditto | -17·3 | -33·2 | -37·2 | -28·1 | -23·3 | + |Mantle, costume, etc., | | | | | | + | makers | -15·3 | -7·6 | -11·2 | - 2·5 | + 0·6 | + |Shirt and collar makers| -11·7 | 11·8 | -10·2 | - 1·5 | - 2·1 | + +---------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +APPENDIX TO CHAPTERS II. AND IV. + +DOCUMENTS AND EXTRACTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE POSITION OF WOMEN DURING THE +INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION. + + +_Thoughts on the Use of Machines in the Cotton Manufacture._ By a Friend +of the Poor. Manchester Reference Library, 677, 1, B. 12. (Barnes, 1780.) + +"What a prodigious difference have our machines made in the gain of the +females of the family! Formerly the chief support of a poor family arose +from the loom. The wife could get comparatively but little on her single +spindle. But for some years a good spinner has been able to get as much as +or more than a weaver. For this reason many weavers have become spinners, +and by this means such quantities of cotton warps, twists, wefts, etc., +have been poured into the country that our trade has taken a new turn. All +the spinners in the country could not possibly have produced so much as +this, as are now wanted in a small part of our manufacture. If it were +true that a weaver gets less, yet, as his wife gets more, his family does +not suffer. But the fact is that the gains of an industrious family have +been upon the average much greater than they were before these +inventions." + +Page 16. "When I look upon our machines, with a regard to the _Poor_, and +as _their friend and well-wisher_, my heart glows with gratitude and +pleasure on their account, in the full hope that, by means of them, our +manufactures will _continue_, and be _extended_ and _improved_, from age +to age. _Perhaps_, e'er long, our manufacture may be _chiefly of cotton_. +_Linen_ may be almost _laid aside_. Suppose, for instance, _common yearn_ +could be brought to market, made with _cotton warps_. What a sale might we +expect! _Such goods_ would have the demand of _all the world_. Nor is this +at all unlikely to be the case, in some future time. Already cotton yarn +has been offered to sale, as I am very credibly informed, _almost_, if not +_entirely_, as cheap as linen yarn, of the _same length_. _Germany_ and +_Ireland_ then _have_ reason to be alarmed at our machines. Their yarn +manufactures may suffer severely. But surely this will be the highest +advantage to us, by increasing the quantity of _labour_ amongst ourselves +and keeping so much _money_ at home. _Perhaps_, by new improvements, we +may vie with the _East India_ goods in fineness and beauty. And then--what +a prospect would open upon us! But you say all this is a mere _perhaps_. +It is so. And I only offer it as such. But, I ask, is it more _unlikely_ +than our present improvements were, _twenty years ago_? I believe not. +Some tradesmen thought the cotton manufacture at its _highest pitch then_. +It was _then_ but in its infancy. Perhaps it is so yet. Human ingenuity, +when spurred on by proper rewards, _may leave_ whatever has been done +_already_ at a vast distance. We may have goods brought to market, +_cheaper, finer, better_. The necessary consequence of this will be, the +demand _will increase_ and all the world become our _customers_. If we can +_undersell_ all the world, we may have the _custom_ of all the world. +Merchants are alike all the world over. They will go to the _cheapest +market_. What a pleasing thought is this! But in order to do this it is +necessary to _encourage_ our machines, and to keep them as much as +possible to _ourselves_." + + +Description of Interior of a Cotton Mill, in _A Short Essay for the +Service of the Proprietors of Cotton Mills and the Persons Employed in +Them_. Manchester, 1784. (M/c Library, 28269/4.) + +(Quotes instances of jail fever from overcrowding, etc.) + +Page 9. "The Cotton Mills are large buildings, but so constructed as to +employ the greatest possible number of persons. That no room may be lost, +the several stories are built as low as possible. Most of the rooms are +crowded with machines, about which it is necessary to employ a +considerable quantity of oil in order to facilitate their motion. From the +nature of the manufacture, a great deal of cotton dust is constantly +flying about, which, adhering to the oil and heated by the friction, +occasions a strange and disagreeable smell. The number of people who work +in the mill must certainly be proportioned to the size of it. In a large +one I am informed there are several hundreds.... The manufacturers, in +many instances, constantly labour day and night.[70] Of course a great +number of candles must be used, and scarce any opportunity for ventilation +afforded. From hence it is evident that there is a considerable effluvia +constantly arising from the bodies of a large number of persons (well or +in a degree indisposed, just as it happens), from the oil and cotton dust, +and from the candles used in the night, without any considerable supply of +fresh air. There are indeed trifling casements, sometimes opened and +sometimes not; but totally insufficient to subserve any valuable +purpose.... What consequences must we expect from so many pernicious +circumstances? What are the consequences which have actually proceeded +from them? As we have already observed, it is well known that there has +been a contagious disorder in a cotton mill in the neighbourhood of +Manchester which has been fatal to many, and infected more.... Most of the +patients that were ill, having been asked where they caught the fever, +either replied that they caught it themselves at the cotton mill or were +infected by others that had. Several were asked what kind of labour they +followed who were first seized with the disorder. They all replied, they +were the people that worked in the cotton mill." + + +Leicester, 1788. British Museum Tracts, B. 544 (10). + +Humble Petition of the Poor Spinners, which on a very moderate calculation +consist of Eighteen Thousand, Five Hundred, employed in the Town and +Country aforesaid, + +Sheweth, that the business of _Spinning_, in all its branches, hath ever +been, time out of mind, the peculiar employment of women; insomuch that +every single woman is called in law a _Spinster_; to which employment your +Petitioners have been brought up, and by which they have hitherto earned +their maintenance. That this employment above all others is suited to the +condition and circumstances of the _Female Poor_; inasmuch as not only +single women, but married ones also, can be employed in it consistently +with the necessary cares of their families; for, the business being +carried on in their own houses, they can at any time leave it when the +care of their families requires their attendance, and can re-assume the +work when family duty permits it; nay, they can, in many instances, carry +on their work and perform their domestic duty at the same time; +particularly in the case of attending a sick husband or child, or an aged +parent. + +That the children of the poor can also be employed in this occupation more +or less, according to their age and strength, which is not only a great +help to the maintenance of the family, but inures their children to habits +of industry. + + * * * * * + +It is therefore with great concern your Petitioners see that this antient +employment is likely to be taken from them--an employment so consistent +with civil liberty, so full of domestic comfort, and so favourable to a +religious course of life. This we apprehend will be the consequences of so +many spinning mills, now erecting after the model of the cotton mills. The +work of the poor will be done by these engines, and they left without +employment. + +The proprietors of the spinning mills do indeed tell your Petitioners that +their children shall be employed after the manner of the children at the +cotton mills. Your Petitioners have enquired what that manner is; and with +grief of heart they find that a vast number of poor children are crowded +together in an unhealthy place, have no time allowed them for recreation +and exercise, are kept to work for ten or twelve hours together, and that +in the night-time as well as by day; hereby they become cripples and +emaciated beyond measure. That no care is taken of their morals, as your +Petitioners can learn; though these very children are the means by which +their masters are raised to wealth and honours too; for we have heard that +a certain great _mill-monger_ is newly _created_ a knight though he was +not _born_ a gentleman. + + * * * * * + +The adventurers are turning their cotton mills into jersey mills, and new +ones are daily erecting; and our masters show what their expectations are +by undervaluing our work and beating down our wages.[71] + + +1800. Broadsheet, pp. 942, 72, L. 15 (M/c Library). + +(This broadsheet records the resolutions carried at a special meeting of +merchants, manufacturers, and cotton spinners held at Manchester, May 2, +1800, to consider proceedings of meetings recently held for the purpose of +getting Parliament to put a duty on exportation of cotton twist.) + +Resolved--1. That cotton spinning is a manufacture of the first importance +to this country. That it gives employment to a considerable part of the +national capital and to a very large portion of the poor of this county +and of several other counties, the chief part consisting of women and +children who, by means of this manufacture, are rendered highly useful to +the community at large instead of _being a burthen on it, as they would be +if not employed in cotton mills_ (italics added). + + +Broadsheet in Manchester Library (n. d.). + +(Purports to be by an old weaver, deprecating attacks on machinery.) "If +machinery is destroyed, how are your children to be employed, who now, at +an age in which children in other countries gain nothing, can support +themselves? Yes, and not only this, but can earn as much, or even more, +than a hardworking man in other countries, where there are not these +improvements? It is thus that our poor are enabled to marry early and +support a family, as the children, instead of being a deadweight upon +their parents, can more than do for themselves. So great, indeed, have +been our comforts from the demand for our cheap manufactures and the +plenty of employ, that people have flocked into Lancashire from all parts +of the kingdom by thousands, tens of thousands, aye, and hundreds of +thousands too. + + * * * * * + +"If they (machines) are destroyed, how then are you to find support for +yourselves and your families? Where will your children of seven, eight, or +nine years old find employment and money to contribute to the comforts of +all? Will our barren moors support them?" + + +From Alfred's _History of the Factory Movement_, vol. i. p. 16. + +When the first factories were erected, it was soon discovered that there +was in the minds of the parents a strong repugnance to the employment thus +provided for children: the native domestic labourers, being then able +amply to provide for their children, rejected the tempting offers of the +mill-owners, the parents preferring to rear their children in their own +homes, and to train them to their own handicrafts. For a long period it +was by the working people themselves considered to be disgraceful to any +father who allowed his child to enter the factory--nay, in the homely +words of that day, as will be remembered by the old men of the present +age, "that parent made himself the town's talk"--and the unfortunate girl +so given up by her parents in after life found the door of household +employment closed against her--"Because she had been a factory girl." It +was not until the condition of portions of the working class had been +reduced that it became the custom with working men to eke out the means of +their subsistence by sending their children to the mills. Until that sad +and calamitous custom prevailed, the factories in England were worked by +"stranger-children," gathered together from the workhouse. + +Under the operation of the factories' apprentice system parish apprentices +were sent, without remorse or enquiry, from the workhouses in England, to +be "used up" as the "cheapest raw material in the market." This inhuman +conduct was systematically practised; the mill-owners communicated with +the overseer of the poor, and when the demand and supply had been arranged +to the satisfaction of both the contracting parties, a day was fixed for +the examination of "the little children" to be inspected by the +mill-owner, or his agent, previous to which the authorities of the +workhouse had filled the minds of their wards with the notion that by +entering the mills they would become ladies and gentlemen.... It sometimes +happened that traffickers contracted with the overseers, removing their +juvenile victims to Manchester, or other towns, on their arrival; if not +previously assigned, they were deposited sometimes in dark cellars, where +the merchant dealing in them brought his customers; the mill-owners, by +the light of lanthorns, being enabled to examine the children, their limbs +and stature having undergone the necessary scrutiny, the bargain was +struck, and the poor innocents were conveyed to the mills. The general +treatment of those apprentices depended entirely on the will of their +masters; in very many instances their labour was limited only by +exhaustion after many modes of torture had been unavailingly applied to +force continued action; their food was stinted, coarse, and unwholesome. +In "brisk times" the beds (such as they were) were never cool, the mills +were worked night and day, and as soon as one set of children rose for +labour the other set retired for rest. We dare not trust ourselves to +write all we know on this subject, much less all we feel.... The moral +nature of the traffic between parish authorities and the buyers of pauper +children, may be