WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24792, 17 December 1941, Page 11

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY

ECONOMIC PLAN IN AUSTRALIA RUSH TO JOIN ARMY (0.C.) SYDNEY, Dec. 13. Plans are being prepared to use Australian woman-power on an expanding scale in industry to release men for military services. Revision of the reserved occupations list and the call-up of age groups for home defence will create a shortage of labour that must be overcome to maintain the economic front. Hitherto, Governments have hesitated to make full use of woman-power because of the "industrial problems involved, and the public feeling against men being displaced by women in jobs which should be done by men. In the light of new perils, these considerations are vanishing rapidly. Most women who volunteered earlier for war work joined organisations which permitted them to wear attractive uniforms. Now they are just as keen to don overalls, and the Government does not anticipate difficulty in securing as many as can be absorbed. Women will be required to take the place of men in factories and workshops, and as drivers of motor vehicles and all forms of public transport. Working through the night from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. in a 44-hour week, 100 women- will start training for aircraft production in Melbourne on Monday. Women and girls of all ages applied to take the course, although the age limits are between 16 and 40. Some who applied are grandmothers of 50, but the"e cannot be engaged, as the work will demand endurance that authorities do not think it will be fair to ask of women over 40.«

There was a rush of applicants when the Government announced that 1600 women would be required for the Australian Women's Army Service, and 2000 for the Women's Australian Auxiliary Air Force. In Sydney queues formed before the office was opened and applications were still rolling in when the office closed at 5.30 p.m. The recruits were mainly domestics and business girls.