I " 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE 

FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 

Dire~tor of the 

Woman in Industry Service 

." 

FOR 

THE FISCAL YEAR 

ENDED JUNE 30 

1919 

WASHINGTON 

OOVERNMENl' PRINTING omCE 

1919 

•. J .• / 

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FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIREOTOR OF THE 

WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVIOE. 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, 

WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE, 

lVasltington, September 30, 1919. 

8m: The first annual report of the Woman in Industry Service 

for the fiscal year ended June 30,1919, is submitted herewith. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The Woman in Indl,lStry Service was organized in July, 1918, a 

year and three months after the entrance of the United States into the 

war. It was confronted at once with thelroblems involved in a rapidly increasing reliance upon the work 0 women, as the sole reserve 

force of labor to be called upon to measure up to the den;tands of 

an augmented program of production for the war in the face of the 

withdrawal of men for mihtary service at the rate of a quarter of a 

million a month. It was clear that for the sake of production and for 

the good of the Nation the Federal Government must provide not 

only for the recruiting of women workers but for the safeguarding 

of the health and efficiency of these women who were meeting in 

many instances the requirements of new and unaccustomed tasks. 

Because they were new for women-at least, in such large numbers--

standards for their employment had not been established in the customs of industry. 

It was this neCessity for rapid increase in the employment of - women which constituted the peculiar problem of the war. Fundamentally, however, the purpose of the Department of Labor in its 

relation to'women in industry-to safeguard the interests of women 

workers and to make their service effective for the national good-is 

identical in peace or in war. That is to say, with all the changes 

brought by the war the organic act creating the department was 

still applicable. 

The purpose of the Department of Labor shall be to foster, promote, and 

develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their 

working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. 

The difference during the war was the wider public recognition of 

the necessity for "advancing the opportunities" of women "for 

profitable employment," couching it, however, in terms' of recruiting 

women for a wider range of occupations in order to release men for 

military service. 

Added to this difference in point of view was the fact that the 

urgent necessities of a nation at war would influence policy just to 

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4 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

the extent that in time of war measures which in the long run are 

essential to the national good must frequently be modified for immediate military necessity. This is one of the evils of war. 

Thus while the problems of women in industry during the war 

differed in form from similar problems in time of peace, and while 

the public attitude was also dlfferent under war conditions, nevertheless the fundamental tasks were so much alike that the experience 

gained in dealing with them during the war may be regarded as a 

basis for action In time of peace. A report of the activities and 

plans of the Woman in' Industry Service in the four months which 

elapsed between its establishment and the signing of the armistice 

should, therefore, be not merely a history but an introduction to a 

program for the work of th~ Federal Government on behalf of women 

in industry in the period of readjustment and thereafter. But while 

the year's history has this fundamental unity, logically the record 

divides into two parts, the first describing the :period of the war and 

the second setting forth the problems of the elght months after the 

nrmistice was signed. 

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L ACTIVITIES D'URING THE WAR, reLY 16 TO 1I0VEDER 11, 1918. 

When the Secretary of Labor recommended to Congress an ap-· 

propriation for a special service for women in indu.stry, he outlined 

Its purpose and functions as follows: 

It is undoubtedly true that the Department of Labor exercises all of its 

powers with reference to wage earners of both sexes and of all ages. It is also 

true that the best administration requires that the various services of the department which are here outlined be conducted by including within the work 

of each servire all questions regarding women as well as men. But the great importance of the employment of women in most essential war work and the development of special matters of policy with respect to such 

employment make it important to establish a special service devoted to the 

subject of women in industry. 

In view of the fact that the other services will, as above indicated, include 

within their sphere women as well as men, this special service of women in industry is not large, w1l1 be largely policy making and administrative in character rather than itself executive; but will maintain close contact with all the 

work of the department on this special subject and will also coordinate and 

control such work in all other departments. 

Stated more specifically the purp~ of this service is1. To consider all general policies with respect to women in industry and 

to advise the Secretary of Labor as to the policies whleh should be pursued. 2. To keep informed of the work of the several ~ivisions of the department 

in so far as they relate to women in industry and to advise with the divisions on all such work. 

3. To secure information on all matters relating to women in industry anll 

to collate such information into useful form. 

4. To establish useful connections with all governmental departments anrl 

divisions on this subject and with voluntary agencies and societies. 

In announciiI.g on July 9, 1918, the appointment of the director 

and assistant director, the Secretary further stated the purposes of 

the Woman in Industry Service as follows: 

In recognition of the great importance to the Nation uf the work of women in industry, and the urgent necessity for a national policy in determining the 

conditions of their employment, I have urged and Congress has now granted 

the necessary authority to establish a Women's Division in the Department of 

Labor. Its immediate task will be to develop in the industries of the country 

poliCies and methods which will result in the most effective use of women's 

services in production for the war, while at the same time preventing their 

employment under injurious conditions. Its large and very necessary aim will 

be to focus attention on the national importance of the conditions of women's 

work as influencing industrial standards and as affecting the welfare of the 

entire Nation. 

The Women's Division will be charged primarily with determining policies 

rather than carrying on detailed administration. Because of this policy-making function of the Women's Division, its director will serve as a member of the 

War Labor Policies Board. It wlll coordinate work for women in other divisions of the Department of Labor and in industrial service sections of other 

departments of the Federal Government. It wlll cooperate with State departments of labor, working with and through them, in order to bring about united 

action by the States in national problems of women's work. The Women's 

Division will concern itself primarily with war conditions but will be mindful 

of the need for observing and interpreting the tendencies in women's employment which are likely to have permanent social effects. 

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6 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

The Women's Division has been estabUshed in response to needs widely felt 

by all, men as well as women, who are conscious of the increasing share women must have in the industrial activities of the war. The problems of women in 

industry are so manifold and complex that a clearing house of thought and 

leadership is needed in the National Governmpnt. The Women's Division has b.e~n established to give this leadership. 

COUNCIL ON WOKEN IJ.Il IJ.IlDUSTRY. 

To accomplish the task 'of coordinating the efforts of all Federal 

agencies concerned in women's work the Woman in Industry Service 

was authorized by the Secretary of Labor to organize the Council 

on Women in Industry, composed of women representing every division of the Department of Labor and other Federal departments 

having organized work related to problems of women in industry. 

Its membership included the Women's Branch of the Ordnance Department, the Women's Section· of the Railroad Administration, the 

Federal Board for Vocational Education, the Committee on Women 

in Industry of the Advisory Commission, and the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense, and from the Department of Labor representatives of the services concerned with investigation and inspection, training. and dilution, information and 

education, and working conditions, the United States Employment 

Service, the Immigration Bureau, the Children's Bureau the Bureau 

of Naturalization, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States 

Housing Corporation, the War Labor Board, and the War Labor 

Policies Board. The council did not assume any executive or administrative functions, nor did it have any authority over the programs of its members. It was a forum for discussion of the important questions coming before the Woman in Industry Service and 

the other groups cooperating with it. Among the subjects for discussion have been the safeguards to be established in new occupations, the enforcement of State labor laws, the regulation of night 

work under war conditions, the al?plication of the principle of equal 

pay for equal work, and the recrUIting and training of women workers. The cooperation, which will be described in the succeeding report of activities of the Woman in Industry Service, was materIally 

furthered by the weekly meetings of the council. 

RECRUITIl!lG WOKEN FOR NEW OCCUPATIONS. 

It has already been indicated that the outstanding question concerning women in industry which grew daily more important during 

the war was the necessity for greatly increasing the proportions of 

women in the essential industries of the country in order to meet the 

demands of production and at the same time to release men for mili- I 

tary service. The danger of hysterical campaigns which would stimulate the recruiting of women without seeing to it that their services 

should become effective for production or that proper safeguards for 

women workers should be established was increasingly great. It 

was difficult for those unfamiliar with the difficulties of introducing 

a new and untrained personnel into industry to appreciate the care 

which must be taken to avoid actual decrease in production by rapid 

and careless methods of filling positions. Nor could those who had 

not been familiar with the efforts through many years to build up 

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ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 7 

'Standards of protection for the health of the workers appreciate 

how fundamentally important were the maintenance and extension 

-of those standards durmg the war. The situation was made more 

critical by the fact that those companies whose policy to their men 

workers had never won their confidence and cooperatlon were likely 

to arouse the suspicion that the war emergency would be used as an 

-excuse for employing women at lower rates of pay and under conditions which would weaken any control gained by the workers through 

-collective bargaining. TI~e following program was proposed by the Woman in Industry -ServICe: 

1. Standards governing the employment of women in industry should be 

authoritatively issued after adoption by the War Labor Policies Board, with the 

two-fold purpose of contl'olllng conditions esp€'CialIy in new occupations for women and also serving as a guide in the selection of occupations In which the 

employment of women might be increased. That is to say, instead of offering 

1\ list of occupations in which women should be substituted for men, the Fed- ~ral Govemment would promulgate 8tandal'ds together with the statement that 

in any occupation in whIch these standards were upheld, thE' extension of the 

en1ployment of women would be desirable, at the 8ame time calling attention 

to the necessity for greatly increasing the employment of women under these 

eonditions. 

