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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS, SECRETARY

WOMEN’S BUREAU
MARY ANDERSON, Director

BULLETIN OF THE WOMEN'S BUREAU, NO. 19

IOWA WOMEN IN
INDUSTRY

if

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1922

[Public—No. 259—66th Congress.]
[II. R. 13229.]
An Act To establish in the Department of Labor a bureau to be
known as the Women’s Bureau.

Be, it enacted by the. Senate and House, of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be estab­
lished in the Department of Labor a bureau to be known as the
Women’s Bureau.
Sec. 2. That the said bureau shall be in charge of a director, a
woman, to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, who shall receive an annual compensa­
tion of $5,000. It shall be the duty of said bureau to formulate
standards and policies which shall promote the welfare of wage­
earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their
efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employ­
ment. The said bureau shall have authority to investigate and
report to the said department upon all matters pertaining to the
welfare of women in industry. The director of said bureau may
from time to time publish the results of these investigations in such
a manner and to such extent as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe.
Sec. 3. That there shall be in said bureau an assistant director,
to be appointed by the Secretary of Labor, who shall receive an
annual compensation of $3,500 and shall perform such duties as
shall be prescribed by the director and approved by the Secretary
of Labor.
Sec. 4. That there is hereby authorized to be employed by said
bureau a chief clerk and such special agents, assistants, clerks, and
other employees at such rates of compensation and in such numbers
as Congress may from time to time provide by appropriations.
Sec. 5. That the Secretary of Labor is hereby directed to furnish
sufficient quarters, office furniture and equipment, for the work of
this bureau.
Sec. 6. That this act shall take effect and be in force from and
after its passage.
Approved, June 5, 1920.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS, SECRETARY

WOMEN’S BUREAU
MARY ANDERSON, Director

BULLETIN OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU, NO. 19

IOWA WOMEN IN
INDUSTRY

WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1922

CONTENTS
Page.

Letter of transmittal...................................................................................... ........
Foreword............................................ .............. ...................................................
Summary............... .................. .................................... ..... ...................................
Part I. Hours and working, conditions.................... ..................... ......... ......
Part PL. Industrial opportunities and training.......................... ....... ...........
Part I. Hours and working conditions...................................................................
Hours.................................................................................................................
Length of week.................................... ..... ...............................................
Length of day...........................................................................................
Lunch periods...........................................................................................
Hours of beginning and ending work......................................................
Saturday hours..........................................................................................
Daily and weekly hours...........................................................................
Piecework.................................................................................................
Hours in hotels and restaurants................................................................
Employment records and employment fluctuation.......................................
Fluctuation in number of women............................................................
Home responsibilities.....................................................................................
Working conditions.........................................................................................
Cleaning...................................................................................................
Lighting......................................................................................................
Seats...........................................................................................................
Uniforms.....................................................................................................
Drinking facilities.....................................................................................
Lunch rooms..............................................................................................
Rest rooms.................................................................................................
Rest periods............................................................................................. .
Cloakrooms and wash rooms.....................................................................
Toilets.........................................................................................................
Part TI. Industrial opportunities and training.....................................................
Occupational groups in Iowa.....................................................................
Systems of instruction in Iowa plants......................................................
Public continuation schools...................................................................
Training suggested by managers......................................................................
Trade and industrial training.................................................................
Sources of training known to employers.................................................
Trade extension instruction by the State.......................................................
Training of adult males.............................................................................
Training of adult females.......................................................................

5
7
15
15

16
19
19
19
20

23
23
25
25
25
27
32
33
35
36
36
38
38
41
41
42
47
48
48
49
53
53
59
62
63
63
65
65
65
68

TEXT TABLES.
1. Number of employees, by sex and industry.....................................................
2. Ranking industries in number of women employed, 1917 and 1919...............
3. Cumulative percentages, full-time employees working each specified number
of hours weekly................................................................................. .»............
4. Cumulative percentages, full-time employees working each specified number
of hours daily...................................................................................................
5. Number of pieceworkers and of timeworkers, by sex and industry..............
6. Time off duty, hotel and restaurant workers having regular hours................
7. Fluctuation in numbers of employees according to season..............................
8. Number of employees in each industry and in the departments within the
industry, by sex..............................................................................................
3

12
13
20
21

26
29
34
55

4

CONTESTS.

APPENDIX TABLES.
I. Number and per cent of employees working each, specified number of
weekly hours, by sex and industry........................ ...................................
II. Number and per cent of employees working each specified number of
daily horns, by sex and industry...............................................................
III. Number and per cent of employees in restaurants working each specified
number of weekly hours, by sex.................................................................

Page.
70
72
73

MAPS.
Legal working hours for women—Daily ..
Legal working hours for women—Weekly

following p. 17
following p. 17

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
U. S. Department of Labor,
Women’s Bureau,
Washington, July 11,1921.
Sir: I have the honor to submit the accompanying report of the
investigation in the State of Iewa of hours and working conditions
of women in industry in that State. Part II of the report contains
the results of a special inquiry as to industrial opportunities and
training for women workers.
This investigation was conducted at the invitation of the State
commissioner of labor with the approval of the governor and the
indorsement of the organization of the League of Women Voters and
the Federation of Women’s Clubs of the State. Valuable assistance
and cooperation were given by the bureau of labor statistics through
its commissioner, Mr. A. L. Urick, and its woman factory inspector,
Mrs. Ellen Rourke.
This survey was made during October, November, and December,
1920. The investigation was directed by Miss Agnes L. Peterson,
assisted by Miss May Lane, Miss Florence Clark, Miss Lenore Leins,
ami Miss Elisabeth Benham. The statistical tables and the report
were prepared in the office of the Women’s Bureau.
Respectfully submitted.
Mary Anderson, Director.
Hon. James J. Davis,
Secretary of Labor.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY
FOREWORD.
Reason for survey.
Upon the invitation of the State commissioner of labor, with the
approval of the governor and the indorsement of the League of Women
Voters and the Federation of Women’s Clubs of the State of Iowa,
the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor made
this investigation of working conditions and hours of employment of
women in industry in Iowa during October, November, and Decem­
ber, 1920.
Surveys of wage-earning women in special industries had been made
by the Iowa State Bureau of Labor in 1914 and 1915, notwithstand­
ing the small force of that bureau and the fact that it employed but
one woman. These reports on women employed in laundries, mer­
cantile establishments, telephone exchanges, hotels, and restaurants—•
showing undesirable hours, wages, and working conditions—had
aroused the interest and the concern of the women of the State.
During three successive sessions of the legislature 8-hour bills had
been introduced, only to be defeated or so amended that they were
withdrawn. A new bill introduced at the session of 1919 was so
altered by amendments exempting certain industries from rulings in
regard to hours that it became necessary for the sponsors of the original
bill to defeat the amended one, which meant worse than nothing—•
the legalizing of existing conditions with no regard for industrial
standards.
Following this defeat the groups that had championed the 8-hour
bill through three sessions determined to secure fuller and more recent
statements on the facts of the situation, that they might present
arguments based on actual conditions. Therefore the assistance of
the Woman’s Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor was requested.
The result was that this investigation was undertaken, with the coop­
eration of Commissioner A. H. Urick and Mrs. Ellen Rourke, inspector
of the Iowa bureau of labor statistics.
Iowa an agricultural-industrial State.
The Women’s Bureau was particularly interested in conditions in
Iowa because of the geographic situation of that State and its reflec­
tion of conditions and tendencies prevailing in agricultural States
throughout the Middle West.
The United States is swinging from agriculture to manufacture,
figures in the Census of 1920 showing that the trend of population
7

8

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

from the country to the city had steadily increased during the past
decade. The Census of 1920 reports 51.4 per cent of the population
as urban while that of 1910 reports 45.8 per cent.1
Iowa is moving with this national change of balance. The State
census of 1915 showed that a considerable part of the State popula­
tion had already changed from rural to town activities,1 and even
2
though State and national authorities on census taking differ in their
interpretation of the word “town”—the national census regarding
as a “ town” only an incorporated place of 2,500 population or more^—
the national figures confirm the drift from country to city.3 4 The
following figures show the change in the character of the population
of Iowa during the 10 years from 1910 to 1920:
Census year.
1910.................................................................................................................
1920.................................................................................................................

Urban.
680,0f>4
875,495

Rural.
1,544,717
1,528,526

Per cent
urban.
30.6
36.4

Iowa is becoming a manufacturing State, as are other agricultural
States, largely because scientific processes have made it possible for
more and more of the perishable products of agriculture to be pre­
served or shipped for later consumption. The food crop has become
part of the raw material of the factory. For this reason Iowa will
increase her factory products, even as she increases her farm produce.
Extremes and averages.
Iowa is in the center of a large agricultural area. Therefore, its
conditions and inclinations have a wider significance than simply
within its own boundaries.
But its extremes, like its averages, are striking. It is extreme
in literacy, having the smallest percentage of illiterates in the Union;
extreme in per capita wealth, leading all the States; extreme in the
smallness of its per capita debt, following only Kansas and Oregon.1
It is extreme, though not alone, in its ignoring of the advance in
labor legislation as it affects women; it is black on the maps 5 6
which
show the relative standing of the different States regarding the regu­
lation of women’s hours (day or week), night work, and minimum
wage. Iowa is one of the six States which do not limit the number of
hours, by day or week, that a woman may work; it is one of the
35 States permitting night work without restriction; it is one of the
34 States having no minimum wage legislation.
1 U. S. Bureau of the Census, 14th Census. Urban and Rural Population of the United States: 1920.
Released Jan. 13,1921.
2 Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics Biennial Report, 1916-1918. p. 21.
fl U. S. Bureau of the Census, 14th Census: 1920. Bulletin. Population: Iowa. 1921. p. 2.
4 Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics Directory of Manufacturing Establishments. 1919. (Bulletin 1) pp.
19-20.
6 Following p. 17.

9

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Women in industry in Iowa.
During the last six years Iowa industry has increased by a con­
siderable per cent, gauged by the number of wage earners, men and
women.
Average number of ivage earners in Iowa.0
1913................................................................................................... 46,695
1919.................................................................................................... 75,249

These figures are certainly sufficient testimony to give Iowa
pause when she calls herself a purely agricultural State—in six years
her industrial population increased 61.4 per cent.
Men wage earners have increased in actual thousands, but their
percentage of the total number decreased slightly in the six years.
Though very slight, the decrease is significant.
Percentage of men workers.0
1913.
1919.

84.5
83.9

As the percentage of children at work in Iowa is almost insignifi­
cant—the report of 1920 7 showed but 0.6 per cent of wage earners
to be children—women have therefore gained the slight percentage
that men lost. They have increased by a few thousands each
biennial period, naturally making their greatest gain during the war.
Percentage of women workers,6
1913.

1919.

15.5
16.1

Women have been holding their own, but not doing much more
than holding their own, in industry in Iowa. Their percentage has
been strangely steady. They have formed 15 per cent of the labor
force for six years, and even after the urge of the war and the with­
drawal of men, this proportion has been changed but 0.6 per cent.
However, in order to maintain this proportion they have had to
increase their numbers greatly—in 1913 they numbered 7,323; in
1919, 12,091.
In this survey stress has been laid on hours and working conditions.
Even though standards are set by continued usage, yet due allowance
must be made for the fact that Iowa is still pioneering in industry.
However, the ignorance and lack of experience which must some­
times accompany pioneering will not excuse a permanently established
low standard of any sort. As long as one single toilet must serve 100
women and the public, as long as the common cup, the common
towel, and kindred menaces to public health are tolerated, pride in
general working conditions is misplaced.
6 Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics IGth Biennial Report, 1912-13, p. 22; 1918-1920 (unpublished).
7 See footnote 1, p. 8.

02154°—21----- 2

10

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

It was felt that Iowa would like to know the worst in order to
demand the best. And if one-half of the women work an 8-hour day,
that in itself is an argument to rescue, if need be by legislation, the
other half who work up to 12 hours and over each day. If one-half
the women work in excellent surroundings with conveniences and
comforts, their conditions may constitute a model for the formula­
tion of an industrial code applicable to all industries.
Many of the conditions described in this report might be improved
if the State bureau of labor statistics and the woman inspector were
given more power. With the powers of its bureau of labor enlarged
and the personnel of the bureau increased, the Iowa public would
find the additional cost of such a change more than compensated for.
The fact that Iowa has little or no labor legislation may be regarded
as an opportunity—because of its being the State of both the highest
literacy and the highest per capita wealth—to write on its books the
most advanced and most carefully considered labor laws. To quote
from the report of 1918:9 “The laws relating to factory inspection
are antiquated and should be entirely rewritten to make them more
definite.” Iowa can afford to change and add to these laws and thus
to place herself with the most progressive of the States in insuring
good industrial conditions.
Scope of survey.
The investigation included 223 firms in 21 cities—Atlantic, Boone,
Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des
Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Fort Madison, Grinnell, Keokuk,
Mason City, Muscatine, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Red Oak, Sioux City,
Washington, and Waterloo.
Method of collecting data.
The data quoted in this report were gathered by agents of the
Women’s Bureau who personally inspected each establishment.
They recorded the numbers of employees as given by the manager or
other official and obtained additional information through home visits
to workers. A description of working conditions was written by the
agents following their inspection of each establishment.
The firms visited were chosen by the agents of the Women’s Bureau
from the records of the bureau of labor statistics at Des Moines, with
the assistance of the commissioner and of the woman inspector.
Through the courtesy of the commissioner the Women’s Bureau
has had access to the unpublished statistical material gathered by
the Iowa bureau of labor statistics for its report covering the period
from July, 1918, to June, 1920. This material was gathered under
the provisions of the law 10 which provides that the commissioner of
9 Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics Biennial Report, 1917-18, p. 11.
10 Iowa, Session Laws, 1884, chapter 132, section 5; amended, Session Laws, 1902, chapter 97, section 1.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

11

labor "shall collect, assort, systematize, and present in biennial
reports to the governor statistical details relating to all departments
of labor in the State, especially in its relations to the commercial,
social, educational, and sanitary conditions of the laboring classes,
the means of escape from and the protection of life and health in
factories, the employment of children, the number of hours of labor
exacted from them and from women, and to the permanent prosperity
of the mechanical, manufacturing, and productive industries of the
State.”
The choice of the plants to be investigated by the Women’s Bureau
was carefully made. The essential was that important industries em­
ploying large numbers of women should be studied. Both large and
small plants, with good and bad working conditions, were included in
order that high as well as low standards already prevailing in the
State might be quoted.
As the study was intended to ascertain the hours and working con­
ditions of women, certain industries employing a large proportion of
men were not investigated. There were nine industries in Iowa
which were omitted because they employed no women—artificial
limbs, cement blocks, crushed rock, mirrors and glass, oils and grease,
ship and boat building, silos, and vulcanizing.
Other industries not included in the survey, though employing
small numbers of women, were slaughtering and meat packing, poultry
and produce packing, canning and preserving, lumber and timber,
signs, and advertising novelties.
The season of the investigation eliminated canning, while the lim­
ited time available made it necessary to exclude butter, cheese, and
condensed milk plants.
The result of the Women’s Bureau investigation showed that in
the 223 establishments there were 10,411 women and 11,718 men for
whom data were reported in manufacturing plants, stores, restau­
rants, hotels, and laundries. Thus the survey included a tabulation
of the hours and working conditions of about 22,000 employees
(22,413), all of whom were full-time workers and almost half of whom
were women. Table 1 gives the distribution by industry of the
employees in the establishments investigated.
The distribution of the women by industry was as follows: 2,560
in stores, 1,415 in clothing manufacturing, 1,188 in food manufac­
turing, 937 in candy manufacturing, 822 in laundries, 617 in cigar
manufacturing, 558 in printing and publishing establishments, 410
in restaurants, 443 in button manufacturing, 181 in box and basket
manufacturing, and 1,280 in miscellaneous manufacturing. These
figures relate to women actually employed at or about the time of
the visit to the plant and do not show the maximum numbers of a
more busy period. In this industrial classification the establishments

12

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

listed as manufacturing clothing include those making gloves, hosiery,
overalls, shirts, pants, jackets, hats, ties, skirts, ladies’ clothing, and
overalls. Miscellaneous food manufacturing includes plants manu­
facturing bread, biscuits, pickles, vinegar, macaroni, sugar, and
cereals. Miscellaneous manufacturing includes the manufacture of
wood, metal, clay, and rubber products, boots and shoes, brooms,
medicines and proprietary articles, phonographs, fountain pens, paper
stock, and woolen textiles.
Table 1.—Number

Industry.

of employees, by sex and industry.

