First Months of the World War—Labor’s Attitude toward the
War—Unemployment among Women Workers
August 4, 1914, was a momentous day for the working women and children
of England. On that date the nation entered the great conflict which
was not only to throw their men folk into military service, but to
affect their own lives directly. It was to alter their work and wages
and to come near to overthrowing the protective standards built up by
years of effort. What was the attitude of the women and of organized
labor in general toward the war and the industrial revolution which it
brought in its train?
Shortly after the opening of hostilities the majority of the workers
swung into line behind the government in support of the war, despite
the fact that the organized British labor movement had earlier
subscribed to a resolution of the international socialist congress that
labor’s duty after the outbreak of any war was “to intervene to bring
it promptly to a close.”
Indignation at the invasion of Belgium was apparently one of the
determining factors in the change of attitude. The Labour party did
not oppose the government war measures. It joined in the parliamentary
recruiting campaign, and in the “political truce,” by which it was
agreed that any vacancies occurring in the House of Commons should
be filled by the party previously in possession without a contest.
On August 24, 1914, the joint board of three of the four important
national labor bodies, namely the Trades Union Congress, the
General Federation of Trade Unions and the Labour Party, declared
an “industrial truce,” moving for the termination of all existing
disputes, and for an effort to settle all questions arising during the
war by peaceful methods, before resorting to strikes and lockouts. The
principal women’s labor organizations fell in with what may be called
the official labor attitude toward the war, and the Independent Labour
party stood almost alone in continuing to advocate an early peace.
In July, 1914, just before the war, British business had been in a
reasonably prosperous condition. There was somewhat of a decline from
the boom of 1913, and a considerable depression in the cotton industry,
but on the whole the state of trade was good.
The first effect on industry of the outbreak of war in August was an
abrupt and considerable curtailment of production. Orders both in
home and foreign trade were withheld or canceled, large numbers of
factories went on short time, and in a number of cases employes were
provisionally given notice of discharge.[12]
_The Unemployment Crisis_
That the crisis of unemployment would be but a passing phase, soon
followed by unprecedented industrial activity, seems not to have been
anticipated. “If the war is prolonged, it will tax all the powers of
our administrators to avert the most widespread distress,” said the
Fabian Society.[13] A “Central Committee for the Prevention and Relief
of Distress,” headed by the president of the local government board
was organized as early as August 4; local authorities were asked to
form similar local representative committees, and the Prince of Wales
sent out an appeal for a “National Relief Fund.” Plans were made for
starting special public work, additional government subsidies to trade
unions paying unemployment benefits were granted, and the War Office
broke precedent and permitted the sub-letting of government contracts
as a relief measure in districts where there was much unemployment.
[12] Great Britain Board of Trade, _Report on the State of Employment
in October, 1914_, p. 5.
[13] Fabian Society, “The War and the Workers,” _Fabian Tract No. 176_,
1914, p. 22.
In the industrial depression women were affected far more severely than
men and for a considerably longer time. The trades which were hardest
hit were for the most part those in which large numbers of women were
employed.
Those trades which for want of a better name are sometimes
called “luxury trades”—dressmaking, millinery, blouse
making, women’s fancy and children’s boot and shoe making,
the silk and linen trades, cigar and cigarette making,
the umbrella trade, confectionery and preserve making,
cycle and carriage making, the jewelry trade, furniture
making and French polishing, the china and glass trades,
book and stationery making, as well as printing—these
were the trades which at the beginning of the war suffered
a very severe slump. In some trades a shortage of raw
material or the loss of enemy markets only added to the
general dislocation.... Thus the shortage of sugar caused
very considerable unemployment in jam preserving and
confectionery. The chemical trade was affected by the
complete cessation of certain commodities from Germany. The
practical closing of the North Sea to fishers absolutely
brought to a close the occupation of those thousands of
women on the English coast who follow the herring round.