judged from the fact that in some cases one idiot was +accepted with twenty sane children.... In stench, in heated rooms, amid +the constant whirling of a thousand wheels, have little fingers and little +feet been kept in ceaseless action, forced into unnatural activity by +blows from the heavy hands and feet of the merciless overlooker, and the +infliction of bodily pain by instruments of punishment invented by the +sharpened ingenuity of insatiable selfishness.... Some of the helpless +victims ... nightly prayed that death would come to their relief; weary of +prayer, some there were who deliberately accomplished their own +destruction. The annals of Litten Mill afford an instance of this kind. +"Palfrey the smith had the task of riveting irons upon any of the +apprentices whom the master ordered, and these were much like the irons +usually put upon felons. Even young women, if suspected of intending to +run away, had irons riveted upon their ankles, and reaching by long links +and rings up to the hips, and in these they were compelled to walk to and +from the mill and to sleep. Robert Blincoe asserts that he has known many +girls served in this manner. A handsome-looking girl, about the age of +twenty years, who came from the neighbourhood of Cromford, whose name was +Phoebe Day, being driven to desperation by ill-treatment, took the +opportunity one dinner-time, when she was alone and supposed no one saw +her, to take off her shoes and throw herself into the dam at the end of +the bridge, next the apprentice-house. Some one passing along and seeing a +pair of shoes stopped. The poor girl had sunk once, and just as she rose +above the water he seized her by the hair.... She was nearly gone, and it +was with some difficulty her life was saved. When Mr. Needham heard of +this, and being afraid the example might be contagious, he ordered James +Durant, a journeyman spinner, who had been apprenticed there, to take her +away to her relations at Cromford, and thus she escaped." + + +The Factory System. _Enquiry into the State of the Manufacturing +Population._ London, 1831. + +Page 12. "As a second cause of the unhealthiness of manufacturing towns we +place the severe and unremitting labour. Cotton factories (which are the +best in this particular) begin to work at half-past five or six in the +morning and cease at half-past seven or eight at night. An interval of +half an hour or forty minutes is allowed for breakfast, an hour for +dinner, and generally half an hour for tea, leaving about twelve hours a +day clear labour. The work of spinners and stretchers (men) is among the +most laborious that exist, and is exceeded, perhaps, by that of mowing +alone, and few mowers, we believe, think of continuing their labour for +twelve hours without intermission.... The labour of the other classes of +hands employed in factories, as carders, rovers, piecers, and weavers, +consists not so much in their actual manual exertion, which is very +moderate, as in the constant attention which they are required to keep up +and the intolerable fatigue of standing for so great a length of time. We +know that incessant walking for twenty-four hours was considered one of +the most intolerable tortures to which witches in former times were +subjected, for the purpose of compelling them to own their guilt, and that +few of them could hold out for twelve; and the fatigue of standing for +twelve hours, without being permitted to lean or sit down, must be +scarcely less extreme. Accordingly, some sink under it, and many more have +their constitutions permanently weakened and undermined. + +"III. The third cause we shall assign is perhaps even more efficient than +the last. The air in almost all factories is more or less unwholesome. +Many of the rooms are obliged to be kept at a certain temperature (say 65 +degrees Fahrenheit) for the purpose of manufacture, and from the speed of +the machinery, the general want of direct communication with the external +atmosphere, and from artificial heat, they often exceed the +temperature.... But in addition to mere heat, the rooms are often +ill-ventilated, the air is filled with the effluvia of oil, and with +emanations from the uncleanly persons of a large number of individuals; +and, from the want of free ventilation, the air is very imperfectly +oxygenated and has occasionally a most overpowering smell.[72] In a word, +the hands employed in these large manufactories breathe foul air for +twelve hours out of the twenty-four, and we know that few things have so +specific and injurious an action on the digestive organs as the inhalation +of impure air, and this fact alone would be almost sufficient to account +for the prevalence of stomachic complaints in districts where +manufactories abound. + +"The small particles of cotton and dust with which the air in most rooms +of factories is impregnated not infrequently lay the foundation of +distressing and fatal diseases. When inhaled, they are a source of great +pulmonary irritation, which, if it continues long, induces a species of +chronic bronchitis, which, not rarely, degenerates into tubercular +consumption.... + +"IV. The fourth cause of the ill-health which prevails among the +manufacturing population may be traced to the injurious influence which +the weakened and vitiated constitution of the women has upon their +children.[73] They are often employed in factories some years after their +marriage, and during this pregnancy, and up to the very period of their +confinement, which all who have attended to the physiology of the subject +know must send their offspring into the world with a debilitated and +unhealthy frame which the circumstances of their infancy are +ill-calculated to remove; and hence, when these children begin to work +themselves they are prepared at once to succumb to the evil influences by +which they are surrounded." + +At page 27. "We hope we shall not greatly offend the prejudices either of +political economists or practical tradesmen when we state our firm +conviction, that a reduction in the hours of labour is _most important_ to +the health of the manufacturing population, _and absolutely necessary_ to +any general and material amelioration in their moral and intellectual +condition.... It will be urged in opposition that all legislative +interference in commercial concerns is, _prima facie_, objectionable, and +involves the admission of a dangerous and impolitic principle. That +legislative interference is in itself an evil we deeply feel and readily +admit; but it is an evil like many others which necessity and policy may +justify, and which humanity and justice may imperiously demand. +Legislative interference is objectionable only where it is injudicious or +uncalled for. It will also be objected, and with more sound reason, that a +reduction of the hours of labour would cause a corresponding reduction in +the quantity produced, and consequently in the wages of the workmen; and +would also diminish our power of competing with other manufacturing +nations in foreign market, and thus, by permanently injuring our trade, +would be productive of greater evils to the labouring classes than those +we are endeavouring to remove. This objection, though very reasonable, we +think is considerably overstated. That 'a reduction of the hours of labour +would cause a _corresponding_ reduction in the quantity produced' we +entirely deny. What _would_ be the actual loss consequent upon a reduction +of the hours it is impossible to state with any certainty, but it is +probable that if factories were to work ten hours instead of twelve the +loss in the quantity produced would not be one-sixth, but only about +one-twelfth, and in Mule Spinning perhaps scarcely even so much. We +_know_ that in some cases when the mills only worked four days in the +week, they have often produced five days' quantity, and the men earned +five days' wages. That this would be the case to a considerable extent +every one must be aware; as all men will be able to work much harder for +ten hours than they can for twelve. The objection above mentioned we +consider to be much over-stated; and we are convinced that the _loss_ +incurred would only amount to a _part_ of the reduction. And we think that +_all_ loss to the masters might be prevented, and the necessity of a +_real_ reduction of wages obviated, were all duties on raw materials, and +those taxes which greatly raise the price of provisions, abolished by the +legislature. It is principally the shackles and drawbacks to which the +Cotton Manufacture is subjected which renders it so difficult, and as some +think so impracticable, to adopt a measure without which all extensive and +general Plans for improving and regenerating our manufacturing poor must +approach the limits of impossibility. At present (in the cotton trade at +least, which is already restricted by law) the hours of work generally +extend from half-past five or six in the morning till half-past seven or +eight at night, with about two hours' intermission, making in all about +twelve hours of clear labour. This we would reduce to _ten_ hours (if such +a measure should be rendered practicable and safe by a removal of all +taxes on manufactures and provisions); and we again express our +conviction, after regarding the subject in every possible point of view, +that till this measure is adopted all plans and exertions for ameliorating +the moral and domestic condition of the manufacturing labourer can only +obtain a very partial and temporary sphere of operation. We say this with +confidence, because in every project of the kind which we have been +enabled to form, in every attempt for this purpose which our personal +acquaintance and habitual intercourse with the people could suggest, we +have been met and defeated by the long hours (absorbing in fact the whole +of the efficient day) which the operative is compelled to remain at his +employment. When he returns home at night, the sensorial power is worn +out with intense fatigue; he has no energy left to exert in any useful +object, or any domestic duty; he is fit only for sleep or sensual +indulgence, the only alternatives of employment which his leisure knows; +he has no moral elasticity to enable him to resist the seductions of +appetite or sloth, no heart for regulating his household, superintending +his family concerns, or enforcing economy in his domestic arrangements; no +power or capability of exertion to rise above his circumstances or better +his condition. He has no time to be wise, no leisure to be good; he is +sunken, debilitated, depressed, emasculated, unnerved for effort, +incapable of virtue, unfit for everything but the regular, hopeless, +desponding, degrading variety of laborious vegetation or shameless +intemperance. Relieve him in this particular, shorten his hours of labour, +and he will find himself possessed of sufficient leisure to make it an +object with him to spend that leisure well; he will not be so thoroughly +enervated with his day's employment; he will not feel so imperious a +necessity for stimulating liquors; he will examine more closely, and +regulate more carefully, his domestic arrangements, and what is more than +all, he will become a soil which the religious philanthropist may have +some chance of labouring with advantage. We do not say that a reduction in +the hours of labour would do everything; but we are sure that little can +be done without it." + + +Arthur Arnold. _Cotton Famine._ 1864. + +(Describing factory work.) Page 56. "In these days of automaton machinery +there are many moments in every hour when the varied and immense +production of a cotton factory would continue though 95 per cent of the +hands were suddenly withdrawn. The work is exciting but not laborious. It +quickens the eye and the action of the brain to watch a thousand threads, +being obliged to dart upon and repair any that break, lest even a single +spindle should be idle; and it strengthens the brain to do this with +bodily labour which is exercising but not exhausting. It polishes the +mental faculties to work in continued contact with hundreds of others, in +a discipline necessarily so severe and regular as that of a cotton +factory. The bodily system becomes feverishly quickened by thus working in +a high and moist temperature. Even the rattle of the machinery contributes +to preserve the brain of the operative from that emptiness which so +fatally contracts its power." + + +THE SURAT WEAVER'S SONG + +From Edwin Waugh's _Factory Folk_, p. 238. By Samuel Laycock. + + Confound it! aw ne'er wur so woven afore; + My back's welly broken, mi fingers are sore; + Aw've bin stannin' an' workin' among this Surat + Till aw'm very neer gettin' as blint as a bat. + + Aw wish aw wur fur eneagh off, eawt o' th' road, + For o' weaving this rubbitch aw'm gettin' reet sto'd; + Aw've nowt i' this world to lie deawn on but straw, + For aw've nobbut eight shillen' this fortnit to draw. + + Oh dear! if yon Yankees could nobbut just see + Heaw they're clemmin' an' starvin' poor weavers like me, + Aw think they'd soon settle their bother an' strive + To send us some cotton to keep us alive. + There's theawsan's o' folk, jist i' th' best o' their days, + Wi' traces of want plainly sin i' their face; + An' a future afore 'em as dreary as dark, + For when th' cotton gets done we's be o' eawt o' wark. + + We've bin patient an' quiet as long as we con; + Th' bits of things we had by us are welly o' gone; + Mi clogs an' mi shoon are both gitten worn eawt, + An mi halliday cloaths are o' gawn "up th' speawt"! + Mony a toime i' mi days aw've sin things lookin' feaw + But never as awkard as what they are neaw; + If there is'nt some help for us factory folk soon, + Aw'm sure 'at we's o' be knock'd reet eawt o' tune. + + +Darwen Weavers. Report, March 1911, _The Driving Evil_. + +During the last few months we have experienced a decided improvement in +the demand for cotton goods, and which has naturally provided fuller +employment for those