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ATE COLLEtiS LIBRARY
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OUTLOOK
WOMEN
MV
DIETETICS
HOME ECONOMICS OCCUPATIONS SERIES
Bulletin No. 234-1
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
WOMEN’S BUREAU
t3
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
MAURICE J. TOBIN, SECRETARY
WOMEN'S BUREAU
FRIEDA S. MILLER, DIRECTOR
m
Dietetics
Outlook
for Women Bureau No. 234—1
Bulletin of the Women’s
Home Economics Occupations Series
U.
S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1950
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government
Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Price 25 cents
This bulletin is No. 234-1 in the
HOME ECONOMICS OCCUPATIONS SERIES
No. 234-1
The Outlook jor Women in Dietetics
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
United States Department of Labor,
Women’s Bureau,
Washington, January 2.£, 1950.
Sir: I have the honor of transmitting a report on the employment
outlook in dietetics, a field in which women have already contributed
greatly to the well-being of our people and in which more women
are needed not only to reduce existing shortages but also to utilize our
growing knowledge in the field of human nutrition.
This is the first- bulletin in the study of the outlook for women
trained in home economics, planned and directed by Marguerite W.
Zapoleon. Martha J. Ziegler, formerly regional representative of
the Bureau, completed most of the fact finding. Agnes W. Mitchell
was responsible for the preparation and writing of the final report.
I want to express appreciation here for the generous cooperation
rendered by the many organizations, agencies, and individuals who
contributed information and photographs for this study.
Respectfully submitted.
Frieda S. Miller, Director.
Hon. Maurice J. Tobin,
Secretary of Labor.
in
FOREWORD
The study of home economics has long been important in training
women for their work as homemakers. With the long-time trend in
our economy toward the transfer to manufacturing or service indus
tries of many of the functions formerly performed in the home, our
colleges of home economics have also become a principal source of
leadership and professional staff for these activities.
This bulletin on dietetics is the first in a series prepared by the
Women’s Bureau which will describe the trends in occupations for
which training in home economics at the college level prepares women.
Unlike the usual monograph which describes an occupation in detail
at a particular point in time, this study, following the pattern of the
earlier series on occupations in the medical and other health services
and in the sciences, is concerned primarily w7ith changes and develop
ments which affect the outlook for women’s employment.
In the preparation of this bulletin, more than 600 books, pamphlets,
and articles were read. But the principal sources were the women
engaged in dietetics, reached primarily through their organizations,
their places of employment, their training centers, and the govern
ment agencies concerned with foods programs.
Besides the staff and members of the American Dietetic Association
(the principal professional organization for those trained in die
tetics), wdiose generous cooperation made the study possible, these
sources included:
Twenty other organizations, such as the School Food Service Associa
tion and the American Home Economics Association, the Foods
and Nutrition Section of the American Public Health Association,
the National Restaurant Association, and the American Hospital
Association.
Twenty-eight hospitals. In addition, questionnaires to 378 hospitals
in Illinois were made available through the courtesy of the United
States Public Health Service and the Illinois State Department of
Public Health, and information on dietetic personnel in military,
veterans’, and other government hospitals was made available by
Federal agencies.
Eighteen training centers, including hospital and other internship
courses and foods and institutional management programs.
Thirty government agencies, including 2 international organizations,
4 State health departments, and 24 Federal agencies. Special help
including unpublished information and expert criticism was given
IV
FOREWORD
by the Children’s Bureau, the Office of Education, and the Public
Health Service in the Federal Security Agency; the United States
Department of Agriculture; and the Bureau of Labor Statistics in
the United States Department of Labor.
In spite of these varied sources, this study has revealed the need
for more current statistics on the educational background and experi
ence of the many women employed in this field, particularly on those
employed outside hospitals. It is hoped that this bulletin and others
in the series which border on it will throw some light, not only on what
is known about this important field of work, but into the corners which
need further exploration.
CONTENTS
Page
Letter of transmittal______________________
_______________________
Foreword______________________________________________________________
Definition of dietitian
Part I. The outlook for dietitians
The outlook in 1949 _ _
_ ___ ____________________________
Demand
Supply
16
Training
26
Earnings, working conditions, and advancement________________
Organizations
Suggestions to those entering thefield
39
Demand prior to 1949
Definition of nutritionist
Part II. The outlook for public health nutritionists- _
The outlook in 1949 ______________________________________________
Demand
48
Supply
56
Training
57
Earnings, working conditions, and advancement________________
Organizations_____________________
____ __________________
Suggestions to those entering the field-____
Demand prior to 1949 ____________________________________________
Appendix:
Minimum requirements for beginning Federal civil service position as
dietitian
Minimum requirements for appointment to the position of student
dietitian in the Veterans Administration
68
Minimum requirements for a beginning Federal civil service position
as public health nutritionist
69
Requirements for membership in the American Dietetic Association-Usual requirements for completion of an internship approved by the
American Dietetic Association____________
___________ _
Sources to which reference is made in the text. _ __ _
_________
Sources of illustrations_______________________________________
_
Tables:
1. Women in dietetics in the United States in 1949, by type of em
ployment
__________________________________________________
2. Geographic distribution of the members of the American Dietetic
Association compared with that of estimated population and
hospital beds in the United States, 1948
Illustrations:
1.—Dietitians work in a variety of places—college residence hall,
hospital, restaurant -2.—A nutritionist employed by a dairy council instructs children
in good eating
3.—A school lunch service dietitian observes student food selection
in a school cafeteria
4.—A hospital dietitian instructs a patient _______________________
VI
hi
iv
4
5
5
7
31
37
40
45
47
47
59
60
61
63
67
70
73
77
15
16
vm
2
4
8
CONTENTS
Illustrations—Continued
5.—A hospital dietitian checks with a patient on quality and amount
of food as the nurse serves a tray___________________________
6.—A dietitian instructs medical students
10
7.—A dietitian develops recipes for use in a weekly bulletin she
writes for a large food company
13
8.—A dietitian checks fruit for salad and dessert couhter for a hospital
staff cafeteria
9.—A hospital dietitian instructs student nurses in planning menus
for patients needing therapeutic diets-_ _ _____ ___________
10.—Hospital dietitians prepare infant formulas____________________
11.—The dietitian in an industrial cafeteria demonstrates standardized
portion of food to those who serve it, checks quality and
amount of meat, and advises employees on weight control by
means of a wcll-balanccd diet______________________
12.—A chief dietitian discusses the lay-out of the dietary department
of a new building with architects and the hospital superin
tendent
24
13.—Dietetic interns go over patient’s chart with the doctor________
14.—Hospital dietitian instructs dietetic interns in the testing of
samples of canned foods
27
15.—The dietitian checks individual patients’ meals with the dietetic
interns
29
16.—A dietetic intern assists an administrative dietitian in menu
planning and cost computation
32
17.—A consultant dietitian, who works with a group of physicians,
interprets diet to a patient
18.—An Army dietitian checks food supplies as they are unloaded at a
hospital central storeroom
19.—A dietitian instructs diabetic patients in a clinic_______________
20.—The dietitian in charge of the food standardization program for
a restaurant chain checks quality of foodservice_____________
21.—A public health nutritionist interviews a child patient in a nu
trition clinic in a search for general dietary deficiencies______
22.—As part of a nutrition education research project, sixth grade
children are taught vitamin values of foods__________________
23.—The Red Cross nutritionist instructs a class of young mothers . - _
24.—A nutritionist and an artist plan a nutrition education exhibit_
_
25.—A graduate student in foods and nutrition engages in vitamin
assay of experimental diets for human subjects______________
26.—A public health nutritionist of a child welfare society instructs a
mother on the preparation of nourishing meals_______________
27.—A nutritional advisor with physician, public health nurse, and
mother
62
VII
Page
9
14
17
18
21
25
36
38
40
43
46
48
51
55
58
59
'Si
College residence
hall.
'***"— j
Hospital.
Restaurant.
Figure 1. Dietitians work in a variety of places.
THE OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN
DIETETICS
The fast-growing, relatively new field of dietetics employed at least
15,000 women in 1949. Many more were needed to reduce a shortage
that had grown to alarming proportions with no immediate prospect
of relief. In this shortage dietetics shared the stage with otherspecializations which have developed within the general field of home
economics, but it was in the spotlight because of its obvious role in the
maintenance and recovery of health.
In part because of the newness of dietetics and in part because of
further specializations which have developed within it, the difference
between a dietitian, a nutritionist, and a food service manager is not
always clear. Actually, a woman trained as a dietitian may take a
position under any one of these titles, as indicated in part I of this
bulletin, which describes the outlook for women dietitians. In doing
so, she may work side by side with nutritionists and food service
managers who are not dietitians, but who have approached their work
from other avenues. Since large numbers of nutritionists who spe
cialize in the promotion of healthful food habits are trained dietitians,
the outlook in nutrition is discussed in detail in part II of this bulletin.
(84-) The majority of food service managers in hotels, restaurants,
and other commercial eating places are not trained dietitians, and
many of them are men. This is borne out by an analysis of the
Managers and Stewards Directory for New York City, Winter Issue
1948, which showed that of 844 managers and stewards in hotels,
restaurants, clubs, and industrial establishments, less than 10 percent
were women and only 6 of the total were known to be trained dietitians.
For this reason the outlook for women as food service managers will
be discussed at greater length in another bulletin in this series.
I he typical dietitian works in a hospital, although many other
fields are open to her. In a small hospital she may be the only dietitian
and may have a variety of duties including not only the supervision
of therapeutic diets for the sick but also the operation of the food
service for patients on general diets, the hospital staff, and the em
ployees of the institution. In a larger hospital she may be one of a
staff of dietitians and may specialize in one particular type of work.
For instance, as a therapeutic dietitian she may supervise the food
service for the sick in a special diet kitchen; as an administrative
dietitian she may be in charge of the general food service for the
875401°—50
1
2
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
institution; she may be employed wholly as a teacher of student nurses
or medical students; or she may be a clinic dietitian in a clinic for
diabetics or others who need dietary guidance.
There are wide variations in the duties of hospital dietitians. A
1948 study of 75 Illinois hospitals, ranging in size from 7 to more than
3,000 beds, showed differences in the duties and responsibilities of the
members of the American Dietetic Association found in charge of the
dietetic programs in 39 of these hospitals.
All were responsible for preparing therapeutic diets for patients
in the hospital, and twenty-three instructed out-patients on their
diets. Thirty were responsible for menu planning and food dis
tribution for the entire hospital. Twenty-nine had responsibility for
all food preparation and for the management of the employees
engaged in food service, including their selection and training.
Twenty-six also purchased the food supplies, but only thirteen were
responsible for food cost accounting. Twenty-three instructed stu
dent nurses, and seven supervised the preparation of infant formulas.
One reported housekeeping duties in addition to dietetic activities.
All these duties, with the exception of the hospital emphasis on
therapeutic work and the instruction of nurses and other medical
personnel, are also characteristic of administrative dietitians in res
taurants, school lunch programs, industrial cafeterias, college resi-
im
'
COO 9
BUtTfi
:
Figure 2. A nutritionist employed by a dairy council instructs children in good
eating.
DIETETICS
3
dence and dining halls, and other large-scale feeding programs, where
programs are based primarily on normal nutrition.
To be adequately prepared for work as a dietitian, it is necessary
to have a bachelor’s degree from a home economics college or univer
sity, to have placed special emphasis on undergraduate courses
in foods and nutrition and institution management, and to have
followed such undergraduate work by a fifth year of training known
as a dietetic internship. The dietetic intern becomes one of a group
of interns in a dietary department, usually in a hospital or in an
administrative unit where training is given through observation and
supervised practice, as well as in the classroom. The intern learns
every phase of the work which she, as a dietitian, may be called upon
to perform. (See appendix, p. 70, for requirements for completing an
internship approved by the American Dietetic Association.) Usually
some provision for maintenance is made by the hospital for its interns
while they are in training, and in some instances a stipend is paid
during this period.
The typical nutritionist is likely to be employed by governmental
or private agencies in public health work, although some are found
in industry, in the Red Cross, and in welfare agencies. The public
health nutritionist, too, may have a variety of interesting duties.
For instance, she may be one of a team, including a doctor, a nurse, and
other health personnel, who survey a district to determine nutritional
deficiencies in the diet of all who live there, or of a certain group,
such as sufferers from diabetes or heart ailments. Again, she may
advise nurses, social workers, school lunch supervisors, crippled
children’s agencies, or others on improving the diets of the persons
for whom they are responsible. Nutritionists also specialize in foods
and nutrition in undergraduate courses in home economics. Many
of them take the fifth-year dietetic internship because of its value in
offering a broad basis of training; others continue their graduate
training in schools of public health or home economics. A goodly
number take both graduate academic study and a dietetic internship.
Dietitian (Professional and Kindred) 0-39.93, as Defined in the Diction
ary of Occupational Titles (86)
“Applies tlie principles of nutrition to the feeding of individuals
and groups: Plans menus and special diets with proper nutritional
value for a hospital, institution, school, restaurant, or hotel. Deter
mines dietetic value of foods and food products. Purchases food,
equipment, and supplies. Supervises chefs and other food service em
ployees. Maintains sanitary conditions. Prepares educational
nutrition materials.”
■
I
I
Figure 3. A school lunch service dietitian observes student food selection in a
school cafeteria.
4
Part I. The Outlook for Dietitians
THE OUTLOOK IN 1949
The demand for dietitians exceeded the supply for all the principal
types of work in the profession in 1949, and there appeared to be no
immediate prospect of an ample supply. Expansion of the traditional
fields of dietetic work and the certainty of additional demands with
the rise of newer types of activity promised growth both in number
and variety of employment opportunities.
Hospitals had not only the largest number of dietitians in 1949,
but the heaviest current and anticipated demand. Seventy-four per
cent of the placements made by the American Dietetic Association
Placement Bureau in 1948 and 84 percent of its placements in 1949
were in hospitals. Opportunities in the hospitals of the Federal Gov
ernment were growing. The Veterans Administration alone planned
to expand its force of dietitians from 728 in 1949 to 1,300 in 1954 to
serve veteran patients in its hospitals. The Army was seeking 75 to
100 additional dietitians, and the Navy was conducting a recruiting
campaign for 20 dietitians in 1949 with the intention of hiring a greater
number the following year. In non-Federal hospitals the potential
demand for dietitians was also large in proportion to the number em
ployed. In the rural area outside of Chicago, for example, only 39
out of 139 hospitals had college-trained dietitians. (17) Cooks,
nurses, housekeepers, stewards, and others were supervising the food
service in the other institutions. Of the 183 hospitals approved by
the American College of Surgeons in North Carolina in 1946, only 22
had dietitians approved by the American Dietetic Association, because
others were not available. (19)
Furthermore, the hospital industry, already reported to be the fifth
largest in the country in terms of personnel, pay roll, and investment,
was rapidly expanding. In addition to the building program of the
Veterans Administration, expected to reach its peak in 1975, the 1946
Hospital Survey and Construction Act (Public Law 725) set up a
5-year grant-in-aid program, under which the Federal Government
may pay one-third of the cost of local hospital construction. New and
expanded hospitals built under this program, or otherwise financed,
will need dietitians. Even the small hospital may be expected to use
the services of a dietitian, and itinerant and consultant dietitians,
5
6
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
employed in some localities in 1949, will be increasingly in demand.
The rise in the average age of the populace will also create a need for
more hospitals and for dietitians skilled in devising means for the aged.
The relation of new findings in psychosomatic medicine to hospital
food service is one of the many fascinating areas in which exploration
was just starting in 1949. Particularly in the case of neuropsychiatric
patients, greater attention will be paid to nutrition in the future than
in the past because of the psychosomatic consideration in their total
treatment program.
The increased use of food clinics is also expected to result in more
requests for specialists in clinical dietetics. The rising popularity of
hospital insurance and the resulting increase in the use of hospitals by
those who are ill is another factor in the growing need for hospital
dietitians. These conditions indicate a heavy demand and attractive
opportunities in this field for many years to come.
Expansion is also predicted in college residence-hall work. The
long-time trend in college enrollments has been steadily upward, and
the growing interest in adequate food service has caused more and
more colleges to employ dietitians. Nearly one-fourth (23 percent)
of the alumnae of the New York State College of Home Economics at
Cornell University, reporting in a 1948 study, were engaged in college
food, service. Twenty percent of Cornell graduates were reported to
be employed in commercial restaurants, another indication of the
broadening demand for women trained to administer food service.
A study of the placements of graduates of Iowa State College for the
10-year period from 1939 to 1948 indicated a similar trend. At least
one-third were in quantity feeding other than hospitals.
In school lunch work the potential demand was so great that special
ists in this field believed in 1949 that it would be years before it would
be adequately met. More children than ever before depend upon the
school to provide noontime meals. The sympathetic support of the
parents, teachers, and the general public, however, is needed to finance
the extension of adequate food facilities to all of the children of the
country. Only about 20 percent of the Nation’s children were served
by such programs in 1947. Private schools and camps were other
interesting fields in which the potential demand was already from two
to three times as great as the employment of dietitians in those fields
in 1949.
Many other, though considerably smaller, fields were promising.
Food research, the frozen food industry, food chemistry, food demon
stration, food advertising through writing, the radio, and television
were seeking an increasing number of women who combined other
talents or experience with their training in dietetics.
The field for the self-employed consultant dietitian, although small,
was reported by those engaged in this work to offer an unparalleled
DIETITIANS
7
opportunity for the enterprising dietitian with experience and finan
cial resources. A need for this free-lance type of service is antici
pated in smaller population centers, as well as in larger cities where
practically all of the independent dietitians were located in 1949.
In the next 5 to 10 years, at least, there are likely to be splendid
opportunities for the young woman who completes her training for
recognition as a dietitian. A wide variety of choices awaits her, almost
all of them offering opportunity for service essential to the health and
welfare of mankind.
DEMAND
In Hospital and Other Institution Work
One authority estimated the number of qualified dietitians in all
hospitals in the country in 1949 at 7,000 full time and 600 part time.
This estimate appears to be conservative. In May 1949 members of
the American Dietetic Association employed in hospitals alone totaled
4,000. A 1947 survey covering 224 Illinois hospitals indicated that
half of the 201 hospitals reporting had in charge of dietary depart
ments a member of the American Dietetic Association. Undoubtedly,
many dietitians who were not in charge of their departments were
members of the American Dietetic Association, and possibly there were
others among hospital dietitians who qualified for membership in the
association. If the 1947 Illinois statistics are at all typical of the
country as a whole in 1949, it is possible that at least one-third, and
more probably one-half, of those classified as hospital dietitians were
members of the American Dietetic Association or qualified for mem
bership. Generalizing further, the 4,000 members of the American
Dietetic Association in hospital work would indicate that there were
at least 8,000 dietitians in hospitals in the United States in 1949.