Men.
Women.
Number
Total
of estab­ number
Boys. Girls,
lish­
of em­
ments. ployees. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.

Box and basket manufacturing..........................................
Button manufacturing..........
Cigar manufacturing..............
Clothing manufacturing.........
Candy manufacturing............
Miscellaneous food manufacturing....................................
Miscellaneous manufacturing.
General mercantile.................
5-and-10-ccnt stores.................
Laundries.................................
Printing and publishing........
Hotels and restaurants...........

8
10
11
25
18

328
725
860
1,987
1,520

127
260
226
470
573

41.2
37.0
26. 8
24. 9
37.9

181
413
617
1,415
937

58. 8
63.0
73. 2
75. 1
62. 1

2
1
3
20
2

18
21
14
82
8

20
37
19
9
29
7
30

4,122
6,325
i 3.109
391
1,198
1,147
701

2,926
5,018
809
71
367
580
291

71. 1
79.7
26. 0
19. 1
30.9
51.0
41.5

1,188
1,280
2,259
301
822
558
410

28.9
20.3
72. 7
80. 9
69. 1
49. 0
58.5

1
18
20
1
3
6

7
9
21
18
6
3

Total...............................

223

1 22,413

11,718

52.3

10,411

46.5

77

207

i One firm, employing 209 mules and 532 females, did not report numbers under 16 years of age.

According to Table 1 women predominated in the industries sur­
veyed, except in printing, where they almost equaled the men in
numbers, in miscellaneous food manufacturing, where women were
outnumbered about 24 to 1, and in miscellaneous manufacturing,
where they were outnumbered about 4 to 1.
The following figures show the scope of this study measured by
the number of women and girls employed in the different establish­
ments investigated, compared with the number reported by the State
bureau of labor statistics as the average for the State in comparable
industries in 1919.
Number of women
employed.
Industry.

Women's
Bureau
survey.

Total.......................................................................................................................
1 Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics—Statistics of Manufactures, 1919 (unpublished).

199
464
631
1,497
945
1,195
1,289
581
6,781

State
bureau of
labor
statistics.1
201
861
741
2,168
1,032
1,342
1, 859
1,250
9,454

13

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

In the box and basket industries the Women’s Bureau survey
included approximately as many women in the 8 establishments
studied as the complete State statistics show were employed on the
average in 1G establishments.
In the button industry the Women’s Bureau survey included 464
women in 10 establishments, while the State statistics reported 861
women in 32 establishments. However, the firms in this industry
covered by the Women’s Bureau survey include all of those employ­
ing women at the tune of the investigation; those omitted were
cutting plants employing only men. Certain plants had shut down,
for the industry had been seriously affected by post-armistice conditions
in trade, which accounts for the decrease in the numbers reported.
Printing and publishing establishments show the smallest propor­
tion included in this investigation of the total number of women
employed throughout the State. The establishments investigated
employed but 561, while 1,250 were reported by the State bureau
of labor statistics. The investigation, however, could not include
many small printing plants scattered throughout Iowa where only
one or two women were employed.
In all, practically three-fourtlis (71.7 per cent) of the women
reported in these industries by the State bureau of labor statistics
were included in this investigation.
Women in new industries.
In general there has been little fluctuation from year to year in
numbers of women in the industries. In some instances women
have entered new industries or increased their hold on old ones
where such hold was slight. They are now in core making and in
automobile tire and furniture manufacturing. But the 12 industries
which rank highest in the number of women employed were, accord­
ing to the State bureau of labor statistics, approximately the same
in 1919 as they were in 1917.11 The order, however, has changed.
Table 2.—Ranking

industries in number of women employed, 1917 and 1919.
1917

Industry.
Rank.

Canning............ “...................

Patent medicines...............................................................................

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

1919

Number
Number
of women Rank. of women
employed.
employed.
1 222
i;027
974
786
599
528
459
428
381
268
278

2
1
5
8
7
10
6
12

11 Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics Biennial Report, 1916-1918, p. 35; 1918-1920 (unpublished).

961
861
1,032
1,250
741
632
640
519
402
689
316
2S2

14

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

These figures show that printing and publishing has moved from
four til to first place in the number of women employed; confectionery
has moved from third to second place. Button making, which in
certain processes has occupations suited to women, has fallen off
noticeably, and clothing, both men’s and women’s, has moved down
the scale, both industries affected by conditions in the trade. To­
bacco continues to hold fifth place. Only two others kept in 1919
their 1917 rank—gloves the eleventh and patent medicines the
twelfth—while slaughtering and meat packing, which was tenth only
two years ago, has moved to sixth place in the employment of
women.
The foregoing figures show that women in the industries in Iowa
form a by no means inconsiderable group and that this investigation
has been sufficient in scope and accurate enough in method to give a
trustworthy picture of the conditions under which they are employed.
To remedy those conditions which are unsatisfactory is the task for
the people of Iowa. From facts given in the following pages it is
apparent that many employers have already instituted most progres­
sive and up-to-date standards. That they have done so without
compulsion indicates that these standards are practical and worth
trying. It is their action in blazing the trail to healthful and efficient
conditions of employment which should facilitate the success of those
who are striving to establish for all workers those standards which
have been found practicable and wise.

SUMMARY.
PART I. HOURS AND WORKING CONDITIONS.
Scope.
1. Number of establishments visited...............................................
223
2. Total number of employees........................................................................ 22,413
3. Total number of women............................................................................. 10,411
4. Number of women in—
Manufacturing establishments (including printing and publishing)... 6, 619
Stores........................................................................................................ 2, 560
Laundries..................................................................................................
822
Restaurants..............................................................................................
410
Weekly hours.12
5. Less than 48 hours was worked by.............................................................
6. 48 to 50 hours was worked by.....................................................................
7. 50 to 52 hours was worked by.....................................................................
8. 52 to 54 hours was worked by.....................................................................
9. 54 to 60 hours was worked by.....................................................................
10. 60 hours or more was worked by.................................................................
Daily
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Women.

1, 710

3,597
2,360
941
1,180
281

hours.
Women.
Less than 8 hours was worked by 22 establishments.................................
189
8 to 9 hours was worked by 110 establishments......................................... 5, 297
9 to 10 hours was worked by 92 establishments......................................... 3,395
10 to 11 hours was worked by 31 establishments...............................
987
12 hours or more was worked by 3 establishments....................................
37

Note.—Establishments working their various departments different hours appear in this classifica­
tion in more than one group.

Saturday half holiday.
16. On Saturday 53 establishments were open less than 5 hours, or did not work at all.
56 worked 5 but not 6 hours.
81 worked 6 hours or over {excluding hotels and restaurants and those not
reported).
Lunch period.
17. A lunch period of one-half hour was the practice in 67 establishments (excluding
hotels and restaurants).
In one plant the period was 25 minutes; 21 gave more than one-half hour but
less than one hour; 104 gave one hour or more.
Piecework.
18. Piecework was done by 3,205 women (25.9 per cent of all the women working).
The percentage of women on piecework was highest in cigar manufacturing,
89.3 per cent; lowest in restaurants, 0.1 per cent.
Working conditions.
19. In 63 establishments cleaning was done by the workers only. In 157 establish­
ments it was done by janitor or matron, and in 11 of these cases with the help
of the workers. Three cases were not reported. 164 establishments were
reported to be clean and 53 to be neglected.
20. Sufficient general light was reported in 203 establishments.
12 All industries except restaurants.

15

16

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

21. 120 establishments provided seats for all workers; of the remaining 103, eight
provided no seats and the others an inadequate number.
22. No toilet facilities were found in 3 establishments; men and women used the
same toilet in 12 establishments; the women used public toilets in 9 estab­
lishments; 203 establishments had separate toilets for women, but in these
221 compartments out of 748 were inadequately screened.
23. Lunch rooms were not provided in 111 establishments; cafeterias or dining
rooms serving hot food were provided in 17; other lunch facilities in 65
(excluding hotels and restaurants).
24. Rest rooms were not provided in 149 establishments; they were provided in 22.
There were rest facilities in 52 others, one-half of them combining rest and
lunch rooms.
25. 39 establishments had no cloakroom provision.
26. 87 establishments did not provide first aid. In 9 establishments there were
hospital rooms and a very few employed nurses.
27. Uniforms were worn in a considerable number of establishments but in only 12
were uniforms provided and laundered by the firm. Aprons were worn in
31. In 23 women wore caps and in one hair nets. Of these 23 factories 5
manufactured candy and 4 other food products.
28. Of 78 establishments which provided bubblers for drinking water, in only 28
were the bubbler's of a sanitary type. In 92 establishments the workers
used common cups. In 57, individual cups were supplied either by the
workers or by the firm. The workers in 118 establishments used faucet water,
in one well water. 39 establishments had tanks or coolers for iced water.
Two used open pails.
29. In the dressing rooms in 125 establishments only cold water was found. Liquid
soap was provided in 30, cake soap in 151, and no soap in 34 establishments.
Common towels were found in 145. In 51 establishments having individua
towels, 32 had paper and 19 had cloth towels. No towels were provided
in 25 establishments.
PART II. INDUSTRIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND TRAINING.
Occupations of women.
Over 5,300 women were engaged in manufacturing industrial products or their box
or bag containers.
Over 2,100 were packing the products.
Over 2,100 were engaged in selling the products.
Over 1,100 were keeping the records of production, movement, and sale of products
in offices and stock and shipping departments.
A small number of women but a notable proportion of opportunities (23 per cent)
were in supervisory positions.
The maintenance and repair of the plants and the lunch and rest room welfare work
demand the housekeeping services of women.
In one field of service alone were women absent; none were firemen, electricians, or
engineers who operate the heat, light, and power service in plants.
Instruction of women.
In 55 per cent of the firms instruction to new workers was reported as given by fore­
men or forewomen.
In 20 per cent of the firms no definite system of instruction of any sort was reported.
In only 5 per cent of the firms was arrangement made for instruction of beginners
by special teachers.
In 8 per cent of the firms it was reported that exceptional workers served as in­
structors.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

17

Training by (he State.
The following trade extension courses are offered by Iowa State College to men:
1. Short courses for bakers, bottlers, canners, electric meter men, engineers, firemen,
janitors, and automobile mechanics.
2. Evening classes in mechanical drawing, map drawing, builder’s drawing, sheet
metal drawing, shop mathematics, strength of materials, the steam boiler, heating
and ventilating, elements of mechanics, elements of structural engineering, and the
gas engine.
3. Correspondence courses in the evening school subjects.
4. Teacher training courses including 14 courses dealing with trade processes and
related technical information.
5. Foremanship courses.
The courses open to women are:
1. A short course in telephony for supervisors.
2. A correspondence course in telephony for operatives.
02154°—21---- 3

LEGAL WORKING HOURS FOR WOMEN—DAILY

N.DAK.

S. DAK

IOWA

NEBR

KANS.

tenn

OKLA.

8 HOURS

9 HOURS

10% HOURS

SYt HOURS

10 HOURS

10H HOURS

11 HOURS

12 HOURS

NO LIMITATION
I.HOENB.CO BALTIMORE

LEGAL WORKING HOURS FOR WOMEN-WEEKLY

MINN.
S. DAK,

IOWA

NEBR

KANS.

OKLA.

MISS.

TEXAS
48 HOURS

55 HOURS

60 HOURS

50 HOURS

56 HOURS

63 HOURS

54 HOURS

57 HOURS

70 HOURS

NO. LIMITATION
A.MOEN ft CO BALTIMORE. MO

PART I.
HOURS AND WORKING CONDITIONS.
HOURS.

The-laws of Iowa say nothing as to the number of hours a wage­
earning woman may work. Iowa is one of the five States printed
black on the map showing the legal maximum weekly hours of em­
ployment for women. This means that the supposed necessity or
zeal of the employer in making his employees work long hours is not
restricted. He would break no law if he required his women em­
ployees to work the physically impossible schedule of 24 hours a day
7 days a week.
Iowa, with its weekly hours unlimited, is black also on the second
map, showing the legal daily hours. Here it is entirely surrounded
by “pink” States that have progressed with the tendency throughout
the country toward the shorter working day, especially for women.
Minnesota on the north has a “9-54” 1 standard (9 hours a day and
54 hours a week). South Dakota and Nebraska on the west have
“10-70 ” and “9—54,” respectively. Missouri on the south has
“9-54,” and Illinois and Wisconsin on the east have “10-70” and
“10-55,” respectively. To the west, though not contiguous, there
are nine “white” States with the 8-hour day and four “white”
States- with the 48-hour week.
Certain establishments in Iowa have voluntarily adopted the better
standards of neighboring States. There are both large and small
establishments that have accepted the “8-48” standard.
Length of week.
At the time of the investigation certain button and clothing fac­
tories were running only three days a week, and two other factories
were running 5 days a week. Therefore, in order to show normal
conditions, the customary weekly hours of these firms were tabu­
lated. Hotels and restaurants in almost every instance had a 7-day
week.
Sixty hours and over.