employed in the weaving branch. We regret, however, +to state that this improvement has brought with it that curse of our +industry--the driving evil. We still have a number of employers who resort +to any artifice in order to exact the last ounce of effort out of their +work-people. Very little regard appears to be paid to the possibility that +the health of the operatives may be endangered by the process; nor is much +consideration given to the difficulties that they have to contend with in +the shape of inferior material in the loom and the higher standard of +quality demanded in the warehouse. Indeed the only thing that seems to be +of any importance is the average, and woe be to the unlucky individuals +whose earnings fall below it. The weak and the strong are set in +competition one with another, with the inevitable result that the weaker +or less efficient work-people resort to such practices as working during +the meal-hour, etc., in their efforts to keep up the unequal race, whilst +on the top of all is the dread of what may happen after making up time. +When the earnings of an overlooker's set fall below the amount required by +the management, pressure is brought to bear on the over-looker, and in +turn they (_sic_) are expected to put more pressure on the weaver to +increase the output. The methods of speeding-up the weaver are varied. +Sometimes a hint is conveyed by a distinctive mark on their wage-tickets, +in other cases the weavers are spoken to about their earnings, not always +in the best manner or in the choicest language. This is far from being an +ideal state of things for young persons or persons of a sensitive nature +to be employed in, and has in the past been responsible for some of the +tragedies that are a blot on the record of the cotton industry. We think +it is high time that a number of employers should give this matter their +careful consideration, and look upon their work-people as human beings +and not as mere machines to be worked at the utmost speed. We hope that an +early improvement will be made at some of the local concerns, otherwise +there is every probability of serious trouble. + + +EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF THE PRINCIPAL LADY INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES, AND +SOME OF HER COLLEAGUES, ILLUSTRATING THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE WOMAN +WORKER.[74] + +1. _Women and Girls show more Courage in voicing their Needs._ + +While we can see a great number and variety of deplorable contraventions +of the actual requirements and spirit of the law and an amount of +apparently preventable suffering and overstrain and injury to life, limb, +and health that is grievous to dwell upon (except for action in the way of +removal), we can see also, most clearly, signs of improvement and the +promise of much more. The promise lies in the fact that the movement to +secure better conditions is not confined to any one class or group. The +women and girls at last begin to press their claims for a better life than +the one they have, not only by increasing appeals to Inspectors to put the +law in motion, but also by criticism of the limitations of the law and by +signs of fresh courage in organising and voicing their needs to the +employers. Employers are initiating reforms not only as outstanding +individuals and firms, but are beginning to do so at last by associated +action and effort. Without these two responsive sides of the movement the +best efforts of social reformers and legislators would end but poorly. As +strikingly illustrating the need of betterment, I would point not only to +the instances of excessively long hours inside and outside the factories, +insanitary conditions; lack of seats, mess-rooms; accidents and unfenced +machinery; employment of young workers in operating and clothing dangerous +machines; in excessively heavy weight carrying, but behind, and through, +and over all, to the undermining influence for the real health of the +nation in the grinding methods of payment and deductions from payment of +women and girls. Even of industrial poisoning Miss Whitlock says: "Poverty +with its attendant worry and lack of nourishment appeared to be a +predisposing cause in many cases, and the youth of many of the workers +affected was noticeable," and when a woman heavily laden and worn asks, +"Is it right I should have to do this kind of work and only have 8s. a +week?" the Inspector can only listen and report. The sinister instances of +use of homework after the legal factory day to reduce piece rates, of new +deductions covering cost of employers' contributions under the Insurance +Act, of old-standing large non-payments for work done to punish small +unpunctualities in arrival at the factory, and of fine added to entire +loss of a hardly-earned week's wage for alleged damage, are only +outstanding illustrations of an extensive pressure on women's wages that +prevents them from developing their full natural vitality. In every +direction the testimony of the Inspectors to the value of the spirit of +the industrial girl or woman is the same. Of a girl of seventeen, +partially scalped, Miss Martindale says: "Her pluck and bravery were +noteworthy, in fact these qualities show themselves in a remarkable degree +in working girls when they meet a severe physical shock"; of another, +whose hand had to be amputated after vain attempts to save it, she says +that the girl mastered her disappointment, and in two or three days after +the operation began to practise writing with her left hand, and in a month +had become almost as proficient in writing as with the right hand. The +value they attach to inspection is obvious from what follows in this +report, and is shrewdly summed up in a remark overheard by a Senior Lady +Inspector in a northern mill: "Yon's a Lady Inspector, nay, but it's time +we had one." + +2. _A Factory Worker's Letter._ + +_Miss Slocock._--The complaints outside the Acts received during the year +have been interesting, and they often indicate in a remarkable way the +workers' needs and the omissions of present legislation. Irish workers +express themselves graphically and exceedingly well in writing, and the +following letter is a typical one: "Dear Madam, I am sure you will think +it presumption on the part of a factory worker to write to you however as +pen and paper refuses nothing I venture to write you this annonamos +letter. When you come to inspect a factory, does it ever strike you to +look around and see if any of these weary women and girls have a seat to +sit down on. I am a winder myself I have worked in a great many factories +for the last 30 years one looks on their workshop just like their home why +should we be denied a seat I suppose you think our work very light so it +is we have no extra heavy lifts we have mettle cups that I suppose they +would be 2 lb. weight or more we are pushing these up continually the +whole thing is tedious just look around you and you will see some winders +have not so much as a lean for their backs. I hope Dear Lady you see to +this. You would never think of putting a servant to work in a kitchen +without a chair in it, she would not stick it, the winders are an +uncomplaining lot if you asked them would they like to be provided with +seats they would smile and say they were all right, it would look to them +like making complaints behind backs but don't ask us but think about us +and do something for us and our children will rise up and call you +blessed. I hold that rest is essential to Good Health." + +3. _Lighting._ + +_Principal._--An increasing number of complaints is received with regard +to defective natural lighting and badly adjusted or otherwise defective +artificial lighting. The Inspectors do what they can to secure +improvements, though, as the matter is outside the Factory Act, in +general no contravention notice or other official action is as yet +practicable. Two bad cases concerning women compositors in different parts +of the kingdom are specially reported; in both artificial lighting was +required during the greater part of the day, and in only one of these +instances is a remedy being supplied by removal to better premises. In the +other case, when the women learned that lighting is still outside the +Factory Act so far as their case is concerned, they exclaimed to the +Senior Lady Inspector, Miss Squire, "but this is the most important thing +of all to us." + +_Miss Squire._--Badly adjusted light which hurts the eyes was found in +boot factories, where out of nine visited in one town four had the +sewing-machine rooms provided with ordinary fish-tail burners on a jointed +bracket at every machine--these, unshaded, were on a level with the +workers' eyes and close to the face. The girls complained that the light +was poor and had a smarting effect upon the eyes. The adaptation of +artificial lighting to the requirements of the work receives in general +very little attention, but I find that a desire for some guidance in the +matter is growing among employers and managers. One difficulty is that of +procuring any shade for the large metal filament electric lamps now so +largely used. The glare of these in the eyes of machine operatives in all +classes of factories is a troublesome accompaniment of the work, and one +finds much makeshift screening by workers where such individual effort is +permitted. + +4. _Sanitary Accommodation._ + +_Principal._--It is impossible to modify in any general way the adverse +description of the existing state of matters as regards actual provision +of sanitary conveniences for women and girls in factory industries which I +found it necessary to give in last Annual Report, and to that statement I +must refer again and again until there is real and complete reform. The +women Inspectors have nearly doubled their efforts to raise the standard +somewhat in factories, and notices about them to local sanitary +authorities have risen from 538 in 1912 to 1029 in 1913, in addition to +146 notices with regard to workshops. Direct contravention notices to +occupiers numbered 249, while complaints from workers numbered 170, some +of them being very strong in regard to the unsuitability of the +conveniences provided. The one important area in which a decided +improvement is reported is the potteries area, where members of this +branch have been steadily at work for many years, but on the whole the +Midlands and the Lancashire Divisions have still most work to be done in +this direction, for in the former Miss Martindale reports that 381 of the +notices to sanitary authorities touched this one matter, and in the latter +Miss Tracey reports similarly 308 notices. + +_Miss Tracey._--The outstanding defect of all others in this north-west +division is the sanitary accommodation provided for women. It is +impossible to describe in a public paper how low the standard has been and +still is, in many places, where in other respects the conditions are not +only not noticeably bad, but are quite good.... Absence of doors and +screens, uncleanliness and insanitary conditions can all be remedied by +the sanitary authority, and in the large towns at any rate notices of +these matters have received prompt attention, but there still remains the +question of unsuitability of position. Many examples might be given. In a +waterproof factory four or five girls were employed in an "overflow" +workroom of a larger factory, and worked in an upper room; in the lower +room about a dozen men and youths were at work. To reach the sanitary +convenience it is necessary for the girls to walk across the men's room +and through a narrow space between rows of machines at which the men are +sitting, and the wall at the far end of which the sanitary convenience is +situated.... There is no doubt that glass panels in doors, commoner still, +no doors, no bolts, no provision for privacy is all calculated to "prevent +waste of time," and it is a pathetic comment on employment that there +should be this improper supervision and control of decent and respectable +women. That they do sometimes stay longer than is actually necessary in +these places is of course a fact well known to me, but to my thinking it +only shows how great the strain is on women and girls that they should +desire rest so obtained. When one thinks of the perpetual striving, the +work which must never slacken, the noise which never ceases and of the +legs which are weary with constant standing, of the heads which ache, +because the noise is so great no voice can be heard above the din, one can +understand that to sit on the floor for a few moments' talk, as I have +often seen, is a rest which under even such horrid circumstances is better +than nothing. Proper conveniences and the supervision of a nice woman +would do away with all the drawbacks which employers foresee in complying +with the standard laid down in the Order of the Secretary of State so long +ago as 1903. + +5. _Fire Escapes._ + +_Miss Tracey._--In one factory I visited to see an escape recently put up +at the instance of the local authority, and I found quite a good iron +staircase and platform. This was reached by a window which had been made +to open in such a way that it completely blocked the staircase and gave +but a tiny space even on the platform, and the aid of the local officer +was again invoked. Miss Stevenson reports that in the newer cotton mills a +proper outside iron staircase with a handrail is to be found, but the +construction of the older fire escapes shows a great lack of common sense. +In the first place, the narrow, almost perpendicular ladder without a +handrail is peculiarly unsuited for the use of women. The openings from +the platform to the ladders are exceedingly small, and the exit window is +generally 3 to 4 feet above the floor level, no steps or footholds being +provided. To increase the difficulty the exit window is sometimes made to +swing out across the platform, cutting off access to the downward