2. Certain broad statements could be made about occupations in which it . would be desirable to employ women but these must always be in the nature of 

Information rather than authoritative rulings, since local conditions would 

make a recommendation for the entployment of women unwise in one locality 

and wise in anotlwr "'hel'e ooth the nature of the procE'ss amI the conditions 

surrounding it were different. 

3. Certain occupations which had been proved to be more injurious to women than to men should be listed as a group from which women should be excluded. 

4. Instead of attempting to formulate a detailed program for the country as a whole, the War Industries Board and the United States Employment Service 

would be asked to name those localities in which the shortage of labor was most 

acute. The various Federal agencies concerned with investigation, training, 

placement, health, and working conditions, would then be asked to concentrate 

their efforts in those localltles in order to solve the problems there and also to 

"give a foundation for experience for an increaSingly adequate program of 

labor distribution throughout the country. 

5. Inquiries into certain typical occupations should be pushed forward rapidly 

by the Woman in Industry Service with a view to making definite recommendation regarding changes in the process and the estaollshment of conditions 

which had been proved most effective in the experience of establlshments 

entploying women. 6. Meanwhile plans should be formulated for exhibits of women's work and 

other forms of educational presentation of facts which should result In enlisting the services of women in the war industries, whlIe winning also the cooperation of industry in establlshing the conditions which should ntake for the largest 

production over a long period. 

It is possible to record progress in each section of this program, 

although the signing of the armistice made it unnecessary to introduce women in such large numbers in this country as in Great Britain 

or France, and the program as a whole was therefore not carried out. 

The action taken will be shown in the following sections of this report. 

STANDARDS GOVER:RDI'G THE EKPLOYltENT 01' WOKEN IN IND'USTRY. 

A tentative draft of standards which should govern the employment of women in industry was presented to the Secretary of Labor 

and the War Labor Policies Board on October 10, 1918, adopted by 

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8 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICB. 

the board on October 18, and modified on October 25, in the light of 

the probability that an armistice would soon be signed. Before it 

was recommended to the Secretary of Labor and the board it had 

been submitted for criticism and suggestions to every State department of labor, to representative employers, and to working women 

representing national and international trade-unions having women 

members. In formulating the standards consideration was given to 

experience in industry during the war, to regulations already established in State labor laws, and to such statements by Federal agencies 

during the war as General Orders, No. 13, issued by the Chief of 

Ordnance and simultaneously by the Quartermaster General as recommendations to arsenal commanders and to .manufacturers working on 

contract for the War Department. The report of the National War 

Labor Conference Board, which constituted the principles to guide 

industrial relations during the war, was also used as a basis. 

It was decided by the production departments of the Government 

represented in the War Labor Policies Board to insert in the contracts the most important provisions of these standards, especially 

those relating to daily and weekly hours of labor and the principle 

of equal pay for equal work. With the signing of the armistice and 

the consequent curtailment of contracts this plan was not carried out. 

After some revision to meet peace conditions, consisting chiefly of the 

elimination of certain clauses permitting a working day as long as 

10 hours when the necessities of war might require it, the standards 

were finally issued on December 12, 1918, as the basis for a program 

of reconstruction.1 

They were widely distributed through State departments of labor 

and through organizations working to improve conditions of employment for women. The Employment Service brought them 

forcibly to the attention of all the local offices through publication in . the bulletin of the service. The interest which they aroused showed 

how widespread was the need for a statement of common purposes 

toward the attainment of which energies could be directed with 

assurance of support through united action. 

HAZARDqUS OCCUPATIONS. 

Shortage of labor was felt first in those occupations in which 

working conditions were hazardous or disagreeable and there was 

grave danger, therefore, that women would be introduced first into 

occuI?ations involving hazards to their health. To meet this problem 

a serIes of inquiries was planned which were designed to determine 

the occupations in which women might be employed safely and the 

detailed and practical measures needed to remove all hazards not 

inherent in the essential nature of the process. To direct this work 

the Woman in Industry Service organized the Committee on Hazardous Occupations, composed of representatives of the Surgeon General's Office, the Ordnance Department, and the Chemical Warfare 

Service of the War Department, the Navy, the United States Public 

Health Service, the National Research Council, the Bureau of Standards of the Department of Commerce, the War Industries Board, 

the Working Conditions Service, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and 

the Woman In Industry Service of the Department of Labor. . 

1 A copy of the standards wlll be found at the end of this report. 

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. ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 9 

The first place selected for a survey was Niagara Falls: where the 

chemical industries were of great importance as basic m the war 

industries. 

Two representatives of the Industrial Commission of New York 

State were added to the committee for this survey, to insure cooperation in putting into effect the detailed recommendations for dust 

removal, sanitation and safety, and other precautions against occupational hazards. These recommendations were worked out in practical detail by physicians, engineers, and women investigators acting for the committee. 

Certain general principles emerged from this survey. The first 

was that in some communities war conditions were merely accentuating labor shortage, due not merely to the withdrawal of men for 

military service but to conditions of employment which were an 

obstacle in production before the war, less clearly recognized when 

labor was less free to choose. 

The second fundamental principle was that unhealthful conditions 

were generally bad not only for women but for men also. This, however, could not be held as an excuse for failure to correct these conditions before women should be introduced. For the sake of the 

productive efficiency of the industry employers should be discoura~d 

from employing women, as the easiest way out of their difficulties, 

until they are willing to apply the measures long known to be necessary as safeguards for health in the hazardous occupations. 

'Although many industrial poisons are equally dangerous for 

women and men, lead poisoning, which is the most prevalent of them 

all, has for women and the race more disastrous consequences than 

for men. This is because lead is a race poison. The woman who 

has suffered from it is likely to be sterile, or to have miscarriages, 

or to lose her babies in the first year of their life. These facts were 

emphasized by the investigation at Niagara Falls, which showed 

that a plant there manufacturing storage batteries had already employed women and might increase their numbers. In this occupation, and in this alone, did the Woman in Industry Service urge 

that no woman be employed anywhere or under any conditions in Ii. 

process in which she would be exposed to lead poisoning. In all 

other forms of employment the Woman in Industry Service recommended not the exclusion of women but such changes in conditions 

as would make the occupation healthful for them. If practical difficulties stood in the way of these changes, it was held that the employment of women should be postponed as long as possible, under 

such conditions, for example, as ex:posure to dust or extremes of 

temperature, or the necessity for liftmg or carrying heavy weights. 

In the industries of Niagara Falls so many changes would have been 

necessary that, in view of the signing of the armistice before the 

report was completed and the consequent removal of the immediate 

pressure for the introduction of women, it was urged that women 

should not be employed in the chemical industries there until they 

should be made safe.' 

The general policy emerging from this local situation, however, 

was a recognition of the practicability ofgrea.tly decreasing the burdens of hand labor for men or women by using mechanical devices, 

and of affording safeguards against the risks of poisoning by removing fumes and dusts at their source and by strengthening the 

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10 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

indi vidual's power of resistance through medical supervision and 

through hours of work short enough to protect health. 

'lKE PB.OBLEK OJ!' BIGK'l WOB.X. 

