CHAPTER IX.

_THE MARRIED AND THE UNMARRIED._

The investigators tried to obtain information bearing upon the interesting and important question of the influence of the married and the unmarried woman worker on industry, on the home, and on the family income. But the difficulty of following up statements and testing their accuracy has been so great and some of the factors in the problem so elusive under the conditions of the trades investigated, that conclusions are stated with considerable reserve.

The custom in the trades under review undoubtedly is that married women should not work in them; and, as a rule, only widowhood, or a bad or sickly husband, or a slack time, brings a woman back to them after marriage.[86] Sometimes, however, she comes back, because it is too dull at home.[87] This is more generally the case in the provinces than in London, where certain job departments, especially certain kinds of folding, are filled by rather a rough class of women, amongst whom the proportion of married is exceptionally high. Throughout the reports sent in, it is most interesting to note how strongly the sense of feminine respectability opposes their fellow workwomen working after marriage, "unless they have been unfortunate in their husbands."[88]

[Footnote 86: For statistics see Appendix VII.]

[Footnote 87: A woman worker says, "They come back after they have married, because a girl who has been accustomed to make 18_s._ for herself is not comfortable when she marries a man on £2 a week who is accustomed to have that for himself, so she comes back to make extra money."]

[Footnote 88: So also it is interesting to note the lingering shadow of chivalry in this connection. "Mr. ----," said one of the girls, "never will take married women, but then he is always _such_ a gentleman."]

The average age of the women regularly employed is low,[89] because as a rule girls leave at marriage. The investigators generally report that the age in workrooms appears to be mainly between eighteen and twenty-three. The report that "Four girls here out of thirty or forty are over eighteen" (Leeds bookbinder's), is typical of many others. This fact alone has an enormous influence on women's wages and makes it necessary to be very careful in drawing conclusions under the headings dealt with in this chapter.

[Footnote 89: A manager of a provincial printing establishment estimated that twelve years was the maximum workshop life of average girls.]

[Sidenote: Wages and expenditure.]

An attempt has been made to discover how far the earnings of women workers in these trades are only supplementary to family income, and how far the family worker is entirely dependent upon them for her livelihood. On the whole (but with important exceptions) they appear to be supplementary. In cases, certain fixed weekly payments are made for board and lodging to the relatives who are heads of the households, but these payments are not enforced in times of unemployment and are reduced when work is slack. Even when being made in full they do not always represent the actual cost of accommodation and living. It is becoming less and less common, it seems, for the wives of idle and improvident husbands to eke out their household income by casual or seasonal work, but the practice is still followed and in London prevails to a relatively considerable extent. In such cases the women do not work for mere pocket-money, nor again, do their wages cover the full cost of their living.

"Miss ---- lives at home and her parents are evidently in comfortable circumstances," runs one report of a book-folder. "I went into the best parlour, where there was a piano--also a high hat in the corner!"

The following gives a somewhat fuller picture of these workers:--"Mrs. ---- is a widow and has no children. She looks about sixty and is probably about fifty. She lives on the top floor in model dwellings (three rooms, for which she pays 5_s._ 9_d._) Her husband died in 1891 of consumption, and she does not know what she would have done had she not been made forewoman (in a book-folding room). She does not see how a pieceworker can support herself. She must live at home. Most of the girls working under her live at home and give their mothers 7_s._ a week, keeping the rest for themselves. She was doing some washing and mangling when I called. A little girl comes to help clean, but otherwise she does everything for herself."

A fairly large employer in London stated that his "girls are living with their parents and work for pocket-money." Another "would think that about half lived at home." One woman stated, "A bit of extra money comes in handy. It is nice for a woman to put a little by--you cannot expect her to save out of her husband's money"; another said: "A woman ought never to let her husband know what she earns--if she is foolish enough to do that, he at once becomes lazy and extravagant. A woman should only work after marriage either to save a little money, or to help a sick or delicate husband." A well-known London general stationery dealer reports: "Some of the women employed are the wives of the porters and packers, but in the majority of cases the husbands are worthless, and the earnings of the women are the chief support of the household." In one case reported upon, a girl, working in a Bible and prayer-book house, having to support herself, could not do it, and began pilfering prayer-books to make both ends meet. She was turned away as a thief.