Probably not more than one-fifth of hospital dietitians were com
pletely responsible for the food service as chief dietitian or as the only
dietitian employed in the hospital. Of approximately 3,500 hospital
dietitian members of the American Dietetic Association reporting in
the fall of 1948, 15 percent, or 536, were head dietitians, while those
reporting as the only dietitians in their respective hospitals numbered
128.
Assistant dietitians in hospitals seemed to be divided almost equally
between those who specialized in therapeutic diets (used in the treat
ment of certain diseases) and those who assisted the chief dietitian
with the administration of food service to patients on general diets
and to the staff. A small but growing group were the clinic dietitians
attached full time to in-patient or out-patient clinics where diet plan
ning was an important part of treatment. Almost half of the Veterans
Administration hospitals operated nutrition clinics in 1949, and there
wrere 15 nutrition clinics in its Regional Offices. More than 100 of the
8
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
mtaim'mimstm
er.r;;raara
Figure 4. A hospital dietitian instructs a patient.
American Dietetic Association members employed in hospitals in May
1949 were in this type of work. It is likely that at least 200 dietitians
were employed exclusively in clinics in 1949.
Over 1,000 dietitians in Federal agencies wTere operating hospital
food services in 1949. The Veterans Administration alone employed
725 (as compared with 231 in 1940). Army dietitians in 1949 num
bered 167, a reduction from the war peak of over 1,500. The creation
of a Dietetic Section in the Women’s Medical Specialist Corps, pro
viding permanent work in the regular Army with its benefits and al
lowances, added new attractions to dietetics service with the Army.
Other Federal agencies employing dietitians in hospitals in 1949 were:
the Public Health Service with 81 dietitians, of whom 30 were com
missioned officers; the Office of Indian Affairs with 12 dietitians in 8
of its 64 hospitals; the Department of National Defense with 10 dieti
tians, stationed in the Panama Canal Zone; and St. Elizabeths, Freedmen’s, and Gallinger Hospitals and Glenn Dale Sanitarium of the
District of Columbia with a total of 36.
A number of administrative dietitians were employed in public and
private institutions for the aged, for children, and other groups in 1949.
No separate statistics on the members of the American Dietetic Asso
ciation employed in institutions of this type were available. Some were
undoubtedly classified as hospital dietitians, if the institution also
DIETITIANS
9
Pigure 5. A hospital dietitian checks with a patient on quality and amount of food
as the nurse serves a tray.
included a hospital, as was often the case. Councils of Social Agencies
reports from local communities indicated some employment in this
type of work, both by the councils themselves, to service camps and
institutions, and by affiliated agencies which operate camps or in
stitutions. Camp positions during the summer used hundreds of
dietitians, most of whom were employed in schools and colleges during
the remainder of the year.
In Teaching
Dietitians engaged in classroom teaching ranked next in number to
hospital dietitians as a group. Almost 600 members of the American
Dietetic Association were primarily teaching dietetics, foods and nu
trition, or institutional management in college or university classrooms
in 1949. It is probable that there were altogether 1,000 women teach
ing these subjects, most of whom had a master’s or doctor’s degree.
(See p. 55.) Many of these college teachers were also responsible for
food service to students or faculty and might also be classed with the
college food service group.
The foregoing dietitians will be discussed more fully in a bulletin on
teaching in this series.
In addition to teachers in colleges and universities, the American
Dietetic Association reported 100 of its members who were classified
as hospital dietitians and who were engaged full time in 1949 in
875401°—50----- 3
10
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Figure 6. A dietitian instructs medical students.
teaching dietetic interns, student nurses, medical and dental students,
social workers, and others on hospital staffs. Some were known as
directors of internship training courses. Since these dietitians were
engaged in teaching college graduates, they were usually required
to have advanced degrees. In a large hospital it was usual to have
one dietitian or more whose entire time was devoted to teaching.
Dietitians were sought by large schools of nursing not only to teach
preliminary courses in nutrition and diet therapy to student nurses,
but also to participate in clinic teaching in cooperation with nursing,
medical, and social service work staffs.
In College and School Lunch Programs
No reports were available in 1949 on the number of colleges which
had dietitians in charge of their food services for students and faculty.
There were conflicting reports from college administrators on the
extent to which dietitians were employed. One midwestern business
manager said they were employed only in very large institutions, while
another cited one small college after another which was known to have
a dietitian in charge of food service. One State university in 1949
DIETITIANS
11
employed 12 trained dietitians to service its students and faculty; a
small junior college and a small sectarian college in the same city
each employed one. If every State had one comparable city with 14
qualified dietitians, this alone would account for nearly 700 dietitians
in college food service.
Nearly 600 members of the American Dietetic Association were in
college or school food service work in 1949. There is reason to believe
that approximately 2,000 dietitians were actually employed in such
work, one-third to one-half of this number in the college field alone.
(The wrnrk of dietitians in college quantity feeding will be more fully
discussed in a later bulletin on food service managers and supervisors.)
In connection with school lunch programs for children, dietitians
were employed at the Federal, State, and local levels in both public
and private schools. Twelve dietitians were employed in 1949 by the
U. S. Department of Agriculture's School Lunch Division in the Mar
keting Administration. Forty-seven States had school lunch pro
grams in operation in 1949, according to the School Food Service
Association. About one-half of the 47 State directors of these pro
grams were women. College degrees with major specialization in
foods and nutrition or in institution management had been earned by
103 of the 148 directors and their assistants employed by the States,
and 100 had had one or more years of experience in food service man
agement before they began their State employment. The larger
school systems generally employed dietitians to administer their cafe
terias. A questionnaire, sent to 93 school cafeterias even before the
war, in 1941, brought reports of 680 dietitians employed in these
cafeterias. {39) In 1949 the Boards of Education of Detroit and
Chicago employed, respectively, 39 and 12 trained school lunch man
agers. Nine of these 51 were members of the American Dietetic
Association, and at least 8 others were known to have met membership
requirements.
There is less information on private boarding schools, day schools,
child care centers, and nursery schools, but informed persons estimated
that less than half of them had trained dietitians in charge of their
feeding programs in 1949.
In Commercial and Industrial Food Service
Hotels have traditionally employed chefs and stewards to supervise
their food services, and restaurants have not traditionally hired
women trained in home economics as managers. Howyever, a number
of women dietitians were working in hotels and restaurants in 1949.
One large hotel chain was known to employ them, and some of the
resort hotels, catering to convalescents, advertised the services of a
trained dietitian. Some of the larger restaurants, including some
12
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
chains, employed dietitians exclusively to plan menus and supervise
the food service.
Many graduate from institution management courses and then go
directly into the commercial field. Then, through their business
organizations, they may become members of the National Restaurant
Association. These people lack hospital internships and are not able
to qualify for membership in the American Dietetic Association until
they have gained 3 years of acceptably supervised experience. This
explains the fact that in 1949 less than 250 of the members of the
American Dietetic Association were employed in this field or in the
related operation of cafeterias in industrial plants. Fragmentary
statistics compiled by the Women’s Bureau from over 30 scattered
localities indicated the employment of over 600 trained dietitians in
the commercial and industrial field. It is probable that at least 2,000
trained dietitians are employed in this type of work, which will be
discussed in more detail in another bulletin in this series.
In Public Health Nutrition
A growing number of women trained as dietitians, probably at least
1,000, were engaged in 1949 in nutrition education work, primarily in
public health and social service agencies, and were known as public
health nutritionists. Members of the American Dietetic Association
in this type of work in 1949 totaled 359. Since some of the personnel
engaged in this specialization had their preliminary training in other
fields of study, such as science or health education, opportunities in
this field have been described in a separate section of this bulletin.
(See part II.)
In Consulting, Writing, and Research Work
A widely scattered but sizeable number of dietitians, probably 1,000,
were engaged in writing, research, or consulting work in 1949. Almost
350 members of the American Dietetic Association were so employed
in May 1949.
Some dietitians were hired as consultants on institution problems by
government agencies to assist less experienced personnel with prob
lems of administration and of operation of food service in hos
pitals and institutions. Many States employed a dietary consultant
in their health departments to visit small institutions and hospitals
to advise on food service programs. Some cities, as well as com
munity chest councils and other social agencies, employed a consultant
dietitian to aid small hospitals or institutions which were unable to
finance a dietitian of their own. This consultant service is a recent
development, apparently growing in importance.
DIETITIANS
13
Figure 7. A dietitian de
velops recipes for use in a
weekly bulletin she writes
for a large food company.
Possibly 25 women in 1949 were working as self-employed con
sultant dietitians in large cities, serving private patients, often in
conjunction with a physician or group of physicians. Fifteen or
more were known to be working on the west coast in 1949, as well as
several each in New York and Chicago, and one in Washington, D. C.
Some women trained as dietitians worked for industrial firms,
such as food manufacturers or distributors, preparing educational
materials on the nutritional value of food products or on methods of
preparation. Others worked as writers or editors on newspapers and
magazines which published food articles or columns for the general
public or for medical or other technical groups. An increasing num
ber wrote for the radio; some also engaged in broadcasting. Tele
vision, too, was attracting a number. Special abilities and training
in journalism or public speaking were needed in this type of work.
(These fields will be discussed at greater length in a later bulletin in
this series.)
A small group of probably 200 to 300 dietitians were engaged in
full-time food research in 1949. In addition there were many teachers
and hospital dietitians who participated or engaged in research as
part of their routine duties. One woman, for instance, who headed
a university department of home economics for 35 years, experimented
with the effects of sulfur dioxide on thiamine and ascorbic acid. She
14
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
was the first to observe the graying of hair from vitamin deficiency
in experimental animals, to observe the damaging effect of panto
thenic acid deficiency, to record heat damage to proteins, and to note
the action of vitamin D on parathyroid extract. (3H) Most women
in research have taken further training in science following their
internship. This work will be discussed in more detail with that of
other research workers in foods and nutrition research in a later
bulletin in this series which will include information on all home
economists in research.
■<4mmrJ
Figure 8. A dietitian checks fruit for salad and dessert counter for a hospital staff
cafeteria.
Until the decennial Census is taken in 1950, when a complete count
of dietitians and nutritionists in the United States will be made for
the first time, the total number of dietitians in the United States
can only be estimated. The estimate of a total of 15,000 dietitians
given in table 1, together with their estimated distribution as based
on information assembled for this bulletin, is a conservative one.
The distribution of members of the American Dietetic Association,
by type of work, is shown for comparison.
15
DIETITIANS
Table 1.—Women in Dietetics in the United States in 1949, hy Type of Employment
Type of employment
Women in dietetics
(estimated)
Number
Percent
Employed members of
the American Die
tetic Association,
May 1949
Number
Percent
Total_______________ _____ ________________
15,000
100.0
> 6,151
100.0
Colleges—teaching.
_____
Schools or colleges—food service
Public service agencies (nutritionists) ___
. _
Hotel, restaurant, and industrial food services............ .
Consulting; writing; editing; research ___ _________
8, 000
1, 000
2, 000
1,000
2, 000
1,000
53. 3
6.7
13.3
6.7
13.3
6.7
4 000
611
591
359
248
342
10.1
9.6
5.8
4.0
5.5
1 Additional employed members may be found among the 1,862 in a miscellaneous category, which in
cluded 1,468 homemakers, 38 students, and retired members. Note.—Many members engage in two
types of work; for example, teachers may operate food services. But each member was classified under the
ype of employment to which most of her time was devoted.
Geographic Variations in Employment Opportunities
On the whole, the development of dietetics has been general through
out the country, as indicated by a 1948 analysis of the membership of
the American Dietetic Association. About 26 percent lived in the
Northeastern section of the United States, over 35 percent in the North
Central section, 21 percent in the South, and 17 percent in the Western
States. Table 2 shows how this distribution compared with that of
the population and the supply of hospital beds in those areas. The
Western and the North Central States had a higher proportion and
the South a lower proportion of dietitians in relation to the number
of people in these areas. A specialist in the field of dietetics believed
that the supply of dietitians was relatively higher in the West because
many prefer the climate. In 1948 the membership of the association
doubled in Denver, Colo. Apparently in that community the supply
exceeded the demand. Some married dietitians living there, who
had worked in other communities, remained unemployed, and others
reported themselves engaged in non-dietetic work.
The small proportion of dietitians in the South followed the gen
eral trend among medical and health personnel, with whom the
South was generally less well supplied than other parts of the coun
try. A contributory cause may have been the fact that a smaller
number of schools of home economics and hospital internship train
ing courses were to be found in the South. For all the major types
of work in the dietetic field the geographic distribution of American
Dietetic Association members was similar. Variations in the different
sections of the country for any one kind of dietetic work did not
exceed 3 percent when compared with the distribution of all members.
In most instances, the differences were less.
16
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Table 2.—Geographic Distribution of Members of the American Dietetic Associa
tion Compared With That of Estimated Population and Hospital Beds in the
United States, 1948
Percent distribution of—
Region
Members Estimated
of the ADA population
Hospital
beds
100.0
100.0
100.0
25.8
35.5
21.2
17.5
26. 7
30.0
30.5
12.8
33.0
29.6
24. 5
12.9
1 The regions as designated in Census reports are as follows:
Northeastern States- Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont;
North Central States—Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska,
North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin;
Southern States—Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia. Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, West Virginia;
Western States—Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon,
Utah, Washington, Wyoming. (81)
Sources: American Dietetic Association membership tabulated by the Women’s Bureau from American
Dietetic Association membership cards. Population Estimates, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau
of the Census. (82) Hospital Beds, American Medical Association. (8)
SUPPLY
Almost all members of the dietetic profession, except the few in
research who come directly from the sciences, start off in colleges and
universities and specialize in foods and nutrition or in institution
management. The profession is dependent, therefore, upon the grad
uates of these courses as a reservoir from which to draw the workers
required for increases in staff, as well as for those to replace dietitians
who die, retire, or leave the field for marriage or some other reason.
Reports from many colleges express concern over the decreasing
number of women majoring in home economics. According to the
U. S. Office of Education, the number of those with majors in home
economics declined from 43,117 in 333 colleges in 1941 to 41,990 in
388 colleges in 1948, while total enrollments for women during the
same period increased in these institutions from 256,209 to 368,818.
During the same years the number of nonmajors in home economics in
these colleges increased from 18,651 to 24,385.(55) Thus the number
of home economics majors has not kept pace with increases in college
enrollment.
In 1948, 388 institutions granted 6,953 bachelor’s degrees in home
economics. (83) No information is available regarding the proportion
of these graduates who entered the food field, but clues may be fur
nished by the more detailed information available from land grant
colleges, as reported by a Committee of the Land Grant Colleges
Association. In 1948, 38 of these colleges granted 2,695 bachelor’s
DIETITIANS
17
Figure 9. A hospital di
etitian instructs student
nurses in planning menus
for patients needing thera
peutic diets.
degrees in home economics. About one-fourth of these graduates
planned to enter the food field: 274, or about 12 percent, in hospital
dietetics; 113, or 4 percent, in institution management; and 235, or
about 9 percent, in the other food and nutrition fields. The propor
tion of women graduates entering the food field from land grant
colleges is believed by specialists in this field to be higher than the
ratio for the graduates in all colleges preparing home economics
majors. On this basis, less than one-fourth of all home economics
graduates were planning to enter the food field in 1949, in contrast
to the proportion of 50 percent choosing this specialization some years
earlier, (id) It may be assumed, then, that less than 1,740 of those
graduated with home economics degrees in 1948 will find their way
into food work, and a maximum of 800 or so may become hospital
dietitians. This is not much higher than the 676 graduates reported
for 1947-48. (6)
The experience of a midwestern college illustrates the problem.
It graduated 14 foods and nutrition majors in 1947. One year after
graduation, eight were continuing their education or training; one
had obtained immediate employment as a dietitian at $180 per month;
one had married and didn’t seek work; one remained unemployed,
though unmarried; two were working in clerical jobs at $150-$160
per month; and one was employed as a laboratory assistant at $150 per
month. Higher marriage rates and earlier motherhood as well as
875401°—50------ 4
18
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
well-paying jobs in other lines of work in recent years also
tended to withdraw a high proportion of graduates from the under
graduate reservoir.
An increasing number of scholarships were being made available
in 1949, so that qualified students will no longer be barred by lack
of resources from completing their training. Information regarding
such scholarships may be obtained from schools of home economics
or from the American Dietetic Association.
The G76 women wdio in 1947-48 completed internships approved by
the American Dietetic Association were not enough to supply the hos
pital need alone. Assuming a minimum of 8,000 hospital dietitians
in 1949, 528 dietitians would be needed for replacements alone if the
Figure 10. Hospital dietitians prepare infant formulas.
current annual withdrawal rate for dietitians were no higher than
that of professional nurses during the depression decade of the thirties,
when withdrawals might be expected to have been low. With the
tremendous hospital expansion planned and underway, the remaining
148 dietitians would be easily absorbed by the hospitals, even assum
ing all of them actually entered employment. This would leave no
dietitians available from this source for the increasing number of
outlets outside hospitals, outlets which, when combined, equaled that
of the hospital field. (60) Replacements needed for the entire field at
the lowest estimate would be from 900 to 1,000 annually, and for some
DIETITIANS
19
years an equivalent number will be needed to fill accumulated vacan
cies and new openings.
Those coming from graduate courses in institution management,
another source of supply especially for nonhospital employment, were
too few to brighten the supply picture. In 1947-48, 15 persons were
awarded a master’s degree in this field, and none received a doc
torate. (78)
A study of some 3,400 members of the American Dietetic Association
made in 1949 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates a generally
low average number of years spent by the average dietitian in the
professional field. One-half of the employed hospital dietitians were
found to have been in the profession for an average of 6 years or less
in 1949. Dietitians who had left the field but had continued their
membership in the Association had worked an average of only 4 years
in the profession—a trend that reduced the supply of qualified persons
available.
In 1949, with unfilled places in dietetic internship training courses
and enrollments in home economics still running low, opportunities
were heightened for women entering this field. A young woman start
ing a course of study in home economics with the idea of later
specialization in dietetics may be sure of placement, providing her
scholastic achievement is satisfactory. In fact, she may look forward
to a variety of choices offered by the various types of work in this
interesting field and the many places in which it is carried on.
