Conclusions.
Generally, the results of our investigations show the following summary of the advantages and disadvantages of women's labour to the employer, and their employment in preference to men depends upon how far in any given case or under any given circumstances the balance of these advantages and disadvantages is on the side of the women—or, it must also be said, how far the employer is bound by conservative use and wont so as to be protected against any impulse to employ the best organisation for the efficient conduct of his business.
The advantages of the woman worker are:—
1. That she will accept low wages; she usually works for about half the men's wages.
2. That she is not a member of a Union, and is, therefore, more amenable to the will of the employer as the absolute rule of the workshop.
3. That she is a steady[44] worker (much emphasis must not be placed upon this, as the contrary is also alleged), and nimble at mechanical processes, such as folding and collecting sheets.
[44] "In Mr. W——'s youth, men used to do all the card mounting. Women were introduced for it about twenty-nine years ago. They were brought in because the men drank so and kept away." But later on the same informant said that he had to introduce a varnishing machine because women "kept away so."
4. That she will do odd jobs which lead to nothing.[45]
[45] Birmingham boys, for instance, would not feed printing machines, because it "leads to nothing," so girls were employed. Cf. Aberdeen, p. 47, etc.
Her disadvantages are:—
1. That she has less technical skill than a man, and is not so useful all round.
2. That she has less strength at work and has more broken time owing to bad health and, especially should she be married, domestic duties, and that her output is not so great as that of a man.[46]
[46] An employer with considerable experience both of men and women in the printing trade in Scotland, says, "given a certain area of floor space for men and women, on the former would probably be produced half more than on the latter."
3. That she is more liable to leave work just when she is getting most useful; or, expressing this in a general way, that there are more changes in a crowd of women workers than in a crowd of men workers.
4. That employers object to mixed departments.[47]
[47] 1, 2, and 4, together lead London employers to conclude that an extension of women's employment is impossible, because it would mean larger workshops in proportion to the numbers employed, and consequently ruinous rents.
One interesting point must be noted in connection with these conclusions. In London, where women mainly work on the more unskilled and irregular processes, it is often difficult to see what industrial influence they are exerting. In Edinburgh or Aberdeen that is not so much the case. And one thing which is observable in these places is that the employment of women of itself leads to those minute subdivisions of labour characteristic of machine industry. "There are more subdivisions of labour amongst women than amongst men in the printing trade. For example, one girl will set-up the type, another will "brassout" (put in heads and finish it), or two may sometimes be employed in finishing it."[48]
[48] So in bookbinding. A Dundee manager of a general binding establishment, says: "The subdivision of labour system has certainly favoured the increased employment of women in the trade."
Cheap, mechanical and light work consequently tends to be done by women, whilst the men enjoy almost undisputed possession of the rest. The woman worker, for instance, competes with the man in binding the cheap light notebook, whilst she rarely interferes with him in binding heavy ledgers.[49] On the other hand, in some of the more mechanical departments, such as examining sheets of paper by touch, she attains a wonderful dexterity.
[49] The following report from Aberdeen gives an interesting account of the subdivision of labour in a firm which has introduced women for cloth-case making:—"The department where girls are beginning to encroach on men is in cloth-case work, that is, making the cases and putting them on. In the higher reaches of the trade the women do not show themselves to be so skilful. As yet the men's Unions have not shown much active opposition to women's work in this branch, provided always that one man is set to work with every five girls employed on it. The making of a 'case' is divided into five sections and illustrates the modern development of the division of labour system.
1st girl glues.
2nd girl lays on boards.
Man cuts corners.
3rd girl turns in ends.
4th girl turns in fore-edge.
5th girl (young) puts it through rolling machine."
We have also to note how very effectively conservative notions about women's sphere and chivalrous prejudices about protecting them, influence certain employers in determining what work they ought to do.