The immediate reason for the investigation of the chemical industries in Niagara Falls was the request of the employers' association 

there, addressed to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, asking that the 

li'ederal Government should make it possible for the employers in 

war industries in Niagara Falls to disregard the New York State law 

which prohibits the emp~o~ment of women i~ factories I1;t ni~ht. ~his 

was but one of many smular requests whIch came WIth lllcreasmg 

frequency during the summer and early autumn of 1918. Following 

the organization of the Woman in Industry Service, all such appeals 

which reached the office of the Secretary of War were referred to the 

service for review. The Woman in Industry Service in turn worked 

on these cases in cooperation with the various industrial service sections of the other Federal departments, especially the Women's 

Branch of the Ordnance Department, which made the initial investigation in the majority of plants making this request. 

In the complicated problems which these instances illustrated there 

was presented the necessity for working out a program which should 

protect the health of the women at work and reenforce standards already set in the labor laws of the States, while at the same time speeding up production in the most critical period of the war. No problem 

which the Woman in Industry Service was called upon to solve was 

more difficult or more far-reaching in its significance than this. Before a wise program could be developed it was necessary to study in 

the concrete case the importance of women's work in the production 

of the plant, to know the needs of the Government for that particular 

product, and to consult those organizations, especially those of the 

workers themselves, which had been responsible for legislation to protect women against night work in some of the most important manufacturing States. 

Twelve Statee-Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, 

Utah, and Wisconsin-had laws which prohibited the employment of 

women or girls, or both, in factories during the night hours. In two 

of these-Massachusetts by legislation creating a special board for the 

period of the war and in Wisconsin through the regular powers of the 

industrial commission-it was possible to grant permits making possible night work for limited periods. These laws applied to the munitions plants. They had been enacted in time of peace, and they expressed the opinion of the public in those States that night work for 

women was harmful because of its effect upon the health of the women 

.md their children and because of its influence on family life. Moreover, experience had shown that night work was uneconomical for 

production, with less individual efficiency and greater cost for wages 

and supervision than by day. These considerations had led the representatives of 13 European nations meeting in 1913 in Berne to agree 

to eliminate night work for women in their manufacturing industries. 

During the war, however, this standard had been generally abandoned 

abroad. In England, for example, where the employment of women 

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at night work had long since been done away with, the increasing reliance upon the work of women in the manufacture of munitions had 

led to the general breaking down of this measure of protectiol!. 

At the very beginning of our participation in the war the Federal 

Government, through the Council of National Defense, had declared 

its j>olicy not to permit the war to be the occasion for lowering standards of employment, especially those which had been established to 

protect the health of women and children. As these protective 

measures were for the most part contained in State legislation and 

were not national in scope, thIS declaration of policy took the form of 

an appeal to the States not to abandon or weaken the laws ena6ted 

for the protection of the workers unless the Federal Government itself 

should find that the national need in the emergency of the war demanded their modification. This, however, would be a condition 

which only the Federal Government could determine with authority. 

In applying this policy to the problem of night work for women it 

was necessary to recognize that the differences between different 

States gave rise to great inconsistencies. Thirty-six States had no 

legislation prohibiting night work for women, and these included 

such important manufacturing States as New Jersey, Illinois, and 

Ohio, in all of which large quantities of munitions were manufactured on contract for the Federal Government. If the FederaLGovernment recognized its responsibility for the conditions affecting the 

health of the women in munitions plants, as it did by establishing 

such agencies as the Woman in Industry Service and by formulating 

the policy just outlined, it could not ignore the fact that the employment of ·women at night in a factory in Illinois, where no law prevented, was as injurious as it would have been in a plant in New 

York, where night work had b('.en eliminated by act of the legislature. 

During the summer of 1918 the extension of the employment of 

women was greatly accelerated, as the new draft resulted in the rapid 

withdrawal of men from the industries of the country. As a result of 

this increase in the proportions of women in the munitions industries· 

their employment on night shifts appeared to be becoming more general in those States where no legislation prevented it, while in those 

States having laws prohibiting night work the appeals of manufacturers, often indorsed vigorously by officers of the Ordnance Department, for modification of the enforcement of the law became more 

and more insistent. For the most part these were not requests from 

employers who were making the war an excuse to evade legislation 

enalted in the interest of the workers. Close study of them showed 

that they were evidence of the staggering load carried by the Ordnance Department in the necessity for greatly speeding llP an already 

astounding program of production. The anxiety of Ordnance officers 

to eliminate every condition which seemed to them to hamper production in the slightest degree grew more and more tense. It looked 

very much as though the situation was developing to the point where 

the immediate need for increased production in the most critical 

period of the war would undermine the standards established in time 

of peace to protect the health of working women. 

To aid in developing a :plan which would give due weight to all 

the ap:{>arently conflictmg mterests, the Woman in Industry Service 

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12 ANNUAL REPORT DmECTOR WOMAN' IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

tions most vitally interested in standards of working conditions established for the protection of working women, including the 

Womap.'s Committee, the Committee on Women in Industry, the National Consumers' League, the National Women's Trade-Union 

League, the American Association for Labor Legislation, the tradeunions through their international organizations and through committees of the American Federation of Labor, and State industrial 

('ommissions and departments of 'labor. The whole plan, finally 

worked out after these conferences, was also thoroughly discussed 

and voted upon at the meeting of representatives of State labor deEaftments called in Washington by the War Labor Policies Board in 

October, and soon afterwards the conference of trade-union women 

called by the Woman in Industry Service also took action regarding 

the program proposed. Advice was also sought from the Labor Division and the Priorities Division of the War Industries Board. Representatives.of employers were consulted in connection with the review 

of requests on this subject made to the office of the Secretary of War. 

At these conferences typical requests for permission to employ 

women at night were described. In one plant, for instance, which 

was probably more vital to the success of the ordnance J;>rogram than 

IIny other single establishment, the chief reason for wishmg to employ 

women on the night shift was a shortage of houses which would not 

be remedied in less than three months, so that no large numbers of 

men could be added to the popUlation of the town, but in the families 

of the men already living in the community were daughters, sisters, ' 

and wives who would be available to increase the working force. 

These could not all be used on the day shift because many of the 

processes involved too heavy work for women, and it was necessary, 

therefore, to employ men and women together with a division of 

tasks between them. In some plants the problem was further complica ted by the practice of rotating shifts, whereby every man in the 

force took his turn at night. To change this practice when women 

were introduced would cause discontent among the men who would 

then be obliged to work steadily, or at least more frequently, at night 

if the women in the force worked only by day. 

No two instances were exactlv alike. The one fact common to them. 

all was that the proposal to employ women at night could not be disconnected from the whole production and employment policy of the 

plant. In some cases the shortage Qf men for night work was due not 

to an actual short.age of labor in the community but to low rates of 

pay, or too long hours on the night shift, or the absence of an efficient 

OJ;ganization for employment management in the plant. Under such 

conditions it was not merely for the sake of the women workers tha.t 

the employment of women at night was to be discouraged by the 

Woman in Industry Service, but it was quite as necessary to discourage it for the sake of production, since in such a situation production 

could not be made satisfactory merely by a night shift of women. 

Satisfactory production required a thorough overhauling of the em.-

ployment polIcy of the company which would result in a more effective use of the working force already available. An investi~tion of 

a proposal to employ women at night led invariably to a conSIderation 

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ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 13 

gram adopted must, in the interest of production, provide for this 

kind of careful inquiry in each· instance rather than giving any general permission to the munitions industries to employ women on mght shifts. . 

The conferences held to consider this sUbject'revealed a very strong 

opinion that standards, in general, should not be lowered, and that, 

in particular, the practice of employing women at night should be 

vigorously discouraged. It was not only in the Federal departments, 

however, that the necessity for action had become clear. Overwhelming evidence from State departments of labor showed that the pressure from ~ertain interests against legisla:tion p'rohibiting night work 

was becommg great, and that laws on thIS subJect would be attacked 

at the coming sessions of State legislatures. It was feared that the 

attacks would be difficult to withstand because they would be made on 

the ~round of national necessity. Although there was diversity of 

opimon as to what should be done it was generally agreed that it was 

only the National Government which could declare with authority 

whether or not the emergency was serious enough to require modification of standards which had commended th~mselves to the people of 

several States as necessary to protect the health of women at work. 

The problem, in brief, then, was to meet the immediate necessity 

for increased production through the more extensive employment of 

women and through continuous and complete use of available ma· 

chinery and equipment, while preventing the permanent repeal of 

laws prohibiting night work and at the same time protecting women 

workers against the dangers of night work in plants working on war 

materials for the Federal Government in those States having no laws 

against night work. 