Shortages
The shortages in 1949 in the Federal Civil Service, where competi
tion for jobs in peacetime is generally keen, are indicative. Dietetics
continued to be one of the few fields in which active recruiting con
tinued long after World War II. In 1949 only 102 dietitians were on
the Civil Service register, of whom only 36 were available for begin
ning professional jobs, as compared with a register of 661 in 1941,
including 461 available for beginning jobs. From 75 to 100 Army
dietetic positions were unfilled in 1949. The Navy was launching a
program to recruit 20 dietitians as a start toward the employment of
women dietitians in all its large hospitals and dispensaries. It, sought
dietitians between the ages of 21 and 25, who were graduates of an
accredited college with a major in foods and nutrition or in institution
management, and who, in addition, had had 1 year of internship or 3
years of experience in a hospital. Late in 1949 the U.. S. Air Force
announced the organization of the U. S. Air Force Medical Service,
which was to include a staff of dietitians. (77) Twenty-nine budgeted
positions were unfilled in the U. S. Public Health Service.
20
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Hospitals of all other types reported openings for qualified dieti
tians. Even before World War II, State hospitals for mental disease
had reported an 87-percent deficit in dietetic personnel, as compared
with 42 percent for their employees in all categories. Working condi
tions and salaries have generally improved in this field in recent years
and made these positions more attractive. The frequently announced
State and local civil service examinations for dietetic positions in State,
county, and city hospitals in 1949 indicated continuing needs.
Reports from placement bureaus likewise confirmed the many oppor
tunities in all areas of dietetic employment. The American Dietetic
Association’s Placement Bureau reported more positions listed in each
of the years since World War II than during the peak year of 1942-43.
In August 1949 openings listed with the Bureau numbered 859. Only
536 members were seeking positions during that month. Throughout
the preceding .year, during which 224 placements were made by the
Bureau, the number of members registered for placement had remained
far below the number of positions which employers sought to fill
through the Association. Many of the members registered were al
ready employed as dietitians and were interested in better jobs, so that
they did not help to reduce the shortage by obtaining placement. Most
of the applicants expressed a preference for a certain type of work.
In April 1949, for example, two-thirds of the registrants preferred
hospital work. The only other group large enough to be reported
separately was composed of the 13 percent who preferred college food
service or school lunch work.
Employer requests ranged widely. Of 84 representative orders in
April 1949, almost two-thirds were for hospital staff or assistant dieti
tians, and a few Were for civil service positions as dietitians in State
hospitals. Only about one-sixth were for teachers, mostly teachers of
dietetic interns or teachers of student nurses in hospitals and a few for
college faculties. Openings on college faculties ranged from the head
ship of a department (Ph. D. required) to beginning instructorship
with a master’s degree required. The remainder included requests for
a few each of managers or supervisors of college food services (whose
duties included teaching and one of whom was required to have a
master’s degree), school lunch dietitians, home economists, food pro
duction managers, assistant business managers, and public health
nutritionists.
Reports from the placement service of the Division of Home
Economics at Iowa State College, which offers courses in hospital
dietetics and in institution management, were similar in type to those
of the Association and offered many attractive choices to the quali
fied dietitian. Employer requests sent to this institution for hospital
21
DIETITIANS
Demonstrates standard
ized portion of food to
those who serve it.
Checks
quality
amount of meat.
V:
Advises employees on
weight control by means
of a well-balanced diet.
!:
j-HWfROflcsBftili®
C'tRfflfiBKltJCWetlCJKf
Figure 11. The dietitian in an industrial cafeteria.
and
22
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
dietitians, which totaled 75 in 1944, fell to 70 in 1945, and rose again
to 141 in 1948. Placements dropped from 93 in 1944 to 36 in 1948.
The number of graduates available for jobs in 1948 served to meet
only one-fourth of the requests from employers. Requests and place
ments in institution management rose from 43 requests and 14 place
ments in 1940 to 329 requests and 77 placements in 1944. In 1948
employers’ requests totaled 179, of which the college was able to fill
only 28.
The New York State College of Home Economics at Cornell Uni
versity reported that the demand for its graduates in institution
management had doubled since 1940 and that it was unable to fill 210
positions in 1948. Sixty-six of these positions were for hospital
dietitians.
Columbia University’s Department of Institution Management at
Teachers College reported 57 requests which it had been unable to
fill in 1948 for dietitians in hospitals and other institutions, including
tearooms. Salaries ranged from $1,200 per year at a Quaker institu
tion to $4,000, with board and two-room apartment, as director of
foods in college dining service. Salaries for positions which were
filled were good and in several instances were exceptionally high.
Evidence that many jobs in dietetics were held by persons without
the training considered desirable for work in this field also emphasized
the shortage. A survey of Illinois hospitals in 1947 showed that,
although almost half of those who headed dietary departments were
American Dietetic Association members, more than one-third (39
percent) of those in charge of food service did not even have a college
degree in home economics. Of 110 State school lunch supervisors,
only 22 tvere graduate dietitians, according to a country-wide survey
made in 1949. Many of the positions with poorly prepared personnel
will be filled by qualified dietitians as soon as they are available,
adding to the favorable position in which the trained dietitian will
find herself during the next few years.
Paid Aides and Consultants
One method of reducing the load of work for hospital dietitians
and spreading their professional services is through the use of paid
diet aides to assist the hospital dietitians in many ways, such as making
infant formulas, keeping records and reports, telephoning orders,
tallying menus and special diets, checking trays, typing menus, and
doing many other of the more routine tasks done by dietitians in many
hospitals.
Some chief dietitians in the larger hospitals believe that there is
a definite need for aides to help relieve the effects of the shortage of
hospital dietitians by giving them more assistance. But there is a
DIETITIANS
23
difference of opinion on the background and training such employees
should have. A number of hospitals have been experimenting with
a program of training diet aides, especially where the number of
dietetic personnel is insufficient to meet the need. The responsibilities
given such aides vary widely in the different hospitals. A committee
of the American Hospital Association in 1949 was studying the need
and possible remedies. The aide program has not yet been sufficiently
developed to recommend a representative plan.
Some dietitians have suggested that hospitals and general food
services make large scale use of junior aides, and that training for
such aides be provided for in a 2-year junior college curriculum in
food service. Courses of this general type, that might easily be
adapted to train specialized personnel assistants or aides, were already
offered in a few places in 1949. Some junior colleges, like Stephens
College in Columbia, Mo., offered a food specialization course at the
junior college level. Graduates became assistants in tearooms, school
lunch programs, and nursery schools, and were placed in charge of
salads and other stations in cafeterias. Naturally, to qualify as
trained dietitians, it would be necessary for them to complete their
undergraduate work and dietetic internship.
The New York State Agricultural and Technical Institutes in 1949
offered a 2-year food course to high school graduates. Of the 207
women graduated from the food courses of two of these institutions
from 1945 to 1949. 126 worked in hospitals assisting dietitians and 59
were placed in food service of other kinds, including school lunch
programs, commercial and college food services, and State institutions.
Another means of spreading the services of dietitians has been the
assignment of a consultant dietitian, employed by the local or State
department administration, to supervise less well-trained persons in
charge of the food service at several small institutions in an area or
district. This type of work has become increasingly important in
view of the shortage of trained personnel.
Improving Working Conditions
The improvement of working conditions has been suggested as an
other means of attracting more women into this field. The conditions
of work vary as widely in this field as do earnings. Indications are
that, as with earnings, progress has been made in the postwar period.
Hours are generally shorter and more regular than they were before
World War II. But in residence hall management and in hospital
administration the split shift, with a spread as great as 12 hours, is
still used in some places, and hours on the whole tend to be longer
because of the continuous responsibility for food service.
24
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Some dietitians dislike work in small hospitals where additional
tasks, such as supervision of the housekeeping service, are often as
signed. However, others prefer the variety of work in such positions.
Some have complained that they are influenced to live in the institu
tion because the permissible living-out allowance is too small to be
attractive, although they prefer living elsewhere. Hospitals in iso
lated, rural locations, like those operated by the Office of Indian
Affairs, seem to have more difficulty in obtaining personnel because of
the virtual necessity of living in the hospital and the restriction of
daily social life to a limited environment. Some women, however,
seek positions where pleasant quarters in a nurses’ home at an at
tractively located hospital are available. The new hospitals generally
have modern working and living quarters, unlike the old kitchens or
dormitories in which dietitians began their hospital service many years
ago. The American Dietetic Association has consulted with the
American Institute of Architects on appropriate building specifications
for dietary departments in hospitals, and the American Hospital As
sociation has conducted workshops on lay-out and equipment for
dietary departments, so that even greater improvement can be
expected in future lay-outs.
Figure 12. A chief dietitian discusses the lay-out of the dietary department of a
new building with architects and the hospital superintendent.
DIETITIANS
25
Coverage by old age and survivors’ insurance and unemployment,
not available in 1949 to dietitians working in most hospitals and other
nonprofit organizations, has been recommended. Such coverage is
provided for in a bill passed by the House of Representatives and
scheduled for consideration by the Senate in 1950. Lack of inclusion
under Social Security provisions was the chief cause of dissatisfaction
reported by nurses in a 1947 survey, and it may rank similarly high
with dietitians. Salaries of positions in the Federal competitive
classified service are subject to deductions for retirement, although no
unemployment benefits are provided. Inadequate provisions for sick
leave or vacations are also a source of dissatisfaction in some hospitals
and institutions.
Various other working conditions in a few of the less progressive
hospitals or institutions seem to have an unfavorable effect on
dietitians. The relationship with the food service employees may be
unsatisfactory where the dietitian is not in charge of their manage
ment or where the wages for these employees are so low that the turn
over is heavy.
Recruitment and Changes in Training
Recruiting more students for internships is another means of in
creasing the supply to which dietitians have directed their efforts.
Figure 13. Dietetic interns
go over patient’s chart
with the doctor.
875401 0—50-
26
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
A special vocational guidance committee of the American Dietetic
Association has worked through State and local dietetic associations
and all other possible media, and has even employed publicity per
sonnel, to call the attention of prospective high school and college
students, counselors, and teachers to the shortages. Observation trips
to hospitals, as well as visual aids and radio and assembly talks, have
been arranged by local groups for potential dietitians currently in
high school.
Counselors and teachers, as well as some dietitians, have reported
that the length of the training and the extensive science requirements
seem to be the chief deterrents to many girls who would otherwise
consider the field. (See appendix, p. 68, for typical requirements for
an approved training course, and appendix, p. 70, for those for comple
tion of an approved internship.) The 5 years of preparation usually
required for hospital dietitians tend to discourage some girls from
entering the field. Some educators have proposed including an
internship in a 4-year course, leaving out some of the academic work;
others suggest a master’s degree following a reorganized 5-year pro
gram. One eastern college experimented with the latter program
some years ago, but dropped it because the combined hospital-intern
ship and seminar-thesis program proved too exhausting. However,
in 1947, two internship programs provided for completion of the
master’s degree, and some of the others allowed graduate credits for
part of the work.(J)
One food instructor blamed the science requirements for the fact
that only 8 of the 228 young women she was preparing in food service
and institution management planned to enter hospital internships.
She and some others have contended that administrative dietitians
need only an understanding of physics, biology, chemistry, and
physiology, and that this might be acquired without completion of a
full course in each as now required. Others believed just as strongly
that these requirements are absolutely necessary.
TRAINING
Shortages in dietetic personnel have led to the establishment of short
courses or short-cut schools which advertise that they train dietitians.
Some of these accept high school graduates and give courses lasting
1 or 2 years. In some of these schools high tuition is charged.
Although many graduates of such schools obtain certain types of jobs
in food service, they are in no sense trained dietitians and are subject
to bitter disappointment if they attempt to qualify as such where
college-trained women are desired.
DIETITIANS
27
The young woman who plans to be a dietitian can be sure of satis
factory qualifications if she completes the schooling and training
recommended and approved by the American Dietetic Association.
The fact that the American College of Surgeons has the policy of
requiring its approved hospitals to have at least one dietitian who is
eligible for American Dietetic Association membership, and the fact
that the Nurse Examining Boards in a number of States require that
registered nurses be trained in dietetics by a dietitian who meets
American Dietetic Association membership requirements, encourage
Figure 14. Hospital dietitian (at end of table) instructs dietetic interns in the testing
of samples of canned foods.
the employment of such dietitians in hospitals. In addition, many
employers prefer American Dietetic Association members because
of the standards of training and experience which they have met.
Three types of 1-year internship courses for dietitians following
college graduation are approved by the American Dietetic Associa
tion : Hospital internship courses, offered at 63 hospitals in 1949, pre
pare primarily for administrative or therapeutic work as a hospital
dietitian; administrative internships, offered at 8 colleges, industrial
corporations, or other organizations in 1949, train primarily for ad
ministrative dietetic work outside hospitals, such as supervisory work
28
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
in a restaurant or a hotel; the food clinic internship, offered at the
Boston Dispensary Food Clinic, prepares for specialization in hospital
clinic work. (For usual requirements for completing these approved
courses see appendix, p. 70.)
For entrance to internships approved by the American Dietetic
Association, a bachelor’s or advanced degree from an accredited col
lege or university (work for which has included or been followed by
the basic academic work in foods and nutrition or in institution
management) is the customary requirement. For those planning to
become hospital dietitians, undergraduate work should include the
specified courses in science required for membership in the American
Dietetic Association. (See appendix, p. 68, minimum requirements
for student dietitians in the Veterans Administration, for typical sci
ence and other educational requirements for entrance to an approved
dietetic internship.) The student who plans to continue her training
in a hospital should take the foods and nutrition major and should
include diet therapy, quantity cookery, and institution management in
her courses. In some colleges the institution management program
does not offer the full science requirements that qualify for hospital
internships but instead prepares students for executive management.
These students may take apprenticeships in restaurants, hotels, or in
dustrial organizations instead of internships in a hospital after grad
uation from a home enonomics college or university. Certain of these
apprenticeship programs are approved by the Association. Those
trained in the apprenticeship programs lack the therapeutic diet
training as well as the supervised practice training considered es
sential for most hospital work. They are sometimes employed in
hospitals and other institutions, however, as administrative dietitians,
who have the responsibility for food purchasing, menu planning, food
production service, cost accounting, and food cost control for the staff
and for patients on general diets. School lunch and college food serv
ice, hotels, clubs, and commercial and industrial food service organiza
tions place such dietitians in supervisory positions after they complete
their apprenticeships. Many of these trained dietitians are known
as food service managers or supervisors rather than dietitians.
As a result of personnel shortages, there were in 1949 a few hospital
internships which did not meet American Dietetic Association stand
ards. For instance, one of the seven internships offered in Illinois
hospitals in 1945 was not on the approved list, and a number of un
approved internships were known to exist in New York State and
other parts of the country. Some hospitals also have hired college
graduates directly from home economics courses without internship
training. These graduates may qualify for membership in the Ameri
DIETITIANS
29
can Dietetic Association only after 3 years of experience and provided
they have met certain standards in their undergraduate training and
in the supervision they received during their hospital employment.
(See appendix, p. 69.) Only a small fraction of the supervisory people
in the commercial and industrial field have had apprenticeship train
ing which would meet with the approval of the American Dietetic
Association, but the demand for such highly trained people is becom
ing greater, according to those who are specialists in this field.
To assist the dietetic intern during the year of internship, stipends
or other maintenance provisions usually are made. For the year of
training, the Federal Government pays an intern $1,470, which in
cludes the cost of maintenance. (See appendix, p. 68, for details.)
Other training courses offer varying amounts of stipends, sleeping
quarters, meals, uniforms, and/or laundry services. Of the 70 or more
hospitals or business organizations that are approved by the American
Dietetic Association for internship training, almost all make provi
sion for some maintenance, while about one-half provide stipends,
which vary from $112.50 to $1,627 for the year, in addition to making
various maintenance provisions.
Persons who have specialized in the field of dietetics stress the value
of this year of internship training in giving an insight into the prob-
is i
Figure 15. I he dietitian checks individual patients’ meals with the dietetic interns.
30
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
lems of administration and into the operations of a functioning institu
tion, as well as an awareness of human relationships seldom gained in
any other way.
Besides the administrative internship courses approved by the
American Dietetic Association and the institution management courses
offered by colleges of home economics (which train for nonhospital
administrative work, or food service management as it is usually
called), apprenticeship training programs for food service managers
and supervisors are sponsored by the National Restaurant Association
in certain hotels and restaurants. These programs will be described
in another bulletin in this series.
Although for many years it has been the practice in hospitals to
provide funds for internship programs, it has not been customary for
school systems to finance apprenticeship training for supervisors of
school lunch programs. Detroit and Chicago are among the few
cities which have trained selected home economics college graduates
as school lunch supervisors on an apprenticeship basis. One specialist
in this field stated that if the school lunch program is to develop under
trained guidance it will be necessary for many more cities to offer
graduate apprenticeships, and that State departments of education
should also provide for adequate supervisory staffs by offering appren
ticeship training for persons with suitable training and experience. A
joint committee of the American Home Economics Association, the
American Dietetic Association, and the School Food Service Associa
tion in 1948 prepared a statement of recommended standards of train
ing and experience for school lunch personnel.
Because of the continuous progress in the field of dietetics and nutri
tion, refresher courses are emphasized, especially for those whose
initial preparation has not been recent. Training programs and
refresher courses for school lunch supervisors, home economics teach
ers, and others responsible for school feeding have been primarily in
the form of workshops, over 100 of which were conducted in 1949.
(76) A number of colleges offer practice experience in school lunch
work, and some teachers’ colleges make such courses available to
students planning careers as elementary or secondary teachers. The
American Hospital Association conducted four institutes in 1948 for
administrative dietitians in hospitals, and at least two such institutes
were planned for 1949. Dietitians in the Veterans Administration
and the Army are given refresher training at intervals to keep them
abreast of new developments, and they are encouraged to take graduate
training.
Over 80 percent of the members of the American Dietetic Associa
tion replying in a 1946-47 survey had taken some type of special
training following their initial preparation. Most of those holding
DIETITIANS
31
Ph. D. degrees were specialists in teaching, research, or nutrition work.
The proportion holding master’s degrees was greatest among teachers
and among consultants. {3) Further study was encouraged by an
American Dietetic Association Loan Fund for Graduate Study from
which members, who have been active for at least 2 years, might
borrow up to $1,000 for further study. (1)
In 1949 an annual fellowship of $1,000 for graduate study and
research in nutrition or allied fields was made available to the Ameri
can Dietetic Association by the Nutrition Foundation, Inc., to encour
age dietitians who are members of the American Dietetic Association
to study the newer aspects of nutrition, such as preparation for the
teaching of nutrition to medical or dental students. The fellowship
is known as the Mary Swartz Rose Fellowship, to honor a pioneer in
nutrition education, who held the first professorship in nutrition in
the United States when, in 1921, she became Professor of Nutrition
at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her text books were still
widely used in nutrition courses in 1949. A fellowship committee
within the American Dietetic Association receives nominations and
decides on the award each year. {59)
EARNINGS, WORKING CONDITIONS, AND ADVANCEMENT
The average hospital dietitian received an annual salary of $2,820 in
1949, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics study of 3,400 mem
bers of the American Dietetic Association referred to earlier. Half of
them earned between $2,400 and $3,200, although salaries below $1,200
and above $5,000 were reported. Highest salaries, averaging from
$2,950 to $3,000, were reported in the Mountain, Southwest, and
Pacific States.
