_THE MARRIED AND THE UNMARRIED._
The investigators tried to obtain information bearing upon the
interesting and important question of the influence of the married and
the unmarried woman worker on industry, on the home, and on the family
income. But the difficulty of following up statements and testing their
accuracy has been so great and some of the factors in the problem so
elusive under the conditions of the trades investigated, that
conclusions are stated with considerable reserve.
The custom in the trades under review undoubtedly is that married women
should not work in them; and, as a rule, only widowhood, or a bad or
sickly husband, or a slack time, brings a woman back to them after
marriage.[86] Sometimes, however, she comes back, because it is too dull
at home.[87] This is more generally the case in the provinces than in
London, where certain job departments, especially certain kinds of
folding, are filled by rather a rough class of women, amongst whom the
proportion of married is exceptionally high. Throughout the reports sent
in, it is most interesting to note how strongly the sense of feminine
respectability opposes their fellow workwomen working after marriage,
"unless they have been unfortunate in their husbands."[88]
[Footnote 86: For statistics see Appendix VII.]
[Footnote 87: A woman worker says, "They come back after they have
married, because a girl who has been accustomed to make 18_s._ for
herself is not comfortable when she marries a man on £2 a week who is
accustomed to have that for himself, so she comes back to make extra
money."]
[Footnote 88: So also it is interesting to note the lingering shadow of
chivalry in this connection. "Mr. ----," said one of the girls, "never
will take married women, but then he is always _such_ a gentleman."]
The average age of the women regularly employed is low,[89] because as a
rule girls leave at marriage. The investigators generally report that
the age in workrooms appears to be mainly between eighteen and
twenty-three. The report that "Four girls here out of thirty or forty
are over eighteen" (Leeds bookbinder's), is typical of many others. This
fact alone has an enormous influence on women's wages and makes it
necessary to be very careful in drawing conclusions under the headings
dealt with in this chapter.
[Footnote 89: A manager of a provincial printing establishment estimated
that twelve years was the maximum workshop life of average girls.]
[Sidenote: Wages and expenditure.]
An attempt has been made to discover how far the earnings of women
workers in these trades are only supplementary to family income, and how
far the family worker is entirely dependent upon them for her
livelihood. On the whole (but with important exceptions) they appear to
be supplementary. In cases, certain fixed weekly payments are made for
board and lodging to the relatives who are heads of the households, but
these payments are not enforced in times of unemployment and are reduced
when work is slack. Even when being made in full they do not always
represent the actual cost of accommodation and living. It is becoming
less and less common, it seems, for the wives of idle and improvident
husbands to eke out their household income by casual or seasonal work,
but the practice is still followed and in London prevails to a
relatively considerable extent. In such cases the women do not work for
mere pocket-money, nor again, do their wages cover the full cost of
their living.
"Miss ---- lives at home and her parents are evidently in comfortable
circumstances," runs one report of a book-folder. "I went into the best
parlour, where there was a piano--also a high hat in the corner!"
The following gives a somewhat fuller picture of these workers:--"Mrs.
---- is a widow and has no children. She looks about sixty and is
probably about fifty. She lives on the top floor in model dwellings
(three rooms, for which she pays 5_s._ 9_d._) Her husband died in 1891
of consumption, and she does not know what she would have done had she
not been made forewoman (in a book-folding room). She does not see how a
pieceworker can support herself. She must live at home. Most of the
girls working under her live at home and give their mothers 7_s._ a
week, keeping the rest for themselves. She was doing some washing and
mangling when I called. A little girl comes to help clean, but otherwise
she does everything for herself."
A fairly large employer in London stated that his "girls are living with
their parents and work for pocket-money." Another "would think that
about half lived at home." One woman stated, "A bit of extra money comes
in handy. It is nice for a woman to put a little by--you cannot expect
her to save out of her husband's money"; another said: "A woman ought
never to let her husband know what she earns--if she is foolish enough
to do that, he at once becomes lazy and extravagant. A woman should only
work after marriage either to save a little money, or to help a sick or
delicate husband." A well-known London general stationery dealer
reports: "Some of the women employed are the wives of the porters and
packers, but in the majority of cases the husbands are worthless, and
the earnings of the women are the chief support of the household." In
one case reported upon, a girl, working in a Bible and prayer-book
house, having to support herself, could not do it, and began pilfering
prayer-books to make both ends meet. She was turned away as a thief.