ladder. +In two cases the ladder, and in one case a horizontal iron pipe also, ran +right across the window, rendering egress impossible except to the +slender. In both cases the next window was free from obstruction. + +_Miss Taylor._--Sometimes as many as 100 persons are employed on each +floor of a high building, so that if the outside staircase had to be used +those in the upper floors would, as they descended, meet the occupants of +the lower floors crowding on to the landings. I have never been to a +factory where they had such a fire drill as might obviate the possibility +of overcrowding on these escapes. The women flatly, and I think, rightly, +decline to attempt the descent, on the plea that they do not wish to incur +the danger of it until it is absolutely necessary. I have sometimes been +told by the managers of the factories that they themselves would never +reach the bottom safely if they attempted to go down. Such escapes are to +be found on quite 50 per cent of the cotton mills in Lancashire, and as +they were put up on the authority of the sanitary authority it is +difficult to get rid of them, but one cannot help thinking that there may +be very serious loss of life if the circumstances of a fire should be such +that the workers were obliged to resort to these outside escapes. + +6. _Lead Poisoning._ + +_Miss Tracey._--I spent many days in visiting the cases which had been +certified, and in visiting other cases of illness which were not directly +certified, as due to lead. I visited these workers at their homes and +found them in different stages of illness and convalescence. Their pluck +will always remain fixed in my mind; although many of them were unable to +put into words the sufferings they had gone through, yet not one of them +but was eagerly wishing to be well enough to go back to work. When, as is +so common now, women are accused of malingering, I often wish that +complainants would accompany me on my investigation of cases of accident +or poisoning at the workers' homes, for I know that, like me, these people +would return in a humbled frame of mind, recognising courage and +endurance under circumstances which would break many of us. Without these +home visits it would have been impossible to gauge the extent and severity +of the outbreak of illness. + +7. _Hours of Work and Overtime._ + +_Miss Tracey._--Often we receive complaint of the burden of the long +twelve hours' day, and the strain it is to start work at 6 A.M. A +well-known man in a Lancashire town was telling me only the other day +about how he would wake in the morning to the clatter of the girls' and +women's clogs as they went past his house at half-past five in the dark on +their way to the mills. He had exceptional opportunity of judging of the +effect of the long day's work, and he told me how bonny children known to +him lost their colour and their youthful energy in the hard drudgery of +this daily toil. How the girls would fall asleep at their work, and how +they grew worn and old before their time. We see it for ourselves, and the +women tell us about it. Sometimes one feels that one dare not contemplate +too closely the life of our working women, it is such a grave reproach. I +went to a woman's house to investigate what appeared a simple, almost +commonplace, accident. She was a middle-aged, single woman, living alone. +Six weeks before my visit she had fainted at her work, and in falling (she +was a hand gas ironer) she had pulled the iron on her hand, that and the +metal tube had severely burnt both arm and hand. She was quite +incapacitated. She told me she left home at 5.15, walked 2-1/2 miles to +the factory, stood the whole day at her work, and at 6, sometimes later, +started to walk home again, and then had to prepare her meal, mend and do +her housework. This case is only typical of thousands of women workers. +She got her 7s. 6d. insurance money, and that was all. She made no effort +to enlist my sympathy, but just stated the facts quite simply. Her case is +not so bad as many, for in addition to their own needs, a married woman or +a widow with children has also to see to the needs of the family, meals, +washing and mending, and the hundred and one other duties that are +required to keep a home going. + +In Scotland Miss Vines says that the largest proportion of complaints +relates to excessive hours of employment, while on investigation they are +found sometimes to be within the legal limits, and "there is no doubt that +the working of the full permissible period of employment does sometimes +entail an intolerable strain on the workers." + +_Miss Meiklejohn._--There has again been in West London a marked decrease +in the overtime reported this year. The opinion seems to be that +systematic overtime in the season does not really help forward the work, +and that the extension should be used, as was intended, in an emergency +only. There is a tendency to shorten the ordinary working hours, as well +as to work as little overtime as possible. + +8. _Employment of Women before and after Childbirth._ + +There can be little doubt that provision of maternity benefit under the +Insurance Act has materially lightened the burden of compliance with the +limit of women for four weeks after childbirth before they may return to +industrial employment. Complaints of breach of s. 61 have dropped to eight +in 1913, and complaints (outside the scope of the section) of employment +just before confinement have dropped to one. Even in Dundee, where this +evil of heavy employment of child-bearing women has been probably the +worst in the kingdom, an improvement of the situation is seen. + +_Miss Vines._--I visited a group of twelve jute-mill working mothers +within a month after their confinement and found that only one of them had +returned to work, nine of the mothers were married and experiencing the +good effects of the Insurance Act benefit. The unmarried women were, of +course, getting less benefit, and were not so well off; one of them worked +as a jute spinner in a jute mill till 6 P.M. on the night her baby was +born. + +9. _Truck Act._ + +_Principal._--The illustrations sent me of the mass of work done in 1913 +under the modern part of the law relating to truck are too numerous to be +reproduced here. Typical instances must be selected from different +industrial centres for the main points of (_a_) disciplinary fines, (_b_) +deductions or payments for damage, short weight, etc., (_c_) deductions or +payments for power, materials or anything supplied in relation to labour +of the worker; abuses of the "bonus" system may be connected with (_a_) or +(_b_). The main features of these illustrations are the poverty of the +workers, the rigidity and poverty of mind that controls workers by such +methods, and the need for fresh and living ideas to sweep away all these +defective, obsolete ways of control. + +_Disciplinary Fines._ + +_Miss Tracey._--I had a long struggle with the occupier of a large laundry +in Lancashire over fines for coming late. The work started at 6, and it +was said that only three minutes (supposed to be five), were allowed as +grace. The weekly wages were phenomenally small, but no work was demanded +on Saturdays unless under exceptional circumstances. If a girl came to the +laundry after the gate was closed (three minutes after 6 A.M.), she was +shut out till after breakfast, a fine was inflicted for late attendance, +and if this happened more than once, one-sixth of the total wage was +deducted for Saturday, although no work was required. I found these fines +to amount to as much as 1s. 8d. out of a wage of 4s. 6d., and other sums +in proportion. This iniquitous custom had been followed for twenty years, +and I was assured that it was a case of "adjustment of wages" and did not +come under the Truck Act. However, my view eventually prevailed; certain +sums were repaid and the whole system done away with, without bringing the +case into Court. In other respects, the laundry was a good one, and no +work on Saturday is an arrangement that is of great benefit to young and +old workers alike. The plan now adopted is that a girl consistently +unpunctual during the week will be required to come in on Saturday morning +to do a few hours' work--this plan has worked so well that no one, when I +last visited, had been in the laundry on Saturday at all. + +_Miss Slocock._--(1) Two girls, aged respectively eighteen and nineteen, +employed as cutters, were fined £2 : 14s. and 11s. 2d. for cutting some +handkerchiefs badly and damaging the cloth. The deductions were made at +the rate of 1s. per week, and at the time of my visit, each worker had +already had 10s. 6d. deducted from her wages. Proceedings were considered, +but the employer, directly his attention was drawn to the matter, refunded +5s. 6d. to one worker and agreed not to make any further deduction from +the other, so that one girl paid 5s. for damage amounting to 11s. 2d. and +the other 10s. 6d. for damage amounting to £2 : 14s. These amounts, 11s. +2d. and £2 : 14s. represented exactly the whole loss to the firm caused by +the damaged work, and the employer thought that he was acting legally so +long as the deductions did not exceed that amount. The fact that the Truck +Act specifically draws attention to this limitation is constantly brought +to my notice, and used as an excuse for putting the whole cost of any +damage on the workers. The average gross weekly wage earned by these +workers for the eleven weeks during which deductions were being made was +8s. 1d. and 10s. 10-1/2d. respectively. + +(2) Two workers employed as shirt machinists were told they would both be +fined 5s. for spoiling two shirts each by mixing the cloth. The difference +in the cloth was so slight that I could hardly distinguish it in daylight, +and the workers had machined the shirts by artificial light. The contract +under which these deductions were made provided that the cost price of the +material damaged should not be exceeded; the firm admitted that the cost +price of the material was not more than 1s. 6d. each shirt, and a fine of +2s. 6d. from each worker (1s. 3d. for each shirt) was ultimately imposed. + +_Miss Escreet._--Many instances of deductions for damage have touched the +borderland where non-payment of wages for work done badly approximates to +a deduction of payment in respect of bad work. Action in such cases is +very difficult--when sums like 5s. 5d. and 3s. are deducted from wages of +10s. 7d. and 13s. 4d. in a weaving shed and metal factory respectively, +there is no question that the workers look rightly for the protection of +the Truck Acts, which were surely framed to control this very kind of +arbitrary handling of hardly earned wage. Enquiry into these cases +invariably brings to light other considerations than the mere fact of +damaged work. Some managers find it difficult to realise that bad work is +bound to be a feature attendant on pressure for great output, especially +if the workers are inexperienced and ill-taught, or if the piece-work +rates are so low that the workers cannot afford to use care, and are +obliged to trust to luck and a lenient "passer." + +10. _Lenience of Magistrates to Employer._ + +_Principal._--We have to occasionally reckon with Benches who consider a +few shillings' penalty, or even 1d. penalty, sufficient punishment for +excessive overtime employment of girls, or with others who are reluctant +to convict, or punish with more than cost of proceedings, law-breaking +employers who are shown to have been thoroughly instructed in the law they +have neglected to obey. It is in my belief an open question whether the +tender treatment of the Probation of Offenders Act was ever designed to +apply to the case of fully responsible adults officially supplied by +abstracts with the knowledge and understanding of an industrial code which +is intended to protect the weakest workers. + + +(_A Leaflet issued from a Trade Union Office_) + + -------- & DISTRICT WEAVERS, WINDERS, + WARPERS & REELERS' ASSOCIATION. + + (Branch of the Amalgamated Weavers' Association) + OFFICES: TEXTILE HALL, --------. + + WINDERS AND THE BARBER KNOTTER.[75] + A Few Facts for Non-Union Winders. + +Have you ever considered what it costs you through not joining your Trade +Union? + +Study the following facts: + +Many winders have five per cent. deducted each week from their wages for +using the "Barber" Knotter. + +Five per cent. on 15s. per week is 9d. + +9d. per week is £1 17s. 6d. for every 50 weeks you work. If you work with +one of these knotters for three years your employer has been paid =more= +than the original cost; but they continue to stop the five per cent. and +the knotter still belongs to the employer. If you work at a mill ten years +and pay five per cent. all the time you cannot take the knotter with you +when you leave. + +Think about it. You pay for it three or four times over, but it doesn't +belong to you. =Oh, no!= + +We ask you to pay =5d.= to your Trade Union so that we can =stop your +employer from keeping 9d. out of your wages=. + +If you would rather pay 9d. to your employers than 5d. to your Trade Union +you have =LESS SENSE= than we thought you had. + +"But," you say, "we can earn more money with a knotter." Quite true, but +you are paid on "=production=," so if you get more money it is only +because you turn more work off, and in turning more work off your + +Employers get a Greater Production + +but they make =YOU= pay for it. + +The knotter enables you to piece up at a quicker rate; this saves time. It +enables you to make smaller knots, thus making better work. The two +combined makes + +Quantity and Quality. + +The employers get =both= and make you pay for it. + +We say to you that it is no part of your duty to pay for improved +machinery. If it is beneficial to the employers to improve any part of any +machine they'll do it without consulting you, but we hold that if by doing +this they get a greater and better production then they ought to =ADVANCE= +your wages and not deduct five per cent. from them. + +Think! Think! Think! + +View the matter over in your own minds. + +Reason the matter from your own point of view. + +If you are satisfied with the present system, well, =DON'T GRUMBLE=. + +If you're not, =What are you going to do to stop it?