According to Table I in the appendix (p. 72), a week of 60 hours
or more was worked by 281 (2.8 per cent) of the women and by 740
(7.4 per cent) of the men.
More detailed figures from which this table was compiled show
that all but 44 of these women were working 60 hours, but that 37 of
the 44 had a week of 84 hours.
1 In cities of first and second classes; “ 10-58" in others.

19

20

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

The long week was found principally in the button, candy, food,
and miscellaneous industries. Practically all the button workers had
a 60-hour week and a 10-hour day when the industry was in full
swing.
The maximum week in both miscellaneous manufacturing and in
general mercantile was found to be 78 hours, worked by men only;
the maximum in candy manufacturing was 73 hours for women and
77 for men. The maximum in all industries other than restaurants
was 84 hours in one food factory, where 37 women and 292 men
worked on a 12-hour shift, 7 days in the week, for 3 consecutive
months.
Hours of largest groups.

The largest group of women in all industries (35.7 per cent) worked
from 48 to 50 hours a week, but this proportion did not hold through­
out the industries. In printing and publishing, 5-and-10-cent stores,
general mercantile, and clothing manufacturing, one-half or more of
the women worked from 48 to 50 hours, but less than 20 per cent
of the women in the box, candy, and miscellaneous food manufactur­
ing, and less than 10 per cent in button manufacturing and laundries,
had these hours. A considerable proportion (23.4 per cent) of the
women in all industries worked from 50 to 52 hours a week, the indus­
tries having the largest representation in this group being button
manufacturing with 59.3 per cent and laundries with 56.3 per cent
of their women employees working within these, hours.
The following table shows by cumulative percentages the hours,
worked by men and women in all industries combined, restaurants,
excepted:
Table 3.—Cumulative

percentages, full-time 1 employees ivorling each specified number
of hours weekly.

ALL INDUSTRIES EXCEPT RESTAURANTS.
Hours.
Less than 44
Less than 46.
Less than 48.
Less than 50.
Less than 52.

Male.
3.0

12.1

14. 6
34. 3
51.9

Female.

Hours.

1.6

Male.

Less than 54.........
Less than 56.........
Less than 58.........
Less than 60.........
GO hours and over.

13. 2
17.0
52.7
76.1

57. G
90.5
92.3
92. 7
7.4

Female.
85.4
92.7
96.4
97.2
2.8

i Employees working less than 33 hours a week are not considered full-time employees.

Length of day.
The working day in Iowa varies from short to long, from less than
6 to 12 or more, but of the 9,906 women whose hours were considered
(exclusive of restaurant workers), only 189 (1.9 per cent) had a day
shorter than 8 hours.
Table II in the appendix shows in detail the daily hours of the
women included in this survey.

21

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Slightly more than one-half of the women included in the survey
had a working day of 8 and less than 9 hours. Including in this
group the women who were working less than 8 hours a day, the
number working less than 9 hours a day amounts to 55.4 per cent
of the total number employed in the industries investigated (ex­
clusive of restaurants).
Saleswomen in stores, the largest single group studied, almost
universally had an 8-hour day. The women employed by printing
and publishing firms quite generally worked an 8-hour day.
A very large group, more than one-third of the total (34.3 per
cent), were working 9 but less than 10 hours a day. In this group
are included 54.3 per cent of the women in miscellaneous manufac­
turing, 57.6 per cent of those in clothing manufacturing, 59.6 per
cent of those in the candy industry, and 63.6 per cent of those in
button manufacturing.
The figures in Table 4, from Table II in the appendix (p. 72), show
that the percentage of women working less than 10 hours was 89.7.
This leaves 1,025 of the 9,906 women—more than 10 per cent—work­
ing 10 hours a day or more. Few of these worked as much as 11
hours, but, as already stated, 37 worked 12 hours daily.
Table 4.—-Cumulative

percentages, full-time employees working each specified number
of hours daily.

ALL INDUSTRIES EXCEPT RESTAURANTS.
Hours.

Male.
1. 5
41. 4
81.3

Female.
1.9
55. 4
89.7

Hours.

Male.
94. 8
97. 4
2.7

Female.

0.4

Overtime.

While the length of the day’s work often does not fluctuate in the
industries studied in this survey, still there are many cases of over­
time. Overtime in Iowa does not refer to time worked beyond the
legal limit; Iowa has no standard of hours and sets no hour limit.
For the purposes of this discussion “normal” hours are those which
the firm has set as the limit of its day’s work; these hours may be
overlong, but they do not constitute overtime, that condition as
here discussed being the time worked in excess of the normal hours.
Leaving restaurants out of the count, where a long day often
alternates with a short day, more than one-half of the establish­
ments scheduled occasionally extended the day beyond the normal
hours. There were 99 firms which admitted that they had overtime;
69 stated they had no overtime, 4 made no report, and 21 said “no
evening work,” but did not make the statement that daily hours
were never extended.

22

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Against certain of the firms’ statements in these 69 cases which
were reported as having no overtime, may be set the statements of
individual workers who declared they had sometimes worked later
than normal. Among these were some laundry workers who worked
till 9 p. m. during the summer,, although the firms had reported
closing at 2 p. m. during those months.
No button establishments reported definitely that overtime was
necessary. Printing and publishing establishments all reported
overtime, while practically all retail stores reported staying open
until 9 or 10 p. m. for from 3 to 9 days before Christmas. More than
one-half of the candy factories and 14 of the 20 food factories reported
overtime. Fewer than one-half of the cigar, clothing, and miscel­
laneous factories reported overtime. Twelve laundries definitely
reported that work was done beyond the normal hours.
In the past, more of the firms had required the worker to extend
her day, but an analysis of output and of workers’ speed had shown
some employers that “it does not pay, as the workers are apt to stay
out next day or some other day.”
The superintendent of a basket factory said: “An employee can
do only so much—if. she does it at night she does not do it next day;
overtime does not mean a steadily increased output for the plant.”
The owner of a box factory admitted that he had required “quite a
lot of overtime at certain periods, one period of one month in the
summer for two hours after supper every other night. The output
was not increased if the girls worked every night.”
The vice president of a candy factory stated that overtime did not
pay, but when the establishment was rushed with work they resorted
to it in order not to lose the trade. In another candy firm the super­
intendent declared that overtime one day is balanced next day by
slower work, and when asked why it was permitted, he said, “the
manager orders it in rush seasons and I have to make the employees
put it in.”
The owner of a shoe factory, having become dissatisfied with the
overtime output, had called in an efficiency expert to study the work­
ings of the plant and to see how the work could be better routed with
the least possible congestion.
On the other hand, a few employers who claimed to have analyzed
the output with reference to overtime asserted, without evidence,
that the proper use of limited overtime did pay.
From detailed material showing the difference in the regular hours
worked during the slack and busy seasons, it is interesting to find that
there was only a slight variation noticeable. Where 40 per cent of
the establishments reported a day of from eight to nine hours in the
slack season there were 38 per cent who reported such a working day
for the busy season. Nine and under 10 hours was worked by 46 per

IOWA WOMEN" IN" INDUSTRY.

23

cent of the firms in the slack season and 50 per cent in the busy
season, and 10 hours or over was worked by 9 per cent in the slack
and 11 per cent in the busy season.
Firms working less than eight hours were more numerous during the
slack than during the busy season, 5 per cent working these hours
during the former and 1 per cent during the latter.
Lunch periods.
A study of the lunch periods in 193 establishments (restaurants
omitted) shows that 67 plants had a 30-minute period for lunch and
99 had a 60-minute period. Only five establishments gave more time
than this, the longest being 90 minutes in two establishments. Only
one plant, a food manufacturing establishment, had as short a period
as 25 minutes.
General mercantile and 5-and-10-cent stores in no case had less
than 60 minutes. There was a greater range in the length of lunch
period in the box, cigar, clothing, miscellaneous manufacturing, and
printing industries. More laundries, food manufacturing establish­
ments, candy, and box factories had 30 minutes than had 60 minutes.
Saturday lunch hours were similar, except in the case of plants
which were open until 1 or 1.30 and had no lunch period. Mercantile
establishments and 5-and-10-cent stores gave a second period for
supper on Saturdays. This period usually was one hour long.
Hours of beginning and ending work.
The following summary of hours of beginning and ending work is
made from detailed material which is not presented in this report.
The range of daily hours for box and basket manufacturing was not
excessive. Most plants opened during the week at 7.30 and closed
at 4.30. The Saturday hours were short, the majority of the workers
going home before 12.30.
Button factories had a wider range of hours. They opened from
7 to 7.30 and closed from 4.45 to 6. On Saturday the majority
closed at 12. This industry had not cut down its working hours,
although production was limited due to conditions of the trade.
Instead it decreased its working force.
In 7 of 11 cigar factories hours were from 7 to 5. On Saturday 8
factories worked from 7 to 12, and none was open later than 2 o’clock.
The greatest number of candy workers had daily hours of from 7
until 5.30. On Saturday a large number stopped work at 12 or 12.30,
and another group between 4.30 and 6.
Workers in food manufacturing establishments began work during
the week at 7, stopping as early as 3 in three establishments and as
late as 6.30 in three others. The majority closed at 5.
The hours of clothing manufacturing establishments during the
week were from 7 or 8 until 5 or 5.30. On Saturday most of the

24

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTKY.

plants closed by 12.30. These hours were perhaps shorter than
might be expected, because of the unsettled conditions of the industry.
The usual hour of opening was 7 a. m. in miscellaneous manufac­
turing establishments. The hours of closing covered a great range
of about 15-minute intervals from 4 until 6, the same diversity,
from 1 to 7, existing on Saturday.
General mercantile and 5-and-10-cent stores opened during the
week in nearly every case at 8.30 and closed at 5.30. Saturday
closing hours ranged from 5.30 or 6 to 9 or 10 o’clock.
The largest group of women for whom hours were reported were
working in stores (2,502 women), and even though the 8-hour day
generally prevailed their week was extended by working Saturday
nights. As long as the Iowa public is encouraged to shop in the
evening, especially on Saturday with its extra marketing, long hours
will be in force on that day. But until conditions are improved
excessive Saturday hours of clerks could be controlled by the use of
shifts. This is done in certain of the better managed department
stores by having a group of workers coming early and going at the
normal closing hour, other workers coining later and working till
the Saturday closing hour.
“It takes all day Sunday to get rested from Saturday,” was the
complaint of more than one interviewed during the course of the
survey.
As already stated, report was made of many stores remaining open
other evenings than Saturday during the holiday shopping period,
the saleswomen being expected to come at the usual morning hour
and to remain on duty until after 10 o’clock at night. This practice,
formerly almost universal, was abandoned some time ago in a num­
ber of cities in vaiious parts of the United States where public
opinion has aided employers in making the holidays a season not to
be dreaded by girl and women employees in stores.
Laundry hours generally were uniform for Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, and Friday. On Monday a small group began wmrk
between 7.30 and 12 and stopped between 4 and 6. On Saturday
hours of beginning work were from 7 to 8 and closing hours were
from 12 to 5. This is due to the fact that clothing must be sorted
and marked before washing Monday morning, and there is little or no
work for ironers early in the day. Much irregularity could be
avoided if patrons were willing or could be educated to send their
laundry at other times during the week.
The greater number of workers in printing and publishing estab­
lishments w-orked from 8 to 5 during the week. Some plants began
work earlier than 8. On Saturday, however, all but one closed before
1.15.

IOWA WOMEN" IN INDUSTRY.

25

Saturday hours.
Ihe Saturday half holiday was observed to a greater or less extent
in every industry. In some establishments it was stated that a
half holiday on Saturdays was the custom, but a study of the regular
schedule of hours showed that the “half” day worked on Saturday
was only slightly shorter than the regular workday. In 53 estab­
lishments, however, less than 5 hours work—in some cases no work
at all—was required on Saturday, and in 56 establishments 5 but
not 6 hours was worked. Eighty-one establishments worked 6
hours or more on Saturday.
For 56 per cent of the women work stopped on Saturdays between
11 and 1, for 24.5 per cent between 5 and 6, and for 6.6 per cent at
9 p. m. or later. The girls working until 9 or later were employed
in general mercantile and 5-and-10-cent stores. Those figures are
exclusive of restaurants and hotels, where the hours were so irregular
as to be not comparable with those of other occupations.
Daily and weekly hours.
Considering the daily hours and the weekly hours together, in
order to determine toward what standards Iowa is working without
legislation, a “9-50” standard is hinted at, i. e., 9 hours a day, 50
hours a week. Slightly over one-half of all the women studied in
the investigation were working within these limits; 55.4 per cent of
the women worked less than 9 hours a day while 52.7 per cent of
them worked less than 50 hours a week.
But to be satisfied with this achievement, secured through the
action of enlightened employers (or perhaps through a slump in
activity in the industry), is to ignore the condition of the other half
of the army of working women in Iowa who have not the benefit of
these hours. There were found 1,331 women who were working less
than 46 hours a week, but against these must be remembered the
1,025 women who were working more than 10 hours a day.
More than one-third of the women (35.7 per cent) worked a 48 to
50 hour week, while slightly less than one-fifth of the men (19.7 per
cent) worked these hours. Nearly one-third of the men (32.9 per
cent) worked 54 to 56 hours, and only 7.3 per cent of the women had
a week of this length.
Piecework.
Within the given hours in each of the industries there were timeworkers and pieceworkers. Of the 22,413 workers included in the
investigation, one-fourth (25.9 per cent) were pieceworkers and
three-fourths (74.1 per cent) were timeworkers. Thus there were
three times as many who took their day as it came and went, measur­
ing work by the hours put in, as took the day under a continued
urge, measuring work by the output.
62154°—21----- 4

26

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Table 5 shows the number of men and women pieceworkers in the
establishments visited.
Tabt.e 5.—Number

of pieceworkers and of time-workers, by sex and industry.
Time workers.

Pieceworkers.
Industry.

Male.
Number.

Box and basket manufacturing.........
Button manufacturing........................
Cigar manufacturing............................
Clothing manufacturing.......................
Candy manufacturing..........................
Miscellaneous food manufacturing—
Miscellaneous manufacturing..............

Restaurants................. 7...............
All industries..............................

Per
cent.

Number.

51
117
197
74
23
8
2,019

32.7
24.0
25.7
6.8
5.5
2.2
85.3

105
371
569
1 010
390
351
347

67.3
76.0
74.3
93.2
94.5
97.8
14.7

55
1
3,205

2,489

43.7

Male employees.
Industry.

Female.

Male.

Female.
Per
cent.

Num
ber.

Per
cent.

100.0
100.0

45.8
60. 8
34.8
39.6
50.2
77.6
74.5
26.7
18.4
30.9
53.7
41.6

91
93
60
485
547
844
922
2,280
319
828
505
409

54.2
39.2
65.2
60. 4
49.8
22.4
25. 5
73. 3
81.6
69.1
46.3
58.4

56.3

8,878

54.6

7,383

45.4

Female employees.

