WOMEN AND WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15849, 20 February 1915, Page 9

WOMEN AND WORK.

CONDITIONS IN AUCKLAND.

HELP OF LABOUR BUREAU.

THE DOMESTIC PROBLEM.

Auckland, like every other city of I modern days, has its army of women I workers. Although the war lias caused j much distress in other lands, Auckland women have been practically unaffected, and their work goes on the same as usual. There is no country on earth where women work under better conditions, and are better safeguarded from the evils of " sweating," overcrowding, lack of sanitation and ventilation, than in New Zealand. The Factories Act, Shops and Offices Act, Public Holidays Act, with their various amendments, ensure for New Zealand women healthful conditions of work, with due regard for proper recreation and rest. None of the older lands has won through to the light as rapidly or surely as has New Zealand in this respect. Avenues of Employment. It is practically impossible to estimate the exact number of women workers in Auckland, but without doubt factory work in its many branches absorbs the greatest number. Wages vary considerably: five shillings a week is compulsory, but very few factories start a worker at less than 10s or 12s 6d) while the maximum may be any figure up to £3 or £4 per week, according to the will of the employer length of service, and qualifications. Only under special permit may boys or girls enter shop or factory between the ages of J't and 16, and the number of certificates so issued is decreasing year by year. There are over four thousand women and girls employed in various kinds of factory work in Auckland, and over 1500

in shops and hotels. —The clothing trade in its many branches* dressmakings mil-] linerv, shirt manufacturing, is the most popular, close upon three thousand being employed in wholesale and retail firms. Next in order com% printing and bookbinding, boot and shoe making, laundry work, and biscuit and confectionery trade. In the list of trades in which women are engaged, many rank as employers, having in several instances a large number of men and women working under them. I Such trades as cabinet-making and upholstery, dressmaking, hair-working, laundry, paper-bagmaking, printing and book- | binding have women as employers, the ; total number being about two hundred. | Besides these women, there is, of course, ; a whole army of domestic workers, business girls, teachers, musicians, artists, and nurses. Teaching is a very popular profession with Auckland women, despite the demand it makes on vital forces, and j nearly 700 women teachers work under the I Board of Education. The nursing profession, too, absorbs a largo number of recruits, rapidly increasing in these days of 1 warfare and suffering. In the matter of domestic work, homever, there is no enthusiasm whatever on the part of Auckland girls, and year by year the problem j of domestic service grows more acute. j Women's Labour Bureaux.

[ The women's branch of the Government Lalwur Bureaux established in Auckland • is a most important factor in the matter jof women's work. It occupies itself J chiefly with the domestic question, but is I becoming more and more a centre for women -friendless, often destitute desire information and advice as regards chances of employment. All the female immigrants from overseas are under the direction of the officer in charge. GiYls ! belonging to all branches of women's work, ' women physically unfit for active employ - j meat, yet forced to earn a living, nave ' received encouragement and practical assistance; strangers have been directed to safe and suitable accommodation, while countless harassed housewives have had their need supplied through this agency. These bureaux, which give women an equal chance with men so far as Government assistance goes, were opened in the four chief centres in 1908, and since then have found employment for nearly 14,000 women. Yet year by year the demand for domestics grows more acute; scores of applications remain unfilled every month, although wages have advanced to £1 and 25s a week for capable workers, and the Women's Labour Bureau can but voice an urgent need that ever remains unsupplied. The Popular Employment. There is not only a great dearth of domestic help in Auckland, however; factory owners are finding it more and more difficult, to obtain women and girls to handle increasing trade. The factory girl of yesterday is the shop girl of to-day, while the shop girl of to-day will be the office girl of to-morrow. Meantime, there are more half-competent book-keepers and ty pistes in the city than worried emplovers can take in hand, and still they come to swell the ranks of the popular employment. Between the miss earning her 15s or so a week pocketmoney and the capable stenographer or book-keeperusually underpaid—earning from 30s to £3 a week, there is a wide gulf fixed. The percentage of girls earning the latter wage at office work is stated to be all too small, although conditions are gradually improving.

Women Workers' Home Life. Auckland is essentially a city of homes, and thus there is no problem facing the woman who works such (is she has to face in other lands. Practically all women and girls live at home or board with friends. There is a fair amount of "baching" done in Auckland as elsewhere; a couple of girls will pay five shillings a week and 3hare a room " with use of kitchen," out this is at best a poor makeshift, resulting as a rule in lack of proper nourishment and corres]M>nding detriment to physical well-being. The average working age of girls is from 17 to 24 years. In every branch of work, large numbers arc constantly leaving to get married. Sometimes they return a little later, certainly sadder, possibly wiser, but thankful indeed to have a business to turn to in their need. The popular employment, office work, is without doubt one of the hardest on women. A prominent Auckland doctor stated re cently that by far the larger number ot his patients were business women, suffering from various forms of nerve-strain. By the irony of fate, the healthiest work is that most despised, and the woman who bakes, scrubs, and cleans is the one who lives best and troubles the doctor least.