American Working Women in Postwar Era
Miller, Frieda S.
American Working Women in Postwar Era How many women plan to work after the war? What jobs do they want when they shift occupations? What are job prospects Jor factory workers, for whitecollar...
...3) there sre more trained supervisors, experienced in dealing with the woman worker and appreciative of her possibilities...
...It may be anticipated that this trend will continue after the war, though in many quarters actual thinking and planning for women workers probably will lag behind...
...While there is an acknowledged need for over-all planning and for decisions that can only be mad* by the National Government, it is pointed out that Individuals and communities are not prevented from going ahead on their own initiative...
...Social Work: in the last 50 years, the furious pace of the changing world and an awakening social conscience have broadened the opportunities for the social worker...
...01 both the factory worker and white-collar worker, Pp wartime Job record will play a large part in deist wining future job opportunities...
...Whet Jobs 0* They Wont When 7»ey Shift Occupations...
...There is a tremendous backlog of demand for civilian goods and services, since the wartrend has been away from these fields of employment...
...And other questions about today's working women, tat laid staff of the VYomen'a Bureau is making a perlonal-tnterview surrey of workers in war congested area...
...Though there hai been much talk, the United States Department of Commerce reports that an analysis of the plans for any particular plant or community indicates that more specific planning and action are neeetsary for the following reasons: too many are gauging their future horizons by prewar stsndsrds...
...Women who have W J°b "know-how,"s and whose performance records *° the job have convinced employers of their superior Hfo should to a considerable extent keep their foot¦ffM in spite of msle competition...
...As half of all the women in the entire March 1944 woman labor force were in the same occupational group at before Pearl Harbor, it may be said that women have been relatively stable workers in this period of great changes...
...If wage* and working conditions are to maintain decent standards through a flooded labor market, or when war plants ahlft to civilian production and cut down on overtime, legislative dykes must be mended...
...the moot part, however, former waitresses, •Pfcatk workers, and even many quondam-workers in ths retail service trades have indicated their desire to "*t*y In manufacturing work after the war...
...Since the industrial revolution, when there was a drastic change in the role of the woman and her economic relation to the family unit, there has been sn increase each decade in women's employment...
...Certain wartime developments should enhance their future employment opportunities: 1) During the war women have had increased opportunities for training—by September 1844, over 1,300,000 women had been enrolled in pre-employment and supplementary training courses sponsored by the Federsl Government, which mesns that more trained women with work experience will be available...
...Klerlriral Industry...
...The Prealdent has indorsed a proposal that would change from 40 to 60 cents an hour the minimum wage established by the Federal WageHour Act...
...According to the Census report for the spring of 1940, there were at that time over II million women actually in employment and nearly 2 million others were in search of jobs...
...As it is probable that war plants will retrench their in-plant service programs when they switch back to peacetime production, the future of the woman personnel counselor Is somewhat dubious, though the plant nurse will remain Indispensable...
...It it estimated that around 15 *jtk»N women will want employment after the war...
...In the reconversion years, it may be anticipated that large groups of these women workers undoubtedly will shift occupations...
...In the last analysis, tomorrow's job opportunities for women will depend on the general level of the country's economic activity...
...In predicting the postwar trek back home, too little mention is made of that troop who were in the labor maiket before the war, or of the so-called duration workers who will have new hrsadwinning responsibilities imposed on them because ef war casualties...
...Because of I he consumer demand for electric irons, toasters, vacuum cleaners, and radios, and the anticipated developments in television, new techniques of lighting, and the mysterious fields of electronics and radar, the electrical industry holds a promising future for women workers Two other factors give women an advantage: Women are particularly adaptable to the jobs in this industry, and they have great strength in the unions, constituting for example, at least 30 percent of the United Electrical Workers membership...
...Whet Action 1% Needed to Proporo for Tomorrow...
...others are frozen to inaction by fearing the possible competition of Govcrnmcnt-owned-and-financed plants and the disposal of surplus Government-owned stocks...
...Many tlrls who have not had factory jobs still hope for a "kxoee to do such work after the war because it pays a p - Aro Job Protpects for Factory FWorkers, for Whife-Collar Workers...
...A woman who now cleans parts in an sircraft•srt plant, for example, looks forward to having her •wo beauty parlor...
...During the reconversion there should be an even greater need for the counsel and advice of such specialists on individual, family, and child welfare...
...Heavier Induatrirs...
...the Initial reconversion years, it is probable *et more women will be employed—numerically1 and JjUkutage-wlse by industry—than there were before r"*rl Harbor...
...While some wartime union agreements have illowed women job seniority and the privilege of by-passing the less suitable jobs in the linp of progression, these agreements are for the duration only...
...But of all tomorrow's opportunities for white-collar workers, there is little doubt that the job of office worker— stenographer, typist, secretary—holds the most certain future for the greatest number of women...
...Unfortunately, newspaper columnists and public-opinion surma have ried with one another to spotlight the women vorktrs who want to go home after the war, rather uuu the women who will need or want poster jobs...
