The daily worker., 1931-02-19
Why Working Women Need
Special Protection

insured against industrial accidents (workmens
compensation, i. e. they are paid proportion
OF average WAGES one-haf or third-depend-
inf on the state, for some of the time lost when
injured on the job But for disease due to harm
full working conditions workers cannot get COM
pensation in any but IL states and only in five
states are all occupational diseases compensated
Industrial conditions which destroy health are
crime against all workers whether they are men
or women But where they affect women work
ers the are particularly disastrous This is
because when the women wage Garner is i'll it
means not only loss in income for the family
but actual destruction of the family The work
ing woman is not only wage Garner but cook
wash woman housewife, nurse and mother
Moreover, certain occupations have dangers for
women which men escape For example trades
requiring constant standing, heavy lifting, and
pressure on the abdominal and generative or
gans often make women into chronic invalids
and render them incapable of bearing healthy
or normal children. Examples of such occupa-
tons are the operation of punch pressure and
certain processes in textile mills. Working with
heavy machinery is prohibited for women in
some states in the U. S. and in most European
countries.
Just as important are regulations protecting
women against industrial poisons. 'It is plain to
all" writes Dr. Alice Hamilton of Harvard Med
ical School, "that if a poison is circulating in
the blood of the mother it is practically certain
to affect the child she is carrying" A woman
who has lead poisoning, for example, is more
likely to be sterile than one who is healthy
Women in the lead industries if they do become
pregnant, are very likely to suffer an abortion
or have children born dead. Should the child
survive it is more than likely to die within the
first year Of life.
Women are much more susceptible to occupa-
tional poisons than men. In potteries they have
a rate of lead poisoning twice that of men work
ers. More than one-fifth of the women en-
ployed in American potteries have lead poisoning,
The profits of American potteries are protected
by high tariff, but they have a rate of lead
poisoning "a times that of England. Regulations
for the protection of workers in U. S. potterieS
simply do not exist.
Another poison which has a deadly affect on
women and should be prohibited is benzol Ben
zol is used in no less than so industries, many
of them employing large numbers of women.
Benzol is a serious hazard to women workers en-
ployed in the manufacture of rubber goods in
cementing sanitary cans in pasting trimmings on
hats and in dry cleaning.
OF So cases Of severe poisoning studied by
DR.. Hamilton, 40, or over rs per cent were among
poisoning 28, or 80 per cent, were among women
10 per cent Of the women poisoned by benzol
died
Wood alcohol poisoning resulting in blindness
and even death is also serious hazard Women
employed shellacking lead pencils, and picture
frames, stiffening hat frames and Pananlas, and
working on artificial flowers face this hazard
The fight for laws to prohibit industrial poisons
or to safeguard their use is an immediate issue
In every dangerous trade Only fearless union
organization such as the TUUL is capable Of
carrying on successful attack on the bosses to
gain such protection Only political party Of
the working class such as the Communist Party
is interested in getting laws passed which make
1t a crime to poison workers. Regulations pro-
hbiting deadly poisons ard safeguarding the
lives of the workers are law in every industrial
country but the u. S. In England Germany
France, Belgium and even fascist Italy the work.
ers have organized industriay and politically
and forced the governments to act. Conditions
have improved although they far from IDEAL
Only in the Soviet Union, where the govern
nlent is in the hands of the working masses, is
full protection assured. .4,,t., ,utts,
Tho bosses Of America are free to try out
every new poison which promises greater profits
regardless Of what happens to the men and wofh-
/. a xho ~ &0Ecad 70 work With these deadly