Full text of Facts on Women Workers : July 31, 1951

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on Women Workers
U. S. Department of Labor

Maurice J. Tobin,

Women's Bureau

Frieda S. Miller,

Secretary

WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

Director

"

July 31, 1951
EMPLOYMENT QF WOMEN IN JUNE 1951

While the number of women of working age increased by about 2/3 million
between June 1950 and June 1951, the number in the labor force was practically
unchanged. The number of unemployed declined more than 1/3 million.

The change from May to June 1951 represented almost entirely a seasonal trend.
More women entered agriculture, chiefly as unpaid family workers. An increase
in unemployment usually follows the closing of schools.

Number of
women

Civilian population
(14 years and over)

57,002,000
Civilian labor force 19,467,000
18,654,000
Employed
1,748,000
In agriculture
In nonagricultural
16,906,000
industries
813,000
Unemployed
37,535,000
Nonworkers

June 1951
Change since
Percent women
of all persons
May 1951

Change since
June 1950
♦ 671,000

52.4
30.5
30.2
21.8

♦ 53,000
♦173,000
♦ 19,000
♦270,000

♦ 30,000
♦ 401,000
- 28$,000

31.4
41.1
83.3

-251,000
♦154,000
-119,000

- 371,000
♦ 641,000

♦ 686,000

(U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census)
EQUAL PAY CONVENTION ADOPTED BY ILO

£

The 34th Conference of the International Labor Organization, which met in
Geneva beginning June 6, adopted an Equal Remuneration Convention concerning
equal pay for men and women workers for work of equal value.
Although the
equal pay principle has been incorporated in the ILO constitution since its
earliest days, the Organization considered for the first time last year
drafting of international regulations for effecting equal pay.
At that time
a first draft of regulations was adopted for final consideration in 1951*
During the meeting this June, after discussion of various forms of inter­
national regulations, the Conference voted 109 to 38 for the adoption of a
Convention supplemented by a Recommendation.
The Convention lays down
general principles concerning equal remuneration and the Recommendation
sets forth specific approaches to ensure that the principles are carried
out.
The Director of the Women’s Bureau attended the Conference as adviser
to the United States Government Delegates and served as Reporter for the
Committee on Equal Remuneration.

33/. 4
LIBRARY

Jo/ty , /95/




(. £ M. COLLEGE OE TEXAS

MINIMUM WAGE

Connecticut *3 recent amendment to its minimum-wage law established a
statutory minimum rate of 75 cents an hour, broadened application of the
law, simplified wage board administrative procedure, and extended court
review to include power to remand orders to the Commissioner for
modification and, if necessary, resubmission to a wage board.
Wage orders
in effect or issued before July 1, 1951, must be modified to provide a basic
hourly minimum of 75 cents by October 1, 1951*
North Dakota*s new public housekeeping order, effective August 13, 1951,
establishes a weekly minimum of $23*25 for waitresses and counter girls and
$22.15 for chambermaids and kitchen help who do not receive board. For

workers in these same occupational groups who are furnished board as part
payment of their wages, the sums actually paid may not be less than $13.00
and $16.65 a week, respectively)
this amounts to an increase of more than
2/3 over the 1946 rates.
North Dakota has also revised its mercantile order,
effective August 17, 1951, setting a minimum weekly rate of $23*25 for
experienced workers and of $19*25 for learners*
Both new orders retain

practically all the working conditions standards appearing in the orders of
1946.
Maximum hours for women employed in these and several other industries
in North Dakota are 8j a day, 48 a week, except that in towns of under 500

population the daily maximum period may be 9 hours a day, the weekly maximum
54 hours.

75-CENT MINIMUM SENDS WOMEN'S WAGES UP
The effects of the 75-cent minimum wage set by amendment to the Federal Fair
Labor Standards Act, effective January 25, 1950, have recently been studied
in two industries by the U. S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
In one of these industries—men’s seamless hosiery—women
constitute about two-thirds of total plant employment in the three areas
covered by the survey, Hickory-Statesville, N.C.) Reading, Pa.) and WinstonSalem—High Point, N.C.
Wiile in October 1949, significant proportions of
all workers, men and women, in each area had averaged less than 75 cents an
hour, by March 1950, the wage group under 75 cents was less than 3 percent
in each area.
The increase in earnings from October 1949 to March 1950 was much greater for
women than for men.
The percentages of women receiving less than 75 cents an
hour in October 1949 were 51, 33, and 18, respectively, in the three areas,
compared with 16, 17, and 7 percent for men.
In each arsa in March 1950 less
than 3 percent of either men or women were below that level.
Average hourly
earnings of women workers increased in the three areas 9, 3, and 3 cents.
Further wage increases occurred by the fall of 1950, reflecting at least in
part the post-Korea wage movement.
Whereas in the earlier period, October 1949
to March 1950, average earnings of men generally increased less than those of
women, in the March-October 1950 period the increase in average earnings
for men was greater than that for women.




_____

WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT
The number of women employed in Federal executive agencies has increased
in the past year, but is considerably below the 1946 level.
The Civil
Service Commission reported 532,500 women employed in executive agencies
in all parts of the country on April 1, 1951*
Women were 24 percent of
all these Federal employees April 1, 1951, as compared to 22 percent
July 1, 1950 and 28 percent in 1946.
In the District of Columbia, women
were 45 percent of Federal employees in April 1951, as compared to 44percent July 1, 1950 and 49 percent in 1946.
Miss Lenroot Retires from Childrens Bureau—Katharine F. Lenroot, chief
of the Children’s Bureau, Federal Security Agency, will retire on August 31
after 36 years of service with the Bureau, including 17 years as its director.