For the purpose of throwing light upon the problems with which this
chapter deals, particulars have been obtained from one firm in London
where eighty-six women are employed. The married women are described as
follows:--
1. A widow.
2. Has a husband, a bookbinder in good work, but they are extravagant.
3. Has a husband in work.
4. A widow.
5. A widow with a daughter to support.
6. A widow.
7. Has a husband in work. Has been summoned for boys not attending
school.
8. Has a husband who drinks. Looks after her children and goes home at
dinner time.
9. A widow with recalcitrant boy.
10. Has a husband in work.
11. Has a husband irregularly employed. Very poor and slatternly.
12. Has a husband who drinks.
Of the unmarried workers, one learned the trade when on in years
because, owing to a misfortune, she had to bring up her brothers and
sisters. She was very slow and her earnings only averaged about 7_s._
per week. Two support themselves. The others live at home and pay 6_s._
or 7_s._ per week, or hand over everything they make, and receive back
small sums for pocket-money.
A report from another well-known firm of bookbinders in London states
that in a room of ten women, five support themselves. In some instances
it is noted that married women have to receive charitable aid in looking
after their children when they themselves go to work. Of a large
printing firm it is said, "Most of the girls at ... don't seem to mind
if they make money or not. They couldn't possibly keep themselves on
what they earned." This was the statement of a girl working with the
firm and erred in being too absolute; but an examination of the wage
returns showed that, somewhat modified and limited, it was true. A
manager of a co-operative bookbinding establishment estimated that, from
his experience, not more than 25 per cent. of the girls working in that
trade, regarded their wages as the only means by which they supported
themselves. The forewoman of a large stationery department stated that
only three out of twenty girls under her had to depend on their own
wages. The conclusion of a report submitted by an official of the
Typographical Association in Coventry may be taken as being true of the
provinces generally. "The females for the most part are young girls,
with a sprinkling of experienced and older hands who leave when about
entering married life."
Evidently it is a very common thing for such workers to pay so much into
a common purse from which general family expenses are drawn, and into
which the individual contributions vary with the state of trade.
The industrial effect of these conditions is obvious. The women keep no
vigilant eye upon wages which are fixed rather by use and wont than by
competitive pressure. Employers have rarely[90] to offer high pay as an
inducement to women to enter these trades, and, consequently, there is
always a downward drag upon wages, and although the women spasmodically
interest themselves in their conditions, they feel so little dependence
on wages that they can never be taught to make that steady upward
pressure which would improve the organisation of these trades and yield
more return for labour. Hence, the low rate of wages obtainable by
those who have to maintain themselves is kept down almost solely by the
circumstance that such a large proportion of the women employed remain
part of families and share in general family income. It should be noted
that it is often the policy of employers to be "careful only to take
respectable young girls who live with their parents." The economic
influence of this "respectable" standard is obvious.
[Footnote 90: The establishment of a laundry in the vicinity of a
well-known provincial firm of printers resulted in an increase of wages
in the shape of a guarantee that no wages should be paid under 6_s._ per
week.]
[Sidenote: Influence on family income.]
On the question whether an extensive prevalence of "supplementary
earnings" tends to reduce the wages paid to other members of the family,
our investigations in these trades threw no light. Only in one case,
where a husband and wife were questioned, was the opinion stated that,
"Now that women go into trades so much, a man and a woman together only
make as much as a man used to." The question is one which can be
answered only by investigation in other trades, the circumstances of
which are more favourable for its elucidation.
[Sidenote: Wages rates and married women.]
What little influence the married woman has upon wages seems to be to
raise and not to lower them. That is the unanimous opinion of the
forewomen in London, and they know best.[91]
[Footnote 91: The following are extracts from the opinions of forewomen
on this point:--
"They don't lower rates; they want more."