= Have you a remedy? +If so, what is it? + +If you haven't, =WE HAVE!= + +Organisation is the only solution! + +Trade Unionism will solve the problem for you, but + + You'll have to pay and not pout! + " " act " shout! + +Pay 5d. and keep the 9d.! Fight and don't Funk. + +DON'T HESITATE--AGITATE! + +If you have eyes--SEE! If you have ears--HEAR! + +JOIN THE UNION! + +Bring your grievances to the Officials! + +But join--Delay is Dangerous--Join at once! + +--------, Secretary. + + + + +APPENDIX TO CHAPTER VII. + + +RESOLUTIONS SUBMITTED BY THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF WOMEN WORKERS TO THE +TRADE UNION CONGRESS, 1915. + +"(_a_) That all women who register for war service should immediately join +the appropriate trade union in the trade for which they are volunteering +service, and that membership of such organisation should be the condition +of their employment for war service, and that those trade unions which +exclude women be urged to admit women as members. + +"(_b_) That where a woman is doing the same work as a man she should +receive the same rate of pay, and that the principle of equal pay for +equal work should be rigidly maintained." + + +MANCHESTER AND DISTRICT WOMEN'S WAR INTERESTS COMMITTEE. + +The Committee was formed as a result of the Joint action of the Women's +Emergency Corps and the Manchester and District Federation of Women's +Suffrage Societies. Representatives were invited from the Women's +organisations ... and the trade unions interested in women in munition +works. The Gasworkers and the Workers' Union also asked for representation +and were accepted. + +The Committee carried through an investigation of women in munition works, +and discovered that 12s. to 15s. was the standard wage, which was lower +than the standard, or usual women's rates in the district, which were +about £1. + +It was therefore proposed that the Committee work for a minimum wage for +women in munition works, and the programme, of which a copy is enclosed, +was drawn up. This was presented to the Trade Union section of the +Lancashire No. 1 Armaments Output Committee and received their hearty +support. + +The Amalgamated Society of Engineers recognised the National Federation of +Women Workers as the organisation to take in women munition workers, and +the local secretaries were instructed to co-operate with this body +wherever a branch exists. There being no branch in the Manchester area the +Amalgamated Society of Engineers recognised the Women's War Interests +Committee as the representative women's organisation. Great help has been +given to the Committee by their officials. + +The Committee does not itself undertake to organise the women, but passed +a resolution to the effect that it would co-operate with any movement +towards organisation of the women which is undertaken as a result of joint +agreement with the interested trade unions. + + * * * * * + +The following proposals have been agreed upon by the Committee for the +employment of women in ammunition works, to form the basis of +representations to the Ministry of Munitions:-- + +_Wages._--That a guaranteed minimum of £1 per week of 48 hours should be +paid to every adult woman worker (over 18 years) employed on munitions. +Piecework rates, irrespective of class of labour employed, should remain +unaltered. + +_Hours._--That a three-shift system of 8 hours is preferable to continuous +overtime for women. No woman should be employed on night work for more +than two weeks out of six. + +_Conditions._--That ample canteen provision be provided, this to be +obligatory where night work is in operation. + + + + +AUTHORITIES. + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + +PEARSON, KARL. Woman as Witch, in the Chances of Death, vol. ii.; and Sex +Relations in Germany, in the Ethic of Freethought, p. 402. + +MASON, OTIS. In the American Antiquarian, Jan. 1889, p. 6. + +ELLIS, HAVELOCK. Man and Woman. Fourth Edition. Introduction and chap. +xiv. + +RECLUS, E. Primitive Folk, pp. 57-8. Contemporary Science Series. 1891. + +FRAZER, J. G. The Magic Art, ii. 204. + +MAN, E. H. Journal of the Anthropological Institute. August 1893. + +SERVANTS IN HUSBANDRY. + +THOROLD, ROGERS. History of Agriculture and Prices, i. pp. 273-274, and +iv. 495. Compare Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English Economic History, p. +347, for approximation between men's and women's wages. + +EDEN, SIR FREDERICK. State of the Poor, iii. lxxxix. + +TEXTILES: WOOL AND LINEN. + +SCHMOLLER. Strassbürger Tücher- und Weberzunft, p. 354. + +Archaeologia. Vol. xxxvii. pp. 91 and 93; vol. x. Plates XX., XXI., and +XXII. + +ANDREWS. Old English Manor, p. 272. + +DELONEY. Jack of Newbury, p. 59. + +WRIGHT, T. Womankind of Western Europe, pp. 59, 177-8. + +AUBREY. History of Wiltshire. Quoted in Archaeologia xxxvii. p. 95. + +WARDEN, A. The Linen Trade. Longman, 1867. (2nd ed.), pp. 355-6. + +ROCK, D. Textile Fabrics, p. 11. 1876. + +ECKENSTEIN, LINA. Women under Monasticism. + +Ancren Riwle. Reprinted in the King's Classics, p. 317. + +BÜCHER. Industrial Evolution. Translated by S. M. Wickett, pp. 265-7. + +JAMES, JOHN. History of Worsted, p. 289. + +Victoria County History. Yorkshire, ii. p. 43. + +WRIGHT, T. Homes of Other Days, p. 434. + +CHAUCER. Wife of Bath's Prologue. + +BEARD, C. Industrial Revolution, p. 25. + +FITZHERBERT. Book of Husbandry. 1574. Edited by Skeat, par. 146. + +TEMPLE, SIR W. Quoted in Cunningham's Growth of Industry and Commerce, +Modern Times, p. 370. (Ed. 1907.) + +Shuttleworth Accounts, Chetham Society, vol. xlvi. p. 1002. + +MARKHAM, G. The English Housewife, pp. 167, 172. (Ed. 1637.) + +WEAVING AND SPINNING AS A WOMAN'S TRADE. + +ABRAM, A. Social England in the Fifteenth Century, pp. 133-4. + +Ancient Book of the Weavers' Company. (Facsimile in the British Museum +Library.) + +FOX AND TAYLOR. Weavers' Gild of Bristol, p. 38. + +UNWIN, G. Industrial Organisation in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth +Centuries, p. 229. + +LAMBERT. Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, pp. 206-10. + +THOMSON, D. The Weaver's Craft, p. 22. + +Records of the City of Norwich, ii. p. 378. + +For Rates of Pay to Weavers, etc., see a volume of tracts in the British +Museum Library, numbered 1851, c. 101. + +Howard Accounts. Published by the Roxburgh Club, vol. li. + +MARKHAM, G. The English Housewife, pp. 174-5. (Ed. 1637.) + +DUNLOP AND DENMAN. English Apprenticeship and Child Labour, chap. ix. + +DEVELOPMENT OF CAPITALISTIC INDUSTRY. + +UNWIN, G. In the Victoria County History, Suffolk, ii. pp. 258-9. + +BAINES, E. History of Cotton Manufacture, p. 91. + +GREEN, MRS. ALICE. Town Life in the Fifteenth Century, ii. p. 100. + +Ordinances of Worcester. Edited by Toulmin Smith. Early English Text +Society. + +HAMILTON. History of Quarter Sessions, pp. 164, 273. + +LEONARD. Early English Poor Relief. + +ASHLEY, W. J. English Economic History, Part II., chapter on the Woollen +Industry. + +YOUNG, ARTHUR. Northern Tour, vol. i. p. 137. Second edition. 1770. + +YOUNG, ARTHUR. Tour in East of England, ii. pp. 75, 81. + +WARNER, TOWNSEND. In Traill's Social England, vol. v. p. 149. + +MANTOUX. La Révolution industrielle, p. 36. + +BONWICK. Romance of the Wool Trade, p. 435. + +Lancashire Worthies, i. p. 307. + +WEBER, MARIANNE. Ehefrau und Mutter, Tübingen, 1907, p. 252. + +SILK. + +CAMPBELL, W. Materials for History of the Reign of Henry VII., pp. 13, 15, +168, 170, etc. + +Victoria County History, Derby, ii. p. 372. + +OTHER INDUSTRIES. + +TRAILL. Social England, vol. i. p. 658. + +LAPSLEY, G. T. "Account Roll of a Fifteenth-Century Ironmaster," in the +English Historical Review, vol. xiv., July 1899, p. 51. + +Victoria County History. Derbyshire, pp. 328-9, 332, 343. + +Some Account of Mines. British Museum, 444, a 49, p. 62. + +GALLOWAY. Annals of Coal Mining, pp. 91, 232, 234, 354 _passim_. + +Case of Sir H. Mackworth. British Museum, 522, m. 12 (2). + +Case of the Mine Adventurers in the same volume, No. 26. + +YOUNG, ARTHUR. Northern Tour, vol. ii. pp. 189, 254-5. Second Edition. +1770. + +YOUNG, ARTHUR. Six Weeks' Tour, pp. 150, 109. 1768. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE COTTON INDUSTRY. + +BAINES, EDWARD. History of the Cotton Manufacture, 1836, pp. 97, 100, 115, +116 n., 446. + +GUEST. History of the Cotton Manufacture. + +RADCLIFFE, W. Origin of the New System of Manufacture, 1828, p. 59, etc. + +GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population of England, 1833, pp. 42, 43, 60. + +BEARD, C. A. The Industrial Revolution. + +MANTOUX. La Révolution industrielle, pp. 208-11. + +ELLISON, T. The Cotton Trade of Great Britain, 1886. + +LAW, ALICE. Social and Economic History, in the Victoria County History, +Lancashire, vol. ii. p. 327. + +CHAPMAN, S. J. The Lancashire Cotton Industry. + +CUNNINGHAM, W. Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times, p. +654. (Ed. 1907.) + +THE DECAY OF HANDSPINNING. + +EDEN, SIR FREDERICK. State of the Poor, vol. iii. pp. 768, 821, 847. + +THE HANDLOOM WEAVER'S WIFE. + +GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population, p. 40. + +MANTOUX. La Révolution industrielle, pp. 442-3. + +Report of Committee on Ribbon-Weavers, 1818, vol. ix. p. 124. + +Report on Handloom Weavers, 1834, vol. x. Evidence of Brennan. + +THE FACTORY. + +TUCKETT, J. D. History of the Labouring Population, pp. 208-9. + +AIKIN, J. Country Round Manchester, pp. 167, 192. + +URE. Philosophy of Manufactures, pp. 312-3. + +GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population of England, chap. i. + +TAYLOR, W. COOKE. Factories and the Factory System, 1844, pp. 1, 45-6. + +FIELDEN, J. Curse of the Factory System, 1836, p. 43. + +Assistant Poor Law Commissioners. Report on Employment of Women and +Children in Agriculture, p. 25. Parliamentary Papers, 1843, xii. + +GASKELL, MRS. Mary Barton. + +THE WOMAN WAGE-EARNER. + +Report on Artizans and Machinery. Parliamentary Papers, 1824, vol. v. +Evidence of Dunlop and Holdsworth, compare evidence of M'Dougal and +William Smith. + +Report on Manufactures and Commerce. Parliamentary Papers, 1833, vol. vi. +p. 323. + +Report on Combinations of Workmen. Parliamentary Papers, 1838, viii. q. +3527-31. + +Report on Handloom Weavers, 1840, vol. xxiii. p. 307. + +GASKELL, P. Artizans and Machinery, pp. 143, 331. + +GASKELL, P. Manufacturing Population of England, pp. 186-8. + +Report on Employment of Children in Factories. Parliamentary Papers, 1834, +xix. p. 297. + +SCHULTZE-GÄVERNITZ. The Cotton Trade in England and on the Continent. +Translated by O. S. Hall. 1895. + +THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN NON-TEXTILE TRADES. + +Children's Employment Commission. 1843. Reports on Birmingham District. + +Children's Employment Commission. Parliamentary Papers. 1864, vol. xxii.; +Third Report, p. x. + +TIMMINS, S. Resources of Birmingham and the Hardware District. 1866. + +Labour Commission. Reports on Employment of Women, by Miss Orme, Miss +Collet, Miss Abraham, and Miss Irwin. Parliamentary Papers, 1893-94, vol. +xxxvii. + +British Association, 1902-1903. Reports to the Economic Section by the +Committee on the Legal Regulation of Women's Labour. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +WOMEN IN UNIONS. + +Report on Combination Laws. Parliamentary Papers, 1825, vol. iv. +Appendices 6, 10, 16. + +Board of Trade. Seventeenth Report on Trade Unions, 1912. + +Board of Trade. Sixteenth Labour Abstract, 1915. + +Articles of the Manchester Small Ware Weavers, printed at Manchester, +1756. (Manchester Library.) + +WEBB, SIDNEY AND BEATRICE. History of Trade Unionism, pp. 104-5, 121-3, +etc. + +CHAPMAN, S. J. History of the Lancashire Cotton Industry, pp. 213-5, etc. + +Report on Standard Piece Rates of Wages in the U.K. Parliamentary Papers, +1900, vol. lxxxii. + +Reports of the Women's Trade Union League, 1874 to present time. (34 +Mecklenburgh Square.) + +Women in the Printing Trades. Edited by J. Ramsay MacDonald. 1904. + +Report by Miss Busbey on Women's Unions in Great Britain. Bulletin of the +Labour Department, U.S.A. No. 83. + +Labour Commission. Evidence of Mrs. Hicks and Miss James. Parliamentary +Papers, 1892, vol. xxxv. + +Reports of the National Federation of Women Workers. (34 Mecklenburgh +Square.) + +Also reports of trade union and other societies and information given +privately. + +_America._--History of Women in Trade Unions. Vol x. of Report on Women +and Child Wage-Earners in the U.S. + +Admission to American Trade Unions. By F. Wolfe, Ph.D. Johns Hopkins +University Studies, 1912. + +Women in Trade Unions in San Francisco. L. R. Matthews University of +California Publications in Economics, vol. iii 1913. + +Making Both Ends Meet. Clark and Wyatt. New York: Macmillan, 1911. Chaps. +ii. and v. + +The World of Labour. G. D. H. Cole. Bell, 1913. Chap. v. + +Report on Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass., in 1912. +Washington: Government Printing Office, 1912. + + +CHAPTER IVA. + +WOMEN IN UNIONS (_continued_). + +_Germany._--BRAUN, LILY. Die Frauenfrage, 1901. + +GNAUCK-KÜHNE, ELISABETH. Die Arbeiterinnenfrage. M. Gladbach, 1905. + +SANDERS, W. STEPHEN. Industrial Organisation in Germany. Special +supplement to the _New Statesman_, October 18, 1913. + +The Organisation of Women Workers in Germany. Special Report to the +International Women's Trade Union League of America. Submitted by the +Women Workers' Secretariat of the General Commission of Trade Unions of +Germany. Berlin, 1913. + +ERDMANN, A. Church and Trade Unions in Germany. Published by the General +Commission of Trade Unions in Germany. Berlin, 1913. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT. + +Reports of the Board of Trade on the State of Employment in the United +Kingdom in October and December 1914, and February 1915. + +Interim Report of the Central Committee on Employment of Women. + +The Labour Gazette. + +Labour in War-Time. By G. D. H. Cole. Bell, 1915. + +Report on Outlets for Labour after the War by a Committee appointed by +Section F of the British Association. Manchester Meeting. 1915. + +Articles in the _New Statesman_, _Common Cause_, _Englishwoman_, _Economic +Journal_, etc. + + + + +INDEX + + + Abbott, Edith, 151 + + Abram, Annie, 13 + + Accidents, 59, 125, 129 + + Accounts of Hen. VII., 27 + of seventeenth century, 15 + Shuttleworth, 11 + + Accrington, 96 + + Adam and Eve, 6 + + Adaptation of industry in war-time, 248 + + Administration of the Factory Act, 53, 181-2, 243, 255, 282-93 + + Adolescence, care of, 206 + + Aftalion, 72 + + Agricultural population, report on, 51 + + Aikin, 43, 50 + + Aldhelm, 7 + + Alfred, King, 5 + + Amalgamated Society of Clothiers, 116 + + Amalgamation, the, 112 + + America, 60 + Women's Unions in, _section_, 141 + + Ammunition workers' strike, 130-31 + + Anaemia, 188 + + _Ancren Riwle_, 8 + + Andrews, 7 + + Anglo-Saxon industry, 5, 7 + + Anthropology, 2 + + Anti-Combination Act, repeal of, 92 + + Anti-Socialist Law, 155 + + Anti-Sweating League, 125, 133 + + Apathy of the governing class, 52 + + Apathy of women, 104-7, 113, 115, 209 + + Apprentices, factory, 273 + + Apprenticeship, _section_, 15 + + Architects, the first, 2 + + Arkwright, 33, 35, 36, 47 + + Artizans and Machinery, Select Committee on, 53 + + Ashley, afterwards Shaftesbury, Lord, 185 + + Asses, machines worked by, 43 + + Assistance in craft industries by women and girls, 16 + + Association, _section_, 205 + + _Athenaeum_, 52 _n._ + + Attacks on the factory system, 49-51 + + Attraction of the family, 83 + + Aubrey, 7 + + + Backwardness of the Factory Act, 184 + + Bad conditions in factories, 135, 181, 273, 286 + + Bagley, Sarah, 142 + + Baines, E., 38, 44 + + Bamford, 24 + + Barber knotter, the, 294 + + Barry, Leonora, 145 + + Beam, the, 98 + + Beamers, 126 + + Beaming, 107 + + Bebel, 156 + + Berchta, 2 + + Berlin, 158, 159 + + Bermondsey, 135 + + Besant, Mrs., 128 + + Betterment, 202 + + Bill to raise wages, 1593, 20 + + Bilston, 136 + + Birmingham, 43, 62, 136 + trades, 29 + + Bishopsgate, workhouse in, 21 + + Black, Clementina, 122, 128 + + Blackburn, 33, 96, 111, 112, 113 + society, 99 + + Black Death, 4 + + Bondfield, Margaret, 259 _n._ + + Bonwick, 23 + + Bookbinders, Society of, 120 + + Boot and shoe trade, 63-4 + Unions, 116, 150 + + Boston, 151 + + Bosworth, Louise, 234 + + Bourgeois women's movement, 162, 163 + + Bowley, A. L., 228 + + Bradford, 116 + Bradford Dale, 25 + + Brass work, 66 + polishing, 191 + + Braun, Frau Lily, 69, 161-4, 175 + + Brighton, 122 + + Bristol, 14, 29, 63, 64, 65, 224 + Weavers' Gild of, 22 + + Britain, Great, what she stands for, 265 + + British Association, 64 + + Bücher, 9 + + Bureau of Labour, enquiry by, 149 + + Burnley weavers, 102 + + Burslem, 29 + + Butler, Elizabeth, 61 + + Butler, Josephine, 199 + + Button-making, 29 + + + Cadbury, E., 195 _n._ + + Capitalist employer, the, 185-6 + + Card-room operatives, 59, _section_, 113, 126, 168 + + Carpenters' Company, 17 + + Carrying loads, 65, 66 + + Cartwright, 35, 42 + + Catholic Unions, 161, 164 + + Causes of lack of organisation, 115, 139, 151 + + Census, Chap. III. + + Central Commission of German Trade Unions, 156 + + Central Committee on Women's Employment, 247 + + Central Strike Fund, 103 + + Centralisation needed, 173 + + Chain-makers, 131 + Board, first determination of, 132 + + Changes effected by industrial revolution, _section_, 178 + + Chapman, Sydney J., 92 + + Charles II., 26 + + Chaucer, 10 + + Chemicals, 63 + + Child labour in factories, 272 + report on, 57 + + Childbirth, employment after, 290 + + Children and machines, 43, 272 + exploitation of, 264 + + Children's clothes, 65 + Employment Commission, 62, 63 + + Chorley weavers, 96, 103 + + Christian Trade Unions, 160 + + Churchill, Winston, 20 + + Cigar trade, 117, 118 + + Citizenship for women, 190, 196 + + Civil conditions, statistics of, 79 + + Clarke, Allen, 45 + + Class differences and class solidarity, 174 + interest, 166 + selfishness, 186 + + Cleft, the, 207 + + Clothing trades, 64 + Unions, 116 + wages in, 218 + + Clothworkers, 14 + + Clubs for working women, 166 + + Coal-mining, women in, 29 + + Cole, G. D. H., 174, 208 + + Collectors, 105 + + Collet, Clara, 80, 170 + + Combination among rich clothiers, 17, 18 + of Workers, Committee on, 94 + + Committees of Weavers' Union, 108, 176 + + Competing Unions, 172, 173 + + Competition between men and women, 66 + for employment, 169 + + Complexity of weavers' lists, 99 + + Compositors, 116, 117 + + Compositors' Union, 117 + + Comradeship among women, 190 + + Confectioners' Union, 130 + + Confectionery works, 67 + + Constructive measures, _section_, 260 + + Consumers, women as, 208, 263 + + Consumers' co-operation, 208 + + Co-operation with bourgeois movement to be avoided, 163 + + Co-operative Guild, Women's, 208 + + Copper works, 29 + + Cop-winding, 107 + + Core-making, 64, 146 + + Corporate action, 175 + women untrained for, 165 + + Cotton, bad, 101, 114 + + _Cotton Factory Times_, 145 _n._ + + Cotton trade, 31 _et seq._, _section_, 240, 268-82 + + Cotton weavers, _section_, 96, 168, 173 + male, 60 + + Cotton-weaving, 58 + + Courtney, Janet, 263 _n._ + + Coventry, 64 + ribbon trade, 41 + + Cracker factory, strike in, 148 + + Cradley, 133-4, 136 + + Cradley Heath chain-makers, 131 + + Craft Unions, 149, 158, 207-8 + + Cunningham, W., D.D., 38 + + _Curse of the Factory System_, 47 + + Cycle industry, 64 + + + Darwen and Ramsbottom, 96 + + Death-rates, 77 + of male infants, 257 + + Deaths of women in mine explosions, 29 + + Decay of hand-spinning, _section_, 39 + + Decline of domestic manufacture, 35 + + Decrease of employment in wartime, statistics of, 241, 266 + + Deductions, 292 + + Deficiencies, educational, 169 + + Defoe, Daniel, 24 + + Delays in labour legislation, causes of, 186 + + Deloney, 6 + + Dependents on women-workers, 145-6, 233-4 + + Derby, 27, 95 + + Derbyshire, 29, 97 + + _Detroit Free Press_, 145 + + Development of capitalistic industry, _section_, 17 + + Development of women's employment, 61 + + Devon, 51 + + Devotion and self-sacrifice of women, 165 + + Difficulties in organising women, 115, 139, 151, 154, 164, 169 + + _Digby Mysteries_, 6 + + Dismissal without notice, 125 + + Disproportion of women, 77 + + Distaff, the, Chap. I., _section_ + Textiles, 5 + + Divergent views on factory system, 45 + + Division among the weavers, 97 + + Dock and General Workers' Union, 126 + + Dock Strike, 128 + + Doherty, 55 + + Domestic workers, statistics of, 84, 86 + little organisation among, 168 + + Dorset, 51 + + Dover, New Hampshire, strikes at, 141 + + Drawers, 126 + + Dressmakers, little organisation among, 168 + + Dressmaking, 64, 65, 87, 118 + factory, _d.-m._, 72, 220 + + Drudgery a survival, 203-4 + + Dundee, 115 + + Dunlop, Jocelyn, 15, 16 + + Dust-extractor, 59 + + Dust in rope-works, 129 + + + Early civilisation, 1-3 + + Early factories, conditions in, 50, 52, 181 + + Early manufactures, characteristics of, 47 + + Earning power of women, 71-2 + + Earnings and Hours Enquiry, 214 + + Earnings in 1770, 33 + of women, Chap. VI. + insufficient for health, 229 + + East End workers, 128 + + East Lancashire Amalgamated Society, 96 + + East London, 130 + + East Meon, Church of, 6 + + Economic Independence, 80 + + Economic Section of British Association, 64, 253 _n._ + + Economic self-dependence, 81 + + Eden, Sir F., 39 + + Edmonton, ammunition workers at, 130-31 + + Education by Trade Unions, 159 + + Educational deficiencies, 169 + + Edward VI., 21 + + Effects, moral, of Trade Unions among women, 153 + + Effects of the War on the employment of women, Chap. VII. + + Egotistic refinement, 198 + + Eight-hour Leagues, 143 + + Elements of Statistics, 228 + + Elizabeth, 19 + + Employers oppose Unionism, 151 + + Engineering, 64 + + Enlightenment of women, 194 + + Ephemeral character of Women's Unions, 150 + + Equal chance, an, 145 + + Equal pay for equal work, 144, 152, 172, 255 + + Equal rates of pay for women, 93 + + Equality of opportunity, 196 + + Erdmann, Dr., 167 + + Essex, 25 _n._ + + Exclusion of women, _section_, 189 + from local governing bodies, 198 + + Exeter, Justices of, 20 + + Expansion of trade, 18 + + Experience in sorting wool, 21 + + + Fachverein der Mäntelnäherinnen, 155 + + Factory, the, _section_, 43 + + Factory Act, the first, 185 + of 1833, 45, 181 + of 1844, 1847, 1850, 1864, 1867, 1878, 1901, 182 + prejudice against the, 120 + what it has done, _section_, 181 + + Factory system, beginning of, 21, 22 + disliked, 42 + + Fall of prices in weaving, 26, 37, 39 + + Fall River, strike at, 143-4 + + Family, attraction of the, 83 + women working in the, 178 + + Fatigue, 202 + + Federation of Trade Unions, 208 + American, 145, 146, 152 + + Felkin, 25 + + Female Industrial Association, 142 + + Female Membership of Trade Unions, 177 + + Feminist movement, 175 + + Ferrier, Dr., 52 + + Fielden, John, 45, 47 + + File cutlery, 64 + + Fines, unfair, 100-102, 127-8 + + Finishing goods, 67 + + Fire-escapes, 287 + + Five hours' spell, 183 + + Flax, 10, 11, 242 + industry, strike in the, 138 + + Fly-shuttle, invention of, 33 + + Folklore ceremonies, 1 + + Food trades, 63 + + Frame-work knitting, _section_, 25 + + Free Unions, German, 156, 160 + + Freedom of employment, unrestricted, 193 + + Frigga's Distaff or Rock, 5 + + Fruit-picking, 65 + + Fuegians, 2 + + Future organisation of women, _section_, 206 + + + Garment workers, 150 + + Gaskell, Mrs., 74 + + Gaskell, P., 38 _n._, 45, 47, 48, 56, 231 + + Gas-Workers' and General Labourers' Union, 140, 174 _n._ + + General Federation of Trade Unions, 140 + + _Gentlemen's Magazine_, 39 + + German Statistical Year-Book, 157 + + Germany, Women's Unions in, _section_, 154 + + Girls untrained, 16 + + Girl-workers, 73 + + Glasgow, 94, 122, 224 + spinners, 93 + + Glossop, 27 + + Gloucester, 30 + + Gloucestershire, 18 + + Gnauck-Kühne, Elizabeth, 157, 164-166, 207 _n._ + + Goldmark, Josephine, 202 + + Governing class, 52, 179, 181 + + Graham, 54 + + Grand General Union, 93 + + Grand National Union, 95 + + Grant, P., 45 + + Greenwood, Arthur, 189 + + Greig, Mrs. Billington, 209 + + Grey or Franciscan Friars, 6 + + Guest, 32 + + Guild, Women's Co-operative, 176-177 + + + Habit of association, lack of, 106 + + Half-pay apprentices, 41 + + Halifax, 39 + + Hamilton, A., 20 + + Hammond, J. L. and B, 180 _n._ + + Hand-loom Weavers, Committee on, 42 + + Hand-loom weaver's wife, _section_, 40 + + Hand-wheels thrown aside, 34 + + Hargreaves, J., 33, 42 + + Haslam, J., 191, 192, 193 + + Hat and cap workers, 150 + + Healds, 98 + + Hebden Bridge, 231 + + Henley, Walter of, 10 + + Henry VII., accounts of, 27 + + _Henry VIII._, 19 + + Hicks, Mrs. Amie, 128, 129, 130 + + Hicks, Margaretta, 209 + + Hirsch-Duncker Unions, 161 + + Holda or Holla, 2 + + Hollow-ware workers, strike of, 136-138 + + Home, work in the, 44 + + Home Workers' Union, 160 + + Horrocks, 36 + + Hostility of employers to Unions, 139, 151, 169 + + Hotel servants and waitresses, 168 + + Houldsworth, 93 + + Hours of work, 183-4, 277, 289 + + Housewife preparing wool, 11, 14-15 + position of the, 165 + + Housing in towns, 50 + + Huddersfield, 115 + + Hull, 14, 15 + + Husbandry, servants in, _section_, 3 + + Hutchins, B. L., 197 _n._, 207 _n._ + + Hyde, 93 + + + Ideals of Victorian era, 198-9 + + Ignorance of domestic work, 51 + + Importation of silk, 26 + + Improvements in working conditions, 190, 202 + + Increase of women in metal trades, 63 + + Increase of women-workers in Germany, 155 + + Industrial change, effects of, 42 + revolution, Chap. II. + + Industrial Workers of the World, 148 + + "Industry in bonds," 49 + + Inequality of wages, 123 + + Influence of Unions on conditions, 153 + + Injury from prolonged standing, 186, 187 + + Insanitary conditions in confectioners' workrooms, 130 + + Inspection of factories impossible for women, 197 + + Inspectors, factory, 181 + women appointed as, 182 + + Instability of status, 152 + + Insurance Act, 103, 108, 116, 126, 131, 176, 188, 205 + + Interdenominational Unions, 161 + + Interests, interlocking of, 173 + + "Interkonfessionelle" Unions, 164 + + International Association for Labour Legislation, 125 + + International Typographical Union, 143 + + International Workers' Congress, 123 + + Inventions, 43 + + Ipswich, 65 + Christ's Hospital at, 21 + + Ireland, 224 + + Irons on apprentices, 274 + + Ironworks, a fifteenth-century, 29 + + Isolation of women, 164-5 + + + Jacquard's loom, 42 + + Jam-making, 135 + + James, Clara, 128, 130 + + James, John, 25 _n._ + + James, William, 207 + + Jones, Lloyd, 106 + + + Kaffirs, 2 + + Kamtchatdals, 2 + + Kay, 33 + + Kendal, 39 + + Kettering, 224 + + King, Mr., 120 + + Knights of Labour, 144, 145 + + Knitting-machine, 25 + + _Korrespondenzblatt_, 158 + + + Labour, an important factor in production, 136 + + Labour Commission, 61, 63, 129, 170, 197, 198 + + Labour League, Women's, 177, 208 + + Labour legislation, weakness of and delays in, 186 + + Labour movement, 127 + + Labourers, Statute of, 4 + + Lacquering, 63 + + Lancashire, 61, 74, 96, 97, 102 + cotton spinners of, 93 + + Lapsley, 29 + + Lassalle, 158 + + Laundresses, Union of, 122 + + Laundry Workers' International Union, 147 + + Law, Alice, 36 + + Lawrence, Mass., 149 + + Lead mines, women in, 29 + poisoning, 288 + + Lee, inventor of knitting-machine, 25 + + Leeds, 23, 39, 116, 224 + + Leicester, 92, 224 + + Leland's _Itinerary_, 21 + + Lenience of Magistrate, 293 + + Levant Company, 32 + + Lighting of work-places, 184, 284 + + Linen and jute, 115, 242 + + List prices, 99, 100, 114 + + Liverpool, 173 + + Locked in factory, 129-30 + + Lombe, John, 27 + + London, 126, 242 + milliners, 168 + Trades Council, 128 + + London weavers, 13, 14 + Women's Trades Council, 123 + + Loom, the, 