WOMEN IN REVOLT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 178, 23 April 1919, Page 4

WOMEN IN REVOLT

■A no7ei development hna arisen.in the industrial!: centres' of England through tho introduction of th« 47-hour working ,weok. Unforeseen domestic disturbances are the result, says-an.'exchange, and tlic despotic proletariat, who ■ ■ has -always maintained .so stoutly that - he'--is fully capable of- .being-the."master of his.Kite, ami tha.-'captain of liis soul, ij■'winj,' • flatly contradicted by his womenfolk, Thi-ouqrh -the additional two hours in bed .i'u the- morning, made' available- to the workers :bv.tho reduction, on the time-sheets, wives and daughters find that tho concession entails for them more■work and longer hours. They contend that this is not fair, . Tho women folk of the men eiiiployori ,iii the shipbuilding anil uigiucering centres are particularly resentful, That resentment is' being turned back to tlia offenders in-shape of iliiilv disenrdunco and disruntion in the family circle. "Tiefore the "47-hour week- was- introduced vac ii.e.i tither prepared -their own breakfasts, or took.tho food with them to llio v/r./;j,''ivhere it was eaten in "oIV time,' allowed' by. the ■ company. Now the womi.i- are expected to arise in-time to prepare Ineakfusl, .which tho leisurely . worker demands to cat in the comfort -of hi« own. home../- .-■■•■• " - This filterntioa.-of ■ hor.vs ineaun a Iremowlqiis upheaval: in - rho habit:/ or v, .-real, part of tli3" population if I' l -' \o.mi3 effected; Swindon alone having U,OOO workmen, .who -arc faced with discontented women with a reml or fancied grievance.' Week in ami week out, year after yt.ar, the. workmen of this (own had their dawn, slumber -broken by the ■ local aiarm-thfc -steam v.hootei; of lie Great-Western liailway, at-u.SO a.m., callin' them in'time for work at G a.m. Now the-.breadwinners regard lis • racoii.t snort as a lullaby signal to continue their rentle slumbers for an extra hour or so, lint tho partners- of their joys and sorrows have, to turn out. instead, 'lacing their working day .an hour earlier. Hirininghani ia making an effort In » e t over'the dillieulty. ■•Kepwentntiw. of e.iiplovors r.nd-.the mnv. nave met,to consider tlio claims of the aler. num15.000, to work the-IT.lmu.'.s between Monday morning am Irukiymght. so as to secure a full .holiday on Saturday a sop winch may meet, with the pproval of the aggrieved women.