WOMEN ON WAR WORK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17482, 26 November 1918, Page 7

WOMEN ON WAR WORK

BIX MILLION IN UNITED KINGDOM,

OFully 6,000,000 ■women in the United Kingdom aro engaged "in wholo-timo -work, Hruch _o£ which, in one way or another, is essential to the war," Mr Harold Bogbie, the English journalist and novelist, writes in a London newspaper. "In threo years 621,000 women were added to the pay rolls of England's munition factories,". ho asBerts

Incomplete figures which ho had compiled showing the number of women in -various trades ant! occupations follow:—

Metals, chemical, and textile trades ... 2,708,000 Admiralty, dockyards, ordnance, eta ... 210,000 Kn&nce, banking, txnuneroe _. — ... 046,000 Transport (including trams) 111,000 local authorities' service „. „. 231,000 Agriculture (ixrt mcJndmg 1913 recruits) 7-1,000 Hospitals ... ... ... 01,000 Civil service (including Post Office) 190,000 Hotels, taverns, theatres, eta. _ ... 207,000

In addition, there ard nearly 200,000 .women employed in a service of a military nature, such as the Quean Mary's Auxiliary Corps and the Women's Naval Service. "Our Amazons," Mr Begbio says, "have saved us. We could not have continued the struggle without their help. They have not only _ enabled millions of men to bo enrolled in the army; they have doubled and trebled the national output of munitions of war.

" Behind the pretty girls in attractive ttmiforms, who aro doing most useful work, there are millions of women toiling in the sweat of their brows from morning to night at work either so haxd that it was thought before 1914- no woman could perform rt, or so dangerous that no man ever dreamed of asking a woman to do it. "The spirit in which these women havo oomo forward to take the places of men is beyond praise. They have been a steadying influence in trade disputes. Hey have shown the utmost courage in moments of danger of panic. Many of them are doing exceedingly hard work or extremely monotonous work._ Their physical endurance has equalled their powers of nervous resistance to fatigue. Their morality has been superior to that of men."