All employees.

Num-

Per cent

Num-

Per cent

Num-

work.

reporting.

work.

reportug.

39.8
44.8
86.0
18.9
4.0
.3
42.9

Restaurants. ^.............. .........................

128
261
229
392
575
2,927
4,707
829
72
370
586
291

All industries...............................

11,367

21.9

Candy manufacturing...........................
Miscellaneous food manufacturing....
Miscellaneous manufacturing...............

Per
cent.

77
144
32
318
552
2,919
2,688
829
72
370
5»
291

report
ing.
Box and basket manufacturing..........
Button manufacturing..........................
Cigar manufacturing.............................

Number.

Per cent on—
Piecework.

Timework.

48.1
67.3
89.3
57.4
27.6
8.7
39.6

9.8
.2

324
725
858
1,887
1^518
4,122
5,976
3,109
391
1,198
1,146
'701

4.8
.1

51.9
32.7
10.7
42.6
72.4
91.3
60.4
100.0
100.0
1(M). ft
95.2
99.9

30.3

21,955

25.9

74.1

196
464
629
1.495
943
1,195
1,269
2.280
319
828
560
410

53.6
80.0
90.5
67. 6
42.0
29.4
27.3

10 588

In the industries investigated women pieceworkers formed 30.3 per
cent of the total women workers and men pieceworkers formed 21.9 per
cent of the total men workers. Only in miscellaneous manufacturing
did the percentage of pieceworkers among the men exceed the per­
centage of pieceworkers among the women. But as “ miscellaneous
manufacturing” is a general classification the indications are not so
conclusive as in the specified industries.
In box factories the time and pieceworkers were about half and
half, more evenly divided than in any other industry. Women
formed more than two-thirds of the group of pieceworkers.
Cigar manufacturing led in the proportion of pieceworkers; in this
industry 89 of every hundred employees were on piecework, and
women formed three-quarters of this group. Ninety of every 100

27

IOWA WOMEN IN.'lNIX.r'STRY.

women working in cigar factories were pieceworkers, as were 80 of
every 100 men.
The button industry had twice as many pieceworkers as timeworkers, and among the pieceworker's there were three times as many
women as men.
In the clothing factories time and pieceworkers were more evenly
divided than in any other industry but box manufacturing, but even
here the per cent of pieceworkers was greater than that of timeworkers by about 15. Of all the women in this industry 67.6 per­
cent were found concentrated in the piecework group, while only 18.9
per cent of all the men were on piecework. The preponderance of
women on piece work in this industry is more clearly shown when all
the pieceworkers are considered as a group, women forming 93.2 per
cent of the whole.
Candy making in Iowa is not a piecework industry; nearly threefourths (72.4 per cent) of the workers were found to be on time work,
and these were divided about evenly between women and men.
However, of the one-fourth (27.6 per cent) who were on piecework a
very great majority were women, only 5.5 per cent of the entire piece­
working group being men.
Hours in hotels and restaurants.
Public housekeeping is one of the most difficult industries to regu­
late. It has all the incident and irregularity of private housekeeping.
But while the housewife can arrange for leisure time unless her house­
hold duties are all absorbing, the woman who sells her time retains no
right over any part oi it—while she is ‘‘ on the job ” she is at the service
of the employer. Restaurant workers—-cooks, dishwashers, and
waitresses—are paid a fixed wage, and that wage is the exchange for
their time, usually a large part of the day. Because of the irregu­
larity of their hours it is necessary to consider them separately from
other industrial groups.
Weekly hours.

The number of hotels and restaurants investigated during this
survey was 30; the number of women reporting on hours was 366 2
These women were working according to the following schedule of
weekly hours, computed from Table III in the appendix:
Per cent.

Under 50 hours...................................................................................
50 and under 56 hours........................................................................
56 and under 60 liours........................................................................
60 and under 70 hours........................................................................
70 hours and over...............................................................................
80 hours and over...............................................................................

43. 7

6.0
18.9

13.2
18. 2
3. 2

* Tins group includes 7 hotels. The other establishments in the classification are restaurants, tea rooms,
dairy lunches, and bake shops where food was sold.

28

IOW& WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Statistics taken in a restaurant investigation made by the State
bureau of labor statistics in 1912 covered 351 women. The figures
for the 340 women who reported on hours show that they were work­
ing at that time according to the following schedule:3
Per cent.

Less than 50 hours.............................................................................
50 and under 56 hours........................................................................
56 and under 60 hours........................................................................
60 and under 70 hours........................................................................
70 hours and over...............................................................................
80 hours and over...............................................................................

2. 9
6. 5
12. 6
28.2
49. 7
16. 5

Comparing the hours of 1920 with those of eight years ago, it will
be seen that notwithstanding the present long hours there appears to
have been some improvement. In 1912 only 2.9 per cent of the res­
taurant women had a week shorter than 50 hours, while in the 1920
survey the proportion working less than 50 hours was 43.7 per cent.
In 1912 there were found 12 women who were working weekly hours of
90 to 98; in 1920 there were found two women working 90 but under
92 hours. In 1912 the percentage of women working 60 hours and
over was 77.9; in 1920 the percentage of women in this group was 31.4.
Daily hours.

But although the figures on weekly hours indicate such improve­
ment over the conditions of eight years ago, they reveal, nevertheless,
a very unsatisfactory standard. No less unsatisfactory is the stand­
ard of daily hours found to exist in many establishments. These
hours were so irregular that it was impossible to secure them for all
of the women employed in the hotels and restaurants investigated.
A sufficient number of daily schedules were secured, however, to
give a representative picture of conditions. Week-day hours were
secured for 174 women in 30 establishments. These women were
employed in various occupations; 92 were dining-room workers or
waitresses and 82 were kitchen and pantry workers, including cooks,
dishwashers, vegetable girls, pantry girls, and glass washers. Sun­
day hours were secured for 75 dining-room workers and 78 kitchen
workers in 27 establishments.
The irregularity of restaurant hours as they run through the day
is apparent from an analysis of daily schedules. Variations are not
unusual in this trade, on account of its relation to the food-consuming
public with its habit of lunching at any and all hours.
The more regular hours of five days in a week often are increased
on Saturday, and are later, though not always so long, on Sunday.
Of the women working in restaurants whose daily schedules were
sufficiently definite to be tabulated, only 20 (about 17 per cent) did
not work on Sunday, leaving 154 women who worked a 7-day week.
3 Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics 16th Biennial Report, 1912-13, pp. 172-183.

29

IOWA WOMEN I'M INDUSTRY.

Twelve women worked all night long, and 10 of these worked all
night on Sunday. All of the 12 were on a regular 7 (or 7.30) p. m.
to 7 a. m. schedule. A number of women who were not night workers
worked late evening hours. Nineteen women worked after 10 p. m.
week nights, and the same number worked equally late on Sunday.
No woman is reported as starting work in a restaurant before
5 a. m. The greatest number went on duty between 6.30 and 8.30
in the morning and went off duty between 7 and 8 at night. This
schedule prevailed in both the 6-day and the 7-day week. The usual
beginning hours on week days were between 6.30 and 7, and by 8
o’clock 52 per cent of the women had started work. On Sunday the
general tendency was toward later beginning hours; only 37 per cent of
the women working that day had started by 8 o’clock. In the same
way 29 per cent started work daily after 11 o’clock, and on Sunday a
much higher proportion began work as late as this.
Time off.

For the majority of the workers the long day was broken by time
off. There were 45 during the week and 43 on Sunday who had no
time off, and a few who had no time to eat while on duty; these
workers generally had a short day. There were 19 daily and 5
Sunday workers whose lunch time or rest time was so irregular that
it could not be tabulated. Forty-eight of the women were required to
snatch time for meals while on duty during the week, and on Sunday
38 ate while on duty. However, none of these groups is distinct;
some had time to eat on duty and additional time off for rest, others
had only lunch or rest time.
Eighty-four of the 174 women who worked a 6-day week, and 73 of
the 154 who worked a 7-day week, had a spread of hours of 12 or
more but did not work through the entire period. At convenient
times during the day—the convenience of the public and not of the
workers being consulted—the work day of these women was broken
and they were given time off. The following table shows the length
of time off for those women whose hours were regular enough to permit
such a compilation:
Table (i.—Time

off duly, hotel and restaurant workers having regular hours.
Number of workers.

Time off duty.
Daily.

1 hour........................................

Number of workers.
j

Sunday.
3

10
11
10

6
8
14
7
11

Time off duty.
Daily.

Sunday.

8
66

65

30

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Hours of workers on shift.

The foregoing figures show the time off during the working day
for a group of workers who worked the same hours each day of the
week. In addition to this group, there was another in which the
workers were employed for varying periods on different days of the
week. These weekly schedules or “shifts” show very long and
irregular hours for a number of women employed in restaurants.
Many of these weekly schedules regularly required six long days
and one short day, the latter not necessarily Sunday. In other
schedules the shift required equally long over-all hours (hours within
which work must be performed) on the long and short days, a longer
time off duty being provided for on the short days.
All of the shift workers were waitresses except 3 dishwashers
and 2 pantry girls. If 2 waitresses alternated shifts, 1 would come
late and work straight through to allow the other time off, perhaps
only a few hours or it might be a whole day. In one restaurant 5
waitresses worked on schedules which gave each one a short day,
from 11 a. m. to 7 p. m., before Thursday, while the remaining days
of the week all worked full time from 11 a. m. to 11.30 p. m.
As in the case of workers on regular schedules, mealtime for shift
worker’s was in some cases allowed in addition to regular time off
duty. It was more often the case, however, that the workers were
permitted to eat while on duty.
Hours of beginning and ending long shifts for waitresses were
noted as follows:
6 a. m. to 7 p. m. (eat on duty) alternated with 6 a. m. to S p. in. with 4 hours off

in afternoon.
7 a. m. to 7.30 p. m. (eat on duty) alternated with 7 a. m. to 7.30 p. m. with 4
hours off in afternoon.
7 a. m. to 8 p. m,, 3 horns off in afternoon, alternated with 7.30 a. m. to 8 p. m.,
3 hours off in afternoon.
•

The longest shift had a spread of 131 hours. Four waitresses
worked from 6.30 a. m. to 8 p. m., with regular time off twice a day
amounting to seven hours. Two waitresses at the same place
worked from 7 a. m. to 8 p. m., with four hours off three days a
week and seven hours off on the other days.
Labor turnover.

In the restaurant business the labor turnover is tremendous.
Largely because of the long hours there is much shifting from job to
job. “Help wanted” is a sign in precise correlation with “Meals at
all hours.” The employer who complains “ always short-handed—
glad to have anybody I can get” has evidently not considered the
influence of excessive hours on steadiness of employment.
“Eat on duty,” “Sit when not busy,” means no relief from ten­
sion during the day. The sign “We never close” too often means

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

31

days and nights of prolonged hours for the workers. But even with
the peculiar demands of restaurant service, and the peculiar relation
of restaurants to the public, it is possible to make a reasonable
adjustment of hours by more attention to the human needs of the
workers, and a better adjustment of work by more attention to
routing the service.
It was not possible to secure records of labor turnover among
restaurant workers in Iowa, but according to an investigation in
Kansas made by the Women’s Bureau the restaurant workers of
that State show certain significant variations from other industries
in steadiness of employment.4 As conditions in the Middle West are
sufficiently similar among the States to justify applying general
conclusions from one to the other, the findings reported for Kansas
restaurant employees are valid to a certain extent also for those in
Iowa. It was discovered that of the 11 industries investigated in
Kansas, restaurant workers showed the greatest instability. Not
only were they employed but a short time as restaurant workers
(only 17 per cent had been employed from 5 to 10 years in the trade)
but a larger proportion (53.6 per cent) of the workers in restaurants
than of those in any other industry had changed employers while
remaining in the same trade.
One-fourth (25.4 per cent) of the women in Kansas restaurants
had worked in the trade less than three months and more than onehalf (52.9 per cent) had worked less than one year. This instability
on the part of the workers is particularly striking when it is realized
that they were not young girls; 42 per cent were over 30 years of
age and 23 per cent were over 40.
Although figures on length of time in the trade were not secured
for the industries of Iowa, there is no reason to suppose that the
restaurants in Kansas were unique in their labor turnover. Figures
for them can be applied in a general way to other States. It seems
probable that the arrangement of hours and shifts resulting in such
long and irregular working hours as have been detailed for the res­
taurants in Iowa would be reflected in a labor turnover similar to
that of Kansas restaurants.
Extra work at home.

Women workers in restaurants often have family financial respon­
sibilities and duties which they must fulfill in the scant hours left
them from work. Take the case of one waitress in an Iowa restau­
rant who had a 7-day week, 78 hours long. She was a woman of
27, with a totally dependent husband and a child, the former in
the clutches of tuberculosis. She was given meals in the restaurant
for all three, and was paid $12 a week. In her leisure moments,
4 Women’s Wages in Kansas, U. S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. 1921.

32

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

after putting in a day that averaged over 11 hours, she cared for
her family and the rooms in which they lived, and did the sewing
and mending and multitudinous other things required of a home­
maker.
Another restaurant worker, aged 57, had been working since she
was 12 years of age, “after having gone through the third reader and
learned the multiplication table.” She did farm work until she
married at 18, and for 15 years lived the life of a farmer’s wife. Then
her husband died. She tried to run the farm, but gave it up, came
into town, and did “everything and anything to support the chil­
dren.” Now she is a dishwasher, working at her trade 75t hours in
a 7-day week, and selling this service for $12 and meals. She has
brought up three children. In the past year she has had four jobs
and has buried one child.
EMPLOYMENT RECORDS AND EMPLOYMENT FLUCTUATION.

Iowa laws do not require the keeping of employment records.
But the laws have something to say about the age below which girls
may not work, and the age below which no woman may do work
requiring constant standing. In order to observe these laws the
firms must keep employment records of the age and occupation of
each girl.
The child labor law, relative to “children under 16,” is generally
observed. The child labor situation in Iowa is good. Few children
are employed. But on the statute books there is a law which is
neglected and often unknown: 5
No female under 21 years of age shall be employed in any capacity where the duties
of such employment compel her to remain standing continuously.

If this law were recognized and observed, every firm would per­
force keep records. As a matter of fact only 54 were reported as
keeping any kind of employment records.
Number of establishments with records............................................... 54
Number of establishments without records.......................................... 1G3
No report on records..............................................................................
f>
Total................................................................................................................. 223

Often these “records” were merely application blanks, or cards
containing such information as name and address, telephone number,
and name of person to notify in case of accident. In one establish­
ment there were detailed records kept on file with personal informa­
tion, including such items as educational history, employment history
with references, and so forth.
In another establishment the firm had kept cards on file with the
name, address, and telephone number of the worker and the name
f» Iowa. Acts of 1006, chapter 47, amended 1910.