Part of the regional differences in salaries can be explained by the
differences in the extent to which dietitians lived in hospital quarters.
Such arrangements were most frequent in New England and the
Southeast, where cash salaries were the lowest. Meals in addition to
cash salaries were provided for more than one-half of the hospital
dietitians and almost all college food service managers in the study.
In most cases, 21 meals per week were furnished. Cash salaries for
those living outside of hospital quarters were almost $600 higher than
for those occupying quarters. Those living outside hospitals averaged
$2,970 yearly.
This survey further indicated that salaries tended to increase with
the length of service with the dietitian’s present employer, as well as
with the total years of experience in the profession. The size of the
community apparently had little effect on salary levels of hospital
dietitians, but salaries tended to be higher in large than in small hos
pitals. General hospitals, where the great majority of dietitians
32
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
mmm
i Food i
[food
Figure 16. A dietetic intern assists an administrative dietitian in menu planning
and cost computation.
worked, showed an average of $2,760 annually, while the highest
salaries were reported for dietitians in mental hospitals, which paid
an average of $3,330 per year. Salaries tended to increase with the
amount of education in the field; an average of $1,860 was received by
those without college education in the profession, as compared with
the $3,100 average received by those with some graduate work in the
tiehl.
In 1949 the beginning salary for a staff dietitian in the Federal
civil service was $3,100. (For requirements for this position, see
appendix, p. 67.) Dietitian positions in high grades, involving
management and supervisory duties, ranged from $3,825 to $7,400.
Commissioned dietitians in the Army, the Public Health service, and
the Navy received similar pay and held military titles. For example,
the second lieutenant in the Army corresponded to the junior assistant
dietitian in the Public Health Service and the ensign in the Navy.
The highest Public Helath Service rank, senior dietitian, was on a
par with lieutenant colonel of the Army and the commander in the
Navy. Student dietitians accepted for Army training were commis
sioned as second lieutenants and received base pay and allowances of
approximately $3,000.
DIETITIANS
33
County and city civil service examination announcements from
scattered communities indicated a considerable range in salaries offered
in 1949. For staff dietitians, lowest rates appeared to range from
$1,900 to $2,800. For administrative and executive dietitians in in
stitutions, salaries announced were generally higher, from $3,000 up
ward. The remuneration in private agencies, both hospitals and
philanthropic institutions, was not generally as high as in govern
mental agencies. In 1948, it was reported, dietitians in civilian
hospitals were paid from $1,800 plus maintenance to $5,000. (45)
Median annual salaries for the heads of school cafeteria programs
in city school systems in 1948—49, according to the National Education
Association, ranged from $2,650 in cities with a population of from
5,000 to 10,000, to $5,125 in cities of over 500,000 population. (66)
-Many school cafeteria positions were held by men administrators, but
trained women dietitians were being employed more and more in this
field. In the larger city systems college-trained persons who managed
individual cafeterias under the city head usually received higher sala
ries than those without training. In one southern city in 1949, for ex
ample, managers of small cafeterias serving 50 to several hundred
children started at $2,100 if they were college trained, and at $1,800
if they were not. Beginning salaries for trained cafeteria managers
there ranged upward to $2,600 in the large high schools. These
salaries were for a school year rather than for a calendar year. In
some northern cities women who were school lunch directors were
paid $6,000, and in others women assistant directors received that
amount. College food service jobs for women began at $2,800 to
$3,000 with full maintenance and paid as high as $7,000 with
maintenance.
For self-employed dietitians income varied with the amount and
type of work. Some received a salary from medical clinics. For
independent consultant dietitians’ earnings usually were low for the
first few years before a clientele had been built up. Then, after the
overhead expense of office rent, equipment, and supplies were paid, net
incomes might vary from $3,500 to $4,000 per year upward, according
to one dietitian with experience of this type.
Hours of work were generally shorter than they wTere before World
War II for hospital or institutional dietitians, but because of the con
tinuous responsibility for food service they tend to be long. (See
p. 23.) Many dietitians preferred school lunchroom work or other
types of dietetics activity where the 40-hour week was assured. Dieti
tians in some of the less progressive hospitals or institutions complain
of too frequent work on Sundays or of arbitrary, sudden shifts in time
schedules which make satisfactory utilization of their free time
impossible.
875401°—50------,6
34
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
The 1949 survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics also showed that
the average hospital dietitian worked 44 hours per week and the aver
age college food service dietitian about 49 hours weekly. Two-thirds
of the hospital dietitians reported that their work schedule exceeded
40 hours, as did 9 out of 10 college food service dietitians. For those
working in hospitals, the longest schedules were reported in New
England, and the longest actual hours worked in New England, the
border States, and the Southeast. The shortest hours were found on
the Pacific coast with an average of 42 hours.
Split shifts, where the working day was divided by a period of more
than 1 hour off work, were reported by one-half of the hospital dieti
tians and by almost three-fifths of the college food service dietitians.
Most dietitians worked split shifts only on some workdays in the
week. In New England, where split shifts were most common, over
one-tliird were required to work this schedule during all workdays.
This survey also indicated that practically all dietitians had paid
vacations of at least 2 weeks annually. Almost one-half of the hos
pital dietitians had 4 weeks of vacation, as did three-fifths of the col
lege food service dietitians. Sick leave was widespread although less
universal than vacation plans but was limited in most cases to not
more than 2 weeks annually. One-third of the hospital dietitians
and one-half of the college food service dietitians were covered by
retirement pensions. Hospital dietitians enjoyed provisions for hos
pitalization and medical care more frequently than other groups but
participated less in insurance plans than did college food service
personnel.
Sources of dissatisfaction most frequently reported in the study were
economic, involving provisions for retirement, employment security,
salaries, and opportunities for promotion. The condition of work
equipment was also a source of complaint among a relatively large
number of dietitians. There was somewhat less dissatisfaction with
regard to hours of work in those parts of the. country where shorter
workweeks were common.
There are excellent opportunities for women to advance in dietetics.
Leaders must come from the ranks of women in this field, and many
are needed to administer expanding programs and to train the increas
ing number of young women needed to supply the demand. A hos
pital dietitian often begins as a therapeutic or administrative dietitian
in a small hospital where she may be the only trained dietetic person
on the staff. Her next step might be to head dietitian in a hospital
of 200 or more beds where she probably would have supervision of
one assistant who would handle the therapeutic work. Her chief
chance for promotion would be in directing an internship training
course or in obtaining an administrative job in a large hospital of
DIETITIANS
35
450 beds or more where she might have 5 assistants, 2 for the adminis
trative and 3 for the therapeutic work. The average Veterans Ad
ministration hospital, for instance, employs one chief dietitian who
supervises 4 others. Hospitals in the Northwest are reported to have
one dietitian to each 50 to 60“ beds. However, most therapeutic
dietitians find their work of providing special diets in the treatment
of disease very interesting. Many forego administrative work to
continue as therapeutic dietitians.
Dietitians serving as commissioned officers in the Army, Navy, and
the U. S. Public Health Service benefit from provisions for their
automatic advancement in grade and periodic pay increases, on the
basis of longevity, of 5 percent of the base pay for each 3 years of
commissioned military service. Promotion in the commissioned serv
ice is not delayed until vacancies occur but is given provided the
work is satisfactory. A woman with the rank of lieutenant colonel
headed the Dietetic Section of the Women’s Medical Specialist Corps
in the Army in 1949. The first woman to be appointed to this position
was later awarded the Legion of Merit for organizing the Army
Dietetic Section and for generally outstanding professional
achievement.
In the Federal Government advancement from one grade to the
next higher one is made possible by a combination of seniority, satis
factory service, and available vacancies. That steady advancement
is possible in this service was indicated by a survey of government
agencies. In 7 nonmilitary governmental agencies in 1949, 351 per
sons were at the beginning grade for dietitians, which is the 5th
grade; 237 were in the next two higher levels; 123 in the next two
grades; 117 in the next one; and 29 in the 12th grade.
After a few years of experience a dietitian can look forward to op
portunities for many interesting positions. She may choose to
specialize in one type of hospital work, such as supervising quantity
feeding in a children’s hospital or teaching in a food clinic. She may
decide to enter the field of the public health nutritionist, of college
residence hall feeding, or of home economists in business. Work as a
self-supporting independent dietitian also offers opportunity to a per
son with enough financial resources to tide her over the first few years.
The dietitian who marries and gives full time to homemaking will find
her education and experience directly useful in her housekeeping duties
and in rearing a family. In turn, her experience in he?- own home, if
she keeps abreast of professional developments, will add to her value
m the eyes of an employer if she seeks employment in later years. The
man iage rate among dietitians is reported to be high and accounted in
1948 for many of the changes in address reported by nearly 9 percent
of the members of the American Dietetic Association in that year. In
36
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Figure 17. A consultant dietitian, who works with a group of physicians, interprets
diet to a patient.
May 1949 more than a third (37 percent) of all members of the Associa
tion were married. Eighteen percent were housewives, some of whom
held part-time positions. The 1949 Bureau of Labor Statistics study
of members of the Association indicated that 4 out of 5 of the inactive
members were married and not working outside their homes and gave
care for their homes and families as their main reason for leaving their
profession. Some stated that it did not pay to work in their profession
and to hire someone to care for their families.
Dietitians who marry and want to continue to work full time outside
their home can find many opportunities for employment. One-fourth
of the members of the American Dietetic Association reporting em
ployment in October 1948 were married. Before World War II the
general practice of providing maintenance for hospital dietitians only
in quarters provided by. the institution in which they worked dis
couraged the employment of married women in hospitals. Although
employers still preferred single persons on hospital jobs offering full
maintenance in 1949, in view of the general shortage of workers, most
employers were willing to allow other residence arrangements for ’wellqualified married candidates. Only once in the entire year of 1948
did the marital status or home duties of a candidate for placement
through the American Dietetic Association prevent her from taking
DIETITIANS
37
a position. In this case, the dietitian was unable to make living ar
rangements for her child so that she could be free to take a job. Mar
ried women are also accepted in most internship training courses,
although some training centers prefer single women.
Certain types of dietetic work are more feasible for married women,
especially those with children. Work in industrial plants, public
health work, food clinic work, teaching, or school lunch programs with
a 5-day week and Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays free are more de
sirable for women with home responsibilities than are most hospital
jobs.
For those who wish to make a lifetime career in the field, there are
many opportunities for long service. Many women in dietetics have
continued in an administrative capacity in hospital, school, and other
types of work as they have reached their fifties and sixties. There are
also teaching, writing, and consulting jobs for which considerable ex
perience is desired. Although most employers prefer to hire women
between 25 and 35, some schools accept students in their early forties
or even beyond, if a personal interview is favorable. In dietetics,
emphasis is placed on physical ability to do the job rather than on one s
age. Every intern must pass a physical examination.
Since the dietitian is expected to reflect good principles of nutrition
in her own living, a healthy physical condition is required. She
should be strong and active, because most of the work is strenuous and
involves much standing. Regular food service must be maintained by
her in spite of emergencies. This very demand upon her emphasizes
the importance of the services she renders and is in part responsible
for the deep satisfaction most dietitians obtain from their work.
ORGANIZATIONS
The principal professional organization for those trained in dietetics
is the American Dietetic Association. It was organized in 1917 with
58 members and had about 8,500 members in 1949, of whom 37 were
men. Most of the latter were honorary members employed in bio
chemical or food research or related fields. About 1,500 of the women
members were essentially homemakers who worked outside their homes
only part time or irregularly. Affiliated dietetic associations existed
in all but 3 States in 1949.
The Association has progressively raised professional standards for
the dietitian, and cooperation has been given in this trend by the
American College of Surgeons, the American Medical Association,
the American Hospital Association, the American Home Economics
Association, and the American Public Health Association. The As
sociation has a placement bureau for members in good standing, and
it publishes a monthly journal, as well as bulletins and reports. Much
38
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
If:: Mi
Bill
kjgtBiw?
Figure 18. An Army dietitian checks food supplies as they are unloaded at a hos
pital central storeroom.
emphasis lias been placed on a vocational guidance program which is
organized under the Association’s Professional Education Section.
Projects are conducted by four sections of the Association: the Com
munity Nutrition Section on imparting sound nutrition information to
the public by teachers and public health nutritionists; the Diet Ther
apy Section, concerned with the use of food as a therapeutic agent in
treating disease; the Food Administration Section, which assembles in
formation for the use of institution dietitians and those in commercial
and business organizations; and the Professional Education Section,
which sets up standards for training in the dietetic profession and for
teaching dietetics to groups in allied professions. (£) Approximately
83 percent of the new members admitted to the Association in recent
years were graduates of approved internships who had all the required
academic credits. The others were college graduates who were able
to offer 3 years of acceptable experience in dietetic work for associa
tion membership. (For requirements for active membership in the
Association see appendix, p. 69.)
Some hospital dietitians belong to the American Hospital Asso
ciation, which in addition to its 4,017 member hospitals, had 3,127 in
dividual members in June 1948. About half the individual members
were hospital administrators, but department heads in dietetic, per
sonnel, accounting, and other fields were also members.
DIETITIANS
39
Dietitians in school lunch work may belong to the School Food Serv
ice Association, formed in 1946 by a merger of the Food Service Di
rectors’ Conference and the National School Cafeteria Association. In
1948, about 900 members were in this rapidly growing organization,
composed mainly of school lunch managers and including a few college
food service personnel. Home economics school or college faculty mem
bers teaching institution administration, public health nutritionists,
and any other persons interested in institution food service are also
eligible for membership.
Dietitians in hotels and restaurants may belong to the National
Restaurant Association, a majority of the members of which are em
ployed in management or staff jobs connected with the operation of
commercial restaurants. (Such work will be discussed in more detail
in a later bulletin in this series.)
Many dietitians are also members of the American Home Economics
Association, which has a Foods and Nutrition Division and a Depart
ment of Home Economics in Institution Administration. Require
ments for membership in this Association include a college degree with
a major in home economics or related fields and acceptable subsequent
training or experience as a home economist. In 1949 the Association
had approximately 19,000 members, of whom many were in the field of
foods and nutrition.
SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE ENTERING THE FIELD
The woman who plans to enter this rapidly developing field needs
an open mind, social vision, and adaptability. She should have buoy
ant health, intelligence, emotional stability, analytical and administra
tive ability, and poise in a professional environment. To be properly
prepared, the student should decide very early in her academic career
upon the type of dietetic work she desires for a specialty, in order to
follow the requisite curriculum and obtain the necessary training.
Both the American Dietetic Association and the American Home Eco
nomics Association have published helpful literature on this sub
ject. (7) U)
.
*
A young woman interested in this field may test her reactions to the
various types of activity offered by observing or by gaining some actual
experience in quantity feeding before she makes a final decision re
garding her choice of work. For example, visiting hospitals, talking
with dietetic interns, and attending clinics are educational and helpfid ; working in a hospital or restaurant during summer months in
any position in a dietary department is often an excellent means of
checking one’s interest; work at a summer resort or in a local hotel
as a pantry maid gives insight into the problems of food service in a
hotel or restaurant.
40
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Figure 19. A dietitian instructs diabetic patients in a clinic.
Tomorrow’s dietitian needs adequate preparation to meet the de
mands that will be made upon her. Besides the training described
earlier in this bulletin, she will find typing and accounting useful
tools. If she teaches in clinics, as most dietitians do, courses in educa
tion and psychology would be of great assistance. For the clinic
dietitian, abnormal psychology in addition is suggested, and for those
who plan to work in children’s hospitals, child psychology is helpful.
Additional emphasis on science and statistics is important for those
who desire to specialize in research. Courses in psychology, industrial
relations, and labor union activities, as given in home economics
schools, will broaden the understanding of the woman trained in
dietetics who plans to supervise food service personnel.
DEMAND PRIOR TO 1949
Like nursing, hospital dietetics is believed to have obtained its first
recognition as a result of Florence Nightingale’s service in the Crimean
War in 1854. By 1890, four hospitals in the United States were
operating dietetic classes. (58) But progress was slow. Only a few
college-trained dietitians were working in hospitals before World
ar I, according to a report released in 1913. The average dietitian
(hen had a small diet kitchen, usually in an undesirable location, such
DIETITIANS
41
as a hospital basement, and taught dietetics to nurses. Diabetes and
a few liver ailments were the only illnesses for which diet therapy
was given. (35) Menus following the prescription of the physician
were written by the dietitian, and in many hospitals she was also
responsible for the preparation of the food for special diets. The
purchasing for the special diets was usually done by the chef or
steward, who also had the responsibility for the purchasing, planning,
preparation, and service of food for patients on general diets and for
the staff. (27)
A new emphasis was given dietetics in World War I, when the
American Red Cross organized a dietitians’ service for military hos
pitals in the United States and overseas. In 1918, 356 dietitians were
in this service, of whom 84 served overseas. (T?) Following the
war, dietetic programs expanded in civilian hospitals too. By 1938,
2,400 qualified dietitians were employed in hospitals in the United
States. (Ifi) During the intervening period clinic dietitians had
become an established specialty in some hospitals where they con
ducted food clinics in the out-patient department, interpreting the
diet orders of the physician in terms of family food preferences and
income level. For example, a maternity hospital in St. Louis em
ployed a dietitian who devoted full time to a maternal health clinic
where mothers were advised regarding the feeding of their infants
after discharge from the maternity hospital. (62)
Although there appeared to be no shortage of dietitians during the
thirties, there was a steady demand for the increasing number of
women who took training for this work. Of 370 dietitians who com
pleted their training in 1936, 90 percent were employed by the follow
ing year, a time when unemployment was plaguing most professions
and beginners in most fields were having difficulty in finding jobs. (JfS)
In fact, the need for economy during this period in hospitals, where
one-fourth of the expenditures were for food and food services, led to
wider recognition of the skill of the administrative dietitian in serving
nutritious meals at a minimum cost. (55) Dietitians gradually
assumed the responsibility for general diets, until it became customary
for them to supervise the food service for both patients and staff in a
hospital, and in some instances to purchase supplies and equipment
and oversee the storeroom. (27)
The trend toward hiring dietitians was also strengthened by the fact
that the American College of Surgeons urged that the dietary depart
ment in its approved hospitals be operated by a person who qualified
for membership in the American Dietetic Association. By 1940 more
than 400 hospitals approved by the College employed more than 1,100
dietitians, of whom 83 percent were members of the American Dietetic
Association; and each of 6 States had a supervisory dietitian to over
42
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
see food service in mental institutions.(62) (68) (61) (4,1) By 1941
veterans’ hospitals alone employed 260 dietitians, and Federal prison
and marine hospitals employed 51 others. (65)
Consulting dietitians were being employed increasingly both by
private and public agencies. A child health foundation and a wel
fare federation, for instance, employed a consulting dietitian to visit
summer camps under their auspices. As early as 1937 three States
had consultant dietitians to visit State agencies and institutions to
insure adequate nutrition for staff and patients. In one State depart
ment of welfare a consulting dietitian was assigned to visit children’s
institutions and boarding homes. (41)
At the start of World War II the demand for dietitians bad out
stripped the supply, although more than 1,500 young women were
trained in hospitals as dietetic interns from 1939 to 1941, and others
were prepared for administrative work in courses in institution man
agement in schools of home economics. The American Dietetic Asso
ciation reported 468 positions for dietitians in 1941 which it was
unable to till, 70 percent of which were in hospitals. The same year
an eastern university offering training in institution management re
ceived 127 requests for staff dietitians from employers in 25 States.
