The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-09-21
MUST SAFEGUARD
WOMEN WORKERS
Grave Danger in Employment in
Labor That Is Untitled for
Weaker Sex.
Three MANIFEST ESSENTIALS
Equal Wages, Additional Legislation,
and Adequate Medical Supervision
Absolutely Necessary, According to
Expert Who Has Studied Conditions.

"Among the many new and urgent
problems Of industry in war time none
challenges our best thought more
sharply than the replacement Of men
by woman workers" Thus writes Jo-
sephine Goldmark, publication secre-
tary of the National Consumers
league, in the monthly review of the
federal bureau of labor statistics.
Though the number so employed is
not great and their employment in
many instances is still experimental,
Miss Goldmark thinks 1--WE are on the
threshold of great Innovations" The
breaking down Of prejudices that have
hitherto hampered women in advanc-
ing industrially is seen by Miss Gold
mark as one of the benefits Of this
widening of women's employment field.
"Women's sex and inexperience," she
declares, ''have been made the excuse
not only for all manner of exploitation,
but for the refusal Of employers to
advance them to positions Of respon-
sibility and trust" After referring to
the success Of women elsewhere in
such positions, the writer remarks:
Undoubtedly in this country many
promising fields are opening for women
from which they have been debarred
and for which they are well fitted.
Such are the new positions in many
branches of the railroad service; for
instance, as freight checkers, as ticket
agents and information clerks, in
wedding and clearing the tracks; in
banks and financial houses; in cost
and production departments; as floor
walkers in stores; as clerks in shoe
stores, etc. In machine shops women
| are found to excel men in inspection
and testing and in other operations
requiring dexterity. In many in
stances, too, women are now receiving
| far higher wages than ever before for
work no harder than women's tradi-
tional exhausting labor of scrubbing
floors during long hours in dampness
and wet. Yet, granting all that prom
Uses from such gains no one can view
without alarm the indiscriminate en-
ployment Of women which is in proc
ess or impending in such heavy work
as glassmaking, in some of the proc
esses of steel mills exposed to ex'
IRENE heat, as ballast campers OF
! freight handlers on railroads, as pliers
of lumber and leaders Of scrap iron OIL
in the bleachery pits Of cotton mills
to mention some Of the occupations
most needing scrutiny and care.
eff the achievements Of woman
workers challenge the worlds admira
tion, we cannot neglect the diverse
side Of the picture. We have not yet
learned the cost, the wastage Of WON
an power. There is no doubt that b0tf
abroad and in this country unmistak
able dangers are inherent In many Of
the new occupations. Some, indeed
are totally unfit for women some may
be rendered fit by changes in method
of management; in all of them thu
indispensable prerequisite Is a new
scrutiny of the workers and the effecl
Of the work, kind of intelligent su
pervision known hitherto in only ,
very small number Of the most en-
lightened establishments, but needed
now wherever women are employed ii
new lines of activity if we are tt
preserve our national energies"
In summing up, Miss Goldmark de
clares that emphasis should be lait
on three essential safeguards for girls
and women who enter mems occupa
lions: Equal wages, additional legis
lation and adequate medical supervi
sion.
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