IOWA WOMEN IK INDUSTRY.

33

of the person to be notified in case of accident. This was done only
after an employee had died in the plant and had to be buried at the
company’s expense because no relatives could be found. Another
firm used to have employment records but had given up the system
because the force changed so rapidly.
Even on the cards kept by the 54 firms there was occasionally no
provision made for recording the age. There was almost no attempt
made to keep count of the number under 21. To the question, “ How
many women under 21 years of age do you employ?” the frequent
answer was “We don’t know” or “Oh, yes, about ----- .” In one
case a canvass during the year had been made, and two or three girls
under 21 were found; but it was “2 or 3” and not “2” or “3.” In a
very few cases the number could be ascertained by going over the
employment records, but often this was more or less of an estimate,
since the files were not kept up to date. One man stated that he
was “too modest to ask.”
The value of a statute prohibiting the continuous standing of
women under 21 years of age is not very great. Even with adequate
employment records the problem of enforcement would be almost
insurmountable. But if employment records were kept with any
degree of completeness, valuable material would be furnished for an
analysis of business conditions relating to the turnover of labor in
the plant.
The problem of labor turnover was found to be serious in the
majority of plants visited. More than one employer said the turn­
over was so great he had lost count and could not keep records.
Only one firm had given up records for the opposite reason, i. e., that
the force was practically permanent.
Not one employer, even when complaining of a continually chang­
ing labor force, had tried to make an analysis of his plant to determine
whether it was the wages, hours, working conditions, lack of interest
in the particular job, or home conditions that caused his labor turn­
over. As a good business man and as an intelligent employer he
should at least make an effort to discover for himself why his em­
ployees were dissatisfied, why there was so much absenteeism, why
so much shifting from job to job. The records of employment of
men and women during the year should be as important to an em­
ployer as the debit and credit of his books. The two have an inti­
mate relationship.
Fluctuation in number of women.
Table 7 shows the fluctuation in employment in the industries in
Iowa through the busy and slack seasons.
62154°—21----- 5

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

34

Table 7.—Fluctuation

in numbers of employees according to season.
Slack season.

Increase( 4-)
Decrease or decrease
in total (—) in slack
number of season in
Per cent employees per cent
Per cent
Total em­ women
Total em­ women
in slack
women
ployees. form of total ployees. form of total season. form of total
employees.
employees.
employees.
Busy season.

Industry.

Restaurants......................................

396
1,951
820
2,650
1,693
4,729
7,445
2,691
404
1,284
1,241
452

All manufacturing industries.........

25,756
19,684

Box and basket manufacturing—

Miscellaneous food manufacturing.
Miscellaneous manufacturing.........

58.8
55.3
73.0
78.3
63.9
32.0
20.9
73.7
81.9
70.3
49.4
60.8
47.5 1
41.3 1

321
1,050
623
1,498
1,308
3,304
5,111
2,161
251
1,141
1,091
425
18,284
13,215

59.8
62.8
77. 5
78.5
59.9
26.8
27.1
74.0
75.7
68.4
47.1
60.7

75
901
197
1,152
385
1,425
2,334
530
153
143
150
27

+ 1.0
+7.5
4- 4. 5
+ .2
—4.0
-5.2
+6.2
+ •3
-6.2
-1.9
-2.3
— .1

47.4
40.3

7.472
6,469

- .1
-1.0

In general in the industries of Iowa men and women were laid off
and taken on in the same proportion. In slack times women formed
47.4 per cent of the employees; in busy times they gained one-tenth
of 1 per cent, amounting to 47.5 per cent of the total. In restaurants
there was practically no change in either the number of employees
or the proportion of men and women employed in the two seasons.
In general mercantile establishments also, although there was a
decrease of nearly 20 per cent in the total number of employees in
the slack season, the proportion of women remained practically the
same.
The proportion of women increased in the slack season to the
greatest extent in button manufacturing (7.5 per cent), in miscella­
neous manufacturing (6.2 per cent), and cigar manufacturing (4.5
per cent). In these industries there were decreases in the slack
season of 46.2 per cent, 31.3 per cent, and 24 per cent, respectively,
in the total number of employees. But the increase in proportion
of women indicates that they were not laid off to so great an extent
during the slack season as were the men. In clothing and miscel­
laneous food manufacturing and in 5-and-10-cent stores, the three
other industries where in the slack season there was a considerable
reduction in the total number of employees (43.5, 30.1, and 37.9
per cent, respectively) the proportion of women employed in the
slack season did not increase. On the contrary in the manufacture
of clothing the proportion of women remained practically the same,
while in the manufacture of miscellaneous foods there was a decrease
of 5.2 per cent and in 5-and-10-cent stores a decrease of 6.2 per cent
in the proportion of women employed in the slack season.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

35

HOME RESPONSIBILITIES.

The greater number of women who work live at home. This
investigation did not include a survey of the home conditions of the
workers, but other investigations made by the Women’s Bureau
have yielded definite and representative information on this subject.
The figures secured in these investigations show- a picture of the
responsibilities and duties of wage-earning women which is repre­
sentative enough to apply to similar groups in other States. An
investigation in Kansas showed that 84.3 per cent of the women in
the industries of that State lived at home, only 15.7 per cent living
independently. Practically all wage-earning women who live at
home have home duties. It may be merely the drying of the dishes
or it may be wholly caring for the house and the household, and
when these home duties come after too long hours of work in industrv,
overfatigue is a natural result.
In Kansas about one-half of the women in restaurants and laun­
dries and about one-third of the women in clothing, food, and miscel­
laneous manufacturing and in the general mercantile industry were
married. But single women also have home duties, and their
contribution to the home in the form of housework often exceeds in
value their financial contribution.
An investigation in Manchester, N. H., preceded those in Kansas
and Iowa, and emphasized the subject of dependency. From un­
published data the New Hampshire survey yields certain definite
information on home responsibilities of women which shows the
economic value of the woman wage earner in the family unit. Nearly
19 per cent of the women covered by the survey in Manchester were
mothers with children at home to care for in addition to their work
in the factory. All of their earnings were contributed to the family
by 67.8 per cent of the women and by 69.6 of the men, a similarity
which shows that the two sexes do not differ so much as has been
supposed in the extent of their responsibility for the support of
families. It was also found in this survey that there was a very
general similarity in the length of time men and women had been
contributing all of their earnings, except for the fact that 36.5 per
cent of the men and only 18.5 per cent of the women had contributed
all of their earnings for 10 years or more. As 58.1 per cent of the
men and only 24.2 per cent of the women had worked as much as
10 years, the difference in the proportion of each sex who had con­
tributed all of their earnings for that period is easily explained and
the similarity of the percentages of men and women who had con­
tributed all of their earnings for from 5 to 10 years (25.3 per cent of
the men and 27.4 per cent of the women) becomes more significant.
If the women of Iowa are assuming an equally important relation­
ship to their families—and there is no reason to suppose that Iowa

36

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

women are on a diff erent plane of responsibility from Kansas women
their hours, wages, and working conditions assume a great sig­
nificance. They should have w:ages adequate to help in the support
of their dependents, they should have hours short enough to leave
them time and strength for the inevitable home duties, and they
should have working conditions which conserve their health and
vitality. All these are essential if this group of women, usually home
makers and wage earners both, are to become an asset and not a
liability to the community.
WORKING CONDITIONS.

Iowa has no code of hours or minimum-wage scale for women, nor
has it a complete code regulating conditions.
In the establishments throughout the State there are instances in
which wise employers, recognizing that labor is human and subject
to fatigue of body and spirit, have installed modern sanitary facilities
and arrangements for the health and comfort of their employees,
men and women. These instances are few.
The instances are many where nothing has been done for the
workers; or where, though the mechanical equipment of the plant
is up to date in every respect, the human equipment has not even
been given the recognition the machinery commands in oiling and
cleaning.
To women especially, and to men a little less consciously, surround­
ings make a difference in the upkeep of physical strength and mental
alertness. Safety devices have made it possible to forget the danger
of the machine and concentrate on the output. Sanitary devices,
increasing cleanliness, and ventilation and convenience have an equally
important influence on workers and therefore on the work; while
facilities for food and rest and recreation are valuable assets for the
production efficiency of any plant.
In some individual States standards of working conditions are
clearly written in the law or are regulated by an industrial commis­
sion to which has been given full power to define and enforce the
industrial code. In Iowa the laws are vague and inadequate, the
power to enforce them limited, and the appropriation small.
Cleaning.
One of the most elementary of the recognized standards for good
working conditions in industry is a clean workroom. Cleanliness of
industrial establishments adds to the health and comfort of the
workers and to the preservation of the product, and assures length­
ened life to the plant itself.
In some establishments in Iowa this kind of work has been system­
atized; janitor and matron service is of the best. There were smaller

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

37

establishments where the cleaning was as thorough as in a wellordered home. But there were floors which, however much they
might need it, could not be washed because “they were shellacked
and scrubbing would ruin them”; there were walls, ceilings, and
equipment grimy with accumulations of dust and lint; there were
windows so covered with grease and dust that shades were not
needed and the natural supply of light was reduced; there were filthy
cuspidors which were a menace to health.
One custom, too general, was that of making the workers act as
the janitor force, spending the last 5 or 15 minutes of the day in a
general shop cleaning, to “keep things picked up constantly.”
Some plants reported that “the girls take turns, and if they don’t
do it it’s up to them,” or “the forewoman sweeps whenever she sees
it needs it.”
In 63 establishments the cleaning was done wholly by the women
employees, and in 11 others it was done by the workers with the aid
or supervision of the janitor or matron.
Of 217 establishments for which a report as to cleanliness was
made, 164 were considered clean and 53 neglected. Basket, cigar,
and candy factories were in many cases reported neglected. The
fact that all stores were reported to be clean may be due largely to
the necessity of maintaining an attractive appearance for the benefit
of their patrons.
•
Of those establishments reported as neglected many were cleaned
only by the workers, but in every case the general mercantile and
5-and-10-cent stores were cleaned by the janitor or other person
employed for that purpose only. However, this relationship between
cleanliness and work by the janitor is not borne out in the case of the
button factories, where the workers cleaned 9 of the 10 establishments
and only 2 of the 10 were reported to be neglected.
In 13 cases cleaning was done by women on piecework, that is, by
women who must contribute their own time to the cleaning since
they are paid only for what they produce. “It takes only about
five minutes,” said one foreman. But in this five minutes a few more
cents might be added to the worker’s wage through her real work. In
button factories it was found that 9 of the 10 plants were cleaned by
the women workers, and most of these women were on piecework.
In restaurants the cleaning generally was done by the waitresses,
that is, they were charwomen as well as waitresses.
Id many instances the toilets were cleaned, if at all, by the women
employees. Sometimes the women complained that they had to do
the work although it was one of the duties of the janitor, because he
did not do it properly.
The fact that the majority of Iowa factories are small may have
led employers to feel that a woman can be shifted from her work as

38

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

though she were a “hired girl.” The cases just quoted seem to show
that in this State employers have not yet come to an understanding
that a woman employee is hired to do a special factory job and
should not be arbitrarily assigned to the job of cleaning.
Lighting.
There is no law regulating lighting in Iowa industries. But the
Iowa bureau of labor statistics has a definite word to say upon this:6
Modem shop engineering places great stress on proper shop lighting. No other
agency is more conducive to accident than poor light in factory, work shop or other
places of employment. Many of the establishments in Iowa are housed in other than
buildings constructed upon modern plans, with the result of miserable lighting facili­
ties, endangering life and limb and ruinous to the eyesight, the latter in turn produc­
tive of greater accident hazard. Provision should be made to provide an abundance
of light, based upon approved modern lighting principles.

The Iowa plants visited were found on the whole to use sufficient
natural and artificial light. There are certain plants in the State,
notably one new laundry, which are flooded with daylight so that
the need for artificial light, with the consequent big bill, probably is
reduced to a minimum.
Certain of the more common lighting defects found in Iowa fac­
tories were: Stairways inadequately lighted, plants with inside
rooms, basement workrooms with no natural light, workers badly
placed in relation to natural or artificial light, outside light so badly
directed that workers preferred to pull down curtains, and unshaded
or badly shaded lights.
Six box and basket factories were reported as not having sufficient
light, as were seven candy factories and two cigar factories. Because
natural light was supplemented by artificial light only one of the 17
mercantile establishments—in fact, only one department within that
store—was reported as having insufficient light. In the other in­
dustries the lighting was reported generally as adequate.
Local lights were found in 91 factories, but local adjustable lights
for all workers in only 25. Fourteen of the establishments with
local lights manufactured clothing, and six others were of the miscel­
laneous manufacturing group. Twenty-three plants had neither
local nor adjustable lights.
Seats.
Comfortable adjustable seats for all workers are a very necessary
part of the equipment of a plant which wishes to secure the highest
efficiency from its employees and reduce the fatigue incident to fac­
tory occupations. In many occupations it is possible to adjust
machine or work bench and seat so that the worker may be able either
to stand or to sit at- work. In cases where standing is unavoid­
e Iowa Bureau of Labor Statistics Biennial Report, 1916-1918, p. 21.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

39

able, it is possible and necessary to have a chair provided for use
during regular rest periods or during temporary cessation of work
because of repairs to machinery, waiting for material, and so forth.
In Iowa the law provides that—
All employers of females in any mercantile or manufacturing business or occupa­
tion shall provide and maintain suitable seats when practicable for the use of such
females at or beside the counter or work bench where employed, and permit the use
thereof by such employees to such extent as the work engaged in may reasonably
admit of.7
And no females under 21 years of age shall be eipployed in any capacity where the
duties of such employment compel her to remain constantly standing.8

The difficulties in enforcing the laws are apparent from a study of
their phraseology.
“Shall provide * * * when practicable-,” “permit the use
* * * to such extent as the work engaged in may reasonably
admit of” are definite specifications which make enforcement difficult
It has already been pointed out that the prohibition of standing con­
tinuously for females under 21 years of age is almost impossible of
enforcement because of the continuous supervision and examination
of records which would be required to get accurate information as to
the age of -each woman worker.
The reports on seating in Iowa establishments vary from “workers
stand all day” and “not a chair insight” to “all of them sit all the
time.” Either extreme may produce fatigue; which extreme pre­
vails depends upon the occupation.
One hundred and three establishments did not provide seats for all
workers. No button factories are included in this number, as in
every instance seats were provided for all employees in this industry.
Cigar, printing, and food manufacturing establishments, laundries,
restaurants, general mercantile, and 5-and-10-centstores did not gener­
ally provide seats for all workers. Of clothing and candy manufac­
turing establishments a majority did.
In the cigar factories a large group of women packers and labelers
stood at work, and seats were not provided for them. In three food­
manufacturing establishments there were no seats whatever. In the
establishment of this group employing the largest number of women,
only 10 seats were provided for 229 women. If proper equipment
were installed, more than 200 women could either sit or stand at work.
In two retail bakeries there were no seats for the saleswomen. In
two other bakeries there was only one seat for several saleswomen.
In laundries most of the work was done standing. In three there
was a single chair. The women who remained for lunch ate sitting
on the tables, and for the remainder of the lunch period tried to
7 Acts of 1892, chapter 47.
8 Acts of 1906, chapter 103, section 2; Acts of 1915, Senate File 189, section 3.