...The study is not yet completed, but the indications are that about three-fourths of the women intertfrrtd want to continue in paid work after their war mnpioyments ends...
...The country must look forward with its President "to an era of expansion of production and employment—to new industries and increased security...
...White-Collar Job...
...Moreover, there will be women who will "want" to Work sfter the wsr...
...And not a few are of the opinion that servicemen should have the erst chance at the factory jobs after the war...
...On the wage front there have been some recent signs of encouragement...
...However, as this is a comparatively new industry, it would seem that women who have established seniority and superior abilities would have equal job status with civilian men in competition for jobs...
...Charles E. Wilson of General Electric has also taken a leading stand on this question...
...State wage and hour legislation must he improved and extended, shorterhour practices must be restored, and most minim urn - wage rates must go up...
...The following careers should offer immediate and probably continuing postwar opportunities IV>r women: Teaching: In addition to the need f......»-"«*»fra, this profession should have a challenging future as qualification standards are raised and new war-tested techniques of teaching are incorporated in the school systems...
...4) unions have taken important steps toward recognizing the woman worker and her job problems—giving consideration to her rights to equal seniority and "equal pay for equal work...
...As one .woman who now works at drilling and riveting in an Irfcnraft plant put it, "I want to go back to my sewing•"ektne job, it's more in a woman's line...
...On the other hand thousands of women went Into war production jobs for patriotic reasons .pad to take advantage of wartime wage rates...
...To guarantee that wage levels will be high, it is a "must" that the same teamwork for producing the materials of war be converted to planning and producing for peace...
...or that "after all, a machine shop, or a steel mill, or a shipyard is no place for a woman...
...Though few workers in the war production industries have accustomed themselves to the reputed mink roat and sapphire bracelet standard, occupational shifts tit jobs in these woman-employing fields, where substandard working conditions still so largely prevail, nevertheless will be one of the large postwar problems...
...e women want to go into business for them¦raas...
...In predicting what industries will employ women and to what degree, it is safe to say that women will be employed to the greatest extent in those industries which employed large numbers- of women before the war, and that they will break into new fields of civilian production which use job operations closely related to those for which women have shown special aptitude during the war...
...In fact, in the Presidential campaign and since, ShMatwar-job problem swept all other domestic iasuea » As background...
...To sarwtr the question— Hew Hany Women Plan to Work jHfr fee War...
...They report that a surprising number of woesen want to return to their former jobs...
...Many employers who are now hiring women still are convinced of the old fallacy that "it is difficult to handle women...
...s to the future for women workers, there is a need fur more particular concern and planning...
...He has warned industrialists that they must be smart enough to make sure that take-home pay on a 40-hour basis represents ss high a level of earning as that now prevailing, and that this can only be done by high production...
...2) much machinery has been redesigned for women, snd in the future many women will continue to be employed on such machines...
...What action is needed to prepare for tomorrow...
...What are job prospects Jor factory workers, for whitecollar workers...
...Many new entrants to the labor market have acquired a taste for independent earnings ind for the stimulation and challenge they have had from their wsrtime jobs...
...In their interviews, Women's Bureau field representatives are getting indicetions of postwar job preferences...
...For the more glamorized publicity jobs on newspapers, in advertising, radio or television, there will he the usual openings for the chosen few...
...The future for women in the heavier industries is less promising...
...Though in uncertain numbers, profesaional women who have eetsblished their footholds in industry—the physicists, ehemiitt, and technicians—will continue to be employed after the war...
...Others discuss plans for gasoline ¦Wens, roadside restaurants, snd the like...
...Though women have had a fine war record in producing airplanes, the industry will undoubtedly retrench after the war and thousands of workers will have to seek other employment...
...By Frieda S. Miller WbV*'wv * Worn**.'* Burton Director, U. S. Department of Labor « g ANY battles are still to be won on the producfL/W tion front, but cut-back production programs A v-*-ure focusing publie attention on tbe future job attiook...
...Many express a desire for cleaner, less noisy work...
...In the heavier iron and steel plants, in automobile factories, machine shops, shipyards, and other of the durable-goods industries, old prejudices regarding the woman worker still linger...
...To date the prospects are not encouraging...
...However, more liberal employers who have had a successful wartime experience in employing women are not likely to succumb to such prejudiced thinking...
...While many women are looking forward to the time when tbey can return to their homes and put their identification badges in a drawer as souvenirs, there has been undue emphaais on the "back-to-the-home" atovement...
...Consumer Coodg and Services.—In the years immediately following the war, the »iimufacture of consumer goods apparel, textiles, processed foods—and such services as stores, hotels, laundries, and domestic work doubtless will offer the greatest numbers of employment opportunities for women...
...That level, in turn, will depend en the future planning of every plant and community for full production and employment...
...some complain bitterly of high tsxes and renegotiated contracts, pleading that th ir reserves are inadequate for future planning...
...Nursing: There has been, and should be, a still increasing demand for nurses and other medical and health specialists, not only for the needs of veterans and the Federal services, but for those of a more informed public...
Vol. 28 • January 1945 • No. 1
