General Effects of Industry on Physical Condition

In addition to the influence of these special considerations on the health of girls in factory employment, certain ailments and forms of physical disability which may not of themselves be immediately incapacitating may be induced by the general unfavourable environment of industrial life Amongst such disorders may be classed:

Anaemia.
Gastric disorders.
Nervous affections.
Disturbances of menstrual function.

Growing girls are particularly liable to these disorders, so that their extent was made the subject of special inquiry.

Anaemia.—The absence of an absolute standard and complete lack of statistical information render the evidence under this heading vague and inconclusive. Most of the Welfare Workers in the various munition factories visited stated that very few girls suffer from anaemia; two or three stated that many girls were anaemic when they started their industrial life, but that after a short time, thanks, as they believed, to better feeding and a regular life, the disorder passed off. On the other hand, the doctors and club workers interviewed were confident that the long hours worked were increasing the proportion of anaemic girls. One doctor, when recording the prevalence of anaemia among industrially employed girls, attributed it to the fatigue following inadequate rest, coupled in many cases with excessive menstruation, due similarly to the fatigue of long hours. There was considerable divergence of opinion as to the age incidence of anaemia, some observers stating that the period immediately following the taking up of employment, 14 to 16, showed the worst record, whilst others found the years 16 to 20 were responsible for most of the anaemia. It is interesting to note that some of the Coventry witnesses found anaemia much reduced since the War, no doubt as a result of the better feeding, and one Welfare Worker stated that only those girls who were found to be eating insufficient food or who came from long distances without breakfast suffered in this way.

The textile industry presents a more uniform picture, and there is much evidence to show that a large proportion of the girls employed in the cotton and the worsted trades suffer excessively from this disorder. Some observers state that many girls are anaemic about the age of 12 when they start work, and then again between 18 and 22; others declare that most girls suffer from anaemia at some time between the ages of 13 and 18. As far as the actual sickness returns of the Trade Union Insurance Societies are concerned, it appears that anaemia is more frequent after 21 than before, but these refer to anaemia of such severity that absence from work is necessary, and the Sick Visitors say that many girls under 21 suffer from anaemia for lengthy periods without medical attention or sickness pay.

Doctors are inclined to attribute the excessive anaemia to the fatigue of long hours of labour in a close atmosphere, continued standing, insufficient sleep due to the early morning start, and faulty feeding.

The sedentary nature of the clothing industry renders the girls very liable to anaemia, and though the employers frequently deny this, the evidence from the Trade Union Secretaries and the Sick Visitors with their actual record of cases outweighs the observations of the employers. Witnesses from girls' clubs and evening classes often state that the clothing trade is responsible for a higher proportion of anaemic girls than any other industry.

Gastric Disorders.—Most witnesses report that indigestion and other gastric disorders are general among girls, though it is often noted that men and older women suffer more frequently from these complaints. Seldom is the actual work held to be responsible. Girls working with powder in munition factories or where the smell of oil is disagreeable appear to be more liable than others, and weavers who are taller than the average—only a small proportion—find the constant bending over the loom aggravates a tendency to indigestion, but beyond these few cases faulty and irregular feeding seems to be the main cause for the prevalent gastric troubles. It is interesting to note that hygiene and physiology classes are doing much to inculcate sound notions of diet, which, taken in conjunction with increased wages and easy accessibility of food in canteens, are doing much to prevent gastric disorders. Irregular and hurried feeding depends mainly on the arrangement of hours of labour, and can only be overcome when these are based on more rational lines. One Welfare Worker records a very small proportion of digestive troubles, and this she attributes to the hour and a half allowed for the midday meal.[12]

Where work starts at 7.30, as in the clothing trade at Hebden Bridge, many girls take only a cup of tea or a piece of bread before commencing work, and then have to wait until 12.30 before they can get a proper meal. Doctors point out how the long hours of labour in the close atmosphere of mills and factories engender a poor appetite, so that nourishing food becomes distasteful, and tea and confectionery frequently form the staple diet, with disastrous results to the digestive functions.

Headaches.—Headaches appear to be extremely common amongst girls in all the industries reviewed, the reasons advanced to account for this being variously the noise of machinery, the smell of oil and size, inadequate ventilation, and eye-strain consequent on close attention to the work.