For the purpose of throwing light upon the problems with which this chapter deals, particulars have been obtained from one firm in London where eighty-six women are employed. The married women are described as follows:--

1. A widow.

2. Has a husband, a bookbinder in good work, but they are extravagant.

3. Has a husband in work.

4. A widow.

5. A widow with a daughter to support.

6. A widow.

7. Has a husband in work. Has been summoned for boys not attending school.

8. Has a husband who drinks. Looks after her children and goes home at dinner time.

9. A widow with recalcitrant boy.

10. Has a husband in work.

11. Has a husband irregularly employed. Very poor and slatternly.

12. Has a husband who drinks.

Of the unmarried workers, one learned the trade when on in years because, owing to a misfortune, she had to bring up her brothers and sisters. She was very slow and her earnings only averaged about 7_s._ per week. Two support themselves. The others live at home and pay 6_s._ or 7_s._ per week, or hand over everything they make, and receive back small sums for pocket-money.

A report from another well-known firm of bookbinders in London states that in a room of ten women, five support themselves. In some instances it is noted that married women have to receive charitable aid in looking after their children when they themselves go to work. Of a large printing firm it is said, "Most of the girls at ... don't seem to mind if they make money or not. They couldn't possibly keep themselves on what they earned." This was the statement of a girl working with the firm and erred in being too absolute; but an examination of the wage returns showed that, somewhat modified and limited, it was true. A manager of a co-operative bookbinding establishment estimated that, from his experience, not more than 25 per cent. of the girls working in that trade, regarded their wages as the only means by which they supported themselves. The forewoman of a large stationery department stated that only three out of twenty girls under her had to depend on their own wages. The conclusion of a report submitted by an official of the Typographical Association in Coventry may be taken as being true of the provinces generally. "The females for the most part are young girls, with a sprinkling of experienced and older hands who leave when about entering married life."

Evidently it is a very common thing for such workers to pay so much into a common purse from which general family expenses are drawn, and into which the individual contributions vary with the state of trade.

The industrial effect of these conditions is obvious. The women keep no vigilant eye upon wages which are fixed rather by use and wont than by competitive pressure. Employers have rarely[90] to offer high pay as an inducement to women to enter these trades, and, consequently, there is always a downward drag upon wages, and although the women spasmodically interest themselves in their conditions, they feel so little dependence on wages that they can never be taught to make that steady upward pressure which would improve the organisation of these trades and yield more return for labour. Hence, the low rate of wages obtainable by those who have to maintain themselves is kept down almost solely by the circumstance that such a large proportion of the women employed remain part of families and share in general family income. It should be noted that it is often the policy of employers to be "careful only to take respectable young girls who live with their parents." The economic influence of this "respectable" standard is obvious.

[Footnote 90: The establishment of a laundry in the vicinity of a well-known provincial firm of printers resulted in an increase of wages in the shape of a guarantee that no wages should be paid under 6_s._ per week.]

[Sidenote: Influence on family income.]

On the question whether an extensive prevalence of "supplementary earnings" tends to reduce the wages paid to other members of the family, our investigations in these trades threw no light. Only in one case, where a husband and wife were questioned, was the opinion stated that, "Now that women go into trades so much, a man and a woman together only make as much as a man used to." The question is one which can be answered only by investigation in other trades, the circumstances of which are more favourable for its elucidation.

[Sidenote: Wages rates and married women.]

What little influence the married woman has upon wages seems to be to raise and not to lower them. That is the unanimous opinion of the forewomen in London, and they know best.[91]

[Footnote 91: The following are extracts from the opinions of forewomen on this point:--

"They don't lower rates; they want more."