Appointed to be her successor
-assistant director-general of
Nations. Dr. Eliot had worked
served as associate chief for

is Dr. Martha M. Eliot, for the past 2 years
the World Health Organization of the United
in the Children’s Bureau for many years, and
some 15 years.

WOMEN IN CONGRESS

Two more women have joined the 82d Congress.
Both widows of House of
Representatives members who died recently, Mrs. John W. Kee of West Virginia,
and Mrs. Frank Buchanan of Pennsylvania were elected in special elections on
July 17 and July 24, respectively.
This brings the total number of women now in Congress to 11 (10 in the House
and 1 in the Senate).
It is the largest rnnnber of women ever to serve in
Congress, though there were 10 in the 77th, 79th, and 8lst Congresses.

WOMEN IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE
The number of women in the Foreign Service has increased nearly tenfold
since just before the last war, according to the Department of State.
More
than 2,400 women are serving this country in 294 missions overseas.
Serving
as Chiefs of Missions are Mrs. Eugenie Anderson, Ambassador to Denmark, and
Mrs. Perle Mesta, Minister to Luxemburg.
The bulk (1,500) of these women are
clerical and stenographic workers, but 21 are career Foreign Service Officers,
21 are Foreign Service Reserve Officers who are appointed for 2-year terms as
specialists in various fields, and 810 are Foreign Service Staff Officers
performing work as translators, interviewers, librarians, welfare and labor
attaches, etc.

As reported in the May Fact Sheet, Frances E. Willis, Political Officer,
Helsinki, was recently nominated to be Foreign Service Officer Class I, the
first woman in history to reach the top of the career Foreign Service.
In
addition, two women are in Class III now, Constance R. Harvey, 1st SecretaryConsul at Athens, and Kathleen Molesworth, Consular Officer, London.




VIRGINIA AAUW PRESENTS "OUR TOWN” TO THE WORLD

;

To give other countries a cross-section of life in American communities, the
Virginia chapter of the AAUW has prepared "Our Town" scrapbooks in 5 languages
for distribution abroad through the International Federation of University
Women, of which the AAUW is a member.
"We are trying to present," said a
representative of the Virginia AAUW, "not a glamorous ’tourist folder’ picture
of life in our towns, but a simple, accurate picture of our members in their
homes, their kitchens, their stores, working in their churches and civic
organizations;
of their children in schools and at play; of the tremendous
amount of civic activity which is the distinguishing characteristic of American
life just as much as vacuum cleaners and automobiles." Hie Danville, Va., book
featured its main industry by using a colorful Dan River fabric on the cover.
Snapshots and pictures from various sources were used to show Danville’s modes
of transportation, fire-brigade and police squads, self-help markets, and the
queue of citizens awaiting their turn to vote.
Hampton, Va., pictorially por­
trayed not only its social background but such Items of practical interest as
typical small houses accompanied by floor plans.
This book concluded with draw­
ings done by Hampton school children.

WOMEN HELP IMPROVE HEALTH AND SOCIAL WELFARE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES

Eighty women have served with the World Health Organization in professional
capacities in posts ranging from Borneo to Ecuador and including such places as
Hong Kong, Thailand, Pakistan, Istanbul, Cairo, Copenhagen, Haiti, El Salvador.
Most of these women have been public health nurses, but others have worked as
physiotherapists, statisticians, doctors, information specialists, librarians.
Under the Advisory Social Welfare Services program of the United Nations, 28
women experts in social welfare have served in the field as advisers to governments.
Of the total number, 15 were from the United States, 3 from France, 3 from Chile,
2 from Canada, and 4 from various other countries.
The countries in which these
experts served were Austria, China, Czechoslovakia, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala,
Iran, Italy, Japan, end the Philippines.
Typical services!
The first School of
Social Work in Guatemala was formally opened April 1949 through the joint efforts
of the Government and the UN, which had sent a woman social welfare expert there
to assist in planning and organizing the school.
Later the UN sent another woman
expert to help in supervision and actual teaching at the school.
...Because of
its serious internal refugee problem the Government of Greece asked the UN for an
adviser in the field of social services to refugees, and Miss Hansi Poliak from
South Africa was sent to Greece by the UN.
33

>

Labor, Women’s Bureau Bulletin 235-4*
1951.
PROGRESS OF WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 1949-1951.
A Report Prepared by the
Women’s Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, for Mary M. Cannon, U. S. Delegate
to the Inter-American Commission of Women, Seventh Assembly, Santiago, Chile,

W

<xj

U. S. Department of

THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN SOCIAL CASE WORK WITH FAMILIES.

H O
£=>

May 30-June 14, 1951.
30 pp.
Mimeo.
WOMEN IN THE 82d CONGRESS.
collection of biographical sketched U. S.

OS

Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau.
6 pp.
Mimeo.
"Facilities for Women Workers with Home Responsibilities," in INTERNATIONAL

W

LABOR REVIEW, March 1951.

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

83-15444