The plan finally proposed was that the Federal Government should 

regulate and control mght work for women in all plants working on 

war contracts for the Federal Government, through a provision in the 

contracts which would prohibit night work uDless a special war 

emergency permit were granted. This plan provided that if it were 

demonstrated by the War Department or the Navy that it was necessary in a specified instance, in order to maintain adequate production, 

to employ women between the hours of 10 p. m. and 6 a. m., the Secretary of War or the Secretary of the Navy, under conditions of employment approved by the Secretary of Labor acting through the 

Woman in Industry Service, would send to the State agency charged 

with enforcement of labor laws a declaration that a· national 

emergency existed in this particular instance and would call upon it 

to grant to a particular1 specified plant for a specified, limited period 

a temporary war certincate allowing the employment of women at 

night. It waf; the opinion of legal advisers in the War Department 

and the Navy that in those States in which night work was prohibited 

by law these certificates would be valid under the war powers of the 

Federal Government. In those States having no laws against night 

work the power of the Federal Government through its contracts was 

clear. 

In connection with the administration of the proposed plan it WIIS 

provided that thorough investigation should be made in each instance to determine the necessity for night work, and that each establishment to which a certificate might be granted should be nnder the 

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14 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

continued supervision of a designated Federal department, under 

conditions satisfactory to the Department of Labor. Certificates 

were to be issued only for night shifts of eight hours or less, and full 

compliance would be required with the standards set by agencies of 

the Federal Government and in State labor laws. As showin~ thp. 

necessity for thorough investigation in advance it was pointed out 

that night work of women could often be avoided by the employment of men over the draft age and those not gualified for military 

service, by the transfer of men from nonessentIal industries, by the 

extension of plants, by the introduction of an industry into new 

areas, by a careful distribution of contracts with due regard to the 

local labor supply, or by the more effective use of the labor force of 

the plant through improved employment management. Certificate~ 

would not be granted unless it was clear that these methods had not 

sufficed to increase production to the point demanded for the prosecution of the war. 

The plan in general was indorsed by the War Labor Policies 

Board and referred to the Secretary of Labor for action by the 

Council of National Defense. While·this action was pending a conference of representatives of State departments of labor called by the 

War Labor Policies Board was held in Washin¢on. Following a 

thorough discussion of the subject of night work, a resolution was 

adopted substantially as follows: 

Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that we are opposed to the 

weakening of labor laws or labor standards, and if any temporary modification or suspension of such laws is necessary it should be made only on declaration 

of the Federal authority of competent jurisdiction. 

The discussion showed that it was the intent of this resolution to 

approve the plan for the control of night work on the ground that it 

recognized authority in the Federal Government alone, thus tending 

to discourage State or local action to weaken State laws. 

A few days later a conference of women representing national and 

international trade-unions; called together by the Woman in Industry Service to give expreSSIOn to the views of working women regarding labor problems of the war, adopted. the following resolutions: 

Whereas the abnormal condition arising as a result of the war may necessitate the temporary suspension ()f standards and conditions governing the 

employment of women: Therefore be it 

Resolved, That it is the sense of this conference of representative tradeunion women that the standards and conditions regulating the employment of women at night shall not be lowered, this in keeping with the proclamation of 

the Councll of National Defense in April, 1917, unless as an urgent war meas- ure and then only aiter a careful investigation has been made of the industry or plant requesting such privilege: And be it further 

Resolved, That this investigation be of the most rigid character and be made 

by the representatives designated by the Councll of National Defense, the Secretary of Labor, and the Woman in Industry Service in cooperation with the 

American Federation of Labor, upon whose report and findings shall be determined whether permission shall be granted for the temporary suspension of 

standards and conditions. 

This resolution fairly represents the attitude of all the ~oups 

most actively interested· in the maintenance of standards-wIllingness to meet a genuine emergency, but grave concern that the emergency should be real and not an excuse for relaxing labor laws. 

A 'little more than a month later the signing of the armistice made 

final action by the Council of National Defense unnecessary, and, 

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ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE.. 15 

therefore, the plan was never :{>ut into effect. The whole problem 

and the consideration given to It are recounted here because during 

the war J?eriod the Woman in Industry Service devoted a great deal 

of attentIOn to it, and because, too, it had significance in revealing 

how complex is the relation between production and any phase of the 

conditions of employment and how necessary it is to insISt that conditions affecting the health of the workers shall not be rendered 

adverse in the supposed interest of production, when in the long run 

efficiency of management can make industry both productive and 

healthful for the workers. Experience all points to the fact that 

production is made satisfactory through the delicate adjustment of 

many factors, in which high standards in conditions of labor are 

fundamental. The whole experience in dealing with the problem of 

night work revealed also the strength of pubhc opinion against the 

employment of women at night. No State repealed a law against 

night work during the war. Two States, Kansas and Wisconsin, 

prohibited it in special occupations by rulings of the State industrial 

commissions, and one State, N ew York, enlarged the scope of its 

previous law after the entry of the United States into the war. 

STATE LnOB. LAWS DVB.DlG THE WAB.. 

While the subject of night work for women absorbed so much 

attention, especially in the last few months of the war, this was 

but one phase of the whole question of the enforcement of State 

labor laws in plants working on war contracts for the Federal Government and the necessity for cooperation between Federal and 

State agencies concerned in conditions of labor. 

In several instances the jurisdiction of State officials was challenged in munitions plants on the ground that the State did not 

have authority over Federal property. A decision of the Judge 

Advocate General of the Army on this subject caused some confusion 

in seeming to uphold this view, at least for certain types of contracts. To clear up the confusion the War Labor Policies Hoard arranged to have inserted in all contracts a clause requiring full compliance with the labor laws of the State in which the goods were 

manufactured. Thus the observance of State. labor legislation became a contract obligation of the manufacturer to the Federal 

Government, regardless of the jurisdiction of the State authorities 

in his plant. ' 

Because of the great importance of State labor laws as measures 

of protection for women, the Woman in Industry Service gave a 

great deal of attention to this subject. Its director, acting as chairman of a special committee of the War Labor PoliCIes Board, 

assisted in formulating a plan of administration which should render 

this clause of the contracts enforceable. Federal machinery for this 

purpose did not exist, and, moreover, even if it had been available 

the advantages of inspection and enforcement by State agencies 

seemed clear. It was more economical to use an administrative 

agency already equipped through past experience. It avoided the 

duplication which would have been probable if both State and Federal agencies had undertaken the task separately, and from the 

point of view of the long future it left unimpaired the authority of 

the State officials for the work of enforcement which would become 

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16 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOlllAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

their sole responsibility when the war should end and when the 

field of jurisdiction of the Federal Government through its contracts should become relatively insignificant. 

The clause in the contracts requiring full compliance with State 

labor laws might have been interpreted as carrying with it authority 

for the enforcing officials, but to make assurance doubly sure the 

War Labor PolIcies Board recommended that the head of each 

Federal department responsible for war production, namely, the 

Secretary of War, the Secretary of the NavY', the Director of the 

United States Housing Corporation, and the Director of the Shipping Board, should designate a State official, preferably the commissioner of labor or the chairman of the industrial commission, as 

his deputy in enforcing this provision of the contract. 

To work out the details of administration and in other ways to 

insure effective cooperation· between State and Federal agencies 

the War Labor Policies Board called a conference of representatives 

of State departments of labor, and a whole session was devoted to 

the problems of women in industry, with the Director of. the Woman 

in Industry Service presiding. . The result of the conference was to make much more feasible the 

kind of teamwork which was necessary. Holding that the cooperation of a Federal agency like the Woman in Industry Service with 

State departments of labor should be continuous, the service assigned 

a member of its staff, with experience in a State department, to give 

.special attention to the methods of making this cooperation real. 

When such special investigations as that of the chemical industries of Niagara Falls were undertaken the State industrial commission was represented in the directing committee. Every request 

for permission to employ women at night coming to the service for 

review was reported to the commissioner of labor in the State in 

which the plant was located, and in several instances a State inspector 

joined the Federal investigator in the necessary inspection. The 

Pennsylvania Industrial Board invited the director of the service 

to participate in several conferences for the discussion of standards 

for women's employment to be adopted as rulings of the board. 