40

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

recover from the morning’s fatigue by lying on the tables. In some
laundries it has been proved that all menders and markers and some
folders and flat workers can sit at work, and it would seem practicable
for many others to do so if different equipment were installed.
In the kitchen of more than one restaurant there was not even a
stool, and one cook was found resting on a garbage can. Waitresses
occasionally were allowed to sit in the seats provided for the patrons
in the dining room.
In mercantile establishments there was the same indifference on
the part of employers to seating and to the unnecessary fatigue
resulting from continuous standing. There were seats for all in 10
of the dry-goods stores and in 4 of the 5-and-10-cent stores. But there
were also mercantile establishments where the use of seats was
frowned on. There were stores where seats had been provided and
their use permitted in some departments, while their use was forbidden
in others by the department head.
In the miscellaneous manufacturing establishments, core makers
were found standing in two establishments. Workers who sorted,
weighed, wrapped, and packed, and machine operators of many
kinds, stood. Many of the latter could have performed their work
either sitting or standing if they had been provided with adjustable
chairs or if their machines had been adjustable.
In candy factories, packers and a few machine operators stood,
though seats generally were available; little attention had been given
to the height or kind of seat, which probably explains the fact that
they were not used. In clothing factories machine work necessitated
seats for all but the few inspectors, folders, and packers.
In printing establishments press feeders, folding-machine operators,
and envelope gatherers generally stood. These groups were nearly
always small.
In the factories there was great variation in the attitude of the
firms toward seating. A few firms made a practice of rotating jobs
to enable the workers to stand and sit alternately. In others, girls
sat on- chairs, stools, or boxes. Sometimes they improvised cushions
for themselves, sometimes the foremen fitted pieces of hollow piping
into the chair legs to adjust them to the workers. In one factory the
girls said they had asked several times for chairs with backs but had
not been given any.
.
The haphazard construction of what chairs were supplied empha­
sizes the need for a definite seating code in Iowa, and recalls the remark
of a well-known officer of the United States Army that—
The average factory chair reminds one of the description of a coffin—‘ ‘ The man who
made it didn’t want it; the man'who bought it didn’t use it; and the man who used it
didn’t have much to say about it.”

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

41

Uniforms.
The need for uniforms or work dresses varies, of course, with the
kind of work performed, but in many industries a special work dress
is an essential of either safety or sanitation. Full skirts and flying
hair in a machine shop are very real elements of danger, while the
least exacting sanitary standards would require that outdoor clothing
be changed when food products are handled. Even if the employer
does not feel that workers in candy and other food manufacturing
trades are entitled to the protection of their clothes, the public is
interested in uniforms from the point of view of the protection of
the purity of the food product. '
Tn Iowa very few employers recognize the uniform as a part of the
plants’ equipment. Occasionally it was provided, less frequently it
was laundered, by the firm. Too often the girls came “pretty well
dolled up,” as one button factory manager said, and even in that
dusty trade workers neglected to wear suitable working clothes.
Of the 193 plants visited (excluding restaurants where uniforms or
aprons and caps were worn), only 12 provided and laundered the uni­
form; 6 others provided but did not launder them; 29 did not pro­
vide but did launder them. Caps were worn in 23 plants and hair
nets in one.
Eighteen laundries made some arrangements to wash the workers’
cotton work dresses on the laundry’s time or at cost.
Of the 20 food manufacturing establishments visited only 4' sup­
plied uniforms or aprons, and in 10 the workers supplied their own.
Tn 9 establishments the workers laundered their own and in 5 the
firm assumed this responsibility.
In the miscellaneous manufacturing group of 37 establishments
uniforms were provided by the firm in 3 instances—for all the work­
ers in one establishment and for only some of the workers in the
other two. Workers provided their own aprons in 4 other factories;
in one of these plants, in one department of another, and in two
plants handling a very dusty product women wore caps. In one
broom factory the need for caps was noticed to be particularly great,
but they were not worn.
In some plants the uniforms were sold to the girls at cost; other
firms which had provided them at cost had discontinued the practice
on account of the price of materials.
In one plant the girls preferred to furnish their own uniforms in
order to have the correct size.
Drinking facilities.
Another part of the equipment of a factory of prime importance
to the workers is the drinking facilities. The law in Iowa requires

42

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

that “A sufficient supply of water suitable for drinking purposes
shall be provided.”9
The law is not explicit, and while the interpretation of the term
“suitable for drinking purposes” may have been standardized be­
cause of the increased knowledge of epidemics, a recognition of the
dangers lurking in drinking utensils—faucets, bubblers, pails, and
tanks—is important.
The drinking facilities of the Iowa factories varied from convenient
and sanitary bubblers of the most approved fashion to no provision
whatever. The majority of the employers have recognized the prob­
lem and quite generally have installed bubblers. However, the com­
mercial bubblers, of the kind where the mouth of the drinker can
touch the metal surface over which the water flows, or some of the
partly consumed water falls back into the fresh stream, are insani­
tary.10 The oblique bubbler is a recent development and it may
take time for employers to realize that every bubbler is not a sani­
tary bubbler. Seventy-eight establishments were reported as having
provided bubblers, but in only 28 of them were the bubblers con­
sidered sanitary.
Many of the firms expected the girls to provide their own drinking
glasses, and occasionally the glasses could be seen standing together
on a shelf above a faucet, or sometimes at the worker’s place. But
there are still common cups and common pails in Iowa factories.
And there is occasionally an unwillingness to admit that disease may
be circulated by these utensils used in common, and that the working
force and the work suffer thereby.
The common drinking cup was used in 92 establishments and the
individual drinking cup in only 57 of the establishments visited.
Four plants having bubblers also used the common cup.
In two establishments open pails were found to be the source of
supply for drinking water.
Lunch rooms.
Most manufacturers pay as much attention to their stock of raw
materials as to their stock of finished product. But employers in
less than one-half the firms visited in Iowa seemed to understand that
the human energy which goes daily into the making of their factory
product is a stock which must be replenished with daily care. The
worker’s food is an important factor in her health and consequently
in her productive ability. An essential part of her food is her noon
lunch, which should be eaten away from her machine and workroom
and should be hot and nourishing.
Of the establishments visited in this investigation only 17 provided
cafeterias or dining rooms where hot food was obtainable, but 65
9 Acts of 1902, chapter 149, Amended Acts of 1911, chapter 171.
10 The Journal of the American Medical Association, Chicago, November, 1916.

43

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

had other lunch facilities. One hundred and eleven, more than onehalf, had no lunch rooms. Four of these establishments had main­
tained lunch rooms and for one reason or another abandoned them.
In 12 of these all the workers went home to lunch and in the remaining
99 they ate in the workroom.
A tabulation of lunch rooms and lunch-room facilities according to
industry shows that nearly one-half of the mercantile establishments
and all hut one of the 5-and-10-cent stores had separate lunch rooms
for employees. Clothing manufacturing establishments also ranked
high in providing lunch rooms. Very few laundries or cigar and candy
factories reported.such rooms, while 24 of the 37 plants in the mis­
cellaneous manufacturing group had none.
Cafeterias or dining rooms in plants.

The cafeterias in the 17 plants were distributed according to in­
dustry as follows:
General mercantile..................................................................................
Food manufacturing................................................................................
Printing....................................................................................................
Miscellaneous manufacturing........................................

3

Total...................................................................................

17

5
2
7

The plants with cafeterias formed 8.8 per cent of all plants visited,
exclusive of hotels and restaurants.
Although several establishments furnishing cafeteria facilities em­
ployed large numbers, an attempt to provide similar equipment was
made by some smaller employers. The smallest plant with a cafe­
teria employed only 35 persons, 23 men and 12 women. The largest
number employed in a firm with cafeteria facilities was 906, of which
720 were men and 186 women. The largest group of women having
the use of a cafeteria was 532 of 741 employees in a retail store.
Here the equipment was really part of the public restaurant, where
the employees were given service in a special section of the room.
Cafeteria facilities ranged from a room with a long counter with
high stools for 45 workers to an elaborately equipped cafe with small
tables, attractive fixtures, and curtains. In the latter a menu card
was printed daily from which the employees could select a hot meal.
Other lunch-room facilities.

In 65 of the 193 plants studied (33 per cent) other lunch-room
facilities were furnished. This equipment ranged from a few chairs
placed in a combined washroom and toilet to a separate room fur­
nished as a lunch room with tables, chairs, a gas plate for cooking, and
a matron in charge to prepare coffee and keep the place clean.
In four cases only some of the employees in an establishment had
the use of separate lunch-room facilities. In one hotel the colored

44

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

maids had a room set aside for them, with cloak, wash, and lunch­
room facilities. The white maids, however, left their wraps and ate
their lunches in small supply rooms, really closets, where the porter
brought them hot coffee.
In one plant the office employees had the use of long tables in a
separate room, but the factory employees ate at their work tables.
In two other establishments the men were provided with separate
lunch rooms in which they could rest, but the women had to eat in
the workroom. One of these firms employed 15 men and 15 women,
the other 27 men and 56 women, so the reason for giving the men
employees this advantage was not the larger number of men employed.
In the latter case the employer had planned facilities for the women
also, but was dissuaded from carrying out his plans by a conservative
forewoman who had been in his employ for a long time.
Occasionally the lunch room served several purposes. A couch and
comfortable chairs would make it a rest room, or it might contain a
shelf for hats and hangers for wraps and serve as a cloak room and
dressing room. In six factories women ate their lunches in the room
which contained the toilet.
Conditions of sanitation, cleanliness, and comfort of the lunch
rooms varied greatly, as they did in workrooms. In many cases this
was due to the fact that the responsibility for the care of the rooms
was not definitely assigned. In some plants matrons were in charge
and everything was clean and orderly. Again, a forewoman was re­
sponsible or a janitor cleaned the rooms when he did the general
cleaning. Some employers left the lunch rooms in charge of the girls
themselves “ to make them more careful,” and sometimes no one was
responsible.
As a result, in some cases the workers ate their lunches in rooms
that were untidy, uncomfortable, even insanitary. In one establish­
ment a big garbage barrel stood in the lunch room, which was really
the wash and toilet room but was furnished with chairs and a gas
plate. The entire surroundings were uninviting and neglected.
Poorly repaired toilets in the basement of one establishment made the
lunch room very unpleasant because of their bad odor.
Another room, equipped with tables and kitchen chairs but having
no heating facilities, was very little used by the workers, who pre­
ferred the warm workroom.
Abandoned lunch-room facilities.

Five establishments—two laundries, two candy factories, and one
other factory—-had provided lunch-room facilities but had aban­
doned them.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

45

In one of these cases a new owner had increased his business greatly.
Because lie thought the lunch room was not appreciated he used it as
a place in which to store lumber and barrels.
In another factory a lunch room on the second floor was abandoned
because the employees preferred to go to a near-by delicatessen
store or to eat in the workroom, rather than to climb the stairs.
In a third factory the lunch room was abandoned because it was
stated the office girls refused to eat with the factory girls and the
girls from certain departments refused to eat with the girls of other
departments. It seems quite possible, however, that the real objec­
tion to the room was its location on the third floor in a wing rather
remote from the greater part of the factory workrooms.
In the fourth plant the management stated that the workers pre­
ferred to eat at their worktables. This was allowed and the lunch
room was finally taken over for a workroom.
I he fifth firm had installed a cafeteria, but the employees com­
plained of the food. When it was found that the firm was losing
from $25 to $50 a month the use of the equipment was discontinued,
and the employees brought their lunches and ate them in the
cloakroom.
No lunch-room facilities.

The following list shows the number of firms in each industry
having no lunch-room facilities:
Box and basket manufacturing.............................................................
Button manufacturing...........................................................................
Cigar manufacturing..............................................................................
Clothing manufacturing.........................................................................
Candy manufacturing............................................................................
Miscellaneous food manufacturing........................................................
Miscellaneous manufacturing................................................................
General mercantile. . ...........................................
5-and-10-cent stores................................................................................
Laundries................................................................................................
Printing and publishing........................................................................

5
7
9

g
73
8
22

n
1

24
3

Total............................................................................................. HI

More than one-half of the plants visited made no provision what­
ever for an employees’ lunch room. In 12 of these the workers
could go home for lunch, thus leaving 99 where the employees ate
their lunches in the workroom, either at the workbench or table or
at a special table placed in the room for that purpose. About 30
plants provided gas plates for heating coffee or food, and a few firms
provided coffee; 85 establishments had no facilities whatever for
heating food. In two laundries the workers were able to get hot
water from the boiler room for tea.

46

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

In the groups of establishments investigated, lunch-room facilities
were noticeably lacking in laundries and cigar factories, where the
conditions existing in the workroom, due to the nature of the work
and the product, are apt to be unpleasant and sometimes insanitary.
Of the 29 laundries visited it was found that 2 had abandoned
lunch rooms, 3 had some luncli-room facilities, in 2 all employees
went home at noon, and in 22 the absence of lunch-room facilities
necessitated the employees eating in the workroom.
In only two cigar factories were there lunch-room facilities. In
the remaining nine workers ate then’ lunch at the worktables, and in
but two of this latter number could the employees heat food or coffee.
In one factory a “coffee club” had been started. Each employee
contributed 10 cents a week for the coffee and cream. The firm
allowed one girl to make the coffee.
The general workroom conditions in which employees were com­
pelled to eat their food varied greatly. In a biscuit factory the
sanitary conditions were very good. The hardwood floors were
kept free from dust or other accumulations. The walls were painted
and clean. The girls ate in the packing department where probably
the cleanest conditions prevailed. However, the objection to having
orris who handle food eat at their worktables is obvious.
” In another plant, employing 1,852 men and 91 women, workroom
conditions were such that the employees ate their lunches under
undesirable surroundings. There was not one chair to sit on; there
were no heating facilities or hot water; the workbenches at which
women ate were oily and sandy. As a result the hour lunch period
was not used for relaxation; instead the women on piecework worked
the greater part of the time. The employment manager stated that
“if men were doing the work they’d find a seat all right on a box or
piece of machinery.”
The 12 plants from which all workers went home for the noonday
meal were distributed among the following industries:
Eetail mercantile establishments...........................................................
.
Bakeries....................................................................................................
.
Laundries.................................................................................................
Other industries.......................................................................................

