Eighteen months after the signing of the armistice it was still hardly possible to know definitely what the after war wages and occupations of the woman worker would be. After war industrial conditions in themselves naturally stimulated some return of women to their former occupations. Many of the women substitutes were found in munition making which was immediately curtailed, while the luxury, the needle and other “women’s” trades, depressed during the war may be expected to revive in time. The reluctance of women to enter these trades under the prevailing wage standards was very pronounced, however. Another important factor in forcing women back to prewar lines of work was the carrying out of certain war time substitution agreements. For example, the newly formed industrial council of the wool textile industry, representing employers and employes, adopted on February 3, 1919, the substitution agreement made between employers and work people of the West Riding of Yorkshire three years before. By the terms of this agreement, the returning soldiers were to get their places back when fit for employment. Women were not to be employed on men’s work if men were available and were to be the first discharged if there was a shortage of work. As long as women substitutes remained in the industry they were to be paid on a basis equivalent to that of men workers.
But in other cases, even though similar agreements exist, it appears probable that they will be modified to allow women to keep at least some of their new jobs. Although the Amalgamated Society of Engineers had the legal sanction of the Munitions Acts for excluding women from engineering at the end of the war, at a conference between employers and the union for drafting an after war trade agreement their president expressed his willingness to allow women to remain in semi-skilled repetition work. According to this official much of this kind of work would be carried on in munition plants converted into factories for the manufacture of articles formerly imported. Officials expect the so-called “Whitley” industrial councils of employers and employes to make many similar adjustments, but it has been noted that the council in the woolen industry merely reverted to prewar conditions and arranged to shut out the women. Moreover, in many new occupations, notably clerical and commercial work, which women entered without conditions, and where their efficiency has been demonstrated, it seems almost certain that they will remain. The awakened spirit among women workers and the growth of labor organizations among them, which will give voice to their demands, must also not be forgotten in judging whether women will not continue to occupy at least a part of their new field of work. The radical point of view, that there should be no barriers against their continuing all their new occupations has attracted much attention from its logical presentation and the new note that it strikes.
The position of the government on “dilution” is not wholly clear. During the Parliamentary campaign of December, 1918, Lloyd George, in answer to questions from Lady Rhondda of the Women’s Industrial League, stated that he intended to carry out the terms of the Treasury Agreement of 1915, which promised to restore prewar practices. But “the government had never agreed that new industries come under the Treasury Agreement.” Women could find employment in these, which were already extensive, and in their prewar occupations. The Prime Minister also stated that he was “a supporter of the principle of equal pay for equal output. To permit women to be the catspaw for reducing the level of wages is unthinkable.” In his stand at this time, Lloyd George appeared to approach the middle-of-the-road compromising position of the majority of the War Cabinet Committee on Women in Industry.
A somewhat similar stand was taken in the “Restoration of Prewar Practices Act” of August 15, 1919, which arranged for the fulfilment of pledges made in the Treasury Agreement. It required the owners of the establishments covered—mainly those engaged in munitions work—to restore or permit the restoration of prewar trade rules and customs, and to allow such prewar practices to be continued for a year.
Rules laid down by the Ministry of Labour are quoted, however, which would turn out all the “dilutees,” both male and female, and give back to the skilled men their former monopoly. The rules state that wherever a part of the force must be discharged, the “dilutees” must go first and that if a skilled man applies for work, a “dilutee” must be discharged if necessary.[287] It is probable that these rules apply only to establishments covered by the Munition Acts, but, as far as they go, they leave the women nothing of their war time gains.
On the other hand, in assenting to the recommendations of the national Industrial Conference, the government agreed with those who argued for the same protective legislation for both sexes along with state maternity provisions. This national industrial conference, representing employers and employes was called in the spring of 1919 during great labor unrest. It urged legislation for a forty-eight hour week and a universal minimum wage for both sexes, and such bills were pending in Parliament in September, 1919.
The conference also proposed that public provision for maternity care be extended and centralized under the Ministry of Health to whose creation the government was pledged. Maternity protection will undoubtedly hold a prominent place in legislation during the next few years. The successful strike of the women bus workers for equal pay, supported as they were by their male coworkers and by the public, gave hope for the coming of industrial equality between men and women. Such equality immediately raises the question of pay for the services which married women render to the state. The rearing of healthy children is of vital national importance and the endowment of motherhood, provision of milk and proper food for pregnant and nursing mothers and the extension of maternity centers and hospitals with medical and nursing care, are already under consideration by the newly created Ministry of Health.
Child Workers After the War
On the needs of children there was much more general agreement. The most pressing problem was prevention of unemployment during the readjustment from war to peace time production. The larger issue lay in greater public control over the first years of working life, to the end that the young workers might grow into better citizens. Both problems were undoubtedly made more difficult by the harm done to boys and girls in body and character by the war. But at the same time the war had roused a greater appreciation of the value of these future citizens and a greater determination to improve their chances.
Alarming forecasts were made as to the probable extent of unemployment among boys and girls at the end of the war by a committee of enquiry appointed by the Ministry of Labour at the suggestion of the Ministry of Reconstruction.[288] A number of munition firms which were canvassed said that they intended to discharge nearly half their boys and three quarters of their girls when peace was declared. It was estimated that 60,000 out of the 200,000 working boys and girls in London would be thrown out of a job. Acute unemployment was predicted in occupations that had engaged more than three-tenths of all working girls—the metal, woodworking and chemical trades, government establishments, transport and perhaps commerce.