When the Woman in Industry Service undertook the formulation of 

standards for the employment of women in industry, a tentative 

• draft was submitted in advance to all State labor departments, and 

from many of them came valuable suggestions which were embodied 

in the final statement. Especially helpful to the service were the 

directors of the women's bureaus which had been developed recently 

in .several important State labor departments. 

WAGES UD IliDlJSTB.IAL RELATIONS. 

The introduction of women into new occupations gave the question of their wages a new significance. If theIr employment in work 

hitherto done by men were made the occasion for reducing the rates 

previously paid for the same work, the men employed would naturally oppose the extension of women's employment as a menace to 

the wage standards attained by the men, and the morale of industry 

would be affected· by the resulting discontent. It was a realization 

of this danger which led to the first official indorsement by the Federal Government of the principle of "equal pay for equal work.'~ 

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ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 17· 

In General Orders, No. 13, the Chief of Ordnance included it in his 

recommendations to arsenal commanders and manufacturers, and the 

Quartermaster General concurred when he issued the same recommendations simultaneously. Later the principle was made more imperative through its inclusion in the statement of principles to govern 

industrial relations which was formulated by the National War 

Labor Conference Board, representing officially the organized workers and employers. 

It soon became evident, however, that the idea expressed in the 

usual phrase, "equal pay for equal work," was not comprehensive 

or fundamental enough to secure substantial justice for working 

women or to prevent the lowering of standards through ~he extension 

of their employment. 

The principle was inadequate, first, because it was not held to. 

apply to those occupations in which the introduction of women required some change in process so that the work was considered 

unequal in the sense that it was not identical, and, second, the principle was insufficient because it failed to remedy fundamental defects 

in the usual basis for determining women's wages. 

For example, the men in certain occupations had set up their own 

machines in addition to operating them. When women took their 

places the necessity for maintaining production prevented giving time 

to training them in a thorough knowledge of the machinery which 

they handled, and hence, in some instances, a man was employed to set 

up the machines for a group of women. The work of the women was 

regarded, therefore, as not equal to that of the men. The rates would 

then be set according to the prevailing standards of women's wages. 

A thorough applicatIon of the principle of equal pay for equal work 

would seem to have required that wages should have been based on 

output and that they should have been set only after. careful study 

of the actual effect of the new arrangement of work on the output of 

the group as a whole, rather than an arbitrary reduction to levels 

customarily regarded as the standard for women. It was by no 

means impossible to find instances where these new methods of doing 

the job had resulted in an increase in output when women did th& 

work, and in these instances the injustice of a reduction in earnings 

was more clearly emphasized. 

In formulating standards for the employment of women the 

Woman in Industry Service, therefore, made the following recommendation: . 

Women doing the same work as men shall receive the same wages, 'with 

such proportionate increases as the men are receiving in the same industry. Slight changE'S made In the process or In the arrangement of work should not 

be regarded as justifying a lower wage for a woman than for a man unles.~ 

statistics of production show that the output for the job in question is less when women are employed than when men are employed. If a difference In output is 

demonstrated, the difference in the wage rate should be based upon the differ- ence in production for the job as a whole, and not determined arbitrarily. 

But this statement, also, was not fundamental. The tendency to 

set women's rates on jobs in which women took men's places clearly 

raised the question of why there should be a wage level designated 

as women's rates. In one plant, for example, the women who took 

men's places, doing the work exactly as the men had done it, actua.lly 

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18 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN' IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

produced more, but the employer objected to paying them the rates 

which the men had received because, he said, women ill the adjoining 

department doini!; work customarily considered a woman's occupation were receivllig " women's wages" for work no less difficult than 

this new occupation into which women had so recently been introduced. Justice compelled him, he believed, to establish women's 

wages for all work done by women in his shop. He was being 

guided, of course, by the practice and opinion concerning women 

workers which have prevailed in industry for many years. 

The war proved the capacity of women for many more tasks than 

those previously open to them. . This extension of opportunity illuminated the whole problem of 

wages. The previous practice was possible without confusion only 

in a state of industry in which the work of women was sharply differentiated from that of men. It assumed, also, that the cost of living 

and the home responsibilities of women were less than those of men. 

The Woman in Industry Service held that the experience of the 

war was forcing a fresh examination of the basis for determining 

women's wages. If the principle of equal pay for equal work be 

a.ccepted, as it has been officially, with the sanction of public opinion, 

it is impossible in logic or in justice not to push Its applIcation 

further and to accept the more fundamental conclusion that the wage 

value of a job is as great when a woman does it as when a man does 

it, and that the wage should be determined for the occupation and 

not for the sex of the worker. The Woman in Industry Service, 

therefore, formulated the following statement of the basis for determining wages: 

Wages should be established on the basis of occupation and not on the basis 

of sex. The minimum wage rate should cover the cost of living for dependents, and not merely for the individual. 

That the experience of the war in England was forcing thoughtful 

observers to a similar searching for a fairer relation between men's 

and women's wages is shown in the Report of the War Cabinet on 

Women in Industry, published in the spring of 1919. The main 

report follows tradItional lines, but the minority report, submitted 

by Mrs. Sidney Webb, dedares "that the essential principle which 

should govern all systems of remuneration * * * is that of the 

clearly defined occupational or standard rates * * *. There is 

no more reason for such occupational or standard rates being made 

to differ according to the workers' sex than according to theIr race, 

creed, height, or weight." 1 

In the United States the formulation of these principles with reference to women's wages and the official indorsement of the policy 

of equal pay for equal work, limited and vague as it is, undoubtedly 

had a wholesome influence on public opinion, but unfortunately. the 

authority and the machinery to enforce these principles were lacking. 

Moreover, scant attention was given to the representation of women 

in the administrative machinery which was established by the Federal Government to deal with wage problems during the war. 

Neither the War Labor Board nor any of the special wage adjustment boards had any women members. Although the Woman in 

Industry Service had no power to do more than formulate policies 

1 Report of the War Cabinet Committee on Women in Industry, p. 254. London. 1919. 

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ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 19 

its staff gave constant attention to the whole subject and especially 

urged on every a~propriate occasion that women be represented on 

boards whose jurIsdiction extended over the wages of women. As 

the results of a conference between representatives of the service 

and one of the chairmen of the War Labor Board, the board did 

appoint a woman to give special attention to the enforcement of the 

board's awards on the wages of women, and to assist in assuring 

representation of women in the shop committees, whose organization was encouraged by the board. 

From time to time the War Department and the Navy called on 

the Woman in Industry Service for advice on wage problems for 

women employed in Government plants or in private establishments 

producing war materials. State minimum wage commissions also 

sought advice from the service and wage disputes affecting women 

were from time to time brought to its attention. The assistant 

director of the service was assigned to give special attention to the 

subject of wages and industrial relations. It proved to be a field 

fruitful in thought but exceedingly limited in the possibility of 

effective action, especially as the majority of the women in the war 

industries were unorganized and hence without means of making 

their needs articulate. Undoubtedly in the future, as the whole 

question of the wage basis in industry will demand searching inquiry, 

the relation between women's wages and men's wages must be 

thoroughly analyzed. 

TR.A.IBmG. 

Closely related to wages is the necessity for giving women the 

same opportunity for technical and vocational training that men 

receive. The Woman in Industry Service was not charged with 

any special respon,sibility for a program of training for women 

workers. This subject is the permanent responsibility of the Federal 

Board for Vocational Education. Moreover, for the temporary war 

needs of both men and women, the Training and Dilution Service was 

organized in the Department of Labor. From time to time, however, the advice of the Woman in Industry Service was sought by 

employers, and conferences on this subject were held by representatives of the service with officers of the International Association 

of Machinists. The director of the service served as a member of the 

committee on the relation of military and industrial man power 

appointed by the War Labor Policies Board during the period when 

the committee was giving special attention to coordinating in a 

single program the efforts of the various Federal agencies directly 

interested in training workers. 

RELATIOBS WITH EKPLOYERS AID WORKERS. 

To assist in furthering the development of wiser policies in industry itself in dealing with women workers by fnrnishing training for 

employment managers, the director of the service served as a member of the employment management committee of the War Industries 

Board. The service has also responded to requests from employers 

for advice by sending information or by'making plant inspections. 