(U)
Although most of the demand was for hospital dietitians for admin
istrative or therapeutic work, new fields of work were reflected in
these requests as well as in other reports.
World War II heightened the demand for all types of dietitians,
both in military and in civilian services. At the peak of the war a
study, based on a questionnaire sent out over the Nation, indicated
that fhe demand for dietitians had increased fivefold since the start
of the war. (33) Expansion in the number of school lunch programs,
of nursery schools and day-care centers, and of industrial cafeterias
for war-service workers was responsible for some of the increase, but
the principal demand came from hospitals.
The most spectacular development was the increase in the number
of dietitians in the Army. In 1941, just before the declaration of war,
there were 110 dietitians on duty, and provision for 350 more had
been made for camp hospitals established to serve an expanding de
fense Army. (10) But during the war the number of hospital dieti
tians employed by the Army reached 2,000, of whom a maximum of
1,600 were on duty at any one time. In the latter stages of the war
Army dietitians, in addition to the usual duties of administrative or
therapeutic hospital dietitians, carried responsibility for requisition
ing all food supplies, for assisting in the supervision of hospital mess
halls, and for food sanitation. Some served overseas and on hospital
ships. Those in hospitals in combat zones shared the rough life of the
43
DIETITIANS
*■ Z - :
n : igw ,.... wmmmmfi
-
“
n
ag*
1II1K
: flSll#
1
Figure 20. The dietitian in charge of the food standardization program for a
restaurant chain (seated at left) checks quality of food service.
soldiers and wore trousers, leggings, and lielmets instead of tlieir
usual hospital uniforms.
^
.
A number of dietitians served as Waves, Marines, and Spars during
the war. A committee of 23 dietitians wrote the Navy Cook Book
after 2 years of testing, and Wave dietitians were assigned to duty in
this country and abroad. (11)
Other Federal needs, too, were expanding. The U. S. Public Health
Service sought dietitians for the marine and other hospitals under its
jurisdiction and offered reserve and regular commissions, with grades
corresponding to those, of the Army and uniforms like those of the
Spars, as well as civil service positions in this field. (90) In 1944 the
Veterans Administration announced 275 vacancies for dietitians. (4)
At the same time these new demands were developing, the number of
dietitians in other government hospitals also increased, though more
slowly. For instance, women dietitians on the administrative staffs of
State and veterans’ hospitals for mental disease numbered 219 in 1945,
a 5.3 percent increase over the number in 1940. (80). .
_
Civilian hospitals meanwhile continued their administrative, thera
peutic, and clinical programs. In 1944, registered hospitals of all
types reporting to the American Medical Association listed 0, (5.1
full-time dietitians and 695 part-time dietitians, as compared with
5,548 full-time and 459 part-time dietitians in 1941. (22) (9)
44
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Every effort was made to supply the extraordinary wartime demand.
The U. S. Civil Service Commission, the American National Red Cross,
and the American Dietetic Association were among the agencies which
recruited actively for war needs. By the close of the war almost
one-fourth of the membership of the American Dietetic Association,
which increased about 10 percent during the war years, had served in
the Army. (88) (37) Dietitians who had retired were asked to return
to service to replace younger women who were free to take assignments
anywhere in the country or overseas. The Army raised its maximum
age for entrance for dietitians to 45. (&£)
Another attempt to augment the supply involved the use of volun
teer dietitian’s aides in hospitals. The first group started their
training in a government hospital in May 1943, taking a course spon
sored jointly by the American National Red Cross and the American
Dietetic Association. (1,9) By the end of 1944, 6,641 aides had been
trained, and 157 corps of these dietitian’s aides had served in 259
civilian and military hospitals. (57) They performed, some of the
tasks ordinarily done by student nurses or dietetic interns, especially
kitchen tasks connected with the preparation of food, food service to
patients and staff, and the keeping of records.(IS) Discontinued in
1946, the dietitian’s aide corps was viewed with enthusiasm by some,
by others as useful in an emergency but impractical in peacetime,
and by still others as ineffective except in those instances where super
vision was unusually expert.
Training facilities for dietitians were also expanded. Eight new
hospital internship courses were started, including one in an Army
hospital and one in a Veterans Administration hospital. (37) As
early as 1942 the 12-month course for student dietitians in the Army
W'as shortened and concentrated so that the output of accredited dieti
tians from this source was doubled. (67) A few other hospitals at
tempted 9-month accelerated programs with the approval of the
American Dietetic Association, but found them generally unsatis
factory. In 1945, 950 dietitians were graduated from 74 approved
courses, of whom probably one-third were planning to enter military
service. (88) (37) Refresher courses of 6 weeks’ duration were set
up in several hospitals in an effort to prepare dietitians who had
retired from professional work for further service. However, the
number of jobs continued to outnumber the available applicants, and
shortages continued into the postwar period.
Public Health Nutritionist Defined
According to the American Public Health Association, a nutritionist
in a public health agency is “a qualified professionally trained person
who directs or carries on a program of activities dealing with the
application of the scientific knowledge of nutrition to the promotion
of positive health, the prevention of ill health, and the dietary control
of disease. The nutrition program of a health agency is directed
toward strengthening the service that the agency is rendering in
determining the health status of the population served, in dealing
with the causes of ill health, in caring for the sick entrusted to its
care, and in promoting well-being among the groups and individuals
through better food practices.” (28)
An unpublished statement released in 1948 by the director of the
nutrition unit, Children’s Bureau, states further that “although many
nutritionists have the training and experience which makes them ‘pro
ficient in the art of feeding individuals or groups,’ it is their training
in the sciences of nutrition, education, public health, and social welfare
that is considered essential for the performance of their duties. By
far the majority of nutritionists work in the field of public health,
although some are employed by social welfare and educational
agencies. Their work is primarily that of technical consultation and
of in-service education for those health, welfare, and education workers
coming into direct contact with the public whose nutrition needs to be
improved or maintained in a satisfactory state.”
45
. . j--
Figure 21. A public health nutritionist interviews a child patient in a nutrition
clinic in a search for general dietary deficiencies.
46
Part II. The Outlook for Public Health Nutritionists
THE OUTLOOK IN 1949
Well-trained nutritionists, especially those with graduate training
in certain phases of human nutrition, were in demand in 1949. Pros
pects were for a steady growth of opportunities in this small but im
portant field. The shortage of highly qualified persons to fill vacancies
in Federal and State Government positions was serious enough to
delay the inauguration or expansion of nutrition programs where
funds for financing them were available. Local governments, and
more recently international bodies, have also established programs in
this field.
In view of the great advance in the science of nutrition and the
realization on the part of public health officials that the proper nutri
tion of individuals plays an important part in well-being, the demand
for trained workers to carry on nutrition programs in the field of
Public health has been constantly increasing. The recognition of
lesearch in nutritional status and food consumption as a function
of public health agencies, and recognition also of the importance of
nutrition in school lunch work, industrial hygiene, social welfare, and
agricultural extension work, have been relatively recent. Further
development will open new opportunities for nutritionists in these
fields.
Specialists in public health have estimated that one public health
nutritionist for every 75,000 to 100,000 persons would insure a mini
mum of necessary nutrition service and education in the United
States. Another estimate by a leader in the field of public health
administration mentions one public health nutritionist for 100,000
to 200,000 inhabitants as necessary for general well-being. (70) The
range between the lowest and the highest figure signifies estimated
needs for from 150 to 2,000 nutritionists. These figures, however,
apply only to nutritionists in community work, and do not include
those needed in teaching and research.
The problem is one of financing these needs. A few States have
shown what can be done. In one State, for example, nutrition plan
ning was well developed in 1946-47, with 47 nutritionists employed in
State work and 14 more working in the largest city in the State. (SJ/.)
(06) Eight of the latter worked for the Visiting Nurses Association
and the other six for other Community Chest agencies and for the Red
47
48
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Cross. One organized Red Cross nutrition classes for Scouts and
business girls; another advised infant and preschool clinics, gave radio
talks, wrote a newspaper column, and taught nurses and teachers.
Similar nutrition programs may ultimately be developed in all States
and localities in proportion to their needs.
Despite our knowledge, people are still suffering from the effects
of nutritional deficiency. To reduce this toll by spreading and apply
ing that knowledge in organized programs of health services and
education is the challenge to meet which an increasing number of
nutritionists will be needed in the future.
DEMAND
State and Local Public Health Nutritionists
Typical of the variety of duties of a State nutritionist were those
of four nutritionists employed by Tennessee. They assisted in train
ing nurses and student nurses in hospitals and accompanied nurses
on home visits. They advised patients in prenatal clinics, planned
school nutrition projects, prepared food budgets for use in public
welfare programs, and assisted with nutrition meetings for dentists,
nurses, health officers, school lunchroom workers and managers, camp
leaders, industrial workers, and families. (69) In some States the
Figure 22. As part of a nutrition education research project, sixth grade children
are taught vitamin values of foodsr
NUTRITIONISTS
49
work for nutritionists was less varied. In each of two Midwestern
States, for instance, a nutritionist served only on the State lunch
program staff; and, in a western State, one staff nutritionist and eight
field nutritionists administered the school lunch program. (79)
The largest number of public health nutritionists in 1949 were em
ployed in State health agencies, where 173 were at work, according to
the U. S. Public Health Service. The work of these public health
nutritionists, as well as their number, varied in the several States.
Many State health agencies are responsible for the institutional care
of people in State sanatoria and hospitals and wards for crippled
children. In these institutions, the dietary departments need constant
attention, both because the diet is important in treatment and because
the cost of food is one of the major items of expense. In such States,
the nutritionists may be sent out to consult with the personnel in
charge of food service, and find their work similar to that of the
consulting dietitian. The Department of Public Health in Illinois
in 1946, for example, employed a nutritionist who gave consulting
service to hospitals providing maternity care: suggesting improved
kitchen lay-outs and more efficient tray operation; checking methods,
schedules, sanitation and food preparation for nutrition; offering
guidance in food purchasing, cost control, employee problems; and
observing the teaching of student nurses. A guide for menu planning
was prepared by the nutritionist for hospital use in this State. (73)
In the Division of Maternal and Child Health in the same State,
on the other hand, nutritionists were concentrating on improving
public understanding of the use of foods through community confer
ences in regions comprised of groups of local health units. (Jfi)
Some counties and many of the larger cities employed nutritionists
in public health work. Chicago, New York City, and Detroit were
among those with nutrition departments in their departments of
health. (20) San Diego and Los Angeles were among other cities
which hired nutritionists. Los Angeles had a special program for
the prevention of dietary deficiency diseases. In Washington, D. C.,
one nutritionist was employed in the Health Department in the Bureau
of Maternal-Child Welfare, and another budgeted position for a
nutritionist was vacant in 1949 for lack of qualified personnel. Some
community chests and welfare federations, like the one in Cleveland,
had a nutritionist serving as a dietary consultant to their affiliated
agencies. {87) Cleveland also had three other nutritionists on the
staff of the Nutrition Association of Greater Cleveland, a member
agency of its Health Council. The local chapter of the American
National Bed Cross for several years contributed substantially to this
program by paying the salary of at least one nutritionist.
50
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Nutritionists in the Federal Government
Nutritionists in the Federal Government, although comparatively
few in number, exert great influence in improving country-wide
nutrition. The Federal Security Act, passed in 1935, stimulated the
demand for nutritionists in the Federal Government in connection
with local and State programs for health services to mothers and
children. (See appendix, p. 69, for civil service requirements for a
public health nutritionist.)
The Division of Chronic Disease of the Public Health Service in
the Federal Security Agency employed nine nutritionists in 1949.
Five of the nutritionists were assigned to the Nutrition Branch, two
to the Diabetes Branch, and two to the Heart Branch. All except one
had master’s degrees, and the chief nutritionist had a Ph.D. degree.
A major activity of the Nutrition Branch was to assist State and
local departments by demonstrating methods of determining the extent
of malnutrition in a community and its correction through an educa
tional program. The field work was carried on by demonstration
teams composed of a physician, nutritionist, nurse, biochemist, and
health educator. The teams worked on the nutritional problems of
families and school children, the aging population, racial groups, insti
tutions, and industrial groups.
A small staff of nutritionists formed the Nutrition Unit of the
Children’s Bureau in the Federal Security Agency. The five nutri
tionists employed in this unit in 1949 all had master’s degrees and at
least 3 years of actual experience in their field when they were hired.
Three of them were engaged exclusively in field work. These nutri
tionists gave advisory and technical assistance to regional medical
officers of the Bureau, to State departments of public health and
crippled children’s agencies, to colleges and universities maintaining
or planning professional training in public health nutrition, and to
regional child welfare consultants on foster and boarding homes and
child-care institutions. Conferences, meetings, reports, and publica
tions on nutrition were utilized in their work. International activities
of this program included consultation with the Food and Agriculture
Organization and the World Health Organization of the United
Nations, the exchange of information with nutritionists in other coun
tries, and the assistance and training of foreign visitors for leadership
in nutrition programs for mothers and children in their own lands.
The Agricultural Extension Service of the Department of Agricul
ture in cooperation with the extension service of the land grant
colleges of the States employed a large number of women specialists
in foods and nutrition in its extension program in rural areas through
out the United States. The number lias remained fairly constant, at
NUTRITIONISTS
51
around 100, since 1939. In 1949, 97 women extension nutritionists
on this staff were improving the nutrition of people in the rural areas.
Some positions remained unfilled because qualified people were not
available. (This work will be treated at greater length in a later
bulletin on home demonstration work.)
At headquarters in Washington, D. C., the Department of Agri
culture in 1949 had a staff of 44 women engaged in nutrition research
in its Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics. They were
not called nutritionists but were known as research workers in nutri
tion. Some were nutrition chemists, for example. However, onefourth of the staff had earned master’s degrees in nutrition or in foods
and nutrition. Their work will be discussed in more detail in a later
bulletin in this series which will include information on all research
workers in home economics.
Red Cross Nutritionists
A large group of nutritionists with quasi-government al status were
those in the service of the American National Red Cross. Nutri
tionists employed by the Red Cross in 1948 numbered 124, of whom 38
were in the national headquarters or area offices. Those on the national
staff planned and supervised a nutrition program carried on by ap-
Figure 23. The Red Cross nutritionist instructs a class of young mothers.
52
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
proximately 1,100 chapters throughout the United States, 86 of which
employed nutrition directors. The nutrition activities of the remain
ing 1,000 or more chapters with nutrition programs were guided by
the professional and lay volunteers of the community in which they
were situated. Chapters often organized refresher courses for profes
sionally trained women with previous nutrition training which met
specific standards established by the Red Cross. They in turn con
ducted classes in food and nutrition in their communities. (56) These
volunteers numbered many hundreds in any one year. In 1941, from
1,500 to 2,000 gave time to the Red Cross. (65) Although no report on
later years is available, it would seem that the number increased, in
view of the growth in the number of Red Cross staff nutritionists.
The Rochester, N. Y., Chapter of the Red Cross carried on activities
typical of the programs of the large city chapters. The Red Cross
Nutrition Committee was made up of professionally trained women
from many organizations and agencies, as well as of interested lay
persons. Classes in nutrition were conducted for both adults and
children. One of the most popular courses was the one entitled, “Basic
Cookery for Young Homemakers.”
The Boai'd of Governors of the American National Red Cross on
June 30, 1949, found it necessary to curtail both budget and staff of
Nutrition Service as part of a general reduction in the activities of the
agency. Many protests have been voiced by local communities which
desired continuation of this nutrition education program.
Nutritionists in International Work
Another employer of nutritionists in 1949 was the United Nations
and its affiliated organizations. The Food and Agriculture Organiza
tion of the United Nations employed a staff of 15 persons on technical
nutritional improvement and the chemical composition of foods.
Most of the staff were medical personnel, but 3 were women nutri
tionists. Occasionally other women nutritionists were hired to go on a
mission abroad or to perform some other particular assignment, but
these were unlikely to be citizens of the United States. The need for
many more such specialists was reported by one of the nutritionists in
that program, but lack of funds was expected to hamper expansion in
the immediate future. The World Health Organization in 1949 also
announced a program for setting up a staff of nutritionists, for which
money had been allocated. The International Children’s Emergency
Fund, with a technical staff in Paris, planned to include among its
employees nutritionists and specialists in group feeding. (3,9) The
Institute of Inter-American Affairs had five women nutritionists from
the United States employed in five different countries in Central and
South America in 1949, to improve rural home life by means of demon
strations and the training of local women.
NUTRITIONISTS
53
Other demands for nutritionists develop from time to time for
emergency feeding programs in devastated areas abroad, such as the
programs conducted under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilita
tion Administration during and following World War II. During the
war period and for some years after the end of the war, UNRRA sent
many nutritionists, trained in the United States, to war-torn countries.
The great majority of them were women. These nutritionists, using
the limited food at hand, worked out quantity recipes for the camps
for refugees or prisoners of war where they were stationed; some
found their work similar to that of the administrative dietitian. In
1945, a request was received by the American Dietetic Association
from UNRRA for more of these workers. The need was so great
that the organization was willing to use anyone with experience in
quantity feeding. Highly skilled stewards were used as far as possi
ble. (23) It is estimated that at the peak of this program as many as
1,000 persons from the United States were at work in the program in
other countries, although few of them were trained dietitians or nutri
tionists. A few governments have since requested nutritionists from
the United States for consultation work. A good knowledge of the
French language is considered important for anyone interested in
service in the international field. Opportunities in international work
seemed in 1949 to be limited in the immediate future, but appeared
likely to grow in the long run.
