Women and War Work

John Stuart Mill · en
Two other groups dealt with the metal fittings and wooden structural
parts of aircraft, and to see girls work on these is intensely
interesting--anything more fragile looking and more beautiful than the
long uncovered wing it would be difficult to find. A notable feature
of the metal group was a number of parts that are marked off from
drawings by women working under a woman charge-hand, and themselves
making their own scribing-templates when necessary. Many examples of
welding work were also shown.

There were Optical Munitions and medical and surgical glass and X-ray
tubes made entirely by women, and the Exhibitions record the progress
of women in Munitions in the most wonderful and striking way.

Mr. Ben. H. Morgan, Chief Officer, in a recent speech on Munitions and
Production said:

    "Labor had to be found to staff the thousands of factories in
    which this stupendous production was to be carried out, and it
    has been possible to find it only by subdividing work closely,
    and entrusting a large variety of machinery and fitting to
    women, with the help of the fullest possible equipment of jigs
    and all available appliances for mechanically defining and
    facilitating the work, and of instruction by skilled men.
    By this means an output has been obtained that will compare
    favorably with that of any class of workers in any country.
    Comparing, for instance, our women's figures of output on
    certain sizes of shell and types of fuses with those of men in
    the United States, I found recently that the women's machining
    times were not only as good but in many cases better than
    those of men in some of the best organized American shops.

    "This is an extraordinary result to have been obtained from
    women who, for the most part, had never known either the work
    or the discipline of factory life, and were wholly unused
    to mechanical operations. More than one circumstance has
    doubtless contributed to making it possible; but it is my
    assured conviction that foremost among the incentives by
    which women have been helped has been their constant thought
    of their flesh and blood, their husbands, brothers, sons,
    sweethearts, in the trenches. I know a typical example in a
    Yorkshire mother, who early in the war sent her only son to
    the fighting line. The lad was a skilled mechanic, and she
    took his place at his lathe in the Leeds shops where he
    worked. She is not only keeping this job going, but her output
    on the job she is doing is a record for the whole country."

The women workers' productions has been admirable and is steady
and continues so. The _Manchester Guardian_ of November 15, 1915,
astounded women and men alike by its announcement that "figures were
produced in proof of the very startling assertion that the output of
the women munition workers is slightly more than double that of men."

In the latest Dilution of Labour Bulletin this is recorded: