Evening star., 1944-05-07

stantial measure of opposition. open or
covert, to the competition of women for
jobs once regarded as the exclusive
province of men. Women have made
large gains in the union movement
there are now 3,500000 of them In un-
ions as compared with 500, 900 in 1887
but, according to officials of the Wom-
ems Trade Union League, the unions in
their contract negotiations with employ
ers tend to sacrifice the equal-pay for
equal work principle to objectives which
they regard as more important. In
many cases, moreover, women suffer
from the unions seniority rules when
selections are made of workers to be laid
off.
There is, however, from the stand
point of those who want to see women
retain their war-won gains in industry,
brighter side of the picture. Women
are in much better position today to
resist reaction against their employ
ment than they were after the last war.
AS pointed out in a recent study by Ed
itorial Research Reports, women have
gained the franchise since 1919 and in
the coming national election will repre-
sent more than half the voting strength.
In IL States, potential woman voters will
outnumber potential man voters, and in
20 additional States the potential mems
vote will exceed the potential women's
vote by less than $4,000.
Also, the woman workers now have,
in the Women's Bureau, an active and
well-run Government bureau devoted
solely to their interests, and they are
far better established in the general
labor market by reason Of the new skills
they have acquired in their war work.
On their side is a considerable body of
opinion that neglect of these skills
would retard industrial activity after
the war and be "a needless waste of our
productive resources"
UnpredictabIe Factors.
A good deal will depend on certain
unpredictable factors. There has been
general praise of women's contribution
to the industrial effort in the war, but
not enough coment by individual en-
ployers to indicate what will be the pre-
vailing attitude of management after
the war. Against the view of Eric john
ston, president of the United States
Chamber of Commerce, that women
will be able to keep almost every. gain
they have made in industry may be
cited the doubt expressed by Charles E.
Wilson, president Of General Motors. as
to their continued large-scale employ
ment in the automobile industry.
Again, the tempo of reconversions
may play part. If 1t is rapid, many
women may stay in jobs who otherwise
might be paid of and not return. The
withdrawal of married women after the
war will be affected somewhat by the
extent to which day nurseries and
restaurant facilities are retained at in
dustrial plants, and another factor will
be the extent to which war casualties
compel women to remain or become
breadwinners. The degree of absorption
of women in domestic service will
doubtless depend in part on the result
of present efforts to bring such workers
under the covefage of minimum wage
and maximum hour laws.
The assumption is too easy" says the
Women's Advisory Committee of the
War Manpower Commission, that wom-
en- in great numbers will voluntarily
give up their jobs after the war. Some
$4,000 900 woman workers, the commit
tee points out, are not newcomers to the
labor force, and the Women's Bureau of
the Department of Labor says its studies
of the last Is years prove that most
women who enter gainful employment
do so because Of economic need.
The main concern OF these two agen-
cies, and of others interested in the well
fare of working women, is to secure full
acceptance by industry and Govern
ment of "the principle of the right of
women to work" Only through the ap-
plication of this principle, they main
tain, "can maximum efficiency in our
industrial structure be assured and har-
mony in social relationships be
acn1eVed.
The leadership OF women in industry
it is clear, has been forewarned by the
experience after the last war and is
getting ready to resist whatever social
and economic pressures may be brought
to bear to relegate women's labor to its
old status. AS stated by the Women's
Trade Union League, the objective is to
keep open to women the wide variety of
jobs opened to them by the war. Out of
the clash between the philosophy repre-
sented by this view, and the philosophy
which blames the social evils of the
times in large part on the extensive and
growing employment of women in in
dustry, there may come a contest, like
that over women's suffrage, to bedevil
the dreams of the politicians.
printed by Special Advancement with the
st. Louis PoSt-Dispatch)
8 - -