5 + + Low wages of women, consolation for, 57 + + Lowell, Female Labour Reform Association at, 142 + strikes at, 141 + Union, 142 + + Lye, 136, 137 + + Lytton, Lady Constance, 200 + + + Macarthur, Mary, xv, 131 + + Macclesfield, 28 + + MacDonald, J. R., 195 _n._ + + Machine work, 66 + + Machinery and skill, 68-9 + and women's employment, 69-70 + + Mackworth, Sir H., 29 + + Maladjustment and Readjustment, _section_, 245 + + Male Weavers' Union, 143-4 + + Malingering, xv, 188 + + Malmesbury Abbey, 21-2 + + Manchester, 31, 32, 47, 50, 55, 93, 126, 173, 176, 224 + societies, 126-7 + spinners, 92 + Women's Trade Union Council, 139 + Women's War Interests Committee, 256, 296 + + Mantoux, 23, 41 + + Manufactures and Commerce, Select Committee on, 54 + + Markham, Gervase, 14 + + Marriage, _section_, 78 + and organisation, 151 + decreasing prospect of, 196, 256 + prospect of, its effects on young men and women, 151, 169-70 + + Married women's work, 89-91 + + Marx, Karl, 49 + + Mary, Queen, 21 + + Match factories, 47 + workers, 183 + makers' Union, 128 + + Match-girls' strike, 127-8 + + Material progress, 51, 265 + + Maternity benefit, 103, 259 _n._ + and child welfare, 258 + care of, 206 + + Matheson, M. C., 195 _n._ + + Matthews, Miss, 153 + + Mechanical power, 200-201 + progress, 43 + + Mellor, 33 + + Men and women, division of work between, 53 + numbers of, in cotton spinning, 55 + organised together, 166, 168 + + Metal trades, increase of women's employment in, 63 + + Metal-cutting, 66 + + Middle-class women's movement, _section_, 195 + + _Mines_, an _Account of_, 29 + + Minimum, principle of the, 237-8 + requirements, 227 + + Monopoly of trade in clothing, 18 + + Moral atmosphere of factories, 50 + effects of Unionism, 153 + + Mortality, 76, 77 + + Movement of women's wages, _section_, 229 + + Mule-spinning, 191-2 + + Mundella, A. J., 250 _n._ + + Munitions work, 251-2 + + + National Federation of Women Workers, 131, 133, _section_, 140, 296 + + _Nature of Woman_, 2 + + Neath, 29 + + Needlewomen, 154 + + Nelson and District Weavers' Association, 101 _n._ + + New demand for women's labour, _section_, 250 + + New England cotton mills, 142 + + New spirit among women, _section_, 199 + + New Unionism, 127, 149, 174 + + New York, 141, 142 + + Nightingale, Florence, 199, 200 + + Non-textile trades, 28-30 + industrial revolution in, _section_, 61 + + Nordverein der Berliner Arbeiterinnen, 155 + + Northampton, 224 + + N.E. Lancashire Amalgamated Society, 96 + + Norwich, 23, 224 + + + Oakeshott, G., 118 _n._ + + Oastler, Thomas, 185 + + Occupational statistics, 81-8 + + Oldham, 95 + and district, 96 + + Opposition of landowners to Liberals, 46 + to factory legislation, 121-3 + to women's employment, 42, 43, 93, 94 + + Oppression by employers, 19 + + Ordinances of Worcester, 18 + + Organisation, early efforts at, _section_, 92 + in different trades, 171 + of German Unions, 157-60 + of women, need for, 107, 255 + of women, together with men, 172 + of young persons, difficulty of, 113 + + Outlook, the, _section_, 167 + + Overcrowding in towns, 52 + + Overstrain, 110 + in cotton industry, 59, 281, 287 + + Overtime, 184, 289 + + Owen, Robert, 44, 47, 53, 95, 106 + + + Padiham, 96, 113 + + Paper and stationery, 63 + + Paper-sorting or overlooking, 67, 168 + + Paris, 123 + + Paterson, Emma, 119-22 + + Pay-stewards, 176 + + Pearson, Karl, 1, 206 + + Peel, the elder, 53 + + Peel's Committee (1816), 41 + + Pen trade, 63 + + Percival, Dr. Thomas, 52, 185 + + Personality in Union officials, 174 + + Petition against importation of silk, 26, 27 + of weavers, 17 + + Philanthropy, 163, 166 + + Phosphorus, white, prohibition of, 183 + + Phossy jaw, 183 + + Picks, 98 + + Pictet, 5 + + Piece rates, 97-102 + + Piecers to replace spinners, 54 + women as, 192 + + Piers Plowman, 8 + + Pin manufacture, 30 + + Pittsburgh, U.S.A., 61 + + Plague, the, 4 + + Plated ware trade, 30 + + Policy, a coherent, 173 + + Polish women weavers, strike of, 149 + + Polynesians, 2 + + Poor Law, its effect on wages, 21 + of Elizabeth, 32 + + Possibilities of modern industry, 204 + of State control, _section_, 204 + + Potential changes of the industrial revolution, _section_, 200 + + Potteries, 29 + + Potters, 146 + + Power sewing-machine, 63 + + Power-loom, 35 + introduction of the, 55 + + Premature employment, effects of, 62 + + Preparing material, 65 + + Present position of the woman worker, _section_, 183 + + Press-work, 66 + + Preston, 96 + + Primitive industries, 2, 3 + + Printing, 66, 116 + + Professional women, scope for, 263 _n._ + + Professions for women, 80 + + Prohibition to combine, 80 + of women's employment, 14 + + Proportion of women in Unions, 147 + + Prosperity of spinners, 38 + + Protective and Provident League, 119-24 + + Psychological difficulties in organising women, 164 + + Public spirit, lack of, 170 + + + Queen, the, 247 + + + Radcliffe Society, 96 + + Radcliffe, William, 33 + + Rag-cutting, 65 + + Ramsay, Isle of Man, 93 + + Reaction in war-time, 264 + + Reciprocal movement between spinners and weavers, 40 + + Reed, 97 + + Reeling, 107 + + Reforms started by industrial employers, 53 + + Registrar-General, 75, 76 + + Relative wages of men and women, 231-6 + + Replacement of men by women, 55-56, 252, 255 + + Results the War may have, _section_, 256 + + Richards, factory inspector, 49 + + Rights and privileges of women, 105 + + Ring-room doffers, 113 + + Ring-spinners, 114 + + Ring-winders, 111 + + Ring-winding, 107 + + Roberts, Lewis, 32 + + Rock, Maria, 5 + + Rogers, Thorold, 4, 5 + + Rope-makers, 129 + + + Sadler, M. T., 185 + + St. Crispin, Daughters of, 142, 144 + + San Francisco, 147, 153 + + Sanitary conditions in non-textile trades, 62 + + Sanitation in town and country, 50, 51 + + Schreiner, Olive, 69 + + Schultze-Gävernitz, 44, 157 + + Screw manufactories, 62 + + Seamstresses, 146 + + Segregation of women from affairs, 109 + + Sewing women, 143 + + Shaftesbury, Lord, 185, 186 + + Shakespeare quoted, 19, 25 _n._ + + Shann, G., 195 _n._ + + Sheffield, 64 + plated ware trade, 30 + + Shifting of industrial processes, 44 + + Shirt-making, 223 + + Shock of War, _section_, 239 + + Shop Assistants' Union, 140, 176 + + Shortage of women's labour, 245 + + Shorter hours, effects of, 202 + movement for, 109-10 + + Shuttleworth Accounts, 11 + + Shyness of women, 109 + + Sick benefit, 119, 131, 188 + + Sick visitors, 108, 176 + + Sickness Benefit Claims, Committee on, xv + + Silk, _section_, 26 + + Simcox, Edith, 123 + + Sisterhood, the, 92, 271 _n._ + + Slater, G., 180 _n._ + + Small-ware weavers, 92 + + Snowden, Keighley, 136 _n._ + + Soap, 63 + + "Social and Economic History," 36 + + Social Democratic Party, 156 + + _Social England_, 29 + + Social influences, 163, 166, 170 + + Social strata in the factory, 67 + + Socialism and women, 163-4 + + Solidarity between men and women, 196 + + Sorting clothes in laundries, 65 + + Southey, 50 + + "Spear-half," 5 + + Speeding up, 58-9, 110, 281 + + Spell of work, 183 + + "Spindle-half," 5 + + Spinning, a family occupation, 24 + by young women, 9 + for the unemployed, 21 + jennies, 34, 42 + machine invented by Hargreaves, 33 + parties, 9 + + Squire, Miss Rose, 184 + + Stages in the woman's career, 207 + + Standard of life in Lancashire, 60, 105, 107, 187 + of immigrants, 142 + + Standing, effects of persistent, 186, 275 + + Statistics of domestic workers, 84, 86 + of German women in Unions, 167 + of textile workers, 87 + of unemployment in war-time, 241, 266 + of wages, Chap. VI. + of women in Unions, 177 + of women's life and employment, Chap. III. + + Statutory rights of workers, 186, 204 + + Stay-making, 65 + + Steam laundry workers, 147 + + Steam power, introduction of, 35 + + Stockport, 36, 108, 113 + strike at, 96 + + Strain of modern industry, _section_, 186 + of work, 184, 281 + + Strike-breakers, 93 + + Strikes, _see various industries_ + in 1911, 135 + + Struggle of the crafts, 19 + + Stumpe, 21 + + Suffolk clothiers, petition of, 18 + + Surats, 101, 280 + + Surplus of women, _section_, 75 + + Survival of previous standards and conditions, _section_, 179 + + Swabia, 2 + + Syndicalism, 197 + + + Tailoresses, increase of, 87 + Union of, 122 + + Tailoring, 64, 221 + + Tailors, Amalgamated Society of, 122 + + Tapestry, 8 + + Tayler, Dr. L., 2 + + Taylor, Cooke, the elder, 48, 49, 52 _n._ + + Temple, Sir William, 11 + + Textile work, as adjunct to farming, 24, 33 + societies, 126 + workers, 150 + workers, statistics of, 87 + workers, wages of, 216 + + Textiles, _section_, 5 + + Theodore, St., 8 + + Thüringen, 2 + + _Times_, the, 127, 128 + + Timidity of social legislation, 185 + + Timmins, S., 63 + + Tobacco, 63 + workers in, 127 + + Toynbee Hall, 127 + + Tracey, Anna, 188 + + Trade Boards Act, 1909, 20, 116, 126, 131, 132, 138, 183, 224, 226, 245 + + Trade Union Congress, 119, 120, 122, 123 + + Traill's _Social England_, 29 + + Transformation of some womanly trades, 61-2 + + _Treasure of Traffike_, 32 + + Truck Act, 184-5, 290 + in Germany, 155 + + Twisters, 126 + + Typographical Societies, 116 + + + Umbrella Sewers' Union, 142 + + Underclothing, 65 + + Underground, women working, 194 + + Unemployment and short time, 228 + + Unemployment among women in war-time, 240-43 + + Unions, women in, Chaps. IV. and IV.A + + U.S.A., Labour Commission of, 234 + + Unorganised trades, 102, 126 + + Unorganised workers, movement among, _section_, 127, 256 + + Unsuitable work, 194, 236 + + Unwin, Professor, 14, 18, 19, 22 + + Upholsterers, 146 + + Ure, 44, 47 + + + Variety of conditions, 46, 47 + + Ventilation, 276 + + Verein zur Vertretung der Interessen der Arbeiterinnen, 155 + + Victimisation, 96, 97, 105, 139, 169 + + + Wage census, 1906, Chap. VI. + + Wage contract, 73 + + Wages in seventeenth century, 20 + in miscellaneous trades, 225-6 + of women, Chap. VI. + raised in low-class industries, 135 + + Wagner, R., quoted, 31 + + War, effects of, on employment of women, Chap. VII. + + War, the, results it may have, _section_, 256 + + Warden, 7 + + Warehouse work, 67 + + Warner, Townsend, 23 + + Warping, 112 + + Watch-making, 64 + + Water-power, 18 + + Weavers' Amalgamation, 97, 103, 205 + + Weavers become clothiers, 17 + become wage-earners, 17 + + Weavers' Committees, 104-7, 108 + Company, 13 + Gild, 13 + secretaries, 101-2, 104, 106 + Union, 96, 111, 126 + + Weavers in Scotland, General Association of, 92 + of Edinburgh, 14 + + Weaving as a woman's trade, _section_, 12 + + Weaving, operation of, 97-8 + + Webb's _History of Trade Unionism_, 93 _n._ + + Weft, 98 + + Wells, H. G., 207 + + West Riding Fancy Union, 92 + + What is and what might be, 200 + + What the Factory Act has done, _section_, 181 + + Wider views of Union officials, 205 + + Widows, employment of, 90-91 + carry on husbands' business, 17 + + Wigan, 108 + + Wilson, Mrs. C. M., 23 _n._ + + Wiltshire, 21, 51 + + Winders, 111, 126, 294 + + _Winter's Tale_, 6 + + Winterton, 29 + + Witch, the, 1 + + Woman wage-earner, _section_, 53, and Chap. VI. + + "Women and the Trades," 61 + + Women bakers, carders, brewers, spinners, workers of wool, etc., 13 + bookbinders, 123 + chain-makers, 134 + + Women exempt from craft restriction, 12 + + Women, an important factor in industry, 21 + as individual earners, 25 + as subordinate helpers, 178 + + Women Factory Inspectors, xiv, 109, 182, 183, 282-93 + appointment of, opposed, 197 + reinforcement of, needed, xvi + + Women in an inferior position, 16 + in industrial transition, 19 + in the great industry, 203 + + Women only, Unions of, 118, 162, 171-2 + + Women weavers displacing men, 13 + + Women's employment, Central Committee on, 247 + + Women's movement and the labour movement, 199 + + Women's Rights Party in Germany, 154 + + Women's secretariat in German Commission of Trade Unions, 158 + + Women's Trade Union League, 118, _section_, 119, 175 + + Women's Trade Union League in America, 153 + + Women's wages, Chap. VI. + + Wood, G. H., 229 + + Wool and worsted, 115 + + Wool, _section textiles_, 5 + + Woollen and clothing trades, _section_, 243 + + Work done by women, three classes of, 65 + + Work done for wages outside the home, 22, 23 + + Workers' Educational Association, 74 + + Workers' Union, 140 + + Workrooms for unemployed women, 249 + + Workshop and factory, wages in, compared, 219 + + _Worsted, History of_, 25 _n._ + + Wright, Thomas, 7, 9 + + Wyatt, Paul, 33 + + + Yarn, demand for, 32, 248 + + York, 23 + + Yorkshire, 18, 97 + women, 115 + + Young, Arthur, 23, 29 + + + Zimmern, A. E., 265 _n._ + + +THE END + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _I.e._ Cots or cottages. + +[2] Departmental Committee on Sickness Benefit Claims, Evidence 40446, +Bondfield. + +[3] _Ibid._ 40462, Bondfield. + +[4] 37 Edw. III. c. 6, quoted in Cunningham's _Growth of Industry and +Commerce_, I. 353 _n._ (5th ed.). + +[5] See a volume of tracts at the British Museum numbered 1851, c. 10. + +[6] S.P. Dom. Eliz. 1593, vol. 244. Reprinted in _English Economic +History_, Bland, Brown and Tanney, p. 336. + +[7] Cf. a report of a workhouse in 1701 (catalogued as 816. m. 15. 48 in +the Brit. Mus. Library), where ten poor women were employed to teach the +children to spin. + +[8] _Tour in East of England_, vol. ii. pp. 75, 81. I am indebted to Mrs. +C. M. Wilson for drawing my attention to these passages and for suggesting +the remarks immediately following. + +[9] Defoe in his _Plan of English Commerce_ says that after the great +plague in France and the peace in Spain the run for goods was so great in +England, and the prices so high that poor women in Essex could earn 1s. or +1s. 6d. a day by spinning, and the farmers could hardly get dairymaids. +This was, however, only for a time; demand slackened, and the spinners +were reduced to misery. + +[10] James, _History of Worsted_, p. 289. This pleasant custom may remind +us of lines in Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_, i. 4: + + "The spinsters and the knitters in the sun + And the free maids that weave their thread with bones." + +[11] Philip Gaskell, who was, however, so prejudiced against the factory +system that his views must be taken with caution, says that the wives of +manufacturers who had risen from poverty to affluence were "an epitome of +everything that is odious in manners," their only redeeming point being a +profuse hospitality, which however, Grant attributes to "a sense of +vain-glory."