Full text of Facts on Women Workers : December 31, 1950

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FACTS

on Women Workers
U. S. Department of Labor

Maurice J. Tobin,

Secretary

Women's Bureau

Frieda S. Miller,

Director

WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

LIBRary

December 31, 1950

COUf(5fOFTBMS

EMPLOYMENT
OF WOMEN IN NOVEMBER
—
-------------------------------------------------The number of women employed in nonagricultural industries increased by more
than a million from November 1949 to November 1950, according to the Bureau
of the Census. Agricultural employment declined and so did unemployment,
leaving a net increase in the civilian labor force of about 2/3 million. The
number of women nonworkers was practically unchanged.

A decline in women’s employment over the month between October and November
1950 resulted from a seasonal decrease in farm employment, partly counteracted
by a seasonal rise in other employment reflecting the start of the preholiday
upswing in trade and other activities. Unemployment increased, as is normal
during this period, when women move out of the ’’nonworker” group and begin to
hunt for Christmas jobs.

Number of
women

Population (14 years
and over)
Civilian labor force
Employed
In agriculture
In nonagricultural
industries
Unemployed
Armed forces
Nonworkers

November 1950
Percent women Change sinoe
of all persons October 1950

Change since
November 1949

56,676,000
19,493,000
18,561,000
1,395,000

51.0
30.7
30.3
18.5

+ 57,000
4- 57,000
- 107,000
- 507,000

+
♦
+
-

17,167,000
931,000
26,000
37,158,000

32.0
41.6
1.3
81.2

+ 401,000
+ 163,000
2,000
2,000

+3£ll,000
- 162,000
+
6,000
♦ 17,000

688,000
665,000
826,000
184,000

(U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census)

A MILESTONE IN MEDICAL HISTORY

1950 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Woman’s Medical College
of Pennsylvania—the first college in the world organized for the medical edu­
cation of women. It opened in October 1850 as the ’’Female Medical College,”
with 40 students and a faculty of six. The entire cost of the original 2-year
course of study was about $150, and board could be obtained for from $1.50 to
$3.00 per week.
Ann Preston, a graduate of the school’s first class, became the first woman medical
professor in the country when in 1852 she took the Chair of Physiology and Hygiene.
Another of the school’s famous early graduates was Dr. Hannah Longshore, the first
woman holding an M.D. degree to ”hang out her shingle” for the practice of medicine
The world’s first woman medical missionary, Dr. Clara Swain, sailed for India to
begin her work there immediately after graduating in I869.




YOUNGER WOMEN WORKERS
Over 11 percent of all girls in the 14-17 age group were in the civilian labor
force in March 1950, according to preliminary statistics from the 1950 Census.
These statistics, released by the Census Bureau especially for use at the Mid­
century White House Conference on Children and Youth, showed that 485,000 girls
14 to 17 were working or looking for work, and that about 60 percent of these
were enrolled in school at the same time. Of the next older age group, 18 to
20 years, almost lj million girls were in the civilian labor force—45 percent
of all girls in this age group.
*
For girls 14-17 the most important occupation numerically was saleswork. Over
20 percent of employed girls 14-17 were in this occupational group. Occupa­
tional groups next in order of importance were private household workers; cleri­
cal and kindred workers; service workers, except private household; craftsmen,
foremen, operatives and kindred workers; and fann laborers. The occupational
distribution of employed girls 18-20 followed more closely that for the entire
woman labor force 14 years of age and over, with the top three occupational
groups the same: clerical and kindred workers, first; craftsmen, foremen, opera­
tives and kindred workers, second; and service workers, except private house­
hold, third.

"They Work While You Play"—Nearly 200,000 young people under 18—including
37,900 girls—were employed in 1947 in amusement industries—movies, theaters,
bowling alleys, skating rinks, swimming pools, golf courses, amusement parks,
etc., according to a study just released by the U. S. Department of Labor’s
Bureau of Labor Standards. This study, ’’They Work While You Play,” besides
giving statistics on employment, also discusses the kinds of work young people
do in amusement industries, their wages and working conditions, the effect on
their health and schooling, and the need for legal regulation of their employment.

WORKING MOTHERS

Recent figures on characteristics of families, also published by the Census
Bureau for use at the Midcentury White House Conference on Children and Youth,
throw new light on the subject of married women workers and working mothers.
In March 1950 there were 7,551,000 husband-wife fsmilies in which both the hus­
band and wife were in the labor force. Most (4,212,000) of these families had
no children under 18, but among the remaining 3,339>OOO families, there were
6,462,000 children under 18. There were in addition 532,000 husband-wife fami­
lies in which only the wife was in the labor force, and 106,000 of these fami­
lies had children under 18. The total number of these children was 213,000.
LONG-TERM DISABILITY AMONG WOMEN
Estimates on disability just published by the Social Security Administration
show that in February 1949 there were 783,000 disabled women in the civilian
noninstitutional population aged 14-64. They include women who for 7 months
or more had been unable to do their regular work or other duties because of
sickness or disability, and women who had a long-term physical or mental condi­
tion that allowed them to work only occasionally or not at all. Analysis of
the age distribution of this group reveals that most of the disabled women were
45 or over. About 52.4 percent of all the disabled women were classified as
keeping house, 36.3 percent were reported as unable to work, and 8.3 percent
were in the labor force. Of all the- disabled women, 51 percent had been em­
ployed before becoming disabled.