The tentative draft of the standards to be recommended by the 

service was submitted for comment to the executive officer of the 

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20 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

National Industrial Conference Board and to an informal conference 

of reptasentatives of employers and workers in the metal trades. 

Reference has already been made to the conference of women 

representing national trade-unions which was called in Washington 

by the Woman in Industry Service to formulate a platform in the 

interest of women workers. This conference voted to become a permanent advisory council of working women. Through this council 

the service has been able to keep continuously in touch with the 

needs of the women employed in the largest industries, and to have 

their advices in its plans and policies. 

PUBLIC INTEREST IN WOKEN'S WORK. 

Before the armistice was signed the service planned an educational 

campaign, chiefly through a traveling exhibit and lantern slidest 

which had the twofold purpose of recruiting the women needed to 

release men for military service and at the same time showing the 

standards of emJ?loyment necessary to make their work effective. It" 

was hop-ed in thIS way to draw together various agencies, including 

women s clubs and other organizations which had planned recruiting 

campaigns. The director was in freq,uent consultation on this subject with the department of women in mdustry of the Woman's Committee, which was actively in touch with all the important organizations of women in the country. The signing of the armistice changed 

the immediate purpose of the exhibit, and it was finally developed 

with a change in emphasis to meet the changed conditions of the 

postwar period. 

LACK 01' STATISTICS COBCEDmG WOKEN.m THE WAR mDUSTRlES. 

So many questions have been addressed to the Woman in Industry 

Service regarding the numbers of women in the war industries and 

the detailed statistics concerning thein that it becomes necessary to 

point out that the appropriation of $40,000 granted to the service 

would not have sufficed for so large a statistIcal inquiry even if it 

had been the intention to spend it all for that purpose. The service 

was not intended to be a s~atistical agency, however, and its activities 

in this matter were necessarilx limited to making recommendations 

to the Bureau of Labor StatistIcs and the War Labor Policies Board 

as to the type of information which seemed important to be collected 

at regular intervals. Through the War Labor Policies Board, with 

the cooperation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the War 

IndustrIes Board, a schedule of facts about labor conditions, including the employment of women, was prepared for use by the community labor boards organized by the United States Employment 

Service. Like so many other plans, the signing of the armistice 

found it uncompleted, and as a result we are without any comprehensive statistics of the part taken by women in industry during 

the war. 

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n. ACTIVITIES AFTER THE SIGNING OF THE .A.RlIISTICE. 

On November 11 the Woman in Industry Service submitted to the 

chairman of the War Labor Policies Board a memorandum dealing 

with problems likelY' to arise for women in industry during the period 

of readjustment. Obviously the immediate task was the same on 

behalf of either men or women workers-to accomplish the change 

from a war to a peace basis with the least possible unemployment 

and with the reinstatement of the largest possible number in normal 

occupations for which they were best adapted. The memorandum 

assumed that the fundamental aspects of the program as ati:ecting . both men and women were being worked out by the War Labor 

Policies Board, especiallJ{. a policy with reference to cancel1ation of 

contracts and demobilization of the Army which would take into 

consideration the effect Dn labor conditions. For women, however, 

this was not the whole problem, for the armistice marked a decided 

change in public opinion. The withdrawal of women from their 

work was advocated as a means of providing employment for returning soldiers, and it was necessary for the Woman in Industry 

Service to point out that women, like men, were working to earn a 

living and that their continued employment was vital for them and 

for those dependent upon them. 

The Woman in Industry Service urged that the permanent status 

of working women be recognized; that the Federal Government 

recommended definite standards for their empl()yment in private 

industry, and that these standards be adopted in Government-owned 

plants; that a program of public education be pushed forward to 

secure the adoption of these standards as designed to promote the 

welfare of wage-earning women; and that as the power of the Federal 

Government to control working conditions through provisions in 

contracts would now be lessened with the curtailment of contracts, 

the Federal agencies should endeavor to stimulate those instrumen- . talities through which conditions would be determined, namely, 

State labor legislation, voluntary action of employers, action by 

working women themselves, and the continuing influence of public 

opinion. It was along these lines that the program for work In the ~riod following the signing of the armistice was planned by the 

Woman in Industry Service. 

LABOR LBGULATIOB. 

For active cooperation between State and Federal departments of 

labor the experience during the war afforded a precedent, and the 

Woman in Industry Service welcomed every opportunity to work 

21 

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22 A:NNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

. with State departments or to assist local groups in their efforts to 

strengthen the labor laws in their State. In Indiana a survey was 

made at the request of the governor and the industrial board, the 

results of which were published in January. This was followed by 

a State-wide campaign organized by local committees, in which members of the staff of the service assisted. In connection with this campaign a conference of neighboring States was held which brought 

together in Indianapolis representatives of interested groups from 

Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois. . Assistance was also given by the service in efforts to stren~hen 

labor laws in Minnesota, Connecticut, Iowa, New York, Rhode ISland, 

and Kansas, and the service was represented at the convention of the 

Association of Governmental Labor Officials in Madison, Wis .• where 

the representative of the service presided at the s~on on 'women 

in industry. 

WAGES Al!'TE:a THE WA:a. 

It was the prevailing opinion that wages during the war had been 

so high that all worKers were receiving enough to support them-· 

selves. This impression was based on statements of high wages paid 

in the munitions plants. It seemed important to verify this impression, and for this reaSOn the Woman in Industry Service responded 

to the request of private organizations in Philadelphia to investi~ate 

the wages paid to women m the candy trade there. InvestigatIons 

before the war had indicated that a large number of the workers in 

the candy trade were receiving less than a living wage. It seemed 

more important to make a first-hand study of a trade which had been 

considered low paid than to investigate wages in the higher-paid 

occupations, since it is among the law-paid workers that the problem 

of maintaining a healthful standard of living is most serious. The 

inquiry was made in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statisticst 

so that the data might form part of the bureau's nation-wide survey 

of wages and hours. 

The investigation covered factories employing two-thirds of the 

workers in the candy industry in Philadelphia. It was found that 

wage rates had increased considerably since before the war, but the 

rapid increase in cost of living had resulted in largely nullifying 

the effect of these increased rates, so that a considerable proportion 

of the workers were receiving less than the amount considered necessary for the cost of living. A significant fact brought out in the investigation was that continuity of employment is as important as 

a fair rate of wages. Frequent loss of time, whether due to lack 

of work or to personal causes which make the attendance of employees irregular, necessarily decreases production for the industry 

and curtails the earning power of employees. 

The service has cooperated with the Minimum Wage Commission 

of the District of Columbia, es.pecially in its work of determining 

minimum rates for employees m mercantile establishments in the 

District, and in connectIOn with Government-owned plants considerable attention was given to the subject of wages. The staff of the 

service was not sufficient to permit more extensive statistical studies 

along this line. . 

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ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 23 

THE J!'EDE:aAL GOVEB.BKENT AS AN EJlPLOYE:a OJ!' WOKEN. 

Although, as has been pointed out, the power of the Federal Government to control conditIons through its contracts decreased rapidly 

when war production no longer was necessary, it remained true that 

in its own plants and through its departments employing women 

the Government could set standards which would have an important 

influence on private industry. 

At the request of the Secretary of the Navy the Woman in Industry 

Service undertook to serve as an adviser to the Navy Department in 

matters affecting women employed in navy yards. inspections were 

made and reports and recommendations submitted to the Secretary 

of the Navy in the following yards: The Brooklyn Navy Yard, the 

Brooklyn Clothing and Provisions Department, the Philadelphia 

Navy Yard, the Navy Aircraft Factory, the Charleston (S. C.) Nayy 

Yard, the Mare Island Navy Yard, and the Bremerton Navy Yard. 

Recommendations covered such subjects as readjustment of wage 

rates, better working conditions, organization of lunch rooms, and. 

improved methods of employment management. Because the curtailment of work in the navy yards necessitated laying off numbers 

of workers special attention was given to recommendatIOns designed 

to prevent hardship by giving due notice before dismissal. - The service was also asked to cooperate with the Ordnance Department in matters relating to the employment of women in Government 

arsenals, and inspections similar to those made in the navy yards were 

in progress at the close of the 'period covered by this report. 

The service also gave attentIon to questions affecting Government 

employees in Wash1Ogton, especially in cooperation asked for by the 

Commission on Reclassification. 