Nutrition Instructors
Instructors in colleges and universities in 1949 comprised another
large group of nutritionists. The National Roster of Scientific and
Specialized Personnel reported 314 women and 32 men nutritionists
on the faculties of schools of higher learning as of June 1943, the last
date for which such a report is available. Some of these may have
come from the fields of physiology or chemistry. Many were un
doubtedly among the teaching members of the American Dietetic
Association, who in 1949 numbered 611. Subjects taught were not
reported by these members, but undoubtedly most of them were teach
ing dietetics, nutrition, or other food courses. Among the members
who were hospital dietitians, 102 gave individual or group nutrition
instruction in 1949 as part of their clinical duties. Nutrition instruc
tion in secondary schools wTas usually given by general home economics
teachers rather than by specialists in nutrition or dietetics. Institutes
and conferences for school lunch personnel were often conducted by
nutritionists.{38) (74-) (84)
The teaching of medical or dental students by nutritionists has con
tinued to develop. At Vanderbilt University, for example, in 1948
each group of fourth-year medical students was given 3 to 4 hours of
54
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
nutrition instruction each quarter. The Universities of Iowa and
Illinois also allotted an exceptional amount of time to this subject. {42)
Nutritionists were known to be teaching medical and dental students
the principles of nutrition in 16 hospitals, universities, or medical
centers in 1949, according to one authority in the field. These insti
tutions represented only a few of the 70 medical schools in the
country, although the importance of nutrition in the recovery of
patients was being more and more emphasized. The teaching time
devoted to nutrition in dental schools was also still fragmentary,
according to two recent surveys. However, 30 of the 40 dental schools
in the United States were reported to have courses in nutrition, and
more time for this subject was recommended. (26)
Nutrition education is an important part of the work of the home
economics program in the public schools. In these classes more than
a million secondary school pupils are reached annually. In addition,
approximately 1,000 home economics teachers are employed by the
schools to teach foods and nutrition to adults. The cafeteria directors
in some school systems also give consultation service to pupils and their
parents who have special nutrition problems. (Home economics
teaching will be discussed in a later bulletin in this series.)
Nutritionists in Industry
Where a trained dietitian supervised the food service for the work
ers, she sometimes worked with the medical department in encouraging
better nutrition among employees, but ordinarily her work was purely
administrative. Nutrition problems of employees, if attended to at
all, were handled for the most part by industrial nurses and doctors.
Few nutritionists were retained in industry following the end of World
War II when the Federal program was discontinued, although some
large manufacturing firms employed nutritionists in 1949 to carry on
nutrition programs for the welfare of the employees.
The only labor union in the United States known to employ a nutri
tionist in 1949 was an older one which has spared no effort to improve
the general condition of its members. Although the services of a
nutritionist could well be used in other labor organizations, one author
ity stated that a tremendous educational job must be done before the
need for such service is recognized by the rank and file of the member
ship.
Women with specialized training in foods and nutrition in under
graduate or graduate courses were also working in 1949 in experimental
cookery or in demonstration work or other educational work connected
with the sale of products of food manufacturers and distributors and
the programs of trade associations and life insurance companies. Al
though this work was often closely related to that of the nutritionist,
NUTRITIONISTS
55
mmf
'
H.VWR CAN
MP
Figure 24. A nutritionist (right) and an artist plan a nutrition education exhibit.
these women were usually grouped with other home economists in
business, about one-half of whom were specialists in the food field. {51)
Tlieir work will be described in more detail in a later bulletin in this
series.
Estimated Number in 1949
In 1949 there were probably some 1,000 public health nutritionists
in the United States, more than twice the estimated 400 in the country
in 1940.(£5) The largest number, excluding full-time teachers, were
in State health agencies, which, as noted before, employed 173 in 1949.
I he American National Red Cross, in addition to its thousands of part
time volunteers, all of whom had training or experience in foods and
nutrition, accounted for the next largest group—124 reported in 1948—
of whom 86 were in local Red Cross chapters. State Extension Serv
ices reported 97 positions, and an additional 14 were in the Public
Health Service and Children’s Bureau. (5) To these 408 employed in
State and Federal agencies and the Red Cross may be added more than
300 women instructors in nutrition on college faculties. In 1943, the
last year for which such a report is available, 314 women instructors
in nutrition were reported by the National Roster of Scientific and
Specialized Personnel. Some of these were undoubtedly included
56
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
among the 611 members of the American Dietetic Association who
were teaching in 1949.
This total of over 700 nutritionists in Federal and State agencies, the
Red Cross, and on college faculties, does not, of course, include those
employed by city and county health departments, visiting nurse as
sociations, and other local health and welfare agencies on which data
were not available. It also does not include the many home economists
who teach dietetics and foods and nutrition as a part of a general
course in home economics in college and high school, nor the volunteer
Red Cross instructors.
SUPPLY
The supply of nutritionists was below the number of positions avail
able, especially in the higher grades of nutrition work. The U. S. De
partment of Agriculture, where vacancies in ten or more positions with
particular specifications existed in 1949, reported that a shortage of
nutritionists had continued for a decade and that there was little pros
pect of immediate improvement. Most of the Federal agencies had
vacancies, and about one-fourth of the positions for public health
nutritionists in State health agencies in 1948 remained unfilled in
1949.
Since legislative provision for licensing is lacking and the sources
of supply of nutritionists are various, there is little information on
the number of persons who become available each year for this work.
Authoritative data on how many additional women are needed each
year to maintain an adequate supply are also wanting. There are
merely a few clues. Although some in the field of nutrition have been
specialists in biochemistry, physiology, or other sciences, the majority
of nutritionists have obtained their start in undergraduate courses in
home economics with specialization in foods and nutrition. Many
women begin to work in the nutritionist field immediately following
graduation from a home economics school. Only 7,000 bachelor’s de
grees in all phases of home economics were awarded by 388 colleges in
1948. This number of degrees is reported to be far less than the num
ber of individuals needed to fill positions for home economists in all
fields.(83) (See p. 16 under Dietitians.)
For nutrition work involving graduate training, the oncoming sup
ply of persons with such preparation is definitely small. In 1947-48
the number of master’s theses completed in foods and nutrition num
bered 145; the number of doctor’s theses, 18.(78) As in the case of
the undergraduates, these numbers represent the supply of individuals,
not for nutrition alone, but for almost all types of professional foods
and nutrition work. Similarly, women completing dietetic intern
ships engage largely in administrative or therapeutic work. Flow-
NUTRITIONISTS
57
ever, one-third of a group of 128 nutritionists employed in 1948 had
completed such internships, and others of the group had gone into
nutrition work, but only after experience as hospital dietitians. {76)
The seven universities which offered master’s degrees in public
health nutrition awarded that degree to less than 100 persons in a
4-year period.(6) A few other colleges and universities were taking
steps toward offering a formal graduate curriculum in this subject,
but the shortage of nutrition instructors was a handicap. The Place
ment Bureau of the American Dietetic Association reported many
calls for nutrition instructors and teachers in the early part of 1949,
but the supply of those seeking placement was inadequate to meet the
demand.
A minimum of 60-70 nutritionists is needed annually, merely to re
place those who leave the field (for the most part because of marriage
or family responsibilities). This, however, assumes a withdrawal
rate no higher than the low 6.6 percent rate which existed for nurses
from 1930-40. The nutritionist who completes post-graduate work
will find herself in a very favorable position with regard to good po
sitions for some years in the future, if present trends are indicative.
TRAINING
To become a nutritionist, a student should obtain in a college of
home economics or a school of public health: (a) good training in the
sciences on which nutrition is dependent, (b) practical application of
nutrition in work with the public, (c) training in education methods
as applied to nutrition, and (d) an appreciation of the principles in
volved in any investigation. The order in which these are obtained
varies with different nutritionists. Following undergraduate work
in a college or university of home economics, a nutritionist may take
graduate work either in a school of public health or of home economics.
Graduate work is desirable, and many women in this field continue
their training in graduate schools.
In 1947-48, seven schools offered master’s degrees in public health
nutrition: Columbia University (New York City) ; Harvard School
of Public Health (Boston, Mass.) ; Michigan School of Public Health
(Ann Arbor, Mich.) ; Simmons College (Boston, Mass.) ; the Univer
sity of Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.) ; Western Reserve University
(Cleveland, Ohio); and Yale School of Public Health (New Haven,
Conn.).(6') The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in nutrition was of
fered at the Universities of California, Chicago. Minnesota, and Wis
consin; Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, and Yale Universities; and
Iowa and Kansas State Colleges. Other colleges and universities were
adding more graduate work in this field, especially in their schools of
home economics, which usually offer some nutrition courses together
58
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
mm i
mrnmcrn
Si®!
Figure 25. A graduate student in foods and nutrition engages in vitamin assay of
experimental diets for human subjects.
with foods specialization. Although few offered a formal graduate
curriculum in nutrition, a number were arranging special schedules
for occasional gradute students.
Fellowships and Scholarships
Efforts to increase the supply in the field of nutrition were directed
towards increasing facilities and opportunities through fellowships
and scholarships. A limited number of these are available to the
student in public health schools, in teaching, or in research assistantships. For instance, one university in 1948 offered several 12-month,
$1,200 graduate fellowships with free tuition leading toward the
degree of Master of Science in Community Nutrition. Candidates
were trained for positions as nutritionists with health and welfare
agencies. Requirements included a degree in home economics with
a major in foods and nutrition and 2 years of experience in teaching,
extension work, or hospital or other food service. (34)
The American Home Economics Association and the American
Association of University Women also offered fellowships which were
open but not limited to women trained in dietetics and nutrition.
To meet the needs in the State public health field, six State health
departments provided leave and stipends for graduate study for 11
nutritionists in 1947. (85)
NUTRITIONISTS
59
EARNINGS, WORKING CONDITIONS, AND ADVANCEMENT
The young home economics graduate with basic preparation in
foods and nutrition, entering the field of public health nutrition and
working under close supervision, may expect a beginning salary of
about $2,100 to $2,400 and may progress to $2,700. After a satis
factory period of service, she may receive additional compensation
through a stipend for graduate training. A worker with some gradu
ate training and 2 or 3 years of experience in the public health field
usually starts at a salary of from $3,000 to $3,600 and may advance
to $4,000 or slightly more. The median salary for a professional
public health nutritionist in a State health department was $3,200
to $3,400 in 1949. The seasoned worker responsible for a staff of
workers in a large agency often reaches a salary level of $5,000 or over
and may earn $6,000. For example, in a far western State in 1949 the
salary scale for the director of the service was $4,200-$5,100; in a
northeastern State, from $4,620-$5,720; and in a southern State,
$4,800-$6,000. District workers in these same States, responsible for
service in a large section of the State, received $3,540-$4,296, $3,720$4,620, and $3,384-$4,320, respectively.
Salaries for nutritionists in large city official health agencies tend
to be similar to those found in State health agencies, the remuneration
Figure 26. A public health nutritionist of a child welfare society instructs a mother
on the preparation of nourishing meals.
60
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
depending upon the training and experience of the worker and the
responsibilities that she is expected to undertake. For instance, in
New York City, the Department of Health made appointments for
staff nutritionists in 1949 at $3,300 a year. These staff nutritionists
numbered 26, and their qualifications included a master’s degree and
2 years of experience. In private agencies in the city staff nutri
tionists received from $2,400 to $4,680, and directors of nutrition
services from $3,200 to $6,450, depending upon the agency. Salaries
were generally lower in other cities.
The hours of work for nutritionists usually followed those of office
workers in the employing agencies and averaged 40 hours per week.
Split shifts, where more than a period of 1 hour divided the working
day, were unusual for nutritionists, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics study previously mentioned. The survey further showed
that all nutritionists included in the study had paid vacations of at
least 2 weeks, and that two-fifths of them had 4 w7eeks of paid vacation.
Two-thirds of the nutritionists were found to be covered by retirement
pensions, and many of them participated in life insurance plans.
Advancement in the field of nutrition is related to experience gained
and postgraduate study. Many positions call for a master’s or a
doctor’s degree. Experience may be accepted as a substitute for a
graduate degree in some types of nutrition work. For young women
taking up wTork in this field, however, postgraduate work, either im
mediately following the completion of the undergraduate course or
after some employment experience has been obtained, should be given
serious consideration. Some experienced nutritionists believe post
graduate work is more valuable if taken after a few years of actual
experience in nutrition work or a related field. The American
Dietetic Association, to whose members employers often give pref
erence, admits nutritionists to membership only after 3 years of ac
ceptable experience in the public health field or in clinic programs
in foods and nutrition.
As in all fields, women found at the top are few7 in relation to the
many in the lower ranks. Of 44 research employees on the staff of
the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics in the De
partment of Agriculture, for example, almost half were at the fifth
and sixth levels in 1949, where the salary ranged from $3,825 to $4,950
per year. However, several nutrition specialists on the staff had
reached higher positions, including that of division head.
ORGANIZATIONS
The American Public Health Association in 1949 included a Food
and Nutrition Section which had 616 members, of whom 262, or 42
percent, w7ere women. More than half of these women were public
NUTRITIONISTS
61
health nutritionists, 14 percent were professors in colleges and universi
ties, and the remaining number were engaged in agricultural extension
work, school lunch programs, research, or hospital work, or were em
ployed by food associations, councils, and food companies. Member
ship in the American Public Health Association in 1949 was open to
those professionally in or interested in public health work, but only
Fellows of the Association might vote and chair committees. A
Fellow, in addition to having been a member for 2 years, had to show
evidence of having made a contribution to public health, and had to be
approved by a committee on eligibility following recommendation by
two Fellows of the Association.
Some nutritionists were members of the American Dietetic Associa
tion, where they formed usually from 2 to 3 percent of the total
membership. The membership requirements of this Association
provide that 3 years of acceptable experience may be offered as sub
stitute for completion of an American Dietetic Association internship,
provided that the applicant has had some supervised field work in
addition to academic training. In 1949, 359 public health nutrition
ists were members of the American Dietetic Association.
Some nutritionists also belong to the American Home Economics
Association, which has a Social Welfare and Public Health
Department.
The only national organization of professional persons which
included “nutrition” in its title w7as the American Institute of
Nutrition, which was part of the Federation of the American Societies
for Experimental Biology. About 315 persons belonged to this
organization in 1949, including 71 women. Membership in the
Institute was limited by7 its by-laws as follows:
Qualified investigators who have independently conducted and published
meritorious original investigations in some phases of the chemistry or
physiology of nutrition and who have shown a professional interest in nutrition
for at least five years shall be eligible for membership in the Society.
Usually members have had from 5 to 7 years of progressive experi
ence in research in their chosen field when they join the organ
ization. A few are physicians and physiologists, and many are
biochemists.
SUGGESTIONS TO THOSE ENTERING THE FIELD
Potential nutritionists are advised by successful women in this
field to determine as early as possible the kind of work they desire
to do in order to train for that work specifically. College students,
by seeking guidance, can avoid the waste of improper preparation,
as when, for example, women trained for public-health work but not
for research, desire research positions, or vice versa.
62
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
y ».vv*** ,*■« it* "'v'»
E>3?*'cj2 * * ' '-:;'j»/
!:iy*v*WJAVv- V. -»
Figure 27. A nutritional advisor (seated at left with dietetic intern) with physician,
public health nurse, and mother.
One experienced nutritionist suggested that a student beginning her
training in the field of nutrition should have interviews with various
specialists, for example, with a nutritionist who supervises nutrition
work in State institutions, with one in a State health department who
works on health surveys, and with an industrial nutritionist. An
interview could be arranged with a nutritionist by a request addressed
to the appropriate State agency which employs nutritionists, since
most of them circulate about the State and arc glad to talk with
prospective students and explain the possibilities of the work. In
large communities locally employed nutritionists may be located
through health and welfare agencies. To find the most desirable
curriculum, inquiry regarding the formal training available may be
made of the deans of schools which train nutritionists. The curricu
lum should vary in accordance with the student’s chosen specializa
tion, whether research, industrial feeding, community nutrition, or
institution consultation.
For public health nutritionists, broad background and training are
useful, since they are called upon to do many types of things. Try-out
experiences in the form of special projects are often included in under
graduate programs in colleges offering a major in nutrition. For
instance, in a midwestern college, students become acquainted with
NUTRITIONISTS
63
community agencies interested in nutrition and then are assigned to
such projects as: work with the city milk council on exhibits and
educational material or with the food editor of a local newspaper; the
observation of the dietary habits of women attending the pre-natal
clinic at the university hospital or those of children being served in the
university nursery school or in school lunch programs; teaching of
nutrition to mothers of young children at neighborhood houses or to
summer playground groups; working out food budgets in cooperation
with such agencies as the State division of aid to the aged. One author
ity suggests 4 years of undergraduate college work in home economics
with a major in nutrition, followed by several years of experience,
before going on to do graduate work for a master’s degree in nutrition.
A number of State health agencies not only allow leave for graduate
study but provide their nutritionists with a stipend for it.
A course in journalism is of value because the nutritionist is likely
to be called upon to help meet the need for valid written information
on nutrition. A recent survey conducted by the Bureau of Agricul
tural Economics of the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with
the Virginia Nutrition Committee indicated that nearly 90 percent of
400 representative homemakers relied on newspapers and magazines
for information about food and nutrition. (89) Only one-half of
these women were providing adequate daily meals in terms of foods
considered basic for good nutrition. Only 4 percent had adequate
information on nutrition, although food and its proper use is of uni
versal interest to the family.
The work of the nutritionist offers a challenge to the woman who is
interested in improving the health of her community. Few professions
offer' as much opportunity to improve living standards as that of the
public health nutritionist.
DEMAND PRIOR TO 1949
Nutrition service was begun in the Massachusetts and the New York
State Departments of Health in the period from 1915 to 1920. Sim
mons College, Boston, in 1918 was the first to offer supervised practice
training for nutrition workers. Students spent one-half day a week
in the field, either visiting referred families or working in the Food
Clinic of the Boston Dispensary.
The Dietitians’ Service organized by the American National Red
Cross in 1917 also made its contribution towTard creating the new pro
fession of nutritionist. (11) Mary Swartz Rose, writing in the Teach
ers College Record for February 1932 stated, “It [the Red Cross] has
done outstanding pioneer work in developing the nutritionist, a new
type of educator. We hope that nutrition will be a Red Cross respon
64
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
sibility until every community lias its nutrition service as a part of
community education.”
The work of the home demonstration agents of the Extension Service
of the United States Department of Agriculture, of bringing nutrition
and other information to rural homes since the time of World War I,
will be discussed in a later bulletin in this series.
By 1929 about 273 nutritionists were reported to be engaged in work
for public and private agencies, including counties, cities, and social
agencies. Some of these agencies were encouraged by the Red Cross
to initiate programs. For example, a nutrition program started in the
New York City Department of Health in 1932 was financed for a
5-year demonstration period by the New York Chapter of the Red
Cross, which also loaned the department a nutritionist to participate
in a staff training program for public health nurses and physicians.