NEGRO WOMEN WORKERS

Progress Notes—A Negro woman gynecologist, Dr. Helen 0. Dickens, was recently
elected to membership in the American College of Surgeons.
Dr. Dickens, a
diplomat of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, becomes the first
Negro woman to be so honored....A compilation by the Southern Regional Council
has disclosed that 77 cities and towns in 13 southern States now employ 427 Negroes
on police forces.
Among these are 17 policewomen.
Cities employing Negro po­
lice invariably report that the practice helps deter crime, increases respect
for law and order, and improves race relations.

Statistics—Almost half (48 percent) of the total nonwhite woman population 14
years of age and over was in the labor force in November 1950, according to the
Bureau of the Census.
In contrast, only 33 percent of the white women 14 years
of age and over were in the labor force.
About 75 percent of ths nonwhite women
and 90 percent of white women workers were employed in nonagricultural industries.
A much greater percentage of the nonwhite women than of the white women were
working in agricultural industries.
Unemployment among nonwhite women was heavier
than among white women—6.9 percent as compared with 4*5 percent.

I

The differences in labor force status between white and nonwhite women were
slightly less striking in November 1950 than in November 1949* Last year the
Census Bureau reported as "in the labor force" 51 percent of the female nonwhites
and 32 percent of the whites. Also, 25 percent of the women nonwhites were in
agriculture then compared with only 18 percent this year, while the proportion
of white women in agriculture remained roughly the same, at about 6 percent.
Differences between white and nonwhite women workers in percent unemployed are
about the same as last year.

WOMEN COLLEGE GRADUATES
—
During the school year 1949-50, 103,915 women in the United States received the
bachelor’s and first professional degrees, according to a report issued by the
U. S. Office of Education. In addition, 16,982 women received master’s and
second professional degrees, and 643 received doctor’s degrees.
College graduating classes of 1949-50 were the largest in history, according to
the report. Among the bachelor’s degree recipients, men outnumbered women by
more than 3 to 1. The number of men earning their first degrees was about 25
percent greater than in 1948-49/ while the increase in the number of women was
slightly over 1 percent. The differences in rate of increase for the advanced
degrees was less marked, though.

Most popular field of study among women at all levels in 1949-50 was education:
27,753 women received bachelor’s degrees in this field; 7,723,master’s; and 142,
doctor’s. Among women receiving bachelor’s degrees, the next most popular sub­
jects were, in order, English (9,023 graduates); home economics (7,885); business
and commerce (6,226), sociology, music, psychology, history, nursing and fine
arts. Each of these fields had over 3,000 graduates at the bachelor’s level.
Education and English were also the top two fields for women (142 and 49 res­
pectively) receiving doctor’s degrees, and next in importance were psychology
(42), chemistry (39), modem languages (33), history (29), and zoology (23).




WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT
The first woman appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense is Mrs. Anna Rosenberg,
who will specialize in manpower problems. Mrs. Rosenberg’s long, successful
career in the labor field includes service as regional director of the NRA (1935),
of the Social Security Administration (1936-43), and of the War Manpower Com­
mission (1942-45). She has also worked as a consultant on labor relations to
private industry.
The Subversive Activities Control Board, a 5-member board appointed in October
by President Truman, includes one woman, Dr. Kathryn McHale, former general
director of the American Association of University Women. The Board was set
up under the McCarran-Wood Act which requires Communists and Communist organi­
zations to register with the Attorney General.

Miss Mary,E. Switzer, recently appointed director of the Office of Vocational
Rehabilitation, Federal Security Administration, will promote the vocational
rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry or otherwise and their return to
civil industry. Miss Switzer previously served as assistant to the Federal
Security Administrator, with the responsibility for coordinating the health
and medical interests of the Federal Security Administration.
Succeeding former Senator Hattie Caraway as a member of the U. S. Department
of Labor’s Employees Compensation Appeals Board, is Miss Grace McGerr. Miss
McGerr has been an attorney with the Tle s. Department of Agriculture since 1933.

INTERNATIONAL GRANTS TO WOMEN STUDENTS FROM ABROAD
Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, and 11 other countries in Europe and Asia
are represented in a group of 52 women students brought to the United States
by the American Association of University Women for advanced study here in
1950-51. From the Netherlands comes Miss Jacqueline Rutgers, head of the legal
department of the Board of Government Mediators, The Hague, to study labor pro­
blems. Dr. Balbina Borenstein of Brussels, formerly with the Belgium Center for
Economic and Social Studies, is here to study economics. Almost every field of
advanced study is included among the subjects the AAUW’s international students
will pursue.

WOMEN IN KOREA

Before the North Korean attack, South Korea had established a Women’s Bureau
on a national level as part of the Department of Welfare; branches were in all
cities. A dozen or so Korean women led the work of getting the women to assemble
at the district offices for discussions of public matters, according to a re­
port in the United Nations World recently. From these meetings developed
women’s business and professional clubs, Girl Scouts, Campfire Girls, Altrusa,
and parent-teachers’ associations.
’’The Western world can hardly comprehend the burden of drudgery a Korean woman
must support to keep her family going, ’’ says the report ’ s author, who served as
welfare adviser to the city of Seoul in 1946-49* Nevertheless, before the
current war, women were slowly forging their emancipation. One woman succeeded
in getting her-name on the ballot for President of South Korea. Another was
appointed head of the Department of Commerce by President Syngman Rhee.




(The printing of this publication has been approved by
the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, March 9, 1950)