6
O

°
O
^
1

Total.............................................................................................. 12

One-half of the number were retail establishments where small
numbers were employed.
_
In 10 of these 12 plants all employees had one hour for lunch; in
one case the women had one hour and the men three-quarters of
an hour, and in another the lunch period was one and one-half
hours.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

47

Rest rooms.
Of all the firms scheduled only 74 (33 per cent) had any provision
for resting.
Twenty-two establishments provided a rest room separate from
the lunch room and workroom. These plants employed from 12
to 600 women. Other small plants employed only 20, 25, and 30
women, yet set aside one room where the women might go in case
of illness.
In 52 other plants the need was recognized in varying degrees
and some provision was made for rest. One-half of these com­
bined rest and lunch rooms and one-half had made some small
provision elsewhere than in the lunch room.
In order to be counted as “resting facilities in connection with a
lunch room,’ the lunch room had to be provided with at least one
rocking chair, or one couch or canvas cot. In one case the rest and
lunch room was kept locked during the day and was opened only at
noon, destroying the real value of the rest equipment.
An example of the best type of combination room was described
by one investigator as “big lunch and rest room on second floor,
comfortable chairs, pictures, victrola, magazines, and tables for
sewing or eating lunches. Screen separates these tables from rest
of room.” Another good example read “rest, room, plainly but
well furnished, with rug, curtains, piano, leather couch, table,
chairs. In one corner, screened off, is a gas plate and cupboard of
dishes.”
In the 27 establishments with “resting facilities elsewhere,” 13
provided a couch in a dressing room, a bed in a coat room, a couch
with “clean but ragged quilts” in the basement, a cot in the office
of the foreman, a couch in a wash room, a rocker in a cloakroom
used by the office girls only, a few rockers in the dressing rooms of
only those girls in the plant who had to change their clothes.
There were 149 establishments (including one in which the rest
room had been abandoned) which had no provisions whatsoever for
rest. Certain of these plants employed 200 or 300 women. These
were generally the same plants which did not provide lunch facilities.
No restaurant was found to have made provision for resting. Yet
in the occupation of waitress there is strain from standing and from
carrying heavy trays. There is also unoccupied time between shifts.
This time off may be three or four hours in the afternoon, or may
come in shorter periods twice a day. Waitresses with such rest
periods do not always live near their work and often can not afford
car fare to make the trip from their homes twice a day. Without a
rest room not only is their time wasted but their fatigue is increased,
as they have no chance to relax.

48

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

In two such instances girls who needed a place in which to rest
or to wait before going on duty went one to a public-comfort station,
the other to the ladies’ waiting room in the railroad station.
In a few plants hospital rooms were provided, but these have not
been included with the description of rest rooms, for they were
generally used only in case of accident and by both men and women.
One employer in a plant that had a lunch and smoking room for
men wanted to add a lunch and rest room for the women. The
order for the furniture was canceled because the forewoman, who
had been with the plant for 30 years, opposed it on the ground that
she had “got along without a rest room all her life and so could the
girls nowadays.”
In another case the employer expressed his objections to a couch
for the reason that “ the girls would use it as a springboard and would
ruin it.” Yet the girls in this plant had tried to improvise a couch.
“It is made of two boxes with board spread across, covered with
newspapers, and a roll of some material serving as a pillow.”
In other plants the investigators came upon girls who were trying
to rest in their time off. In one plant a girl was found lying on the
floor of the dressing room. In another girls used the work tables as
couches. In still another a girl was trying to rest on a hard bench
in a dressing room, using a towel as a pillow.
Rest periods.
The wise provision of regular rest periods of a few minutes in the
middle of forenoon and afternoon was found in only a few estab­
lishments in Iowa. Rest periods may mean a chance to relax at
the machine; or an opportunity to walk around the workroom or
to take part in some regular drill in physical exercises. They have
been found also to mean considerable increase in production.
One firm, which provided a 10-minute rest period morning and
afternoon, says of rest periods in a booklet describing its plant:
The object is to avoid the prolonging of effort to a point where it becomes a strain
and the results accomplished are lessened. It is found that employees start with
new vigor following the rest periods.

Cloakrooms and wash rooms.
The cloakroom of a plant is important, for here the worker deposits
her property, her hat and coat. Responsibility for this property
should rest with the employer.
But when the employer does not assume this responsibility, the
worker naturally prefers to keep her things where she “can keep an
eye on them,” and she hangs her hat and coat in the workroom.
It may be in a broom or button factory, with dust from the processes
of manufacturing filling the air; it may be a tobacco or candy fac­
tory, with every likelihood of the product harming her clothes and

IOWA WOMEN IN'INDUSTRY.

49

with the possibility of outdoor clothes bringing contamination to the
product. The undesirability of such a practice is reflected in the law
of Iowa, which states:11
When the labor performed by the employees is of such a character as to require or
make necessary a change of clothing, wholly or in part by the employees, there shall
he provided a dressing room, or rooms, lockers for keeping clothing and suitable
washing facilities, separate for each sex, and no person or persons shall be allowed to
use the facilities assigned to the opposite sex.

The well-equipped factory has a cloakroom—preferably with lock­
ers—and a wash room supplied with cold and hot water, soap, and
towels, convenient or adjacent to the workrooms. There were 34
such rooms in Iowa. This is the desirable standard expressed in the
law quoted above for work which necessitates a change of clothing.
Of the 223 establishments visited 39 had no cloakrooms whatever.
In 12o plants there was only cold water at the workroom or dressing
room sink and in 34 no soap was provided.
Common towels were provided in 145 plants. Individual towels
were supplied in 51 plants; in 32 of these the towels were of paper.
In one plant old sugar bags were distributed to be used as towels.
In 25 establishments no towels were supplied. Some of these
25 came under the law applying to establishments where food is
handled which requires that—
* * * Lavatories and wash rooms shall be adjacent to toilet room and shall be
maintained in a sanitary condition. Operatives, employees, clerks, and all persons
who handle the material from which food is prepared or the finished product, before
beginning work or after visiting toilet or toilets, shall wash their hands and arms
thoroughly in clean water.13

In spite of the provisions of this law requiring "thorough” wash­
ing, 3 candy factories, 3 food-manufacturing establishments, and 4
restaurants did not supply soap; 7 candy factories, 8 food factories,
and 9 restaurants supplied cold water only; and 1 candy factory,
3 food-manufacturing establishments, and 3 restaurants supplied no
towels, while 13 candy factories, 17 food factories, and 12 restaurants
supplied only a common towel.
Toilets.
There are laws in Iowa in regard to toilets in two classes of estab­
lishments where women may be employed. The first quoted below
is in that part of the code devoted to criminal procedure; the second
is in that part devoted to public laws, this particular section coming
under the police powers of the State.
Every manufacturing establishment, workshop, or hotel in which live or more
persons are employed shall he provided with a sufficient number of water-closets,
earth closets, or privies for the reasonable use of persons employed therein, which11 12
11 Acts of 1902, chapter 149; Amended Acts of 1911, chapter 171,
12 Acts of 1913, chapter 201, section 5.

50

IOWA WOMEN 1ST INDUSTRY.

shall be properly screened and ventilated and kept at all times in a clean condition,
and free from all obscene writing or marking; and sucli water-closets or privies shall
be supplied in the proportion of at least 1 to 20 employees; and if women or girls are
employed in such establishments, the water-closets, earth closets, or privies used by
them shall have separate approaches and be separate and apart from those used by
the men.13
It Shall be the duty of the commissioner of the bureau of labor of the State and
the mayor and chief of police of every city and town to enforce the provisions of
the foregoing sections.14
Every building, room, basement, or cellar occupied or used for the preparation,
manufacture, packing, canning, sale, or distribution of food, shall have convenient
toilet or toilet rooms separate and apart from room or rooms where the process of pro­
duction, manufacture, packing, canning, selling, or distribution is conducted. The
floors of such toilet rooms shall be cement, tile, wood, brick, or other nonabsorbent
material and shall be washed and scoured daily. Such toilet or toilets shall be fur­
nished with separate ventilating flues or pipes, discharging into soil pipes, or on the
outside of the building in which they are situated. Lavatories and wash rooms
shall be adjacent to toilet rooms and shall be maintained in a sanitary condition.
Operatives, employees, clerks, and all persons who handle the material from which
food is prepared or the finished product, before beginning work or after visiting toilet
or toilets, shall wash their hands and arms thoroughly in clean water.15

Violation of these laws often can not be adjudged because of certain
weaknesses and ambiguities in their working. There is only one
woman inspector for the entire State of Iowa and as her duties
include enforcement of the child labor law it is a physical impossibility
for her to cover the entire State of Iowa.
Iowa requires that toilets shall be “screened and ventilated and
kept at ail times in a clean condition,” but does not define these
provisions for the instruction of the employers. While these require­
ments in the first law are for manufacturing establishments, work­
shops, and hotels, such large woman-employing plants as mercantile
establishments are not covered by the law.
Iowa has special and exacting requirements in toilet and wash-room
facilities and in cleanliness on the part of employees, for places where
food is manufactured, but fails to demand separate facilities for
women.
However, all of these provisions are as often neglected as observed,
especially in the smaller establishments which are numerous in Iowa.
There are plants which not only meet the requirements of the law
but set up their own higher standards; require conformity from the
employee, and make the cleaning of the toilets the definite job of
the janitor or hire a matron to care for the facilities. But too often
the toilet is a neglected part of the factory, insanitary, not kept clean
at any time, or with the cleaning left to the employees themselves.
In many cases the toilet compartments investigated were not
provided with doors, nor properly screened from the workrooms or
13 Acts of 1902, chapter 149; amended 1911, chapter 171.
14 Acts of 1902, chapter 149, section 4.
*5 Acts of 1913, chapter 201, section 5.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

51

from the public passageway or stairway. Several toilets were found
entirely out of condition. Often they were dark and without outside
ventilation, or, what is as bad, ventilated into the workroom, which
in one instance was a kitchen.
The Iowa law on toilets in manufacturing establishments is definite
as to the maximum number of employees per seat, but many of the
toilets were used by more than the statutory number.
Three establishments had no toilets on the premises for 15 women
employees. One of these was a bakery which had been 12 years
without one-, and whose women employees were obliged to walk a
block and a half to the nearest public rest room. The two others were
a retail candy store and a lunch room where the toilets were in the
same building but on another floor so that the employees had to
use the public elevator to reach them.
I our establishments—one bakery and three restaurants—made
arrangements for their 26 women employees to use toilet facilities
with families in the same buildings.
Twelve establishments, employing 60 women, provided toilets to
be used by both men and women. Five of these establishments
wTere restaurants or cafes where separate toilets for men and women
are not required by law. The fact that in two of the five cases the
women sought places elsewhere shows that this law does not attain
the standard of decency which some of the women employees demand
for themselves. Except for the five restaurants the failure to provide
separate toilets for men and women was a direct violation of the law.
In nine establishments 235 women employees used the toilets
designated for the public. Five of these establishments were hotels
and three were restaurants.
In 52 establishments (26 per cent of those which provided separate
toilets for women) each of the toilets was used by 21 women or more.
One of these establishments was a confectionery store and 10
others were mercantile establishments, which, through a weakness
in the law, can not be forced to maintain the standard set for manu­
facturing establishments and hotels. The other 41 establishments
did come under the law but, apparently through the lack of sufficient
inspectional force to cover the industries at frequent intervals, had
not been brought up to the acknowledged proper standard.
More than 35 women to each toilet was the ratio found in 17 estab­
lishments, in seven of which only one toilet was supplied for more than
60 women.
Screening of toilets.

The first law quoted states that the toilets shall be “properly
screened,” and if women or girls are employed “the water closets,
earth closets, or privies used by them shall have separate approaches

52

IOWA WOMEN TN INDUSTRY.

and be separate and apart from those used by the men.” No further
definition of these clauses exists in the law.
For the purpose of this study toilets are reported as inadequately
screened when—
(1) They were located in a workroom or on a stairway landing,
the partitions of which did not reach to the ceiling, or which were
not inclosed overhead.
(2) The approach to them had no screen or there was no screen
inside the door before the separate compartments. (These toilets
were generally located in the workroom where both men and women
were at work. When the door was opened the occupant could
be seen.)
(3) There was no partition between the seats.
(4) Having partitions between the seats, they had no door to the
front of the partitions.
Using these standards there were found 77 toilets inadequately
and 143 adequately screened. In other words, 35 per cent failed
to screen adequately, if the State law can be interpreted according
to the above standards.

FART II.
INDUSTRIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND TRAINING.
The industrial section of the Iowa survey portrays the occupational
surroundings and hours of labor of over 22,000 employees in the prin­
cipal industries of the State. It shows the need of hour legislation
and of sanitary and safety measures to protect health and to provide
the essentials of physical comfort.
In the pages following are listed the actual occupations of the
workers included in the survey and the distribution of women work­
ers in trade and industry. The material presented shows what system
of instruction existed in the various plants and what industrial train­
ing was desired by employers. It also shows what opportunities for
industrial training were available in the State at the time of this
investigation.
Because opportunities for vocational training for women are known
to be so limited, and believing that women should find opportunities
for service in any line of work which they are physically able to per­
form, provided the surroundings are adequately regulated to conserve
health and energy, this part of the Iowa survey attempts to throw
some light upon their occupations.
No special investigation was made to cover this subject. The occu­
pations of the workers employed in each plant were called for on the
regular schedule used by the Women’s Bureau. The opinions of the
employers on the type of vocational training desired were secured
during the course of the interview preliminary to the inspection of
a plant. In the following pages these opinions are quoted.
The Women’s Bureau is not laying out a program of vocational
training for women. That is not within its province. It is, however,
always alert to emphasize the needs of the women workers in indus­
try, and for this reason the material on industrial opportunities and
training is presented.
Occupational groups in Iowa.
In each establishment investigated during the course of this survey
the occupations of the workers, both men and women, were listed.
Among the workers listed were those who were engaged not only in
“manufacturing” raw materials into a finished product, but also those
who were purchasing, handling, and caring for raw materials, stock,
53

54

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

and supplies; those who were packing and shipping as well as those
who were selling or promoting the sale of the product; those who were
supervising the processes of production and the welfare of the work­
ers in the workroom as well as those who were recording the volume,
cost, profit, and loss of the business in the office; those who were oper­
ating heat, light, and power equipment for the plant, and those who
were engaged in its upkeep, maintenance, and repair. Finally, there
was a small group of workers preparing and serving food in employees’
lunchrooms.1
In general terms it may be said that each of these service groups
constitutes one of the various “departments” of the establishment.
Plant equipment is arranged, work is routed, and even pay-roll lists
of employees are made up according to these departments of service,
and therefore the men and women included in the Iowa survey are
classified here in a “departmental table,” and the occupations found
in the different departments are indicated in the text. From the
point of view of industrial opportunities and training this classifica­
tion results in a clearer presentation of the vocational needs of the
workers studied.
1 la stores all ol these occupational groups are common, including manufacturing. Bight per cent of
store employees were employed in manufacturing departments or “ workrooms. ” In hotels, restaurants,
and laundries, for the purposes of this report, it has been considered that services were rendered rather
than that products wore manufactured. Even hotels and restaurants had all departments except packing
and shipping, although these would certainly have appeared in any restaurant had outside catering been
done.