The demonstration resulted in a permanent nutrition program in the
department, which in 1949 had a Bureau of Nutrition with plans for
a staff of 30 nutritionists.
As early as 1938 the health council in a large midwestern city
employed a public health nutritionist. Her duties were to conduct
classes for visiting nurses and refresher courses for homemakers who
had formerly had some training in nutrition, estimate the cost of
diets for tuberculous families and the needs for special diets, assist in
maintaining health in summer camps, lecture to low-income groups
on food, teach pregnant women at prenatal clinics, and teach children
in nursery schools.(71) In turn, some of the women who had taken
refresher courses became volunteers in teaching classes of mothers. (72)
The Social Security Act, for which funds were made available in
1936, gave new impetus to the employment of nutritionists in State
health agencies, in some of which nutrition programs had already
been in operation. (4-1) In the next few years a wide range of activity
was reported. In both Michigan and Massachusetts, nutritionists
were instructing and advising teachers in rural areas. (61)) (16) Staff
nutritionists of the Departments of Public Health in Kansas and
Illinois gave consultation to cafeteria managers in urban elementary
schools, and to rural teachers to encourage the eating of more nutri
tious meals and to sponsor classes for parents on meal planning and
school lunches. In North Carolina the State Board of Health set
up a School Health Coordinating Service to improve school children’s
health, impaired by the poor diets resulting from living at the bare
subsistence level. The nutritionist of the service worked with teachers
and rural children and made an attempt to have better lunches brought
to school and to have each family keep chickens and a cow. As many
of the parents did not attend parent-teacher meetings, an attempt was
made to reach the parents by way of the children. (13) The Massa
chusetts Department of Public Health also employed a nutritionist
NUTRITIONISTS
65
to service the State lunch program. Refresher conferences for 90
trained and untrained food service managers were held. (50) Nutri
tionists were sent to small towns to organize school lunch programs
where none existed. Summer conferences were held and talks were
given at women’s club meetings. (53)
By 1940 twenty-five State health departments employed nutrition
ists, and the American Red Cross employed 15, including 11 in local
chapters. (63) County and city nutrition committees of New York
State employed nutritionists to teach classes of housewives the prin
ciples of nutrition. Literature was distributed where classes were
impractical. A homemaking center was set up in one county where
the planning and serving of adequate low-cost meals was taught, (p)
The total number of nutritionists had risen by 1940 to 400: 72 were
in State extension service; 60 in State, county, and city health depart
ments; 100 in private agencies; and the remainder in public welfare,
food clinics, and other organizations.
Meanwhile, nutritionists were turning to related fields. They
taught nutrition principles to medical, dental, and public health stu
dents. In Philadelphia nutritionists, together with public health
nurses, used various teaching devices to improve the food habits of
patients, and a 3-year dietary study was undertaken by nutritionists
in collaboration with chiefs of dental clinics and dental students to
determine the dietary habits of pregnant women, children, and adults
with teeth and gum diseases.
World War II made the people of the United States increasingly
nutrition conscious. The food rationing program, the shortage of
civilian physicians, the intense industrial effort to produce munitions
of war, and the extended hours of work for most civilians were factors
which resulted in a Nation-wide nutrition program. Such slogans as
“Food Will Win the War” became popular.
A Nutrition Division was set up in the Office of Defense Health
and Welfare Services, which became a part of the Federal Security
Administration. The Division operated through local nutrition com
mittees, which numbered 73,000. Leadership was furnished by 78,000
professionally trained volunteers who had taken refresher courses
and who conducted nutrition classes in their own communities. (31) In
a large western city 10,000 women were reached through 118 classes
conducted by volunteers trained by three full-time nutritionists. The
volunteers were former students or teachers of home economics who
met certain qualifications in nutrition training. (21) (The work of this
wartime Nutrition Division was transferred to the Department of
Agriculture in 1943.)
Cooperating in the special wartime program were nutrition pro
grams which had been under way before the war. In the South, home
66
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
economists who had specialized in nutrition met with farm groups,
both men and women, to improve nutrition by discussing food produc
tion, land and livestock needed, food preservation, canning, and re
frigeration. Under a 5-year program which had been launched in a
New England State, nutritionists volunteered their services to promote
a coordinated health plan by leading discussion groups. (H)
The American Red Cross also expanded its nutrition program dur
ing the war, and in 1943-44 its nutrition staff totaled 96, of whom 72
were employed at the local chapter level.(12)
Efforts were made to spread nutrition information especially to
the families and communities of war workers. For example, a plant
in a small town in Ohio organized classes for housewives with two
nutritionists in charge. (30)
The Industrial Feeding Programs Division of the Production and
Marketing Administration of the U. S. Department of Agriculture was
set up with a small staff in 1942 to stimulate the application of the
principles of nutrition in the feeding of industrial workers. Many
workers came to war plants in the morning without breakfast; some
were unable to provide themselves with packed lunches because of
dislocations in living conditions; and in many cases wives were also
war workers and were unable to provide the proper nourishment in the
meals prepared at home. These conditions made the provision of wellbalanced meals at industrial plants imperative. Companies and gov
ernment agencies which employed trained nutritionists reported on
their value in terms of less absenteeism and greater production, less
spoilage of manufactured articles, and a lower accident rate. In
Massachusetts, a staff of qualified nutritionists was available upon
request for industrial group meetings. Classes covering such subjects
as weight control, the preparation of bag lunches, and cafeteria meals,
were conducted for forewomen in one plant. (25)
The Quartermaster General of the Army called upon nutritionists
and dietitians to assist in improving the nutritive value and increasing
the palatability of the rations offered to the military forces. These
nutritionists devised a master menu and an Army cook book. A test
kitchen was set up in Washington, and a staff of nutritionists carried
on research work at the Naval Medical Research Center at Bethesda,
Md. (II) Organizations such as the YWCA also had a program of
nutrition education for their members throughout the country. Al
though many of these efforts were curtailed following the war, their
effect has been felt in the increasing support for permanent nutrition
programs in health and welfare agencies.
APPENDIX
Minimum Requirements for Beginning Federal Civil Service Position as
Dietitian for Duty in Veterans Administration Establishments and
Other Federal Agencies1
(As taken
from Civil Service Announcement No. 1-16-3, unassembled)
Issued: September 29,1948.
No closing date.2
Citizenship in the United States.
Physically capable of performing the duties of the position (passing
of a physical examination is necessary for appointment).
Education and experience:
Applicants must have the following:
A. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university,
including or supplemented by the satisfactory completion of the
following in a college or university of recognized standing:
12 semester hours in chemistry, including general, organic, biochem
istry ;
6 semester hours in biology, including human physiology and bac
teriology ;
6 semester hours in foods, including food preparation and meal
planning;
6 semester hours in nutrition, including diet in disease;
6 semester hours in institution management, including quantity
cookery and organization and management;
9 semester hours in social science, including at least two of the fol
lowing: psychology, sociology, economics;
8 semester hours in education, including at least one of the following:
educational psychology, methods of teaching, principles of educa
tion.
B. Experience
(1) Completion of a hospital training course for student dietitians
which has been approved by the Administrator for Veterans’ Affairs;
or
(2) Completion of at least 8 years of successful experience as a
dietitian in a hospital of at least 50-bed capacity, which experience has
included at least three of the following: diet therapy, teaching, plan-* 3
iln November 1049 the beginning salary for this position was $3,100 per year.
3 For more complete and later information, consult latest announcements of the Civil
Service Commission posted in first- and second-class post offices.
67
68
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
rung adequate menus, supervision of employees in food preparation
and service, ordering food supplies and equipment, food cost control.
Substitution of hospital training for experience:
Completion of a hospital training course which has not been ap
proved by the Administrator of Veterans’ Affairs will, if certain con
ditions are met, be credited as experience as a dietitian.
Minimum Requirements for Appointment to the Position of Student
Dietitian 3 in the Veterans Administration at $1,470 Per Year
(As taken from the Civil Service Announcement No. 126, unassembled.)
Issued: October 19, 1948.
No closing date3
4
Citizenship in the United States.
Eighteen years of age, or over, but not more than thirty-five.
Physically capable of performing the duties of the position (passing
of a physical examination is necessary for appointment).
Educational requirements:
A bachelor’s degree from a college or university of recognized stand
ing, including the following courses:
,
12 semester hours in chemistry, including general, organic, and physi
ological chemistry and laboratory work in these;
6 semester hours in biology, including human physiology and
bacteriology;
6 semester hours in foods, including food preparation and meal
planning;
.
6 semester hours in nutrition and diet in disease;
6 semester hours in institution management, including quantity
cookery and organization and management;
9 semester hours in social science, including at least two of the follow
ing: psychology, sociology, economics;
3 semester hours in education, including at least one of the following:
educational psychology, methods of teaching, principles of
education.
If more than 3 years have elapsed between appointment to the posi(ion of student dietitian and completion of the education requirement,
applicants must have completed, in addition, 3 semester hours of ad
vanced nutrition to be eligible for appointment.
Note: The training courses are 12 months in length. Students
who successfully complete the full 12 months’ training will be eligible
for promotion to a permanent position as staff dietitian.5
3 The same as a dietetic intern.
4 For more complete and later information, consult latest announcements of the Civil
Service Commission posted in first- and second-class post offices.
5 In November 1949, the beginning salary in this position was ,$3,100 per year.
APPENDIX
69
Persons interested in the position of student dietitian with the
United States Public Health Service or the Department of National
Defense should write directly to these agencies for information.
Minimum Requirements for a Beginning Federal Civil Service Position
as Public Health Nutritionist8
(As taken from the Civil Service Announcement No. 202, unassembled,
Code F-454-3-6.)
Issued: November 22, 1949.
No closing date.68
7
Citizenship in the United States.
Physically capable of performing the duties of the position (passing
of a physical examination is necessary for appointment).
Education and experience:
Applicants must have one of the following or a time-equivalent
combination of both:
A. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, sup
plemented by 12 semester hours in foods and nutrition and 12 semester
hours in a combination of chemistry, biology, and dietetics.
B. At least 4 years of progressively responsible experience as a
nutritionist in the field of public health.
Applicants must, in addition, have had 2 years of progressively
responsible experience (a) as a nutritionist in a health agency (either
governmental or nongovernmental) ; or (b) as a hospital dietitian
who, either through training or experience, has acquired an under
standing of the problems involved in applying technical knowledge
of nutrition to a community health program; or (c) in a combination
of (a) and (b) . At least 1 year of this experience must have demon
strated ability to perform adequately in a community program
without close technical guidance.
Requirements for Membership in the American Dietetic Association
Active Membership.—A bachelor’s or advanced degree from an ac
credited college or university which has included or been followed by
the basic academic work in foods, nutrition, or institution management.
The undergraduate courses required by the Association 8 include the
following:
12 semester hours of chemistry (general inorganic, organic, physio
logical with laboratory work) ;
6 semester hours biology (human physiology and bacteriology) ;
6 The beginning salary in this position was $4,600 in November 1049.
7 For more complete and later information, consult latest announcements of the Civil
Service Commission posted in first- and second-class post offices.
8 Also needed for entrance to approved internships.
70
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
9 semester hours social sciences (from at least two of the following:
psychology, sociology, economics) ;
3 semester hours education (at least one of the following: educational
psychology, methods of teaching, principles of education) ;
6 semester hours foods (food selection and preparation, meal
planning and service);
6 semester hours nutrititon and dietetics (at least two of the fol
lowing: normal nutrition, advanced nutrition, diet in disease9) ;
6 semester hours of institution management (quantity cookery,
organization and management). {Note: not required of those
employed in public health agencies.)
In addition, the applicant must have completed one of the hospital,
administrative, or food clinic internships approved by the Executive
Board of the Association or, in lieu of this, 3 years of acceptable ex
perience in the field of dietetics, including work in a position of re
sponsibility in a hotel, hospital, residence hall, restaurant, public
health program, or teaching at the college level. At least 1 year
of this experience must have been supervised by a member of the Asso
ciation. The applicant must be endorsed by two active members,
who are thoroughly familiar with the work of the applicant.
If more than 3 years have elapsed bet ween the completion of college
and admission to internship, 3 semester hours of advanced study in
nutrition or related subjects must be presented. If the applicant has
not been employed for 5 years, 5 semester hours of advanced study in
nutrition or related subjects are required within the 5 years preceding
the date of application.
Junior Membership.—Appropriate undergraduate training, as
described above, a bachelor’s degree, and participation in an approved
internship.
Usual Requirements for Completion of an Internship Approved by the
American Dietetic Association 10
Hospital Internship
Completion of 12 months of training11 in a hospital, including:
1. Approximately 4 months in observation and practice of training
in food administration, including purchasing and storing of food;
planning menus for staff, employees, and patients; supervising food
9 Required for hospitals.
10 A list of approved training centers is available from the American Dietetic Association,
620 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, 111.
11 The American Dietetic Association requires that the courses listed under each type of
internship consist of formal classes, seminars, and conferences.
APPENDIX
71
service workers; keeping office records; calculating unit food costs;
supervising supplies and sanitation; and studying kitchen equipment.
2. Approximately 4 months in diet therapy, including preparation
and service of special diets to patients, instructing patients in carry
ing out discharge diet orders, and writing at least three case histories
involving dietary problems.
3. Approximately 2 months in infant and child feeding, including
preparation of infant formulas, instructing mothers on the formulas,
adapting menus to children, serving children, and teaching them
desirable food habits.
4. Teaching:
a. Patients in the hospital and out-patients. In this connec
tion, doing follow-up work in homes, conducting baby clinics,
advising on emergency food work and adaptation of diets to lowincome conditions and nationality habits.
b. Student nurses, in normal nutrition and diet therapy and
conducting laboratory lessons.
5. Not less than 2 hours a week in lectures, seminars, and conferences
on diet therapy, nutrition, administration, and related science topics.
6. At least one lecture per week on medical and pediatric subjects.
7. Study of special problems whose solution contributes to efficiency
of dietary department.
8. Field trips to other institutions to supplement hospital
experience.
Administrative Internship
Completion of a course of 10 to 12 months in an approved food
service department other than hospital,12 including:
1. Quantity food production, including preparation, service, and
merchandising.
2. Recipe standardizing and figuring cost of recipe.
3. Menu making.
4. Study of organization and management relating to all types of
large-scale feeding, such as that in educational institutions or com
mercial or industrial organizations.
5. Food purchasing.
6. Housekeeping administration.
7. Office procedure—record keeping, cost accounting, budget
making, equipment buying.
8. Personnel management.
12 This training may be obtained in approved administrative internships providing experi
ence in several food service departments such as industrial units, college residence halls and
cafeterias, school lunchrooms, and restaurants.
72
OUTLOOK FOK WOMEN IN DIETETICS
Food Clinic Internship
Completion, of a 12-month food clinic course, including:
1. Practical experience in a nutrition clinic.
2. Hospital experience to provide planning and calculating of
therapeutic diets, food service, and diet instruction to patients.
3. Experience with community agencies and organizations in home
visits, individual and group instruction, pricing, and budgeting.
SOURCES TO WHICH REFERENCE IS MADE IN THE TEXT
(1) A. D. A. loans for graduate study. Journal of the American Dietetic
Association 25: 1031, December 1949.
(2) American Dietetic Association. The American Dietetic Association De
scriptive Folder. Chicago, 111., the Association, January 1950. 20 pp.
(3) --------- Annual reports and proceedings, 1946-^17. Chicago, 111., the Asso
ciation, 1947. 45 pp.
(4) --------- Dietetics as a profession. Chicago, 111., the Association, 1944.
35 pp. (In process of revision.)
(5) --------- National Health Assembly, Nutrition Section. Positions budgeted
for personnel trained in nutrition, official and voluntary agencies.
Chicago, 111., the Association, May 1-4,1948. 2 pp.
(6) --------- ----------------------- Report on internship facilities and occupational
analysis. Chicago, 111., the Association, May 1-4,1948. 2 pp.
(7) American Home Economics Association. Opportunities in home eco
nomics, a guidance aid. Washington, D. C„ the Association, 1949.
28 pp.
(8) Arestad, F. II., and McGovern, Mary A. Hospital service in the United
States. Journal of the American Medical Association 140:23-35, May
7,1949.
(9) Arestad, F. H. and Westmoreland, M. G. Hospital service in the United
States. Journal of the American Medical Association 127:781, Mar
31, 1945.
(10) Army needs dietitians. New York Times, May 27,1941.
(11) Barber, Mary I. Dietitians in the war effort. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 25 : 524-530, June 1949.
(12) Beeuwkes, Adelia M. The changing pattern in community nutrition.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association 25:510-516, June 1949.
(13) Boyd, French. The nutritionist at work. The Nation’s Schools 27:70
71, February 1941.
(14) Brown, Muriel W. and White, Marie. Community cooperation for nutri
tion education. [Obion County, Tenn., St. Paul, and Hartford pro
grams. ] School Life 26: 311-314, July 1941.
(15) Brumbaugh, A. J., ed. American universities and colleges, 1948.
Washington, D. C., American Council on Education, 1948. pp. 89-92.
(16) Bryan, Mary De Garrno. The school cafeteria—An opportunity for
dietitians. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 13:97-101,
July 1937.
(17) Bugbee, George and Gillam, Margaret. Better food service for small
hospitals through dietetics conferences. Hospitals 21: 48-50, May 1947.
(18) Carlsen, Janette C. Meeting the personnel shortage. Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 24 : 221, March 1948.
(19) Charlotte Memorial Hospital. Approved training course in the school of
dietetics. Charlotte, N. C., the Hospital, undated. 16 pp.
(20) Chicago to organize nutrition department. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 24: 538, June 1948.
(21) Day, Vera Ilills. Denver’s nutrition program. Journal of Home Eco
nomics 34: 515-517, October 1942.
73
74
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
(22) Dietitians in hospitals in the United States, 1944. News notes. Journal
of the American Dietetic Association 21: 402, June 1945.
(23) Dietitians overseas for UNRRA. News notes. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 21: 402, June 1945.
(24) Dietitians urgently needed in Army hospitals. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 21:104, February 1945.
(25) Dodge, Quindara Oliver. Better fed employees are better workers. In
dustry 9 :19-20, 71, June 1944.
(26) Dunning, James M. and Shaw, James H. Nutrition in dental education.
Nutrition Reviews 6 : 321-324, November 194S.
(27) Eck, Ella M. Administrative problems of a hospital food department:
The hospital iti modern society. Arthur C. Bachineyer, ed. New York,
N. Y., the Commonwealth Fund, 1943. pp. 594-603.
(28) Educational qualifications of nutritionists in health agencies. American
Journal of Public Health 36: 45-50, January 1046. Also, Journal of
Home Economics 36:16-20. January 1946, and Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 22 : 41-44, January 1946.