"They don't lower rates of pay; it is rather the reverse, for they are
most troublesome about the price; _e.g._, the other day a married woman,
a new hand, made four or five girls refuse to do some sewing at the
price quoted, so they and she sat idle and wasted their time till the
forewoman saw what she could do for them. She (the forewoman) pointed
out to the girls how foolish it was to waste their time like that, and
they said that they wouldn't have done it by themselves."
"So far from working for less if they don't get enough, they say--'Thank
you' and walk off."
"They are the first to grumble; they don't think it worth coming unless
they can make something good."
"Married women are more trouble than the unmarried; they are at the
bottom of any agitation, and won't come if you are slack, for they
wouldn't get enough to pay for washing."
"They are more independent than single workers, and teach the others to
stand out."
"They think it a favour to do your work."
"They won't work for less, for they generally have more than themselves
to keep."
A forewoman of a book-folding department in a large firm said that
though not employing married women on her regular staff, she had had
some experience of them as job hands, and found that they would not do
ordinary work at ordinary rates, it not being worth their while. "They
have not got to earn money, as they have husbands to fall back upon."
To this should be added the testimony of one thoughtful observer, who
has considered the question during a long experience in the trade. He
has never come across a case where married women have lowered the rate
of pay; on the other hand, the elder women often complain that the young
girls who are living at home don't mind having ¼_d._ or ½_d._ cut
off.
See also the Report on Home Work, published by the Women's Industrial
Council, 19, Buckingham Street, Strand, 6_d._, for further details
confirming this view.]
In a good many instances, the married women complained that the
unmarried ones accepted reductions, and at a Conference held at
Manchester in connection with this investigation, the opinion was
unanimously expressed that married women do not lower wages, but, "on
the contrary, the casuals grumble most and get most."[92] "I know of a
case," writes a Plymouth correspondent, "where a married woman would not
work for less than 15_s._, which she obtained and retained for a year or
two." Out of a batch of ninety employers who had definite opinions upon
the influence of married women upon the standard of wages, seventy-seven
said they did not lower it, and thirteen that they did. The married
woman is more able than the unmarried girl to appreciate the relation
between wages and living expenses, and when she returns to the workshop,
it is as a worker who accepts the life of the wage earner as a final
fact and not as a mere interval between school and marriage.
[Footnote 92: The casually employed sometimes give trouble owing to
unpunctuality, and several employers have complained against married
women on this ground. But the investigation as a whole does not show the
complaint to be at all general.]
The married woman is more independent and disinclined to accept low
rates when offered, and she is generally chosen to go on deputations
making complaints to employers. A Trade Union official said that
theoretically the married woman ought to reduce wages, but that he was
bound to say that his experience in the trade taught him that she did
not. She has acquired the right to grumble, and she is put down in a
considerable proportion of the reports as the centre from which general
discontent in the workrooms emanates. Many employers object to her in
consequence.
She seems to regard herself as a permanent worker when she is a widow,
and generally remains for a considerable time--twenty or thirty
years--with her employers without thinking of changing. She is not so
"particular" as her unmarried co-worker, and does not give herself so
many "airs." She cleans litho-rollers without "turning up her nose." She
is, in short, part and parcel of the fellowship of wage earners; her
unmarried sister is not.
She is more rarely found in the provinces than in London in these
trades. Leeds and Bradford, and Bristol and the surrounding district may
be taken as typical, and the reports of the investigators who visited
these towns are quoted in full below on this point.
[Sidenote: The employment of married women. (a) London.]
In London, several firms refuse to employ married women as regular
hands. In some cases this is a policy of the forewoman only, and not a
rule of the firm. In others the head of the firm is responsible for the
order. The motives vary. Some refuse on principle, holding that husbands
should support their wives; _e.g._, "She won't countenance husbands
living on their wives' earnings and idling themselves"; or, again, that
it is "hard on single girls," or undesirable to have married women
working amongst unmarried girls, because, "They spoil a shop by talking
about all sorts of things." Other employers refuse to have them because
they are too irregular--"You can't get them in in time"; others because
"one has no hold over them," or because "they are tiresome, being so
cocky." "Out of seventy-five girls," runs one of our reports, "he had
none married till recently, when he failed to get enough unmarried.
