GIRLS IN INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24525, 6 February 1941, Page 10

GIRLS IN INDUSTRY

APPEAL FROM WELLINGTON An appeal to girls of New Zealand to make their contribution to the war effort by entering industry and thus put into use machines in vital_ industries which were idle for lack of workers, was made in a broadcast address recently by Mrs K. C. Cresswell, Girls’ Employment Officer at the Government Youth Centre, Wellington. “What we'hdve to realise to-day is that there are more avenues of work for girls of the better type, and the old idea that factories are not the S laces for the better type of girls must e banished if we are to progress,” said Mrs Cresswell. “If the word factory sounds unpleasant to the ear, why not substitute for it industrial work and call them workrooms,’’ she continued. "In the times in which we are now living, we should not pay too much attention to names, but since the word factory in the past was often associated with working conditions not of the best, we could give a change of name some consideration now

“Those people who have travelled since the last war know what marvellous progress European countries have made in their; industrial conditions,” Mrs Cresswell added. “There is no stigma attached to the workers who back up. their .country’s effort in production. We often hear remarks about war on the home front. There is plenty of work for those at home, and one of the ways is .to. take a hand in the work that is waiting. True, there are no fanfares or uniforms or public acclamation, but these are only transitory, and the real work is in maintaining the services which will justify the greater sacrifice others are making on our behalf.’!.., . There was a list of vacancies running into hundreds arid experienced officers at' the ‘Government Youth Centre would give all the advice and help in their power and answer all questions concerning the various openings.. Most of these industries had been visited by officers of the centre, and the conditions of work were known to them. After a girl had been placed, her future was well cared for by the officers of the centre in their follow-up work. Mrs Cresswell appealed particularly to girls in Wellington and elsewhere who were not forced to work for their living to give up their spare time in this way to help .their country’s need. She stressed the fact that award wages had to be, paid in fairness to those girls who were working for their living, so that the only voluntary effort would be the sacrifice of leisure. If the girls in England could carry on with their work amid incessant bombing, surely girls in the peaceful surroundings in the Dominion could do the same.