Evening star., 1943-09-26

HSdiidAAB SaICcSS OI IleT lOD.
Having had much success and encour-
agement from placing women In tool
rooms, Miss Davies decided to try them
out as laboratory assistants, who could
De trained to do metal testing, using the
Rockwell testing machine: and also
women to do chemical analyses of solu-
tions used in the process of fabricatine
nrass. The first woman hired for a
testing machine Is the mother of two
sons IN the Air Corps. She was recently
transferred to the toolroom laboratory
to test all tool steel used In making
tools for cartridge cases.
Women over SO have been @workinr
out astonishingly well in the chemical
laboratory Miss Davies says, consider
IN that more of them had previous ex-
perience or training beyond the usual
college chemistry course OF 80 years ago.
She explains that they had tried To
hnd young college graduates for this
work, but, failing TO do so, had hired
the older women and the result was
most encouraging"
Work for Older Women.
Speaking from such experiences, Miss
Davies advises industrial employers that
If women over 40, yes and over So ara
properly selected with careful attention
to health, personality and early training
factors believe they will be able to sus-
tain production more evenly than some
OF the younger groups whose interests
are apt to be more diversified"
Nor are all the women in this great
mobilization strong and physically fit.
There Is a blind girl who gauges the
threads on screw machine product
with remarkable accuracy. Some are
physically handicapped and partially
disabled, or suffer from infantile paral-
ysis. Members of this group REQUIRE
more careful selection, training and
placement, but no employees render more
devoted service" Miss Davies empha-
sizes
Most such women hold inspection Jobs
at the bench. Along with many physi-
caliy normal women they check dimen-
sions OF small brass parts with a variety
OF gauges. Each inspector checks the
product for one dimension, and then
1t Is passed along TO the next inspector
This type of work permits the handi-
capped woman to stay seated and WORK
with her hands. Training has not been
problem, for 'even the blind girl
learned her work in an amazingly short
time.
One OF the most versatile women whom
Miss Davies has placed in an engineer
ing department was employed several
years ago as detailer. She graduated
from Pratt Institute in architecture and
showed so much ability that she is now
able to design many OF the tools neces-
sary for production Of cartridge cases.
MISS Davies sees an after-war future
Tor women in many professional fields
heretofore closed to them, and feels that
industry will profit greatly thereby. She
sees very definite trend toward the
development Of courses in engineering
and administrative work for women bv
some of the liberal arts colleges and
technical schools. Rutgers University.
Stevens Institute, Mount Holyoke. Syra-
cuse University, the State colleges and
other schools are offering courses to
women in preparation for positions In
technical departments, laboratories, per
sonnet and engineering departments.
Miss Davies placed very emphatic in
sistence on welfare provisions for WON.
en- In industry. Proper accommodations
Tor women employees should be care
1uny worked out and arranged befors
women are employed" she warns.
The Largest Employer.
And so we find the Army Services
Forces, which get everything made that
the soldiers need to keep a mobile army
on wheels running to win the war, is the
largest employer of womanpower in the
Nation, with women constituting 1876 per
cent of its total field strength of civilian
personnel.
These women are standing at ths
workbenches, the lathes and hydraulic
presses, in the laboratories in the en-
glneering departments, in the toolrooms
OF our great industries. These are the
women who are at work on the railroads,
in the open-pit copper mines. They
have taken up for the duration the tools
that men needed in the armed services
had to lay aside. They are serving as
replacements on jobs which have tradi-
t1onally been considered suitable only
Tor men. Two factors have forced this
disclosure of the versatility of woman
power: Cd the withdrawal of men from
industry to fight for preservation of our
way of life; (2) the unprecedented ex-
pansion of many industrial plants.
Spirit of American Women.
Womanpowers war effort has brought
amazingly to the attention of indus
trialists, their veteran and skilled fellow
workmen, and Government officials di-
recting the all-out war drive-that these
women have certain valuable qualifica-
tions, treasure trove which can be
drawn upon in an emergency, such as:
The patience and skill required in the
delicate manipulations and adjustments
of intricate instruments; the ability and
patience to endure long periods Of
repetitive and dull routine operations;