"They don't lower rates of pay; it is rather the reverse, for they are most troublesome about the price; _e.g._, the other day a married woman, a new hand, made four or five girls refuse to do some sewing at the price quoted, so they and she sat idle and wasted their time till the forewoman saw what she could do for them. She (the forewoman) pointed out to the girls how foolish it was to waste their time like that, and they said that they wouldn't have done it by themselves."

"So far from working for less if they don't get enough, they say--'Thank you' and walk off."

"They are the first to grumble; they don't think it worth coming unless they can make something good."

"Married women are more trouble than the unmarried; they are at the bottom of any agitation, and won't come if you are slack, for they wouldn't get enough to pay for washing."

"They are more independent than single workers, and teach the others to stand out."

"They think it a favour to do your work."

"They won't work for less, for they generally have more than themselves to keep."

A forewoman of a book-folding department in a large firm said that though not employing married women on her regular staff, she had had some experience of them as job hands, and found that they would not do ordinary work at ordinary rates, it not being worth their while. "They have not got to earn money, as they have husbands to fall back upon."

To this should be added the testimony of one thoughtful observer, who has considered the question during a long experience in the trade. He has never come across a case where married women have lowered the rate of pay; on the other hand, the elder women often complain that the young girls who are living at home don't mind having ¼_d._ or ½_d._ cut off.

See also the Report on Home Work, published by the Women's Industrial Council, 19, Buckingham Street, Strand, 6_d._, for further details confirming this view.]

In a good many instances, the married women complained that the unmarried ones accepted reductions, and at a Conference held at Manchester in connection with this investigation, the opinion was unanimously expressed that married women do not lower wages, but, "on the contrary, the casuals grumble most and get most."[92] "I know of a case," writes a Plymouth correspondent, "where a married woman would not work for less than 15_s._, which she obtained and retained for a year or two." Out of a batch of ninety employers who had definite opinions upon the influence of married women upon the standard of wages, seventy-seven said they did not lower it, and thirteen that they did. The married woman is more able than the unmarried girl to appreciate the relation between wages and living expenses, and when she returns to the workshop, it is as a worker who accepts the life of the wage earner as a final fact and not as a mere interval between school and marriage.

[Footnote 92: The casually employed sometimes give trouble owing to unpunctuality, and several employers have complained against married women on this ground. But the investigation as a whole does not show the complaint to be at all general.]

The married woman is more independent and disinclined to accept low rates when offered, and she is generally chosen to go on deputations making complaints to employers. A Trade Union official said that theoretically the married woman ought to reduce wages, but that he was bound to say that his experience in the trade taught him that she did not. She has acquired the right to grumble, and she is put down in a considerable proportion of the reports as the centre from which general discontent in the workrooms emanates. Many employers object to her in consequence.

She seems to regard herself as a permanent worker when she is a widow, and generally remains for a considerable time--twenty or thirty years--with her employers without thinking of changing. She is not so "particular" as her unmarried co-worker, and does not give herself so many "airs." She cleans litho-rollers without "turning up her nose." She is, in short, part and parcel of the fellowship of wage earners; her unmarried sister is not.

She is more rarely found in the provinces than in London in these trades. Leeds and Bradford, and Bristol and the surrounding district may be taken as typical, and the reports of the investigators who visited these towns are quoted in full below on this point.

[Sidenote: The employment of married women. (a) London.]

