Q+. Bni. MINISTRY OF INFORMATION BRITISH WOMEN AT WAR N.B.—These notes are not intended for textual reproduction but simply for reference purposes. Ei'a IS G out 30 per cent.-of schoolchildren are now provided for in this way. Most schools at present make arrangements to provide meals during school holidays. 69Shopping : Married women who, in addition to their war work, have a household to look after, have found shopping a most difficult problem. The Welfare Depart- ment, in consultation with the Ministry of Food, the Home Office and the Retailers’. Associations and Trade Unions concerned, has kept this question under constant review. “ Neighbour Leagues ” have been tried in some towns, but it has been found that no general solution for the whole country could be contrived. In some places the extension or alteration of shopping hours, and in particular the adjustment of the lunch hour, has helped, but in general the best solution has been for employers to give their married workers time off for shopping. The problem of hairdressing (which is often very difficult for women in billets) sometimes is tackled by employing a hair- dresser at the factory. Transport is possibly the most extensive problem remaining in employment of labour. It presses especially hard on women who have household responsibilities as well as war work. Blackouts, air raids, new factories, shift working, extra workers, have increased the difficulties of travelling between home and work. Measures taken to overcome these difficulties include formal measures such as the setting up of Trans- port Consultative Committees, in addition to the adjustment of train and bus services to meet new needs and constant meetings and discussions between factory manage- ments, workpeople and transport authorities, in almost all of which the Welfare Officers have been actively concerned. Methods of overcoming the transport diffi- culties include staggering factory hours—campaign to urge non-essential workers to travel before 4 p.m.—extension of queue control—priority passes for workers— provision of shelters at waiting' places and extension of loading arrangements at works. Steps have now been taken to increase the supply of buses in difficult transport areas. Mobile Laundries provide an example of how minor but very important diffi- culties are tackled. These were originally equipped and put into use when air attacks interfered with water supplies and are now most useful in serving isolated production units. These are staffed each by four women laundresses and a male driver. Each unit consists of two vans, one carrying water, the other equipment and drying cup- boards. There are six of these laundries in operation mainly serving building corps in isolated areas. It may be noted that in all matters of outside welfare the Personnel and Welfare Officers can be, and are, most valuable links between the workers and the,authorities. PART IV INJURIES, INSURANCES, WAGES Summary This section deals with :— (i) The benefits to which women are entitled if they are injured (a) by enemy action ; (b) during their employment. (ii) The Social Insurances to which they are entided. (iii) Women’s wages : their Trade Union position. Injuries Personal Injuries (Civilians). Scheme : Rates of compensation for civilian war injuries were revised in April, 1943, in conformity with a Report published from a Select Committee on Equal Compensation. As revised, the scheme covers all civilian injuries from enemy action without distinction between men and women and without distinction between gainfully and non-gainfully occupied persons. Flat fates of compensation are thus payable for all adult civilians irrespective of sex or occupation. 70Gainfully occupied men Gainfully occupied women Ndn-gainfully occupied meh Non-gainfully occupied women (includes housewives).. Old Rates New Rfites 35s. 35s. + 8s. 9d. if married 28s. 35s. 21s. 35s. . 16s. 4d. 35s. These allowances are payable while the injured person is unable to work, but-if disablement continues after six months they are replaced by pensions graded according to the degree of disablement. Injury pensions are at the rate of 40s. weekly for all persons (men and women) over 18. The widow of a gainfully occupied persoA may be allowed a special temporary allowance of 50s. for 10 weeks after the death of her husband, followed by a pension with children’s allowances. Workmen’s Compensation operates without distinction between men and women. If an employed woman suffers injury or incurs industrial disease in the course of her employment, the employer is liable to pay compensation. The rates are complicated and vary according to weekly earnings .before the accident.’ For a woman who had previously earned 50s. or more weekly, the payment for total disablement would be 50 per cent, of the‘previous earnings, subject to a maximum of 30s. weekly. A woman earning less ’than 50s. would receive compensation on a scale up to 75 per cent, of the weekly earnings. A male workman receiving compensation on this scale would, in addition, receive allowances as appropriate for his wife and family. Social Benefits and Insurances Women workers aged 16-60 who-are engaged in any form of employment (with the exception of certain kinds of casual or subsidiary employment) must be insured under the National Health Insurance and Widows and Orphans and Old Age Contri- butory Pensions Acts, unless, in the case of non-manual workers, the salary exceeds £420 a year. When the WQrker takes up employment she may choose a doctor from a list (panel) to be seen at a Post Office. If she becomes a voluntary member of an “ Approved Society ” she would get certain additional advantages to the benefits, below. (a) Free medical attendance and medicine immediately on becoming insurable ; after 26 weeks’ contributions, sickness benefit 10s. weekly; after 104 contributions-paid, 15s. for unmarried women and widows weekly and 13s. for married women. Women are also entitled to disablement and ta maternity benefits. (b) Subject to certain conditions, pensions are also payable in respect of Old Age at 60, and Widows and Orphans pensions in appropriate cases, for the wives and families of injured male workers. Unemployment Insurance: Women are liable to pay Unemployment Insurance contributions in most fcases covered by National Health Insurance (as above). The most important exception is that private indoor domestic workers are not covered. In general, the rate of unemployment benefit for a woman is 18s. weekly. If a worker has not yet qualified for Unemployment Insurance benefit or is in distress as a direct result of the war, allowances based on need are paid in appropriate cases, by the Assistance Board. Wages In general, wages in Britain are regulated according to an elaborate system of agreements negotiated between workers and employers through their respective trade associations. The Trade Union strength of wqmen has increased during the war. 71There are now 104 unions which include women in their membership. The number of women members in these unions rose to 1,688,000 in 1942, which was an increase of 294,000, or 21£ per cent., over 1941. The largest number of new recruits are, of course, munition workers, and these have been enrolled in the Amalgamated Engineering Union, which extended its membership to women on 1st January, 1943, and in the National Union of General and Municipal Workers and the Transport and General Workers’ Union. A Report presented to the 1943 Annual Conference of Trade Union Women by the T.U.C. Women’s Advisory Committee showed that over 30 unions had wage agree- ments covering the substitution of men by women and that in most of these agreements a clause was included stipulating that after an agreed period of training a woman who was able to carry out the work of the man she replaced, without additional supervision or assistance, should receive the man’s rate. The followipg are some of the more important industries in which these agreements have been secured :— Heavy chemicals Shipbuilding and ship repairing Engineering Vehicle building Electricity Flour milling Transport ’ Retail distribution Clothing Printing and book-binding Boot and Shoe Blast furnace work Bakery and Confectionery Wire rope manufacture Statutory Wage Regulation : Various forms of statutory wage regulation have been introduced in Britain, but these are exceptions to the general practice of voluntary collective agreement between employers’ and workers’ associations. Such measures have been taken, usually, in trades or industries where organisation is inadequate either on the workers’ or employers’ side, or on both. Trade Boards Acts of 1909 and 1918 were the earliest measures of this type. Under them the Minister of Labour may constitute a Trade Board, whose main duty is to fix minimum rates of wages in cases where he “ is of the opinion that no adequate machinery exists for the effective regulation of wages throughout the trade and that accordingly, having regard to the rate of wages prevailing in the trade or any part of the