Dislikes having them because influence bad."[93]
[Footnote 93: Reasons given for not employing married women, taken from
a batch of London reports:--
(1) Irregular. (2) Principle. (3) Principle. (4) Principle. (5) No
hold. (6) Chance. (7) Principle. (8) Chance. (9) Irregular. (10)
Irregular. (11) Principle. (12) Moral principle. (13) Moral
principle. (14) Principle (?). (15) Principle (?). (16)
Expediency. (17) Principle. (18) Principle. (19) Principle. (20)
Principle. (21) Principle. (22) Rule. (23) Rule. (24) Rule. (25)
Expediency. (26) Principle. (27) Principle. (28) Principle. (29)
Principle. (30) Principle. (31) Irregular.]
As a rule, however, there is a certain number of married women on the
staff, and all houses who have recourse to job hands in busy seasons
must, on occasions, have married women on their premises, though they
may object to employ them as regular workers.
The exact proportion of married to unmarried women in these trades is
impossible to judge. Accuracy could only be obtained by taking a census
of each shop. Estimates vary. A forewoman of experience calculated that
more than half were married. A Trade Union secretary and an experienced
worker estimated that about half were married, whilst of the job hands
taken separately, more than three-fourths were married women. Another
Union official, however, reckoned that, taking the trades as a whole,
there were four unmarried to one married; taking job hands separately,
two were married to one unmarried. Most of those conversant with the
trade are careful to give no figures, "a large proportion" are married,
or a "good few," and so on, are the common expressions. All, however,
agree that the largest proportion of married to unmarried is found
amongst the job hands; that, in fact, the majority of that class of
workers have husbands. A few instances of the proportion amongst the
regular staff in houses taken at random are given below. In most cases,
it was impossible to obtain any figures, but the following may be taken
to be types:--
A. _Printing._--12 married out of 86.
B. _Printing and Magazine Binding._--Half the staff.
C. _Printing._--2 regular hands unmarried, 1 married taken on when
busy.
D. _Envelopes, etc._--5 girls, 2 married.
E. _Binding._--3 married out of 20.
F. _Card Mounting, etc._--2 married out of 30.
G. _Binding._--3 married in machine room out of 60; 1 in
perforating department.
H. _Stationery._--9 married out of 20.
J. _Printing._--1 married out of 10.
K. _Binding._--2 married out of 30.
L. _Printing and Magazine Work._--5 married out of 100.
M. _Printing._--1 or 2 out of 56.
N. _Printing._--2 out of 128. (In most departments won't take
them.)
These houses show a much lower percentage of married workers than anyone
hazarded at a guess.
[Sidenote: (b) Bristol and district.]
"Seventeen houses in Bristol, employing about 1,170 women, have no
married hands. In three of these, it is the rule that girls must leave
on marriage, because the employer or the forewoman dislikes having
married women, either 'because they are not such good workers after they
have got the breakfast for their husbands and children, and seen to the
house, and are not then much good for work in a factory,' or else
because of a feeling that it is wrong to take married women from home
duties.
"In eight houses, employing about 1,200 women, there is no rule against
employing married women, and a few are employed. The exact proportions
were impossible to ascertain, but mostly box-makers.
Employed. Married.
A. 100 Most leave when married, but a few
good workers kept on.
B. 6 Two.
C. 5 One or two.
D. 30 A very few kept on.
E. 2 Both married.
F. 18 One married.
G. 40 Generally leave; a few kept on.
H. 1,000 A good many married.
"So few married women are employed in these trades in Bristol that it is
impossible to find any evidence of their influence on rates of pay, and
the generalisations as to the quality of married women's work are made
on very little information. One employer (B.) declared that married
women are better workers because they do not go out unless they have
good-for-nothing husbands and _have_ to be the breadwinners, a remark
corroborated by G., who assigned the same reason for their superiority,
adding that married women make 2_s._ or 3_s._ a week more at piecework
than the unmarried, and seem more anxious to get on. C. regards them as
steadier than girls: "They take life more seriously."
