The Woman Behind The Man

New Zealand Listener, Volume 6, Issue 150, 8 May 1942, Page 18

The Woman Behind The Man

HERCHEZ les femmes" is Washington's advice to atmament manufacturers facing a labour shortage, according to "Time." The War Department told Ford Motors to get 12,000 or 15,000 women for its giant Willow Run bomber plant, 10 per cent of its ultimate labour force. The Washington Navy Yard called for women holders of degrees in mathematics, physics and mechanical, electrical, metallurgical and chemical engineering, but warned candidates that they "will really have to work." At the Cessna Aircraft Works in Kansas, women sew, sand, nail, and glue wood; sew, stretch on, and dope the covering fabric; install the instrument board and radio. Another aircraft plant expects to take on 6,000 girls by next summer; another 2,000. In World War I., women were’ 23 per cent of the force in 40 aircraft factories. In British aircraft plants now, they are 40 to 50 per cent. An average woman's lifting strength, says the U.S. Department of Labour, is about one half of a man’s, her pulling strength two-thirds. But she is superior to man in dexterity and patience. Women ,are peculiarly susceptible to certain poisons; they are also more vulnerable than men to sickness and accidents from overwork.