trade, it is expedient that the (Trade Boards Act) should apply to that trade.” A number of women’s occupations has been covered by Trade Boards. - In addition to the general powers given in the Trade Boards Acts, statutory regula- tion has been applied to the particular wage problems of specified industries where conditions have been inadequate to make collective bargaining successful. Agree- ments affecting women exist in agriculture and catering industries. Special inquiries have been held and scales of remuneration suggested during the war in nursing and institutional domestic work (see pp. 37-40 above). An analysis covering 6 million wage-earners was taken by the Ministry of Labour, in July, 1943. Returns then showed average earnings (inclusive of payments for overtime, etc.) as follows :— l Men, 21 years and over ... ... ... ... 121s. 4d. Youths and boys, under 21 years ... ... ... 47s. Id. Women, 18 years and over : {a) Excluding part-time workers ... ... ... ... ... 62s. lid. (b) Part-time workers ... ... ... ... ... ... 29s. Od. (c) Including part-time workers on the basis of 2 such workers taken as representing one full-time worker ... ... ... 62s. 8d. Girls, under 18 years ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 33s. lid. Rates of wages in many industries in which women are employed rose during 1943 (see Ministry of Labour Gazette, January, 1944, pp. 6-7). 72Income Tax For the payment of Income Tax the incomes of single women are assessed on the same basis as those of single men. The incomes of married persons are assessed as one, whether the wife is an earner or not; married women who are earning, however, are entided to untaxed personal allowance up to a maximum of £80 in respect of their earnings. This maximum of £80 was increased from £45 in April, 1942. Post-War Credit: The additional Income Tax payable by each individual taxpayer in respect of the reduction in earned income allowance and personal allowance under the Budget of April, 1941, is treated as a post-war credit. This will be made available to the taxpayer after the war. A married woman who earns may, if she desires, be issued separately with a certificate of post-war credit, though for Income Tax purposes her income and her husband’s are assessed joindy. 73PART V. APPENDIX I WOMEN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT LADY APSLEY ................ (Recently elected.) MRS. ADAMSON ......... ... Private Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Pensions. War Service Grants Committee. MISS FLORENCE HORSBRUGH Parliamentary Secretary to Ministry of Health. MISS ELLEN WILKINSON ... Parliamentary Secretary to Ministry of Home Security. Chairman of Labour Party. VISCOUNTESS ASTOR Lady Mayoress of Plymouth. VISCOUNTESS DAVIDSON ... Select Committee on National Expenditure. Ministry of Health Committee on Rent Restrictions. MRS. CAZALET KEIR MRS. AGNES HARDIE Markham Committee Select Committee on • have reported. Equal Compensation . Council of C.E.M.A. Consultative Com- mittee to Ministry of Labour. Consultative Committee to Ministry of Health. Select Committee on Equal Com- pensation (reported). Kitchen Committee of House. MISS MEGAN LLOYD GEORGE Consultative Committee to Ministry of Labour. Select Committee on Equal Com- pensation (reported). Salvage Board (Mini- stry of Supply). Central Housing Advisory Committee of Ministry of Health. MISS ELEANOR RATHBONE ... Police Widows Pensions Committee (Home Office). Aliens Committee. DR. EDITH SUMMERSKILL MRS. MAVIS TATE MISS IRENE WARD MRS. BEATRICE WRIGHT Consultative Committee to Ministry of Labour. Select Committee on Equal Compensation (reported). Select Committee on Equal Compensation. Committee on Retail Trade (Board of Trade) (reported). Consultative Committee to Ministry of Labour. War Service Grants Committee. Consultative Committee to Ministry of Health. Note : With the exception of those holding Ministerial office,, all the women M.P.s are on the Womanpower Committee and four are on the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Labour. (The Womanpower Committee is a non-official body closely interested in the wartime employment of women.) 74n HEADS OF WARTIME SERVICES AGRICULTURE Women’s Land Army Honorary Director : The Lady Denman, D.B.E. ARMED FORCES Women’s Royal Naval Service Director: Mrs. Vera Laughton Mathews, C.B.E. Auxiliary Territorial Service Director (September, 1938-July, 1941) : Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, G.B.E., LL.D., D.Sc. (July, 1941-October, 1943) : Mrs. Jean Knox, C.B.E. (October, 1943- ) : Chief Controller L. V. L. E. Whateley, C.B.E. Women’s Auxiliary Air Force Director : (June, 1939-October, 1943) : Air Chief Commandant K. J. Trefusis ‘ Forbes, C.B.E. (October, 1943- ) : Air Commandant Lady Welsh. Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval’Nursing Service Matron-in-Chief: Miss D. W. Beale, R.R.C. t 'Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Matron-in-Chief: Dame Katharine Jones, D.B.E., R.R.C. Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service Matron-in-Chief: Miss Gladys Taylor, R.R.C. •Air Transport Auxiliary—Women’s Section Commander: Miss Pauline Gower, M.B.E. Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (N.A.A.F.I.) Deputy Chief Restaurant and Welfare Superintendent: Miss A. I. H. Fraser. Headquarters Supervisor for Women’s Services : Miss Phyllis Heath. Women’s Transport Service (F.A.N.Y.) Commanding Officer : Miss M. Baxter Ellis, C.B.E. ' Active Commanding Officer : Miss Mariaij Gamwell. Red Cross and St. John War Organisation Superintendent-in-Chief Nursing Corps and Divisions of St. John Ambulance Brigade : Lady Louis Mountbatten, C.B.E. Deputy Chairman of Executive Committee : The Countess of Limerick, C.B.E. Head of the Detachment Departmerlt of the British Red Cross Society: Dame Beryl Oliver, D.B.E., R.R.C. CIVIL DEFENCE WORK National Fire Service Chief Woman Fire Officer : Mrs. B. W. Cuthbert, O.B.E. Women’s Voluntary Services Chairman, United Kingdom : The Dowager Marchioness of Reading, D.B.E. Scotland : Lady Ruth Balfour, C.B.E. Wales : Mrs. Clement Davies. Northern Ireland : Lady Stronge, O.B.E. 75m AGE GROUPS COVERED BY MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE CONTROLS, ETC. ACT, ORDER, OR AGE MAIN GROUPS OF PROVISION GROUP WOMEN EXEMPTED (Inclusive in all cases) 1. National Service Act, 1941 (No. 2) (see p. 7) 2. Registration for Employment Order, 1941 (see pp. 6 and 7) 3. Control of Engagement Order, 1942 and 1943 (see. p. 8), 4. Control of Employment (Notifica- tion of Termination of Employ- ment) Order, 1943 (see p. 8) 5. Essential Work Order (see p. 8) . 6. Control of Employment (Directed Persons) Order, 1943 (see p. 8) 7. Compulsory part-time Civil Defence duties (see pp. 11 and 12) 19-30 Married women and widows with young children under 14. Women Women already serving in one of bom the Auxiliary Services, in the between Nursing Services of the 1893 Armed Forces, or women and medical practitioners serving 1925 with the Forces. 18-40 Women who have children under 14 of their own living with them; blind persons. 18-59 Women called up to the Armed Forces or transferred to other employment by direct action of the Ministry of Labour; women in employment covered by the Essential Work Order; doctors, den- tists and short season workers in agriculture and persons whose employment was not intended to last and does not, in fact, last for more than a week. Women who do not work in occupations and industries scheduled under the Order. About 130 industries are so scheduled, including ship- building, engineering, cotton, motor vehicle repairing, etc. Full-time workers in industries scheduled under the Essential Work Order. 16-59 Women already undertaking compulsory fire guard duties; expectant mothers; women responsible for the care of children under 14. 768. Compulsory Fire Guard duties (see 20-44 Women already undertaking p. 12) compulsory part-time Civil Defence duties; expectant mothers; women responsible for the care of children under 14. 9. Nurses and Midwives (Registration Those As at 2, above. for Employment) Order, 1943 (see bom p. 39) after 31.3.1883 and before 1.4.1926 10. Registration of Women Ex-Cotton 18-55 As at 2, above. Operatives (see page 10) 11. Direction into National Service under Women Women with children of their No. 2 above (see pp. 6 and 7) bom between 1893 and 1925 own under 14 living with them. 12. Mobile women (see p. 6) 19-45 Women, single or married, whose domestic circum- stances are such that acute hardship would ensue if they were transferred; wives of men serving in Armed Forces or Merchant Navy and em- ployees of N.A.A.F.I. serving overseas or in Naval Canteen Service on board H.M. ships ; married women living with their husbands and other married women with respon- sibilities ; women recently ,widowed. All these controls are exercised under Defence (General) Regulation 58A, which empowers the Minister of Labour to direct any person, of any age or either sex, to perform any work he may deem necessary. 773 9002 037// 8/uzAfttXARY