In agriculture the increase was less than in most other kinds of work, the number of permanent women workers rising only from 80,000 to 113,000 in the four years. For the fourth year of war alone the number of permanent women workers in Scotland showed a rise for the first time, and there was a slight increase in England and Wales, the total gain over July, 1917, being 7,000. The number of casual workers dropped from 88,000 in 1917 to 65,000, however. This fact is ascribed to two causes. A larger number of male workers were available, including soldiers on furlough, war prisoners, enemy aliens and school boys. Also there was a much lessened demand for women in the two lines in which casual workers were most extensively employed—hops, in which the acreage was reduced by government order, and fruit, in which the crop was a failure in several localities.
The increase of opportunities for women in the professions was one of the most significant of the war time changes. The number of professional women more than doubled during four years of war, rising from 50,500 in July, 1914, to 107,500 in April, 1918. There was, of course, a much enlarged demand for nurses, and the number of women in Red Cross and military hospitals rose from 10,000 in July, 1914, to 38,000 in January, 1918. While the number of men teachers fell off by 22,000, the number of women teachers increased by 13,000, and they secured a larger proportion of appointments to the higher and better paid posts. In January, 1918, the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors obtained permission to change their articles of incorporation so as to admit women, and a few weeks later reported that very desirable women candidates were applying for examination.
By the fourth year of the war women were also largely employed in the various government departments. In August, 1914, there were 36,000 women and 191,000 men in government work, but in January, 1918, the balance of the sexes had been reversed and the number of women had risen to 143,000, an increase of 296 per cent, while the number of men had been reduced to 135,000, a decrease of 29 per cent.
NUMBER OF FEMALES EMPLOYED BY
GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS
| August 1, 1914 | January 1, 1918 | |
|---|---|---|
| Admiralty (Headquarters) | 98 | 4,101 |
| Board of Customs | 21 | 1,415 |
| Food Ministry | New | 3,086 |
| Board of Inland Revenue | 250 | 4,549 |
| Ministry of Labor | 1,017 | 3,239 |
| Ministry of Munitions | New | 9,925 |
| Ministry of National Service | New | 9,811 |
| Ministry of Pensions | New | 5,311 |
| Postoffice | 32,000 | 79,000 |
| Board of Trade | 15 | 1,842 |
| War Office | 156 | 9,665 |
| All Others | 2,715 | 11,961 |
| Total | 36,272 | 191,004 |
Perhaps the most direct help given by women to the progress of the war was their employment in work for the army behind the lines in France. In July, 1915, a member of the government, in answering an inquiry in the House of Commons as to the number of soldiers detailed for clerical work, remarked that on the continent “obviously neither old civilian clerks nor women clerks would be suitable.” But two years later thousands of English women were at work there not only as clerks, stenographers, telegraphers and postal employes, but also as army cooks and cleaners and in the handling of supplies and various sorts of repair work. The majority were clerical or domestic workers, however. The women employed in this way were carefully selected and organized under semi-military discipline, as the “Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps” (popularly known as the “Waacs”), and numbered over 50,000 before the end of the war. They wore uniforms of different colors, according to the branch of work which they undertook. They lived in small huts, often unheated, not far behind the battle lines, and were constantly exposed to danger. “Waacs” were at times killed in air raids, and a considerable number suffered from shell shock. Other smaller bodies of women organized on similar semi-military lines were the “Wrens,” who were employed in certain shore duties for the navy, and the “Wrafs” who did woodcutting under the Board of Trade.
The number of women replacing men, as well as the total number of women employed, reached its highest level during the fourth year of the war. In April, 1918, the latest date for which these figures were available at the date of writing, there were 531,000 substitutes in industry, 187,000 in government establishments, and 1,098,000 in nonindustrial occupations, or a total of 1,816,000 women who were carrying on work formerly done by men.[55] Ninety per cent of the women munition makers were said to be employed on men’s jobs.[56] An index of the distribution of substitutes among different types of factory work may be gained from the results of a special questionnaire sent to manufacturers employing 277,000 women.[57] Fifteen per cent were doing clerical work, 7 per cent warehouse work and packing, and 5 per cent other nonmanufacturing work, such as sack mending in flour mills and meter inspecting and show room work in the gas industry. Of the remaining 73 per cent, 9 per cent were engaged in “general laboring work,” and many others in work requiring similar strength. “It is clear, therefore,” says the report, “that the employment of women on heavy work has become an important factor in the situation. Though many of the processes mentioned were unskilled, it was noticeable how many of the women were engaged on skilled or semi-skilled processes.”
CHAPTER V
Organized Efforts to Recruit Women’s Labor
The increase in the number of women workers and in the scope of their work by no means “came of itself.” It was the result of a long process of agitation by private individuals, propaganda, organization and negotiation by the government, and in the production of munitions, where the need was most acute, even of legislation. Besides parliamentary action in the munitions industry, agreements between employers and trade unions, local committees on women’s war employment, “Women’s County Agricultural Committees” and a “Shops” and a “Clerical Occupations” committee of the central government were the chief agencies promoting a greater utilization of the services of women. In dealing with the various obstacles to an extension of women’s employment, the wisdom of securing the cordial cooperation of organized labor in making industrial changes was clearly demonstrated. In the manufacturing industries a system of local representative committees under central official control brought much better returns than were obtained in agriculture without such committees—which points to satisfactory wages and working conditions as an essential addition to propaganda for securing more women workers. And, naturally enough, such methods as the use of photographs, personal visits by persons familiar with local needs, and the trial of a few expert women workers, all proved effective when general printed appeals had but slight effect.