BEGRO WOKEN IN INDUST:ay. 

, By November the service found it opportune to cOllsider the ecoIomic problems of Negro women. Accordingly an industrial agent 

was appointed and was sent out to survey several centers where typical 

conditions were known to prevail. Within seven months the agent has 

investigated conditions among more than 16,000 Negro women employed in 156 plants located 10 the Middle West and in border-line 

States of the South, in a line of highly diversified industries. These 

industries may be grouped under five broad headings, viz, factory, 

hotel, department store, stockyard, and Government work. General 

standards for this class of workers were found to be somewhat lower 

than the average, and their industrial opportunities were found to be 

decidedly more restricted than those of other women workers. Remedial sug~estions have been formulated and submitted to several 

agencies mterested in the improvement of existing conditions-progressive employers, cooperating welfare organizatIons, and Government investigators. 

Largely because of the abnormal situation obtaining under the war 

emergency, both conclusions and recommendations are necessarily 

tentative; but a survey involving reconstruction conditions is in 

progress. 

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24 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

DIBPLACElIEB''l 01' WOK .. WOB.XBBI. 

A change in public opinion following the si~ing of the armistice 

has been indicated. A most significant illustratIon of difficulties faced 

by women workers was the situation in connection with the employment of women as conductors on the Cleveland street cars. The men 

objected to the employment of women and after the signing of the 

armistice asked for their dismissal. It is unnecessary to review the 

details of the involved case, which came before the War Labor Board. 

Although the board finally recommended that the women be retained, 

they were not reemployed. 

The Woman in Industry Service never had any official relation to 

this case, but because of its significance the director and assistant 

director, as individuals, filed a statement with the War Labor Board 

pointing out the desirability of freedom of choice of occupation for 

women In industry. In a somewhat similar case on the street railways of Detroit, facts showing the home responsibilities of women 

workers were compiled by the service and filed by the attorney for 

the women at the hearing before the War Labor Board. . The dismissal of women from the street railways in Brooklyn was 

assumed to be due to the enactment of a law by the ~ew York State 

Legislature prohibiting night work. The Woman in Industry Service 

offered its assistance to the Industrial Commission of N ew York State, 

and while the commission through its bureau of women in industry 

was making an investigation of the facts in Brooklyn, the Woman in 

Industry Service sent representatives to Chicago, Kansas City, Detroit, Boston, and Baltimore to get the facts about hours and working 

conditions for women employed on the street railways in those cities. 

This investigation is in progress, and the report has not yet been 

prepared. . Allied to the whole subject of curtailm~nt of opportunities for 

women workers was a brief survey of the status of women in the metal 

trades in Michjgan. This inquiry showed that considerable numbers 

of women had been laid off from Michigan plants, and that in some 

instances opportunities gained during the war were not likely to be 

permanent. The report of this initial survey is now in preparation. 

HOKE WOB.X m BB.IDGBPOB.T. 

'At the request of local groups an investigation of home work in 

the corset trade in Bridgeport was undertaken. It was found that 

a considerable amount of work was given out in the manufacture of 

garters, which is an industry allied to that of corset making, and that 

the work was carried on often in crowded, insanitary surroundings, 

and sometimes during the illness of members of the family suffering 

from infectious or contagious diseases; that a lower wage rate apparently was given than would be paid for similar work in a factory; 

that because of the absence of supervision production was likely to 

be unsatisfactory ~nd earnings very low; and that child labor was 

utilized to the detriment of the welfare of children. Recommendations were made to the employers that the practice of giving out 

home work should be discontinued as soon as possible, and that in 

order to make this change with the least possible hardship for the 

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workers, detailed plans be worked out at a conference representing 

employers, workers, and social organizations in the community. 

STATISTICS OJ' TllE EXPLOYJlENT OJ' WOKEN. 

As was the case during the war, the small appropriation of the· 

Woman in Industry ServlCe made it impossible to carry on any extensive statistical inquiry, although the data would have been vital 

in appraising the status of women workers during this period. Because of the unportance of such an inquiry the service welcomed the 

decision of the war work council of the Young Women's Christian 

Association to undertake a statistical inquiry into the present status 

of women employed in the war industries and the probability of 

continued opportunities for them in a wider range of occupations 

following the war. The director 9f the service was asked to assumean advisory relationship to this inquiry .• 

THE RELATION OJ' WOKEN TO THE PEACE CONJ'ERENCE. 

The Assistant Director of the Woman in Industry Service was 

granted leave of absence to go to France as a representative of the 

National Women's Trade-Union League to urge consideration of the 

interests of women workers in connection witli the labor platform 

of the Peace Conference. This t~ip resulted in the calling of theFirst International Congress of Working Women, to be held in 

Washington in October. 

PUBLIC INTEREST. 

Early in November the Woman in Industry Service invited employers to submit photographs illustrating working conditions for 

women, and as a result -'of their generous response a collection of 

several hundred photographs are on file in the offices of the Woman 

in Industry Service. These photographs and other material have 

been made the basis of a series of panels illustrating the standards 

recommended for the employment of women. Stereopticon slides 

have also been prepared with notes for a lecture. The material has 

been widely circulated among State departments, schools, collegest 

labor organizations, and other groups interested in improving conditions. 

The results of investigations made by the service have been printed 

in pamphlet form, and, in addition, representatives of the servicehave taken part in conferences and assisted local groups in arousing 

public interest in the conditions of women's employment . 

. PERJUNENT STATUS URGED FOR WOKEN'S BUREAU. 

Women in industry in 1910 constituted more than 21 :per cent of 

the total number of persons gainfully employed in the Umted States. 

It is not only their Importance in numbers, but the special problems 

of their emv.loyment affecting industry on the one hand and family 

life and chIld welfare on the other which necessitates special provision by the Federal Government for a clearing house of polIcies 

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26 ANNU~ REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE .• 

and facts relating to their position in industry. The wisdom of Congress in designating such an agency as primarily policy making 

rather than itself executive seems to have been demonstrated in the 

actual experience of the Woman in Industry Service in securing 

cooperation and stimUlating the activities of other agencies. 

The problems of women following the war are likely to be more 

crucial than at any time during the past. The Woman in Industry 

Service has been continued by Congress through an appropriation 

enabling the Secretary of Labor to carry forward the investIgations 

of women in industry during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920. 

Because of the fundamental importance of the position of women 

in industry it is hoped that the Women's Bureau will be fermanently 

established by legislation as a part of the Department 0 Labor, and 

that its resources will be enlarged in order to make possible more 

comprehensive work. 

Respectfully submitted. 

MARY VAN KLEEOK, 

Director, Womo;n in lrulustryj Service. 

Hon. W. B. WILSON, 

Se(]'l'etaryj 01 Labor. 

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APPENDIX. 

'STANDARDS GOVERNING EMPLOYMENT OF WOON IN INDUSTRY. 

In peace or ill war women's work is essential to the Nation. During the war the experience of all countries has shown that women were ready and able 

to take the places of men withdrawn for military service. So important did 

their work become that in Great Britain it was actually the war department 

which declared that "untiring efforts must be devoted to amplify and extend 

the scope of women's usefulness, by which alone our country can hope to 

emerge victorious from a struggle without parallel in her long and glorious 

history." The experience to which the war has drawn public attention was true before 

the war and will be equally true when peace is restored. Before the war the 

number of women gainfully employed increased in the decade before 1910 from 

5,000,000 to 8.000,000, of whom 2,500,000 were in manufacturing, trade, transportation, and public service. Since then the indications are that in numbers 

:and proportions women have become increasingly important in industry. 

The greater necessity for control of the standards of women's employment is 

due to the fact that women have been in a weaker pOSition economically than men. Reconstruction will give an opportunity for a new upbuUding of safeguards to conserve alike the industrial efficiency and the health of women, and 

to make it impossible for selfish interests to exploit them as unwilling com- petitors in lowering standards of wages, hours, working conditions, and industrial relations, which are for the best Interests of the workers, the industries, 

and the citizenship of the country. . During the war, by vote of the War Labor Policies Board, all contracts of 

the Federal departments have contained a clause requiring full compliance with 

State labor laws, and in each State an official of the State labor department has been deputized by the heads of the contracting departments of the Federal 

Government to cooperate with Federal agencies in enforcing these provisions 

of the contracts. This affords a basis and a precedent for continued relations 

between State and Federal agencies in the upbuilding of standards for women's 

labor. As the number of contracts grows fewer with the coming of peace, the 

responsibility of the States increases. But the .recognition of the national and 

international importance of standards of labor condltions will still be paramount, since In peace no less than in war the Nation will depend for its 

prosperity upon the productive efficiency of its workers. No other foundation 

for commercial success will be so sure as the conservation of those practices in industry which make for the free and effective cooperation of the workers. 

