ENGLAND'S AMAZONS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 30, 30 October 1918, Page 2

ENGLAND'S AMAZONS

C,000,000 WOMEN ON WAR WORK. Fully G,000,000 women in the United Kingdom aro engaged "in. whole-time work," much of which, in one way or another, is essential to the war," Harold Bcgbie, the English journalist and novelist, writes i;i a London nowspaper. "In tlu'ee years (121,000 women were added to the pay rolls of England's munition factories,'' 1 ho asserts. Incomplete figures which ho had compiled showing the number of women in various trades and occupations follow:— Metals, chemical, and textile trades 2,708,000 Admiralty, dockvurds, ordnance, etc. ...'. '.. 210,000 Finance, banking, commerce ... ■ !)46,000 Transport, including trams 111,000 Local authorities' service 231,000 Agriculture (uot including 1918 recruits) 74,000 Hospitals 64,000 Civil Service (including post office) 100,000 Hotels, taverns, theatres, etc. 207,000 In addition there are nearly 200,000 wo.men employed in a service of a military nature, such as the' Queen Mary's Auxiliary Corps and tho Women's Naval Service. "Our amazons," Begbie say 6, "have saved us. Wo could not -have continued the struggle without their help. They have not only enabled l millions of mon to be enrolled in the Amy; they have doubled and trebled the national output of munitions of war. "Behind tho pretty girls in attractive 1 uniforms, who are doing most useful work, there are millions of women toiling in the 6weat of their brows from morning to night, at work either so hard that it was thought before 1914 no woman would perform it or so dangerous that no man ever dreamed of asking a woman to do it. "The spirit in which theso women have come forward to take the places of men is beyond praise. They nave been a steadying influence to trado disputes. They have shown the utmost' courage, in moments of danger or panic. Many of them aro doing exceedingly liard work or extremely monotonous work. Thoir physical endurance lias equalled their powers of nervous resistance to fatigue. Their morality has been superior to that of men."