THE MUNITION GIRL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2953, 13 December 1916, Page 2

THE MUNITION GIRL

A SYMPATHETIC STUDY OF WOOLWICH WORKERS. Miss Lilian Barker's speech at tho . Women's Institute on a recent afternoon in London, on tho women munition workers as a national asset was as entertaining as it wns original, for this ludy—who looks after the welfare of the 17,01)0 women workers at Woolwich—"lias both humour, shrewd sympathy, and an independent point of view.

One remarkable thing about these women workers, sho said, was the effect the work they wore doing with their fingers had on the quickening of their mental development. One would not often meet with a more brainy set of girls thanat Woolwich. They werenot intellectual, but their brains wcro very alert, they had the keenest sense of humour, and they were very quick at repartee.

Their new work was having a marked effect on them physically. Thoy were earning enough now to dress sensibly and warmly and to feed well, and they were physically in excellent condition. The work had been a boon to the nation's womanhood, and probably the nation generally had never been so lit as it was at present. People spoke pessimistically about the next generation. The marriage of a munition girl after months of these new conditions and of a soldier well fed" and perfectly fit was to bo regarded as ideal, full of hope for the future of tho race. It was to bo hoped that when peace camo if these girls continued at similar work arrangements would be made to give them leisure for instruction in uiothcrcraft, so that thev might he fitted for their greater task\

Miss Barker had much that was interesting to say of the advantages to the factory girl and the girl of good family of working side by side and learning to understand each other fJ At first tho factory girl would look'Vith disdain at the spotless overalls and clean caps worn by her neighbour, but after a tinio she would begin to realise that they did look rather nice and that the men appreciated their freshness, and she would raise her own standard, while the society girl would discover the fine human qualities of § the little factory girl and find that things which had seemed to her disgusting were not so after all. The society girl was as fond of the society man as the little factory girl was of her factory man. There was. so great a variety of work, at AVoolwich ; where ,every operation connected with tho making of munitions except-tlie actual manufacture of explosives was carried out, that practically every type of woman who a)>plied for work could be placed at hefty, nimble, or brainy work. It was desirable to have educated, well-bred women as ovorlookers and in other positions of authority, for tho girl instinctively, oboyed them. No one complained about wages at Woolwich, and the averago woman earned about £2 10s. a week on piecework, while for the higherpositions there were salaries of £4.