MARRIED WOMEN'S WORK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 81, 31 December 1918, Page 7

MARRIED WOMEN'S WORK

:_« VIEWS OF GIRLS' CLUB MEMBERS. Problems connected with women's place in industry were discussed recently at a Citizen's Conference convened by-the National Organisation-of Girls' Clubs, says the "Times." Girls and women from chilis all over London, representative of many classes of workers, attended mid discussed questions which vitally affect women who were in industry before, the war and those who have como into it since. The Hon. Lily Montagu was in the chair and both she and Mrs. Arnold Glover (lion, secretary of the organisation) urged the necessity for liirllier citizen (dasses in the' different clubs, many other interests having made tht'in of less prominence during Ihe, war. A syllabus of specimen lessons in newspaper and citizen classes has been issued by Hie organisation. The following questions were-raised for discussion and some of the girls read papers, which they had'prepared with considerable care:— . . . Should married women go out to work, or is it more important for the nation that thr-y should remain at home? Should' women continuo to do men's work after the war? What kinds' of work do you think really bad for Women? Should women have the same wages for the work which men were previously doing? What will the girls do when the men return and want their old jobs? ' Suggest ways in which difficulties could be settled. The answers to the quest ion whether married women should go out to work were mostly in the negative. A young girl, a ropemaker, argued that, while during the war it had been found essential in Hie notion's interests that married women should work, after (he war they should not go out unless faced by the 'prospect of. poverty. "If," she went on, "the Government, wants the women to go back to their homes and children again, it must lookafter the men who will be coming homo disabled. If they are not cored for they will be to a largo extent dependent upon their wives, who will be forced'to remain in the labour market." If thero are sufficient men for tho jobs tho women should give them back at once. Heavy manual work, shipbuilding, dock labouring, should net be done by women, and girls should not have to work messenger tricycles. On the question of equal pay for equal work she iviis very emphatic. It was as ridiculous to pay a woman a different wage lor the same work ouaci count of her sex as it would be to pay a roan less tor the same work Hum another man because he happened to come from a different country.

A girl who did not read a paper offered some pertinent suggestions on reconstruction problems. She wanted young childless widows to bo given a training and a sum down rather than a pension, so that they would not undeieut the labour market for tho single women, Sim thought, also, that young childless married women could find certain work for a few hours daily not competing with whole-time single women, and yet be able to keep their homes tidy for their husbands. Every one who spoke urged the first claims of'the children on-a married woman's time.

That every girl should join a trade union to secure her equal wago for equal work was urged by several speakers. "A giri doesn't get her iood cheaper because she's a girl," was cno argument, and another was, "The public don't have to pay less for a thing made by a girl than a similar article made by a'man, so whv should tho employer pocket the difference?" In cases where heavy manual work had called lor the use of a malo assistant for a number of women, or of special machinery, it was pointed out that this additional cost should be paid by the women thgiusclvos, who should receive the same amount as the men thev replaced. Every attempt to exploit wo'men's labour, it was maintained, should be resisted. "Single women have to save up fur the time when they can't work, and that is why they want fair money for their work. It's a long wait for a'u old-age pension, and it doesn't buy much when you get it." There was a very strung feeling that jobs held "until the boys como'back" should bo yielded up.on that happy day. "If a man is willing to .risk his life for you, you can't keep his.job," seemed to lie the verdict. But the prospect of emigration, and of men not wishing (o take up meagre lives in banks ami countinghouses, was also considered.

Among those thoughtful, neatly dressed, sell-respecting gjrls, there was not one who argued that a life without work was possible, or that nnv woman could achieve such a thin;;. It' sho did not work- outside the. home, she must work inside it. Only in sueh a way was afterwar life to he built un and war debts paid.'