--_Manufacturing Population_, p. 60. + +[12] _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, _Modern Times_, p. 654 +(ed. 1907). + +[13] _History of Cotton Manufacture_, p. 446. + +[14] Factory Inspector's Report dated August 1835, quoted in Fielden's +_Curse of the Factory System_, 1836, p. 43. + +[15] _Country round Manchester_, p. 192. Compare Mrs. Gaskell's +descriptions in _Mary Barton_, fifty years later, for a very similar +account. + +[16] _Athenaeum_, August 20 (probably 1842), quoted in W. C. Taylor, +_Factories and the Factory System_, pp. 3, 4, London, 1842. + +[17] L. Braun, _Die Frauenfrage_, p. 209. Cf. E. Gnauck-Kühne, _Die +Arbeiterinnenfrage_ 23. + +[18] _Woman and Labour_, p. 50. + +[19] Registrar-General's Report for 1912, p. xxxvii. + +[20] "Prospects of Marriage for Women," by Clara Collet, _Nineteenth +Century_, April 1892, reprinted in _Educated Working Women_, P. S. King, +1902. + +[21] The servant-keeping class often shows a tendency to regard social +questions mainly from the point of view of maintaining the supply of +domestic servants. + +[22] See Appendix, p. 270. + +[23] Webb, _History of Trade Unionism_, pp. 104-5. + +[24] _Parliamentary Papers_, 1838, viii. _qq._ 360, 1341-2. + +[25] "Select Committee on Manufactures," _Parliamentary Papers_, 1833, +vol. vi. p. 323, _q._ 5412-3. + +[26] _Rules of the Nelson and District Power-Loom Weavers' Association_, +1904, p. 13, "Advice to Members, etc." + +[27] Report of N.C. Amalgamation, June 1906. + +[28] Evidence is not unanimous on this point. + +[29] Report of S.E. Lancashire Provincial Association, Dec. 1912. + +[30] See _Women in the Printing Trade_ (edited by J. R. MacDonald) for an +excellent study of the whole circumstances and conditions of the trade. + +[31] G. Oakeshott, "Women in the Cigar Trade in London," in the _Economic +Journal_, 1900, p. 562. + +[32] Second Report of the W.T.U.L. + +[33] In Mr. Keighley Snowden's words, from which this account is taken +(_Daily Citizen_, 12, xi. 1912): "If foreign competition at last threatens +us, it is in consequence of this heartless folly." + +[34] Space does not permit us to give a full account of the efforts for +co-operative action for social purposes made by working women at this +period, or of the interesting study of social conditions made by Leonora +Barry, the investigator of women's work under the Knights of Labour. See +Report on Women's Unions, Chapter IVA. + +[35] Quoted in the _Cotton Factory Times_, September 18, 1885. + +[36] Report of the Strike of Textile Workers in Lawrence, Mass., p. 63. + +[37] This chapter was written before the outbreak of war. + +[38] It is a curious reflection on the tardiness of our Government +statistical work, that figures for German Trade Unions are here actually +accessible for a more recent date than those of English Unions. [Written +early in 1914.] + +[39] A. Erdmann, _Church and Trade Union in Germany_, 1913. + +[40] Report of Gas-workers' and General Labourers' Association, March +1897. + +[41] This chapter was written before the outbreak of war. + +[42] Many worthy folk to this day even show by the use of the phrase +"_giving_ employment" that they suppose themselves to be conferring a +benefit on persons who work for them, irrespective of wages paid, and it +is unlikely that our ancestors were more enlightened on this point than +ourselves. + +[43] G. Slater, _English Peasantry and the Enclosure of Common Fields_, +Constable, 1907, p. 266. Compare Hammond, J. L. and B, _The Village +Labourer_, chap. v. + +[44] See, _e.g._, the cases mentioned in the Factory Inspectors' Report +for 1912, p. 142, and compare the case reported by Miss Vines in the +Report for 1913, p. 97. In a Christmas-card factory the women were being +employed two days a week from 8 to 8, three days a week from 8 A.M. to 10 +P.M., and Saturdays 8 to 4. "The whole staff of workers and foremen looked +absolutely worn out." + +[45] _School Child in Industry_, by A. Greenwood, p. 7. Workers' +Educational Association, Manchester, price 1d. + +[46] See the _Englishwoman_ for June 1914. + +[47] The work of a "big piecer" is practically identical with that of a +spinner, only that responsibility rests with the latter. + +[48] See Cadbury Matheson and Shann, _Women's Work and Wages_, p. 212; +Macdonald, _Women in the Printing Trades_, p. 53. + +[49] See in Chapter IVA. pp. 162-3. Frau Lily Braun's views on the +subject. + +[50] See an article by the present writer in the _Englishwoman_, April +1911. + +[51] Northern Counties Amalgamation of Weavers, etc. Report for July 1913. + +[52] I owe the suggestion of a "cleft" (_Spalte_) in the woman-worker's +career to Madame E. Gnauck-Kühne, who developed it in her book, _Die +deutsche Frau_. Compare "Statistics of Women's Life and Employment," +_Journal of the Statistical Society_, 1909. + +[53] Earnings and Hours Enquiry: Textile Industries, Cd. 4545, 1909; +Clothing Trades, Cd. 4844, 1909. + +[54] Raised to 3-1/2d. on 19th July 1915. + +[55] _Elements of Statistics_, 2nd edition, pp. 37, 38, and 39. + +[56] 1,091,202 out of a total of 4,830,734. + +[57] _Women's Industrial News_, July 1912, p. 56; compare _The War, Women +and Unemployment_, published by the Fabian Society. + +[58] This chapter was prepared during the first year and the early part of +the second year of war. It is necessarily incomplete, as war is still +raging; but it is hoped that a brief summary of the position of +women-workers in war time, and of the expedients adopted to ease and +improve it, may not be without interest. + +[59] Article by G. H. Carter, _Economic Journal_, March 1915; see also +Notes in the _Women's Trades Union League Review_, January 1915. + +[60] Article by Jas. Haslam, _Englishwoman_, March 1915, and information +given privately. + +[61] See article by C. Black in the _Common Cause_, February 12, 1915. + +[62] _Westminster Gazette_, October 16, 1914. + +[63] See a letter by Mr. A. J. Mundella, L.C.C., in the _School Child_ for +December 1914. + +[64] _New Statesman_, November 7, 1914. + +[65] _Report on Outlets for Labour after the War_, British Association, +Section F., Manchester, 1915. + +[66] See _The National Care of Maternity_, by Margaret Bondfield, +published by the Women's Co-operative Guild. The proposals include the +administration of Maternity Benefit by the Public Health authorities in +lieu of the approved societies, the raising of maternity benefit to £5, +and other changes. + +[67] B. Kirkman Gray, _History of Philanthropy_. + +[68] _Daily News and Leader_, June 24, 1915. It may be remarked here +parenthetically, though not strictly germane to the subject, that not only +the local authorities, but the Departments, even the War Office itself, +might utilise the services of professional women more freely than they do, +with great advantage to themselves. Women have among other things a very +sharp eye for the detection of fraud and corruption. It was to the +initiative and energy of one woman that the greatest improvements in the +organisation of the Army Hospital Service in the nineteenth century were +due. It is admitted that no change in the administration of the Factory +Department has been so fruitful for good as the appointment of women +factory inspectors. Why, then, are not professional women called in to aid +in the organisation of commissariat, the inspection of clothing stores, +the "housekeeping" of the Army, especially in the case of the needs of raw +recruits? Incalculable waste, diversified here and there by actual lack of +food, is reported from the camps. The help of expert women might here be +of enormous value, and not only avoid waste, but ensure the provision of +more wholesome food and more comfortable clothing. Some valuable hints on +this subject are to be derived from an article by Mrs. Janet Courtney in +the _Fortnightly Review_, February 1915, "The War and Women's Employment." + +[69] _The War and Democracy._ Introduction by A. E. Zimmern, p. 14. +London, 1914. + +[70] It should be observed that the first proprietors of some cotton +mills, alarmed by the consequences of obliging their servants to work +incessantly, have shut up their mills in the night. + +[71] A certain manufacturer of worsted threatened a sister of ours, whom +he employed, that he would send all his jersey to be spun at the mill; and +further insulted her with the pretended superiority of that work. She +having more spirit than discretion, stirred up the sisterhood, and they +stirred up all the men they could influence (not a few) to go and destroy +the mills erected in and near Leicester, and this is the origin of the +late riots there. + +[72] It is, however, important to mention that cotton mills are materially +improved of late years in most of these particulars, and that in some +mills they exist in a much less degree than others, which shows them not +to be essential and inherent. + +[73] It is a curious circumstance, and one which amply merits attentive +consideration, that the fecundity of females employed in manufactories +seems to be considerably diminished by their occupation and habits; for +not only are their families generally smaller than those of agricultural +labourers, but their children are born at more distant intervals. Thus the +average interval which elapses between the birth of each child in the +former case is two years and one month, as we have found upon minute +enquiry, while, in country districts, we believe, it seldom exceeds +eighteen months. The causes of these facts we have at present no space to +enlarge upon. + +[74] The extracts are slightly compressed in transcription. + +[75] The barber knotter is a small appliance worn on the hand to assist +the work of winding. + + + + +BOOKS ON SOCIAL QUESTIONS + + +MATERNITY + +LETTERS FROM WORKING WOMEN + +_Collected by the Women's Co-operative Guild_ + +WITH A PREFACE BY + +THE RT. HON. HERBERT SAMUEL, M.P. + +This book is the outcome of an extensive enquiry into the conditions of +motherhood among the working-classes. Here working women tell their own +stories, and their letters form an impressive indication of the urgency of +the problem, especially at the present time, when the preservation of the +infant life of the nation is of the utmost importance. + +_2s. 6d. net_ + + +THE FUTURE OF + +THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT + +BY MRS. H. M. SWANWICK, M.A. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MRS. FAWCETT + +_2s. 6d. net_ + +"Mrs. Swanwick's exposition of the claims of women is clear, bright, +forcible, well-informed and fairly reasoned. It is more likely to persuade +doubters than any other statement that has yet appeared."--Mr. J. A. +HOBSON in the _Manchester Guardian_. + + +MARRIED WOMEN'S WORK + +_Being the Report of an Enquiry undertaken by the Women's Industrial +Council_ + +EDITED BY CLEMENTINA BLACK + +This volume contains the report of an investigation organized by the +Women's Industrial Council, into the work for money of wives and widows. +The facts have been collected mainly by means of personal visits, and the +various sections have been written by different persons, quite +independently. The aggregate result is a picture, unquestionably faithful, +of life as led in thousands of working-class homes in this country. + + +ROUND ABOUT A POUND A WEEK + +BY MRS. PEMBER REEVES + +_2s. 6d. net_ + +"If any one wants to know how the poor live to-day, he will find it in +Mrs. Pember Reeves' little book. Here there is no sensation, no melodrama, +no bitter cry. It is not outcast London that we are shown, but ordinary +London, resolutely respectable; not 'the Submerged Tenth,' but somewhere +about the half."--_Nation._ + + +LIVELIHOOD AND POVERTY + +_A Study in the Economic Conditions of Working-Class Households in +Northampton, Warrington, Stanley and Reading_ + +BY A. L. BOWLEY, SC.D., AND A. R. BURNETT-HURST, B.SC. + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY R. H. TAWNEY, B.A. + +_3s. 6d. net_ + +"Had this book appeared at any other time than in the midst of a great +European war one can well imagine the sensation that it would have +created, and rightly created. Every newspaper would have had leading +articles upon it, and different schools of thought would greedily have +seized upon it and used its facts to draw their own particular moral from +the conditions of poverty and low wages revealed in such well-known towns +as Reading, Warrington and Northampton."--_Westminster Gazette._ + + +THE FEEDING OF SCHOOL CHILDREN + +BY M. E. BULKLEY + +_3s. 6d. net_ + +"The first comprehensive description of one of the most momentous social +experiments of modern times."--_Economic Review._ + +"An admirable statement of the history and present position of the +problem."--_New Statesman._ + + +STUDIES IN THE MINIMUM WAGE + +_MINIMUM RATES IN THE CHAIN-MAKING INDUSTRY_ + +BY R. H. TAWNEY, B.A. + +DIRECTOR OF THE "RATAN TATA FOUNDATION," UNIVERSITY OF LONDON + +_1s. 6d. net_ + + +_MINIMUM RATES IN THE TAILORING INDUSTRY_ + +BY R. H. TAWNEY, B.A. + +_3s. 6d. net_ + + +TOYNBEE HALL AND THE ENGLISH SETTLEMENT MOVEMENT + +BY DR. WERNER PICHT + +_2s. 6d. net_ + +The first scientific account--historical and critical--of the English +Settlement Movement, with special reference to the "Mother of +Settlements," Toynbee Hall. An attempt is made to explain the special +difficulties of the Movement, which are increasingly felt now, after +thirty years of existence, and to suggest how they might be overcome. +Details of each Settlement in the United Kingdom are given in an appendix. + + +G. BELL & SONS, LTD. + +YORK HOUSE, PORTUGAL STREET, LONDON, W.C. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41703 *** |