"In two houses in Gloucester with twenty-two and fifty-five girls, there
are no married women. 'They don't want to stay.'
"In Frome, a leading printing establishment employs 130 girls, but none
are married. There is a rule against employing married women. It is
regarded as immoral to do so--'It means that the husband spends the
extra money in beer.'
"In Stroud, amongst thirty girls, none were married.
"In Bath, in a firm employing forty girls, a few were married, but none
whose husbands were in work. 'That would be considered _infra dig_.'
[Sidenote: (c) Leeds and Bradford.]
"Married women are rarely employed in these trades in Leeds. Out of
seventeen houses visited, only three had married women as regular
workers. One of these is an account-book maker's, where a few out of the
thirty hands are married; another is a wallpaper manufacturer's, where
no difference is made when girls marry, and the third is a paper-bag
house, where a few out of the thirty women employed are married. In the
remaining fourteen houses, comprising about 930 girls, no married women
work. It is a custom recognised by masters and workers alike that women
leave on marriage, so that the industrial career of these workers stops
usually at twenty-two or twenty-three. In two houses old hands who have
married are taken on for occasional rushes of work.
"This dearth of married women in these trades seems strange in a town
where married women's work is such a common feature in the mills, but is
accounted for by the fact that the girls employed in the printing trades
belong to a comparatively comfortable class, marry in their own class,
and are not expected to be breadwinners. One employer suggests that the
work requires more regularity than can be expected from a married woman,
but this does not seem to be a serious difficulty in London.
"Bradford conditions are practically the same. Seven firms have no
married women, one has one married out of 100 workers, and this is an
exception, married women not being employed as a rule. As in Leeds, the
hands who have married come in to help when there is a rush of work. One
manager remarked that, if the girls think they are not going to marry
they leave for the mills, where pay is higher."
* * * * *
[Sidenote: The moral influence of the married worker.]
There seems to be a pretty widespread objection to the moral influence
of married women in the workshop. "Mr. ---- objects to the employment of
married women. He dislikes the way they talk to the unmarried girls....
Lately he has been obliged to employ them as he could not get enough
unmarried women."
[Sidenote: Family health.]
As regards the effect of work in these trades on family life, again the
evidence is sparse, but so far as it is clear it tends to show that the
employment of women makes little difference to the ordinary state of
things. The work is not unhealthy, and the woman worker does not do much
of the heavy tasks, such as lifting formes, using presses, and so on.
The instances where she does this are rare, and the men have always, in
this respect, turned their chivalrous instincts to industrial purpose
and to protect their own interests. One investigator reports that a girl
suffers from weak knees on account of long spells of standing at a
machine for making envelopes, and that a vellum-folder complains of
having to lift heavy weights. Another reports against "powdering" in
book-binding; and employment in typefoundries, where girls handle type,
is dangerous, since it may lead to lead-poisoning. Another says that
bronzing, even when the bronzing machine is used and the precautions
specified by the Factory Act are taken, is unhealthy. A case is given of
a woman permanently injured by the excessive strain of working a
guillotine cutting machine.
The bookbinders have always been ready to point out that certain parts
of their work are too heavy for women, and the compositors have done the
same. The latter also show that consumption is a trade disease amongst
them, and recently have defended their attempts to exclude women from
working the linotype on the ground that the fumes and gases which are
generated by its typefounding arrangement are injurious to health. They
also maintain that standing for long periods at a stretch is injurious
to women, but in at least one large printing firm in the provinces women
were seen by our investigators setting type whilst sitting on stools in
front of the case. The conditions of some wallpaper factories seem to be
unhealthy, partly owing to the hot air, the smell, and some of the
material used, especially the arsenic. Some reports state that the
constant "standing about" necessary in these trades gives headaches and
produces anæmia. What valid objection there is against married women
leaving their homes and children for long periods at a time during the
day, must of course be added to this, in common with all other kinds of
continuous work in which married women engage, but there is no special
danger to life or health in these industries from which the coming
generation may suffer.