In London, several firms refuse to employ married women as regular hands. In some cases this is a policy of the forewoman only, and not a rule of the firm. In others the head of the firm is responsible for the order. The motives vary. Some refuse on principle, holding that husbands should support their wives; _e.g._, "She won't countenance husbands living on their wives' earnings and idling themselves"; or, again, that it is "hard on single girls," or undesirable to have married women working amongst unmarried girls, because, "They spoil a shop by talking about all sorts of things." Other employers refuse to have them because they are too irregular--"You can't get them in in time"; others because "one has no hold over them," or because "they are tiresome, being so cocky." "Out of seventy-five girls," runs one of our reports, "he had none married till recently, when he failed to get enough unmarried. Dislikes having them because influence bad."[93]

[Footnote 93: Reasons given for not employing married women, taken from a batch of London reports:--

(1) Irregular. (2) Principle. (3) Principle. (4) Principle. (5) No hold. (6) Chance. (7) Principle. (8) Chance. (9) Irregular. (10) Irregular. (11) Principle. (12) Moral principle. (13) Moral principle. (14) Principle (?). (15) Principle (?). (16) Expediency. (17) Principle. (18) Principle. (19) Principle. (20) Principle. (21) Principle. (22) Rule. (23) Rule. (24) Rule. (25) Expediency. (26) Principle. (27) Principle. (28) Principle. (29) Principle. (30) Principle. (31) Irregular.]

As a rule, however, there is a certain number of married women on the staff, and all houses who have recourse to job hands in busy seasons must, on occasions, have married women on their premises, though they may object to employ them as regular workers.

The exact proportion of married to unmarried women in these trades is impossible to judge. Accuracy could only be obtained by taking a census of each shop. Estimates vary. A forewoman of experience calculated that more than half were married. A Trade Union secretary and an experienced worker estimated that about half were married, whilst of the job hands taken separately, more than three-fourths were married women. Another Union official, however, reckoned that, taking the trades as a whole, there were four unmarried to one married; taking job hands separately, two were married to one unmarried. Most of those conversant with the trade are careful to give no figures, "a large proportion" are married, or a "good few," and so on, are the common expressions. All, however, agree that the largest proportion of married to unmarried is found amongst the job hands; that, in fact, the majority of that class of workers have husbands. A few instances of the proportion amongst the regular staff in houses taken at random are given below. In most cases, it was impossible to obtain any figures, but the following may be taken to be types:--

A. _Printing._--12 married out of 86.

B. _Printing and Magazine Binding._--Half the staff.

C. _Printing._--2 regular hands unmarried, 1 married taken on when busy.

D. _Envelopes, etc._--5 girls, 2 married.

E. _Binding._--3 married out of 20.

F. _Card Mounting, etc._--2 married out of 30.

G. _Binding._--3 married in machine room out of 60; 1 in perforating department.

H. _Stationery._--9 married out of 20.

J. _Printing._--1 married out of 10.

K. _Binding._--2 married out of 30.

L. _Printing and Magazine Work._--5 married out of 100.

M. _Printing._--1 or 2 out of 56.

N. _Printing._--2 out of 128. (In most departments won't take them.)

These houses show a much lower percentage of married workers than anyone hazarded at a guess.

[Sidenote: (b) Bristol and district.]

"Seventeen houses in Bristol, employing about 1,170 women, have no married hands. In three of these, it is the rule that girls must leave on marriage, because the employer or the forewoman dislikes having married women, either 'because they are not such good workers after they have got the breakfast for their husbands and children, and seen to the house, and are not then much good for work in a factory,' or else because of a feeling that it is wrong to take married women from home duties.

"In eight houses, employing about 1,200 women, there is no rule against employing married women, and a few are employed. The exact proportions were impossible to ascertain, but mostly box-makers.

Employed. Married. A. 100 Most leave when married, but a few good workers kept on. B. 6 Two. C. 5 One or two. D. 30 A very few kept on. E. 2 Both married. F. 18 One married. G. 40 Generally leave; a few kept on. H. 1,000 A good many married.

"So few married women are employed in these trades in Bristol that it is impossible to find any evidence of their influence on rates of pay, and the generalisations as to the quality of married women's work are made on very little information. One employer (B.) declared that married women are better workers because they do not go out unless they have good-for-nothing husbands and _have_ to be the breadwinners, a remark corroborated by G., who assigned the same reason for their superiority, adding that married women make 2_s._ or 3_s._ a week more at piecework than the unmarried, and seem more anxious to get on. C. regards them as steadier than girls: "They take life more seriously."