The closing of the Baltic cut off the supplies of flax from
Russia upon which our linen trade largely depends.... The
cotton trade was especially hit, before the war a period of
decline had set in, and Lancashire suffered in addition from
all the disadvantages incidental to an export trade in time
of naval warfare. Casual houseworkers such as charwomen and
office cleaners and even skilled domestic servants, such
as cooks, found themselves out of employment owing to the
economies which the public was making. The unemployment of
good cooks, however, did not last many weeks.[14]
[14] British Association for the Advancement of Science, _Credit,
Industry, and the War_, 1915, pp. 70, 71.
Nearly half the total number of women in industry (44.4 per cent or
1,100,000) were unemployed or on short time in September, 1914, while
among men workers the corresponding figure was only 27.4 per cent. The
provision of public work helped men rather than women, and the rush
of enlistments was another important factor which helped relieve the
situation for working men. Among the women, on the contrary, many
relatives of men who had gone to the front were obliged to apply for
work for a time, since separation allowances were not immediately
available.
In October, 1914, when enlistments were taken into account, the net
decrease in the number of male industrial workers was only 6,500, but
that of females was 155,000. By December, when 77,000 fewer women were
employed than in July, and girls in dressmaking, machine made lace,
silk and felt hat making, potteries, printing and fish curing had not
yet found steady work,[15] there was a net increase in the employment
of men and boys, and a shortage of skilled men. Even in February, 1915,
37,500 women were reported unemployed,[16] and in the latter part
of March and the first half of April there were twice as many women
applicants for work at the employment exchanges as there were openings
available. However, the tide turned in the latter month, and the total
number of women workers increased 44,000 over the number employed in
July, 1914, though owing to imperfect adjustment a number of women
were still unemployed in the middle of 1915, nearly a year after the
outbreak of the war.[17]
[15] Great Britain Home Office, _Report of the Chief Inspector of
Factories and Workshops for 1914_, p. 34.
[16] _Vide_ Appendix A, p. 231.
[17] Great Britain, _Report of the War Cabinet Committee on Women in
Industry_, pp. 79-80.
_Organization for Aiding Unemployed Women_
During this period the chief agency helping unemployed girls and women
was the “Central Committee on Women’s Employment.” The committee mainly
owed its origin to the War Emergency Workers’ National Committee, which
was formed as early as August 5, 1914, to protect the interests of
the workers during the war, at a hastily called conference of nearly
all the important national socialist and labor organizations. In the
first days of the war an appeal to women was sent out in the name of
the Queen asking them to make garments and “comforts” for the troops.
The workers’ national committee protested against such use of the
voluntary labor of the well-to-do at the very time when thousands of
working women in the sewing and allied trades were in need of work.
As a result of such protests an announcement appeared in the newspapers
of August 17 to the effect that details of the Queen’s plan for raising
money to provide schemes of work for unemployed women would soon be
announced. It was stated that “it is the wish of Her Majesty that these
schemes should be devised in consultation with industrial experts and
representatives of working class women,” and that the aims of the
Queen’s needlework guild had been “misunderstood.” “Voluntary aid was
meant to supplement and not to supplant paid labor.” A few days later
the Queen asked amateur sewers not to make any of a list of garments
which the military authorities would ordinarily buy from business firms.
On August 20, the “Central Committee on Women’s Employment” was
appointed. Mary Macarthur, secretary of the National Federation of
Women Workers, was honorary secretary, and five of the fourteen members
were representatives of working women approved by the workers’ national
committee. This central women’s committee was given control of the
Queen’s Work for Women Fund.
Though the committee met with many delays before it could start its
undertakings, and though it was able to provide for only a small
fraction of the women in need, its general principles and methods might
well be taken as a standard for action in any similar emergency.
The first principle on which the committee worked was that “it is
better that workers should be self-maintaining than dependent upon
relief, even when that relief is given in the form of work.” To
increase the volume of employment the committee set up a “contract
department” which aimed to enlarge the number of firms having
government contracts. Three different methods were used in doing this.
One especially ingenious device was that of inducing the War Office
to simplify certain details of the army uniform, so that it could be
made up by firms not used to the work. “Thereafter full employment in
the clothing trade coincided with a greatly improved supply of army
clothing.”[18] Firms in need of orders, who could make shirts, khaki,
blankets and hosiery, were brought to the attention of the War Office.
