WOMEN IN MEN’S JOBS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 265, 5 August 1929, Page 12

WOMEN IN MEN’S JOBS

Sir, —Replying to the letter signed by Mr. James Anderson headed “Women in Men’s Jobs/’ I agree that if the man earns enough to keep the home he should not take on a second job, but often l he happens to be the man to whom it is offered as being the most suitable. The fact of being out of work does not necessarily prove that the man needing the job is suitable for it. One hears of hundreds out of work, but, on the other hand, one hears of employers at their wits’ end to get an extra man in a hurry for some urgently needed job, and unable to get one. I have heard of it only this week. If a man already in that particular work has a .few hours at his disposal, is it not the natural thing that he will undertake to help the employer out of his difficulty, which often means, incidentally, that the finish of that job to scheduled time has resulted in a repeat order sufficiently large to justify the taking on of an extra permanent hand, but the failure to complete the order in the given time has meant to many firms the loss of future work and the dismissal of some of the workers. I received a letter from overseas last week which included the following: “I wonder if it is any use me thinking of coming to New Zealand to try my luck? This place is not what it was. The men think they are benefiting themselves by hanging the work out so that it will last, refusing to work overtime on an emergency job, on what they mistakenly imagine is the ‘brotherhood of man’ principle. The result is that firms which have dealt from us for fifty years get tired of waiting for their orders and are taking them to XYZ. who are not above putting on speed. We are sacking workers of many years standing (I might be next) and replacing them with boys and girls from school, as naturally the firm can’t be expected to run this for the benefit of us and be losing at the rate they are. We have been treated well and considerately, but because of this ‘go-slow’ policy we are likely to be stranded by the firm closing down. Will they never see that nothing is gained by cutting off their noses to spite their faces?” As to the matter of turning women out of their jobs to make room for men where men can do the work just as well, that is all very well as a generality; it is when one comes to consider each case on its merits that the difficulty comes in. People are censorious of married women working, but I have entered into conversation with such on the morning trains, and there is a story of making up for loss, through the husband’s failure in business, or a heavy sickness account which has drained ail the savings before , all the home was paid for, and various other reasons, all good ones, why a little more grist is considered necessary for , the mill. In other cases the woman has proved invaluable to an employer, perhaps running a “one man business.” and she has been asked as a favour to stay on as long as possible, as much for his sake as her own. In other walks of life I have met with many women who urgently desire work so that they and their husbands and children may have enough and may pay their way. A mother with nine children urgently desired charing, as they simply could not get enough to eat, though the husband was in regular, but the minimum paid. work. Hundreds of women and girls are out of work, so that to be consistent the men who are doing women’s work should be cleared out to make room for them. . . . In my humble opinion we are passing through a period of adjustment here. The Winter Show has shown us the perfectly marvellous machinery which replaces so many of ns as hand workers, so that for the time being we are numerically too great to be absorbed until more big industrial firms come out to this with their wealth to be laid out in buildings, paying taxes, and employing the workers, but I snnpose that would mean an increased influx to the country so that tbo problem would he as great ns ever. Whatever hannens. however. it is no nearer the solution of the problem to genern’isc; each must do bis or her honest best with ns little nritntion as possible, nnd smoothing the fellow’s path next him if possible.—l nm. etc. — FANNY E. JOYCE. Lower Hutt, July 3L