Protection of the health of women workers is vital as an economic as well as a social measure of reconstruction. 

Therefore at this time, in recognition of the national importance of women's 

work and its conditions, the Federal Government calls upon the industries of 

the country to cooperate with State and Federal agencies in maintaining the 

13tandards herein set forth as a vital part of the reconstruction program of tht" 

Nation. These standards have been indorsed by the War Labor Policies Board. 

STANDARDS RECOJD[ENDED. 

lin the following outllne the italiC type In the text Indicates those provisions Which are held to be of the most vital importance.] 

I. H011lUl 01' LABOR. 

1. I1aily- hOBrI.-No woman shall be empZoyetJ or permitted to work more than eight hours in any one day or forty-eight hours in afl1j one week. The 

time when the work of women empZoyees shall begin and end, and the time 

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28 ANNUAL REPORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 

allowell for meal8 8hall be podell in a con8f)ic1wu/J place in each workroom, and 

a recorll 8hall be kept of the overtime of each woman worker. 

2. Half holiday on Saturday.-Observance of the half holiday should be the 

custom. 

S. One day of reat in aeven.-E1·ery ,comafl 1001'1\e,' shall have O11e da" ot red 

4n everv Beven Ilays. 

4. Time for meala.-At lca8t three-qual·ters.o1 an hour 8hall be alZowetl tor a meal. 

5. Rest period.-A rest period of 10 minutes should be allowed in the middle 

of .each working period without thereby increasing the length of the wo.rking day. 

6. Night work.-No (coman shalt be em·ployell bet1ceen the hours of 10 p. m. 

anll 6 a. m. 

II. WAGES. 

1. Equality with men's wagea.-Women doiflg the Bame wO/'k as men 8hall 

receive the same 100,ges, 1mth such proporttotlote increases a8 the men are 

receiving in the same inllustry. Slight changes made in the process or in the 

arrangement of work should not be regarded as justifying a lower wage for a woman than for a man unless statistics of production show that the output for 

the job in question is less when women are employed than when men are em- ployed. If a difference in output Is demonstrated the difference in the wage rate 

should be based upon the difference In production for the job as a whole and' not 

determined arbitrarily. 

2. The basia of determination of wage I.-Wages should be estabZishell on the 

basis of occupation aM not on the basis of sea:. The minimum wage rote 8hould 

cover the cost of living for llepeMents aM not merely for the inllivilluaZ. 

III. WORKING CONDITIONS. 

1. Comfort and sanitation.-State labor laws and industrial codes should be 

consulted with reference to provisions for comfort and sanitation. Washing 

faCilities, with hot and cold water, soap, and individual towels, should be provided in sufficient number and In accessible locations to make washing before 

meals and at the close of the work day convenient. 

Toilets should be separate for men and women, clean aml IIccesslble. Their 

numbers should have a standard ratio to the number of workers employetl. 

Workroom fioors should be kept clean. Dressing rooms should be provided adjacent to washing facilities, making possible change of clothing outside the 

workrooms. Rest rooms should be provided. Lighting should be so arranged 

that direct rays do not shine into the worker's eyes. VE'ntlIatlon should tM> 

adequate and heat sufficient. Drinking water should be cool and acceSSible, 

with individual drinking cups or ,bubble fountain provided. Provision should 

be made for the workers to secure a hot and nourishing meal, eaten outside the 

workroom. and if no lunch rooms are acceSsible near the plant a lunch room should be maintained in the establishment. 

2. Posture at work.-Continuous standing and continuous sittin~ are both Injurious. A spa t should be provided for eyery woman employed and its use I'nconrnged. It il'l possible and desirable to adjust the height of the chairs in 

relation to the height of machines or work tables, so that the worker may 

with equal convellien!'e and efficiency stand or sit at her work. The seats 

shoulll have baC'1<s. If the chair is high. a foot rest should be provided. . 3. Safety.-Risks from machinery, danger from fire, and exposure to dust, 

fumE'S, or other occupational hazards !'Ihould be scrupulously guarded against 

by ob~ervance of standards in State and Federal codes. First-aid equipment 

I!Ihould be provided. Fire drills and othE'r forms of education of the workers 

in the ob~ervance of safety regulations should be Instituted. 

4. Conditions needing correction.-Work i51 more efficiently 

either men or women if healthful conditioml are E'stabUshed. 

possible to make changes which will remove such hazards to 

performed by 

It III usually 

health as the 

following: _ (a) Con~tunt I'Itan<llng or other posture causing physical strain. • (b) Repeated lifting of heavy weights, or other abnormally fatiguing motions. 

(e) Operation of mechanical devices requiring undue strength. 

(d) Exposure to excessiye hent or exeessiye cold. 

(0) Exposure to dust, fumes, or other occupational poisons, without adequate 

safeguards against disease. 

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ANNUAL BEFORT DIRECTOR WOMAN IN INDUSTRY SERVICE. 29 

IS. Prohibited oooupations.-Women mU8t not be employea in occupations in1)ol1linll the me of poison8 tphich are fW'01Jea to. be more inJuriOtl8 to foomm 

than to men, 8uch a8 certam fW'0C688e8 in the leaa mIlmtrie8. (Subsequent ruUnga on the dangerous trades wlll be Issued. 

6. 'UJdforms.-Unitorms with CRlJS and comfortable shoes are desirable for 

health and safety In occupations for which machines are used or in which the 

procesaes are dusty. 

IV. HOKB 'WO:&J[. 

No work 8halt be given out to be done in room8 mea for living or 8leeping 

fJtIf'fJ08e8 or m rooms directly connectca with living or 8leeping room8 in any . dwelling or tenement. 

V. BXPLOnn:KT JU.KAGEKBKT. 

1. Hiring, separations, and determination of oonditions.-In establishing satIsfactory relations between a company and its employees a personnel department Is important, charged with responslblUty for selection, aSsignment, transfer, or withdrawal of workers, and the establishment of proper working conditions. 

2. Women in supervisory pos1tions.-Where women are employed, a competent woman should be apPointed as employment executive with responsibility for conditions affecting women. Women should also be appointed in supervisory positions in the departments employing women. 3. Choioe of oooupation.-The opportunity for a worker to choose an occu- pation for whIch she is best adapted is important in insuring success in the 

work. to be done. 

VI. OOOPBBATIOK 01' 'WOBXEJUI IK BKI'OROEXEKT 01' BTAKD.AlU)B. 

The re8ponsibility 8houla not re8t upon the manageme·nt alone to aetermine 

111186111 ana effectivelll the conditions which shoula be established. The genuine 

cooperation eS8ential to fW'oduction can be 8ecured onlll if definite channel8 of 

commtmkation between emplo1ler8 and grOUp8 of their workers are eBtablishetl. 

TAe neea of creating method8 of joint negotiation between employer8 and 

grouP8 of employeeB i8 especially great in the "gltt of the critical point8 Of C01I-

_. trovtn:811 wA~h,'11I411 ari8e in. a. Ume lil\e the.present • . JJ;.an,.t,.g,chllnnellllhO#ld 

.' oo"priillerooiland neW one8 openea if requirea to provide easier acce88 for disCtl88ion between employer and en~ployee8. 

VII. OOOPBBATIOK WITH OI'l'IOIAL AGDOIEB. 

The' United States Government and State and local communities have established agencies to deal with conditions of labor, including standards of workfug conditions, wages, hours, employment, and training. These should be called 

upou for assistance, especially in the difficult problems of adjustment in the 

period of reconstruction following the war. Inquiries regarding the employment of women may be addre~ to the 

Women's Bureau, Department of Labor, Washington, D. C., and these will be 

4ealt with directly orr~fe.rrElll to the F-ecleral or State agency 'b~ eqllipped to 

give the, asslstaQce needed in l!ach instance. 

( ) 

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