FEMALE LABOUR

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 77, 1 September 1942, Page 5

FEMALE LABOUR

REPLACEMENT OF MEN Already the employment of women has become established in many occupations previously restricted by custom or law to men, while extended employment of women has occurred in several trades, such as the canning department of meat-preserving works, states the annual report of the Labour Department. Striking illustrations of the em ployment of women in jobs previously performed by men are the appearance of women drivers, tram-conductors, railway porters and postal delivery officials.

Because of the continued mobilisation of men of military age, the number j of men employed in factories declined ! in the 12 months under review, from [ 82,316 to 80,468, and in shops from | 26,718 to 24,451. Concurrently women | in factories increased from 34.291 to ! 37,111, and in shops from 26.743 to 27,i 575. The report comments that transfers to essential employments following compulsory registration of younger women will vary these numbers considerably. Under pre-war conditions the employment of women in some industries was restricted or precluded by awards and by the prohibition of night work by the Factories Act, but provision for shift work for women has now been introduced. “Variation of awards has been undertaken.” states the report, “on the recommendation of the Industrial Emergency Council, which has adopted the principle of equal pay for equal work. Lower rates of pay for * women have been fixed only where it has been shown that a lower volume of work was inevitable or that the whole of a job could not be allotted to women. “With a view to the absorption of local female labour, factories been established or re-established in smaller towns. It is interesting to note j that there is still a reserve of female j labour in some areas such as Westland, where there are practically no second* I ary industries."