WOMEN WORKERS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 565, 1 December 1915, Page 4

WOMEN WORKERS.

NEW AVENUES OF EMPLOYMENT. One of the most noticeable results of the war on the social life., of the people of the belligerent nations is the employment of women in many new avenues Of work, owing to the shortage of male labour caused by calling men to • the colours, writes the London correspondent to the Melbourne "Age." When peace is es-

tablished and the armies are materially reduced, the shortage of male labour will be less pronounced than it is at present, but owing to the fact that the number pf men killed 'or permanently disabled"' is enormous, it will be many years before male labour is as plentiful as it was before the war. It is quite certain that female labour, which has been called upon to fill many gaps in the labour market since the outbreak of the war, will not be ousted from 'all these new av,enjie3 of employment after peace is established. The war to ill do more towards lifting the status o£» women as wage-earners, and. towards establishing some kind of equality of opportunity with men in regard to employment, than 20 years of social progress in peace time would have accomplished. When tlic war broke out women hastened to offer their services in the assistance of their country. Wealthy women used their money and their influence to establish hospitals and convalescent homes for the wounded soldiers. Some of them converted their own homes into hospitals. Thousands of women came forward to volunteer their services as nurses for the Red Cross. Others" established organisations for supplying the men at the front with woollen helmets, mufflers, and mittens, in order to withstand the rigours of a Winter campaign. But the first indication of the replacement of male labour by female was the advertised offers of patriotic young women to help their country by doing the work of any man who wanted to go to the front, but was prevented from enlistment by the needs of his family. These young women gave their services voluntarily, the salaried formerly paid to the men they replaced going to the wives of the men in support'of their families. In these cases patriotic employers readily consented to the change from male to female labour. And thus was seen in London and other centres for the first time young women driving motor vans, delivering milk, and wheeling little hand carts in which bakers send round their bread to their customers;

The shortage of adult male labour created an unprecedented demand for boy labour, and as a Tesult messenger boys, office boys, lift boys, and others left their employment for other work where the pay is higher and the prospects of advancement-are better. Girl 3 haA r e' taken the places of the boys as messengers, as lift attendants, and in the offices. Then followed the employment of women in the provision shops, which are so numerous throughout England. They deal in butter, cheese, bacon, eggs, poultry, . and tea. Such firms as Lipton's, Sainbury's, and the Home and Colonial Stores have hundreds of provision shops in London and the provinces, and, as most of their employees before the war were young men under 30 years of age, these firms were among the first to reel the effects on the labour market of the enlistment of hundreds of thousands of recruits. They have filled the vacant places in their shops with women, and though former employees who return after the war will be given situations woman labour in these shops has been found so satisfactory that it is certain women will continue to be employed in them after the war is over.

The war has brought about a large increase in female clerical labour, as a result of the enlistment gf thousands* of clerks. Female typists with .office experience have been promoted to tlie places of male clerks, who have enlisted, and the demand for typists to take the

places of those who have been promoted is so great that even the shorthand "colleges," which in peace times glutted the market with this class of female labour, cannot keep pace with it. The War Office, in its determination to, release men for military service in France, is now an extensive employer of female labour. In all the military hospitals women are being employed as orderlies, storekeepers, and dispensers. Women are being employed as letter carriers in many of the country districts of England.

The call for recruits for Kitchener's armies was responded to by thousands of young men who had been employed on the railways and tramways. The places of many of these men have been filed by women. At all the large railway stations in London girls are employed as ticket collectors and carriage cleaners. At many of the suburban tailway. stations girls are filling the places of porters. Women are being "employed as tram conductors in many of the large cities of Great Britain. The Glasgow Corpoßßtion tramways employ 818 women conductors, and at Salford 1700 women are employed in the tram traffic. Women have not yet been employed on the London trams, as the Commissioner of Police has refused to license them for this work. The reason for his attitude, as explained by the manager of the London County Council tramways, is that "it would be scandalous to ask» any woman to collect fares in trams which are overcrowded at the rush periods of the day." But it is expected that the Commissioner will license female conductors on the trams in the outlying suburbs of London. At a conference of the Muni«4pal Tramways' Association it was unanimously agreed 'that women conductors have been a great success. Mr J. Dairy mple, the general manager of the Glasgow Corporation tramways, declared that the influence of woman conductors "even on the roughest and toughest routes was all for good." The women handled unruly men better than the male conductors were able to do. He found, however, that it was difficult to get women to realise the importance of time. They seemed to think that a few minutes late in signing on or in taking up a relief was not of much consequence.