(29) Eliot, Martha M. Child feeding in Europe under the international chil
dren’s emergency fund. American Journal of Public Health 38:1-7,
January 1948.
(30) Ferris, C. Nutrition education for industrial workers. Journal of Home
Economics 34 : 444-440, September 1942.
(31) Franklin, Esther Cole. Contemporary America. Social welfare services
and the war. Part I. Meeting wartime needs. Washington, D. C.,
American Association of University Women, January 1943. 52 pp.
(32) Garvnn medal to Agnes Morgan. Chemical and Engineering News 27:
905, Mar. 28,1949.
(33) Goeppinger, Katherine. Business home economics, expanding field.
Journal of Home Economics 36 : 428—430, September 1944.
(34) Graduate fellowships in community nutrition. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 24 : 450, May 1948.
(35) Graves, Lulu G. Then, now and next. Modern Hospital 51: 128, 130, 132,
134, September 1938.
(36) Greater Boston Community Council Study. Number of employees by
positions according to size of agency. Boston, Mass., the Council, 1946.
12 pp.
(37) Hall, Gladys E. The future of the dietitian. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 20:587-589, October 1944.
(38) Harris, Agnes Ellen. School lunch workshop, University of Alabama.
Journal of Home Economics 36: 585-586, November 1944.
(39) Hart, Constance G. Study of methods of food service in large school
cafeterias. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 17 : 112-116,
February 1941.
(40) Herbolsheimer, Henrietta. State consulting service to aid small hospitals
with dietary problems. Journal of the American Dietetic Association
23 : 947-951, November 1947.
(41) Heseltine, Marjorie M. Home economics in social welfare and public
health. Journal of Home Economics 29 : 683-686, December 1937.
(42) Hiscock, Elva A. A nutrition clinic for medical students. Journal of
the American Dietetic Association 24:782-784, September 1948.
(43) Huddleson, Mary Pascoe. The dietitian in the world war. Journal of
the American Dietetic Association 16 : 629-638, August-September 1940.
(44) —------ Mobilizing a nation’s kitchens. Independent Woman 20: 16-18,
28, January 1941.
APPENDIX
75
(45) Institute for Research. Hospital dietetics as a career. Chicago, 111., the
Institute, 1948. 25 pp. (No. 41).
(46) Jensen, A. C. Broader horizons. Journal of the American Dietetic As
sociation 16:104-109, February 1940.
(47) Kauffman, Treva E. State, county, and city nutrition committees at
work. Practical Home Economics 19:308, September 1941.
(48) Klinefelter, Lee M. Medical occupations for girls. New York, N. Y.,
E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1939. pp. 132-155. 320 pp.
(49) Korst, Clara S. Dietitian’s aides in a Veterans Administration hospital.
Journal of the American Dietetic Association 21:350, June 1945.
(50) Latimer, Jean V. The school lunch in education. Hygeia 17: 666-667,
July 1939.
(51) Lindman, Ina S. Training for home economics in business. Journal of
Home Economics 38 : 207-210, April 1946.
(52) MacEachern, Malcolm T. The dietitian in retrospect and introspect.
Modern Hospital 46 : 96, 98, 100, January 1936.
(53) Martin, Ethel Austin, Driscoll, Anna Marie, Spalding, Mary, and Hemmersbaugh, Mary. Symposium on the school cafeteria, Richmond meet
ing. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 14:109-115, Febru
ary 1938.
(54) Milbank Memorial Fund. A new approach to nutrition services in State
health departments. New York, N. Y., Milbank Memorial Fund, 1947.
pp. 10-23.
(55) Morrill, Warren P., M. D. Training hospital dietitians. Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 16:240-242, March 1940.
(56) Murrab, Pauline. Teaching nutrition. Reprint from Public Health
Nursing, February 1948.
(57) The need for dietitian’s aides continues. Journal of the American Dietetic
Association 21 : 300, May 1945.
(58) New fields and new emphases in education related to nutrition. Journal
of the American Dietetic Association 14:540-544, August 1938.
(59) Nutrition foundation makes grant to A. D. A. for Mary Swartz Rose
Fellowship. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 25: 53, Janu
ary 1949.
(60) Perry, Elizabeth. Recruiting career dietitians. Hospitals 22:64-66, Au
gust 1948.
(61) Peters, Florence. The dietitian in State institutions. Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 14:681-684, November 1938.
(62) Pratt, Oliver G. Food clinics—a health service. Modern Hospital 52 : 48
49, January 1939.
(63) Roberts, Lydia J. Status of nutrition work with children. Annals of
American Academy of Political and Social Science 212: 111-120, No
vember 1940.
(64) Roberts, Lydia .T. and Blair, Ruth. A teacher-education project in im
proving child nutrition. School Life 26:273-276, 278, June 1941.
(65) Rose, Virginia Dean. Trends in home economics in public service. Wo
men’s Work and Education 12: 1-7, December 1941.
(66) Salaries and salary schedules of city-school employees, 1948-49. National
Education Association Research Bulletin 27 : 43-71, April 1949.
(67) Schaffter, Dorothy. What comes of training women for war. Washing
ton, D. C., American Council on Education, 1948. pp. 133-139.
(68) Sedgwick, Jane. Feeding in State institutions. Journal of Home Eco
nomics 33: 94-97, February 1941.
76
OUTLOOK FOR WOMEN IN DIETETICS
(09) Shoun, Frances N. and Jones, Jana W. Nutrition education and public
health nursing. American Journal of Nursing 48:430-433. July 1948.
(70) Smillie, Wilson G. Public health administration in the United States.
New York, N. Y., Macmillan Co., 1947. 637 pp.
(71) Smith, Alice H. The nutritionist in a city health council. Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 16:335-337, April 1940.
(72) —------- Professionally trained volunteers in community nutrition edu
cation. Journal of Home Economics 33 : 450-453, September 1941.
(73) Speck, Gertrude M. The consulting dietitian supplies a demand for better
food service. Modern Hospital 67:100, 102, 104, December 1946.
(74) Sprague, Phyllis K. A school lunch institute. Practical Home Economics
20:312, September 1942.
(75) Stacey, Helen. Dietitians—community leaders for better health. Journal
of the American Dietetic Association 24:878-884, October 1948.
(76) Summer workshops and training programs. School Food Service Asso
ciation News 5 : 7-8, March 1948.
(77) U. S. Air Force Medical Service organized. Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 25:804, September 1949.
(78) U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home
Economics. Completed theses in home economies and related fields in
colleges and universities of the United States of America. Washington,
D. C., the Department, 1947—18. 49 pp.
(79) --------- Production and Marketing Administration. National school lunch
program. Washington, D. C., the Department, Feb. 11, 1948. 94 pp.
Mimepv
(80) U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Patients in mental
institutions, 1945. Washington, D. C., U. S. Government printing office,
1948. Table 42, p. 120. (Also 1940 edition, pp. 58, 71.) .
(81) --------------------- 16th Census of the United States, 1940. Population. Vol.
III. The labor force. Part 1. U. S. Summary. Washington, D. C.,
U. S. Government printing office, 1943. 301 pp.
(82) --------- --------- Provisional estimates of the population of the U. S., by
regions, divisions, and States, July 1, 1948. Current population reports,
population estimates, series P-25, Oct. 3, 1948. (No. 14.)
(83) U. S. Federal Security Agency, Office of Education. Home economics in
degree-granting institutions, 1947—48. Washington, D. C., the Agency,
1948. 13 pp. (Misc. 2557-Rev. 1948.)
(84) ------------------- Work of a county school lunch supervisor. Education for
Victory 3 : 23, May 21, 1945.
(85) --------- Social Security Administration. Annual report of the Federal
Security Agency. Section I, 1947. Washington, D. C., U. S. Govern
ment printing office, 1948. 167 pp.
(86) ---------- --------- Bureau of Employment Security. Dictionary of Occu
pational Titles. Volume I. Definitions of Titles. Washington, D. C„
U. S. Government printing office, 1949. 1518 pp: 2nd ed.
(87) Walsh, Margaret. A dietitian serves the community through its social
agencies. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 22: 423-426, May
1946.
(88) West, Bessie Brooks. Address of the president-elect. Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 22:32-35, January 1946.
(89) What does the housewife know about nutrition? Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 24: 542, June 1948.
(90) Wood, Majorie J. Dietitians in the public health service. Journal of the
American Dietetic Association 21: 302, May 1945.
APPENDIX
77
SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The illustrations in this bulletin appear through the courtesy of
the following organizations:
University of Michigan
Children’s Hospital,
Cincinnati, Ohio
National Restaurant Association
National Dairy Council
U. S. Indian School,
Santa Fe, N. Mex.
Veterans Administration
Chicago Board of Education
University of Chicago
H. A. Johnson Co.
Butterworth Hospital,
Grand Rapids, Mich.
University of Oregon Medical School
Hospitals and Clinics
Eastman Kodak Company
Aetna Life Insurance Co.
General Electric Company
Massachusetts General Hospital
Colorado Stale Hospital,
Pueblo, Colo.
Saint Mary’s Hospital,
Rochester, Minn.
Freedmen’s Hospital,
Washington, D. C.
Charlotte (N. C.) Memorial Hospital
American Dietetic Association
U. S. Department of National Defense
University Hospital of Cleveland
John P. Harding Restaurants
U. S. Public Health Service
Teachers College,
Columbia University
American National Red Cross
Michigan State Department of Health
Alabama Polytechnic Institute
Community Chest,
Washington, D. C.
Rochester Child Health Institute,
Rochester, Minn.
CURRENT PUBLICATIONS OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU
FACTS ON WOMEN WORKERS—issued monthly. 4 pages. (Latest statistics
on employment of women; earnings; labor laws affecting women; news items
of interest to women workers; women in the international scene.)
HANDBOOK OF FACTS ON WOMEN WORKERS. Bull. 225. 79 pp. 1948.
25$. (1950 Ed. in process.)
THE AMERICAN WOMAN—Her Changing Role as Worker, Homemaker, Citi
zen. (Women’s Bureau Conference, 1948.) Bull. 224. 210 pp. 1948.
EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK AND TRAINING FOR WOMEN
The Outlook for Women in Occupations in the Medical and Other Health
Services, Bull. 203:
1. Physical Therapists. 14 pp. 1945. 10$.
2. Occupational Therapists. 15 pp. 1945. 10$.
3. Professional Nurses. 66 pp. 1946. 15$.
4. Medical Laboratory Technicians. 10 pp. 1945. 10$.
5. Practical Nurses and Hospital Attendants. 20 pp. 1945. 10$.
6. Medical Record Librarians. 9 pp. 1945. 10$.
7. Women Physicians. 28 pp. 1945. 10$.
8. X-Ray Technicians. 14 pp. 1945. 10$.
9. Women Dentists. 21 pp. 1945. 10$.
.
10. Dental Hygienists. 17 pp. 1945. 10$.
11. Physicians’ and Dentists' Assistants. 15 pp. 1945. 10$.
12. Trends and Their Effect Upon the Demand for Women Workers. 55 pp.
1946, 15$.
The Outlook for Women in Science, Bull. 223:
1. Science. [General introduction to the series.] 81 pp. 1949.
2. Chemistry. 65 pp. 1948. 20$.
3. Biological Sciences. 87 pp. 1948. 25$.
4. Mathematics and Statistics. 21 pp. 1948. 10$.
5. Architecture and Engineering. 88 pp. 1948. 25$.
6. Physics and Astronomy. 32 pp. 1948. 15$.
7. Geology, Geography, and Meteorology. 52 pp. 1948. 15$.
8. Occupations Related to Science. 33 pp. 1948. 15$.
20$.
The Outlook for Women in Police Work. Bull. 231. 31 pp. 1949. 15$.
Home Economics Occupations Series, Bull. 234. The Outlook for Women in :
1. Dietetics. (Instant publication.)
Social Work Series, Bull. 235. The Outlook for Women in:
1. Social Case Work in a Medical Setting. (In press. Others in prep
aration.)
Your Job Future After College. Leaflet. 1947. (Rev. 1948.)
Your Job Bkiture After High School. Leaflet. 1949.
Occupations for Girls and Women—Selected References. Bull. 229. 105 pp.
1949. 30$.
Training for Jobs—for Women and Girls. [Under public funds available for
vocational training purposes.] Leaflet 1. 1947.
EARNINGS
Earnings of Women in Selected Manufacturing Industries.
14 pp. 1948. 10$.
78
1946.
Bull. 219.
LABOR LAWS
Summary of State Labor Laws for Women. 8 pp. 1050. Mimeo.
State Legislation of Special Interest to Women. Mimeos for 1048 and 1049.
Minimum Wage
State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders, 1942: An Analysis. Bull. 191. 52
pp. 1942. 20 cf. Supplement, July 1, 1942-January 1, 1949. Bull. 227.
58 pp. 1949. 20^.
State Minimum-Wage Laws. Leaflet 1. 1948.
Model Bill for State minimum-wage law for women. Mimeo.
Map showing States having minimum-wage laws. (Desk size; wall size.)
State Minimum-Wage Orders Becoming Effective Since End of World War
II. 1950. Multilith.
Equal Pay
Equal Pay for Women. Leaflet 2. 1947. (Rev. 1949.)
Chart analyzing State equal-pay laws and Model Bill. Mimeo.
Texts of State laws (separates). Mimeo.
Model Bill for State equal-pay law. Mimeo.
Selected References on Equal Pay for- Women. 10 pp. 1949. Mimeo.
Movement for Equal Pay Legislation in the United States. 5 pp. 1949.
Multilith.
Hours of Work and Other Labor Laws
State Labor Laws for Women, with Wartime Modifications, Dec. 15, 1944.
Bull. 202:
I. Analysis of Hour Laws. 110 pp. 1945. 15$S.
II. Analysis of Plant Facilities Laws. 43 pp. 1945. 10<*.
III. Analysis of Regulatory Laws, Prohibitory Laws, Maternity Laws. 12
pp. 1945. 5<f.
IV. Analysis of Industrial Home-Work Laws. 26 pp. 1945. 100.
V. Explanation and Appraisal. 66 pp. 1946. 150.
Supplements through 194S. Mimeo.
Working Women and Unemployment Insurance. Leaflet. 1949.
Maps of United States showing State hour laws, daily and weekly. (Desk
size; wall size.)
LEGAL STATUS OF WOMEN
International Documents on the Status of Women. Bull. 217. 116 pp. 1947.
250.
Legal Status of Women in the United States of America, January 1, 1948.
United States Summary. Bull. 157. (Revised.) (In preparation.)
Reports for States, Territories and possessions (separates). Bulls. 157-1
through 157-54. (Revised.) 5^ and 10^ each,
ilhe Political and Civil Status of Women in the United States of America.
Summary, including Principal Sex Distinctions as of January 1, 1948. Leaf
let. 1948.
Women’s Eligibility for Jury Duty. Leaflet. July 1, 1949.
Reply of United States Government to Questionnaire of United Nations Economic
and Social Council on the Legal Status and Treatment of Women. Part I.
Public Law. In 6 Sections: A and B, Franchise and Public Office; O, PublicServices and Functions; D, Educational and Professional Opportunities; E,
Fiscal Laws; F, Civil Liberties; and G, Nationality. Mimeo.
HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYMENT
Old-Age Insurance for Household Workers. Bull. 220. 20 pp. 1947. 10A
Community Household Employment Programs. Bull. 221. 70 pp. 1948. 200.
RECOMMENDED STANDARDS for women’s working conditions, safty, and
health :
Standards of Employment for Women. Leaflet 1. 1946. (Rev. 1948.) 50 each.
79
RECOMMENDED STANDARDS—Continued
When You Hire Women. Sp. Bull. 1-1. 16 pp. 1944. 100.
The Industrial Nurse and the Woman Worker. Bull. 228. (Partial revision of
Sp. Bull. 19. 1944.) 48 pp. 1949. lot1.
Women’s Effective War Work Requires Good Posture. Sp. Bull. 10. 0 pp.
1943. 50.
Washing and Toilet Facilities for Women in Industry. Sp. Bull. 4. 11 pp.
1942. 50.
Lifting and Carrying Weights by Women in Industry. Sp. Bull. 2. (Rev. 1946.)
12 pp. 50.
Safety Clothing for Women in Industry. Sp. Bull. 3. 11 pp. 1941. 10th
Supplements: Safety Caps; Safety Shoes. 4 pp. ea. 1944. 50 ea.
Poster—Work Clothes for Safety and Efficiency.
WOMEN UNDER UNION CONTRACTS
Maternity-Benefits Under Union-Contract Health Insurance Plans.
19 pp. 1947. 100.
COST OF LIVING BUDGETS
Working Women’s Budgets in Twelve States.
Bull. 226.
36 pp.
Bull. 214.
1948.
150.
EMPLOYMENT
Women’s Occupations Through Seven Decades. Bull. 218. 260 pp. 1947. 45^.
Popular version, Women’s Jobs: Advance and Growth. Bull. 232. 88 pp.
1949. 300.
Employment, of Women in the Early Postwar Period, with Background of Pre
war and War Data. Bull. 211. 14 pp. 1946. 100.
Women Workers in Ten War Production Areas and Their Postwar Employment
Plans. Bull. 209. 56 pp. 1946. 150.
Women in Higher-Level Positions. Bull. 236. (In press.)
Baltimore Women War Workers in the Postwar Period. 61 pp. 1948. Mimeo.
INDUSTRY
Women Workers in Power Laundries. Bull. 215. 71 pp. 1947. 200.
The Woman Telephone Worker [1947]. Bull. 207. 28 pp. 1946. 100.
Typical Women’s Jobs in the Telephone Industry [1944]. Bull. 207-A.
52 pp.
1947. 150.
Women in the Federal Service. Part I. Trends in Employment, 1923-1947.
Bull. 230-1. 81 pp. 1949. 250. Part II. Occupational Information. Bull.
230-11. 87 dl>. 1950. 25<b.
Night Work for Women in Hotels and Restaurants. Bull. 233. 59 pp. 1949.
20 0.
WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA
Women Workers in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. Bull. 195. 15 pp. 1942.
50.
Women Workers in Brazil. Bull. 206. 42 pp, 1946. 100.
Women Workers in Paraguay. Bull. 210. 16 pp. 1946. 100.
Women Workers in Peru. Bull. 213. 41 pp. 1947. 100.
Social and Labor Problems of Peru and Uruguay. 1944. Mimeo.
Women in Latin America: Legal Rights and Restrictions. (Address before the
National Association of Women Lawyers.)
THE WOMEN’S BUREAU—Its Purpose and Functions.
Leaflet.
1919.
For complete list of publications available for distribution write—■
THE WOMEN’S BUREAU
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Washington 25, D. O.
80
o
@FedFRASER