Finally, by taking large contracts from the government and dividing
them the committee supplied work to a number of small dressmaking and
needlework firms, which were too small to secure the contracts direct.
Two million pairs of army socks, 10,000 shirts a week cut out in the
committee’s own work rooms, and 105,000 flannel body belts for the
troops were given out in this way. It is important to note that the
work was “only undertaken when the ordinary trade was fully employed.”
As a matter of fact, at the same time that thousands of women and girls
were out of work, others were working overtime and the government was
unable to secure sufficient clothing for the troops. Except that the
committee sometimes made advances of working capital, to be returned
when the contract was finished, the work was self-supporting. Ordinary
trade prices and, after the first few weeks, the usual methods of wage
payment, prevailed.
The other main branch of the committee’s work was the provision of
relief work rooms under its own supervision in London, and elsewhere
under women’s subcommittees of the local representative committees
formed by the Board of Trade. The subcommittees were required to
include representatives of working women’s organizations among their
members. The committee reports that its decision to have the relief
work carried on under the auspices of such committees “caused some
disappointment to the promoters of certain private charities who hoped
to procure grants.”[19]
[18] Great Britain, _Report of the Central Committee on Women’s
Employment_, 1915, p. 5.
[19] _Ibid._, p. 9.
The work rooms were not allowed to compete with ordinary industry, for
which reason their products were not supposed either to be sold or
to be given to persons who could afford to buy them. It was stated,
however, that this rule was difficult to enforce because many of the
provincial work rooms were anxious to make articles for the troops.
The work was supposed to be of a nature to train the workers and
improve their efficiency, and in this the committee’s aims seem to have
been generally realized. The making of cheap but tasteful clothing and
other domestic training was usually provided. In many places the women
were taught to cook wholesome low cost dinners for themselves. In one
work room a rough factory hand who had hardly handled a needle before
became so enthusiastic over her handiwork that she remarked, “It’s nice
to be learned.”
In London a few “sick room helps” were also trained, some clerical
workers were given scholarships to learn foreign languages, and a small
number of factory girls were sent into the country to become market
gardeners. In selecting applicants girls under sixteen and nonworking
wives of unemployed men were not taken, and the younger, more
intelligent and more teachable women were given preference. Workers
were obliged to register at the employment exchanges[20] and to accept
suitable employment if found.
[20] The former “labour exchanges,” managed by the Board of Trade,
became “employment exchanges” when the Ministry of Labour was created
in December, 1916, and they were transferred to its jurisdiction.
The wages paid by the work rooms aroused not a little controversy.
The committee fixed 3d. as the hourly wage rate, forty hours as the
weekly working time, making maximum weekly earnings 10s. ($2.40). This
wage scale was hotly denounced by certain labor representatives as
“sweating.” The committee justified it on the ground that the hourly
rate was approximately that set by the trade boards, and that the
weekly wage must be kept sufficiently low so that women would not be
attracted to the work rooms from ordinary employment. After careful
consideration, the scale was endorsed unanimously by the War Emergency
Workers’ National Committee.[21] In March, 1915, on account of rising
prices, a working week of forty-six hours was permitted, increasing
weekly earnings to 11s. 6d. ($2.76). But by this time the state of
trade had greatly improved and it had already been possible to give up
some of the work rooms. The others were soon closed and the committee
gave its attention to investigating new fields for the employment of
women. At the end of 1916 it was also running an employment bureau and
acting as a clearing house for related organizations. About 9,000 women
had passed through its work rooms up to January, 1915, at which time
about 1,000 women were employed by the central committee in London, and
about 4,000 by the local subcommittees.[22]
[21] Fabian Society, “The War, Women, and Unemployment,” _Fabian Tract
No. 178_, 1916, p. 19.
[22] Comprehensive reports on the state of employment in September and
October, 1914, and in February, 1915, have been issued by the Board of
Trade [Cds. 7703, 7755, and 7850]. The “Central Committee on Women’s
Employment” has issued an interim report [Cd. 7748]. Miss Edith Abbott
gives an excellent review of the extent of unemployment and the work of
the Central Committee in the _Journal of Political Economy_ for July,
1917. (“The War and Women’s Work in England,” pp. 641-678.)