HEALTH OF WOMEN WORKERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1953, 18 March 1919, Page 2

HEALTH OF WOMEN WORKERS.

Till'] t-iire of women workers has presented mmsiuil difficulties lo the British authorities. The sudden inrush of female labour was not, foreseen, and arrangements were inadequate. Conditions of work were accepted by applicants without question, and without complaint, which, if continued, would have been ultimately disastrous to health. It was particularly necessary to protect and safeguard the possible mothers., lest irreparable injury should be done to mind and bodily health in this generation and the next. The importance of the ollice of motherhood would alone have justified an inquiry by a committee into the health of munition workers. Equally on the other hand, the committee appreciated (he exceptional importance of women's labour in the emergency, and was most unwilling to suggest the imposition of conditions (hat would possibly embarrass employers or restrict the valuable contribution female workers so willingly offered. The members conlined themselves to the examination and discussion of certain urgent factors in the general control, and record their satisfaction ‘‘that the women and girls employed at these, factories are as a whole, hearing the strain of (heir munition work remarkably well." This conclusion is not a vague expression of opinion; it is based on (wo medical inquiries that have been prosecuted with some care, and separated by a considerable interval of time. For obvious reasons these investigations are not so thorough and complete as the authorities would have wished, yet they probably represent tin* average conditions, and this view is supported by the general agreement found between Ihese independent inquiries. Fp to the present, there has been no marked break-down in the health of-women in industry, Iml this statement is qualified by apprehension that ‘‘ many women are only able to keep working by a total abandonment of all recreation or social intercourse.”