WORK FOR WOMEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1942, Page 6

WORK FOR WOMEN

Disappointment is expressed by the Minister of National Service with the small number of enrolments in the Women's Land Corps, and also with the apparent lack of interest by farmers. The failure to support the scheme may be due, we suggest, to the competition for the services of women workers and the lack of an official order of priority. Women workers are in two categories: those who are seeking permanent employment and those who wish to return to their home life as soon as the emergency is over. There will be a small proportion of women looking to country life for permanent employment, but probably most recruits for the Land Corps will be from among those who undertake the work only as a patriotic duty for the war period. There are many calls upon the services of the latter class, and often the women are in doubt as to where they are most needed. We have suggested before, and we think it is more necessary now, that an ; official order of urgency should be laid down. The lack of interest by farmers may be attributable to doubt of the value of the women's help. Farmers may fear that they will have applicants who just want to play at country life. The arrangements made for selection and for training should be a guarantee against this. Country women can be almost the equal of men on the farms, and there are many women in town able and willing to adapt themselves to the work. Perhaps,, too,' farmers have been thinking that the need for extensive replacement of male labour would not become pressing. The entry of Japan into the war has changed that. Arrangements may be made, as stated recently, to release men from military duties for harvesting and sowing, but it will most certainly be necessary to use other means for augmenting the supply of labour for day-to-day farm work. The military call must take precedence of all others, and every civil occupation, including farming, must endeavour to fill gaps with substitute labour.