Ventilation is notoriously bad in those factories where previously only men were employed, but new and large factories, particularly where there is a Welfare Worker, show much improvement, and under such conditions headaches are said to be rare. Defective eyesight is a frequent cause of headaches, and here again a careful Welfare supervisor can do much good by advising a visit to the optician or eye hospital. Clothing operatives are especially liable to eye-strain, and care in lighting arrangements is very necessary. Mending in the worsted industry is also trying for the eyes. In one large mill visited a superior woman overlooker was in charge of the mending and burling, and she was careful to vary the work so that the tedious pieces did not always come to the same girls. By this means, and by the use of eye-shades to keep off the glare of the light, she finds headaches can be largely prevented. It is to be feared that such care is not general in the industry, as a Trade Union representative reports that headaches are very common.

Nervous Disorders.—The evidence here is extremely scanty. One doctor drew attention to the danger of automatism. When very monotonous and restricted movements are employed, a whole room of girls may become nervous and hysterical. He has known this to occur in the making of nails, where the difference between the various processes is so slight that the monotony cannot be obviated by periodically transferring the girls to different kinds of work. Two other witnesses drew attention to the effect of piece-work at high pressure in causing a tendency to hysteria and other nerve disorders, and doffing in the worsted spinning rooms is said to be responsible for the noisy excitability which is so marked among the younger boys and girls. The more common experience, however, is the absence of nervous disorders among industrially employed girls. Various doctors in Lancashire and Welfare Workers and others in Birmingham and Coventry commented on this, and recorded their conviction that the social influences at work, cheerful companionship and an increased interest in life, are powerful antidotes to possible nervous afflictions.

Menstrual Disorders.—As far as can be ascertained from an inquiry based on the general experiences of persons in touch with girls either inside or outside the factory, the extent of menstrual disorders appears to be much slighter than is generally supposed. In most of the non-textile industries reviewed, opportunities for sitting down were fairly general, and here painful or excessive menstruation was exceedingly rare. Nurses in charge of rest-rooms and surgeries report that only a small proportion of girls are troubled in any way, and those who make use of the rest-rooms during their periods are always the same ones each month, so it may be presumed that these are constitutionally delicate, and that the work is not responsible for their disorder. Doctors declare that if the general health is good, industrial work for a reasonable number of hours has no ill-effects, but, on the contrary, the active movements involved are a positive advantage. When, however, the hours worked are so long as to cause extreme fatigue, excessive and painful menstruation frequently results. Nurses and Welfare Workers notice that many girls of 14 have not commenced their menstrual periods when they start work, and they point out that the active life and the chance of good nourishment which wage-earning ensures has a good effect in bringing on normal periods.

Some witnesses report that girls who have no opportunity of sitting down suffer much pain during menstruation and get very fatigued, but the evidence on this point was not unanimous.

Evidence from the textile industry is not so satisfactory. As was pointed out when the provision of seats was under discussion, cotton and worsted factories are lamentably behind other industries in this respect, and as hours are uniformly 10 per day and the pressure of work generally very considerable, it is not surprising that menstrual disorders are reported more frequently than in non-textile trades. It must also be remembered that the large majority of textile operatives start work at 12 or 13 years of age, just at the onset of puberty, while in other industries 14 is the general school-leaving age.

Many girls find the long hours of continued standing very tiring during menstruation, and as these factors conduce to anaemia, failure of the menses and dysmenorrhoea are more common than in other industries.

Most witnesses laid stress on the need for seats and rest-rooms in textile factories as a means of preventing painful menstruation; in many mills girls are not even allowed to snatch a few minutes' rest by sitting on the waste-boxes or on straps slung between their looms, and they frequently experience difficulty in getting permission to go home when feeling unwell unless they can get a substitute. Two men overlookers drew attention to the advantage which results when the foremen and overlookers are married, as they are then more sympathetic about periodical lost-time and are more willing to allow girls to go home at the half-day.

But the doctors interviewed are unable to attribute any permanent menstrual disorders or resultant injuries to these causes, and they are inclined to believe that the active life of the mill is a help rather than a hindrance to the menstrual function.