"In two houses in Gloucester with twenty-two and fifty-five girls, there are no married women. 'They don't want to stay.'

"In Frome, a leading printing establishment employs 130 girls, but none are married. There is a rule against employing married women. It is regarded as immoral to do so--'It means that the husband spends the extra money in beer.'

"In Stroud, amongst thirty girls, none were married.

"In Bath, in a firm employing forty girls, a few were married, but none whose husbands were in work. 'That would be considered _infra dig_.'

[Sidenote: (c) Leeds and Bradford.]

"Married women are rarely employed in these trades in Leeds. Out of seventeen houses visited, only three had married women as regular workers. One of these is an account-book maker's, where a few out of the thirty hands are married; another is a wallpaper manufacturer's, where no difference is made when girls marry, and the third is a paper-bag house, where a few out of the thirty women employed are married. In the remaining fourteen houses, comprising about 930 girls, no married women work. It is a custom recognised by masters and workers alike that women leave on marriage, so that the industrial career of these workers stops usually at twenty-two or twenty-three. In two houses old hands who have married are taken on for occasional rushes of work.

"This dearth of married women in these trades seems strange in a town where married women's work is such a common feature in the mills, but is accounted for by the fact that the girls employed in the printing trades belong to a comparatively comfortable class, marry in their own class, and are not expected to be breadwinners. One employer suggests that the work requires more regularity than can be expected from a married woman, but this does not seem to be a serious difficulty in London.

"Bradford conditions are practically the same. Seven firms have no married women, one has one married out of 100 workers, and this is an exception, married women not being employed as a rule. As in Leeds, the hands who have married come in to help when there is a rush of work. One manager remarked that, if the girls think they are not going to marry they leave for the mills, where pay is higher."

* * * * *

[Sidenote: The moral influence of the married worker.]

There seems to be a pretty widespread objection to the moral influence of married women in the workshop. "Mr. ---- objects to the employment of married women. He dislikes the way they talk to the unmarried girls.... Lately he has been obliged to employ them as he could not get enough unmarried women."

[Sidenote: Family health.]

As regards the effect of work in these trades on family life, again the evidence is sparse, but so far as it is clear it tends to show that the employment of women makes little difference to the ordinary state of things. The work is not unhealthy, and the woman worker does not do much of the heavy tasks, such as lifting formes, using presses, and so on. The instances where she does this are rare, and the men have always, in this respect, turned their chivalrous instincts to industrial purpose and to protect their own interests. One investigator reports that a girl suffers from weak knees on account of long spells of standing at a machine for making envelopes, and that a vellum-folder complains of having to lift heavy weights. Another reports against "powdering" in book-binding; and employment in typefoundries, where girls handle type, is dangerous, since it may lead to lead-poisoning. Another says that bronzing, even when the bronzing machine is used and the precautions specified by the Factory Act are taken, is unhealthy. A case is given of a woman permanently injured by the excessive strain of working a guillotine cutting machine.

The bookbinders have always been ready to point out that certain parts of their work are too heavy for women, and the compositors have done the same. The latter also show that consumption is a trade disease amongst them, and recently have defended their attempts to exclude women from working the linotype on the ground that the fumes and gases which are generated by its typefounding arrangement are injurious to health. They also maintain that standing for long periods at a stretch is injurious to women, but in at least one large printing firm in the provinces women were seen by our investigators setting type whilst sitting on stools in front of the case. The conditions of some wallpaper factories seem to be unhealthy, partly owing to the hot air, the smell, and some of the material used, especially the arsenic. Some reports state that the constant "standing about" necessary in these trades gives headaches and produces anæmia. What valid objection there is against married women leaving their homes and children for long periods at a time during the day, must of course be added to this, in common with all other kinds of continuous work in which married women engage, but there is no special danger to life or health in these industries from which the coming generation may suffer.