BS

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.
Tabee

S.—JfumSer of employees in each industry and in the, departments within the

11,644
11,603
Stock and supply:
Men..............
Women....................
Manufacturing:
Men........................
Women...........
Container manufacturing:
Men...................
Packing:
Men.................
Women............
Shipping:
Men............
W omen..............
Supervision:
Women..............
Office—clerical:
Men (not executive)..
Women (not execuf , live).........................
Sales:
Women..............
Operating, or heat, light,
and power service:
Men.................
Maintenance and repair:
Men.................
Women............
Employees’ lunch room:
W omen...........
Miscellaneous work:
Men....................
numbers i

634
145

3
4

45
33

6,426
5,278

0

309

43
172

9

17

166
242

2,188
G48

17

499­ 472'
183 1,184

19
23

39

88
64

582
2,537

30

98

83212

31
1

44
1

1

236

2p

89
66

23
7

541

12
74

202

703
2,157

51
572

256
9S4

269

4

9

77

34
6

40
31

711
13

171

237

184
75

8
2

2

522

31
93

355

219

36

85

38

40
12

1

18
11

13

42

36

1,031

189
275

64
4

12

10

2

287

30
63

1

35

49

17

26

6

1-5

10

46

33

16

51

9

49

62
165

34

9
4
20

22

38
68

156
1

17
17

47

12

218
108

26

’cj
®
t-t
<D
O

Shops and refec­
tories.

69
97

w

i

M
|
&

i Candy
; matiufaci turing.

Factories.

14

t5
i

food.

13

-

Number of firms visited
(223)....... .................
Number of employees:1

vt
a.
»

M isc e lla n e o u s

:

6

177
757 1,567

:

Dry goods.

5-cent to 50-eent.

■

Department.

Department and sex.

Total
num­
ber of
em­
ployees.

Food manufacturing.

Restaurants and cafes.

Stores.

------- ------------- ——
-------------

:

industry, by sex.

21
6

76

21

15

21

230
4

51
1

19
48

20

6
*

8-

___

.HUi^.uiuauiiu ™ cigar dox nr ms. The three paper box'"firms that were classed in other tabled
firms ^2? It seemed em^lS1vreo?rahimfU^?dWiLh misccl^anfous manufacturing, as are also two basket
it seemed equally desirable,for the:.same purpose, to group with food manufacturing ail bakeries
manufacturing bread. Tins removes from restaurants three firms which snrvnd lnno-hp«
u «*„

izrjr* :
nnl^tv.fi!^0r-ang*
0?

esLamisnments. this rearrangement distinguishes three important
aild candy making, and leaves the restaurants in the occupational table as
candy iSSactratag fo°d ^ p!'epared' served and sold> without running special lines such as bread

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY,

56

w
+J
d
©

o
■gf

u.

©
XI
1

d
C;
O
O

10

4

A
5

5

170
755

Manufacturing:
Men..............................
Wromen........................
Container manufacturing:

102
155

1
1
10

58
118

u>

B

ai
*d
i
a
d
o
d
W

d
d
§
a
ce
bC
b

•S

a
A

10

29

857
123
381 1,428

376
384

31

228
225

10
99

645
458

140
100

10
3

51
687

Stock and supply:

88
192

2

Women........................

7

7m

bC

Is °
©
5
Number of firms visited
(223).................................
Number of employees:1

cA
©
|

a

%£

d
o
© •
d£f
-Sid
©°
oo
3

1.67
199

44
349

>>

,
03
d
«8
a

turing.

Department and sex.

Shoes.

M

tb
§

,
S3
d
d
os
a

t)

products
turing.

Clothing manufacturing.

8

7

4

20

248 1,201 2,076
658
186
305

622
568

76
185

698
486

205

2

1

7

207 1,000 1,593
548
254
93

416
382

22

345
399

12

5
1

11

4

7

14

2
20
9

6

27

27
119

2
17

11

14
2

8

110

8

39

45
1

26

2

22

15
2

20
2

9
3

68
17

58
10

25
2

31
5

80
4

18

5

38
8

10

6

10

10

4

4

67

84

74

11

56

63

9

35

81

128

52

56

3

45
24

2

6

18

20

21

2

4

12

46

7

4

9

1

3

10

4

10
7

11

34

24

3

32

20

47

29

3

2
5

Maintenance and repair:
Men..............................

12

I

21

4

4
1

23
44

4

6

10

27

37
3

20

20
1

17

1

.......................... .
Operating, or heat, light,
and power service:

Miscellaneous work: 4

2
95

22

Sales:

Employees’ lunch room:

3
51

20
20

Office—Clerical:
Men (not executive)..
Women (not exeeu-

3
2

d
d
s
a

21
930

3

11

Supervision:

d
c3
a
1
©
d
1
I

3

K
9

Shipping:

X
. P
T
P
<r
|
£

i
Packing:

_d
a
i

.2

cture of pi
articles.

~
1

Metal

" —.

1

g-..........
•

of employees in each industry and in the departments within the
industry, by sex—Continued.

Wood products

Table 8._Number

1

A

2

1
1i
L
|

11

4

1

4

J See footnote on p. 55.

The workers who were employed in the 223 trade and industrial
establishments surveyed were found in 11 departments of service, as
shown in the foregoing table. Of the 23,247 men and women whose
occupations were listed, 11,704 (50.3 per cent) were employed in
manufacturing departments; 3,445 (14.8 per cent) were engaged in
packing or putting up the product and by-products, including making
the containers, for shipment; 2,860 (12.3 per cent) were engaged in
sales departments; 1,572 (6.8 per cent) were in clerical or office
occupations; 1,037 (4.5 per cent) were in supervisory positions; 3.6
per cent were in shipping departments; 3.4 per cent were in the stock
and supply departments; while 3 per cent wore in maintenance and

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

57

1 per cent in operating departments. In some of these occupational
groups women were equally represented with men and in others they
were not, but it is noticeable that women were employed in every
department except operating, i. c., heat, light, and power service.
Manufacturing or production departments.

By all odds manufacturing occupations exceeded other depart­
mental types of service in numerical importance, as one-half of all
the workers were engaged in actual production processes. Fortyfive per cent of the persons employed in these occupations were
women. It is interesting to note that these women, instead of holding
the traditional jobs of dressmaker, cook, waitress, matron, scrub­
woman, nurse, and housekeeper, were holding such manufacturing
occupations as mechanic, leather glove and shoe cutter, machine
presser of woolen garments, saw operator, desk assembler, electric
welder, assembler of metal products, printing compositor, dye cutter
and stamper. Managers declared that women employees had made
good in these unusual occupations and would be retained in them.
In addition to these less common occupations there were more than
500 women power-machine stitchers and more than 500 machine
feeders and tenders, besides an undetermined number of hand work­
ers in manufacturing departments.
Packing and shipping departments.

Packing department occupations are very highly specialized, the
majority being mechanical in nature and rarely requiring more than
a day or a week to learn. More than 13 per cent of the employees
were engaged in this work, which includes such monotonous occupa­
tions as filling boxes, bottles, and bags, covering, capping, corking,
closing, wrapping, folding, bundling, labeling, banding, stamping,
inspecting, sorting, checking, weighing, washing, sacking, stapling,
and incasing. These packing processes are very closely connected
with the departments that manufacture the containers for the prod­
ucts (in which 1.4 per cent of the workers were employed) and with
those which ship out the products at wholesale (in which were 3.6
per cent of the workers).
Both men and women were employed in packing occupations,
women far outnumbering the men. The latter, however, did all the
heavier work, involving the lifting of heavy boxes or barrels. In
the shipping department, where packing in outside cartons or boxes,
crating, trucking, storing, loading, driving, and delivery are the
services performed, chiefly men were employed, but women were
keeping the clerical records and were assistants to shippers or shipping
clerks.

58

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Office, clerical, and sales departments.

The office and clerical departments included 29 different occupa­
tions in which there were practically twiee as many women as men.
The chief occupations listed in these departments were those of book­
keeper, office-clerical, factory-clerical, telephone girl, timekeeper,
recording-cashier, postal clerk, editorial clerk, cost clerk, and office
manager.
Sales departments were found in all trades and industries and
included 53 different occupations. In these departments there were
more than three times as many, women as men. The occupations
were chiefly those of salesman and saleswoman, sales manager, adver­
tising composer and clerk, and window trimmer. With these have
been listed also the candy and soda clerks in lunch shops, together
with waiters, waitresses, maids, cashiers, porters, and telephone girls
in hotels and restaurants, all of whom were regarded as selling either
food or personal service for their employers.
Supervision departments.

Departments of supervision in various plants included persons in
the following occupations: Foreman, forewoman, subforeman, super­
intendent, manager, assistant manager, overseer, department mana­
ger, floorwalker, floor lady, chef, head waiter, head waitress, and
hotel housekeeper. With these occupations, which are directly con­
nected with supervision of the processes of production, are classified
those positions that are sometimes defined as welfare supervision,
such as employment manager, personnel director, matron, industrial
nurse, welfare secretary, industrial instructor, and educational
director. More than one-fifth of the supervisory positions in the 223
firms visited in Iowa were held by women, who numbered 87 fore­
women (some in every industry of the survey), four assistant fore­
women, 14 managers of restaurants, bakeries, and candy shops, 3
employment and personnel managers, 69 department managers, and
12 floor ladies in stores, six instructors and educational directors, 6
industrial nurses, 23 matrons, 9 hotel housekeepers, and 3 restaurant
head waitresses—a total of 236 women. Eight hundred and one men
were employed in the same or other supervisory occupations.
Stock and supply departments.

More than 18 per cent of the employees in stock and supply depart­
ments were women, who were chiefly in department and dry goods
stores, in firms manufacturing clothing and cigars, and in laundries.
The laundry occupations held chiefly by women were stock clerk,
receiving clerk, weigh-out clerk, laundry marker, and lister. Other
occupations in the stock and supply departments were those of stock­
man, stock keeper, steward, storeman, storageman, warehouseman,
stock handler, and shell sorter.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTKA.

59

Operating and maintenance and repair departments.

Operating: departments in which no women were represented in
the Iowa survey include such occupations as fireman, ashman, water
tender, coal passer, electrician, engineer, oiler, erane operator, and
cupola tender. Ail of these occupations, whether heavy or technical
work, have to do with the heating, lighting, and power-machine
operating in a plant.
Maintenance and repair departments, like operating departments,
were chiefly a kingdom for men, with occupations for master
mechanics, machinists, tinners, carpenters, painters, cabinet workers,
millwrights, boiler repairers, plumbers, tool men, and repair men, all
in the permanent employ of a firm, together with elevator operators,
watchmen, janitors, porters, housemen, sweepers, and cleaners. The
women in this department were cleaners, scrub women, janitresses,
and elevator operators, and formed 11 per cent of the maintenance
and repair group.
Systems of instruction in Iowa plants.
Whether or not any of the occupations described in the foregoing
section are new to women as a sex, they are new to each individual
woman entering them for the first time, and the system by which the
worker is instructed in the duties and performance of her new job is
©f material importance to her success in the occupation.
In order to discover the facilities for instruction offered to this
large group of women, employed in so many different occupations,
each employer who was interviewed in the course of the survey was
asked: “What is the system of instruction in your plant?” “What
courses or schools of instruction do you know of that are an aid to
your industry?” “Can the public schools render any service?”
Constructive replies are here summarized.
Reports made by these employers indicate that in every trade and
industry instruction was the responsibility of the person who directly
supervised the room, the floor, or the department where groups of
employees worked. Sometimes, however, this duty was not per­
formed by the person directly supervising but was delegated to
another who had more time or was more experienced.
Foremen and forewomen as instructors.

It was reported by 55 per cent of the firms that instruction to
beginners was given by foremen and forewomen in factories, by floor
ladies and department managers in stores, by chefs and first cooks in
restaurant kitchens, and by housekeepers in hotels.
Restaurants, hotels, and light-lunch or candy shops and refectories
reported less provision for instruction than did factories and stores,
probably because the occupations in these establishments were
domestic in character and were held by women who had had experi­
ence in housework.

60

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

One hotel reported that not any instruction was given and the
manager claimed that his employees had been “too independent to
be trained.” In another establishment, a tent and awning factory,
the manager had never considered the matter of instruction, and
replied that he had no idea how his employees learned, although' the
firm had employed people without experience in operating power
sewing machines. He hazarded the guess that “they just come in
and go to it.”
In some cases where foremen were unable to assume full responsi­
bility or were occupied with duties relating to production, instruction
was given to beginners by persons in higher supervisory positions
than those of foreman and department manager. In these cases a
factory superintendent or the manager of the plant himself instructed
beginners.
Special instructors.

Only 5 per cent of the firms employed special people to devote their
time to the instruction of workers and beginners. A department
store had an “instructor” who taught two classes daily in English
and expression, psychology, salesmanship, and business economics.
One large dry goods store had an “educational director” giving
academic work (arithmetic and penmanship) as needed, and short
courses on such merchandise as textiles and glassware, as well as
salesmanship and health talks. Still another dry goods store had a
“personnel secretary” who instructed beginners in matters of general
policy of the store but conducted no classes. One department store
planned to have an “educational director” within a short time for
regular salesmanship classes and grammar school work for those
deficient in elementary education, and would allow from an hour to
an hour and a half daily for instruction. The manager of a 5-to-50cent store said he would be glad to have public schools offer in his
establishment, for a half hour daily, instruction in business English,
rudiments of courtesy, fundamentals of arithmetic and writing, cash
register handling, and general salesmanship.
Among the industries other than mercantile one printing firm
had a “personnel director” who gave new employees a book of in­
structions upon entrance and then followed them up periodically
and held conferences with their supervisors. Another firm, pro­
ducing a proprietary medicine, had a subsidiary department for
printing labels. In this department was an instructor selected by
his trade-union but paid by the company. A furniture shop had a
short biweekly lecture course in “better letters” for office employees;
also a foremanship course which was given at intervals. The man­
ager of this furniture shop spoke with appreciation of a public school
continuation class, in which four of his employees were enrolled,
meeting from 1 to 5 o’clock daily and offering instruction in academic

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

61

work, computing, judging lumber, woodworking, and cabinet work.
A shoe factory had a full-time instructor in the cutting room and
foremen who instructed in the other departments.
Exceptional workers as instructors.

In S per cent of the firms there appeared to be individuals whose prin­
cipal duty was to instruct others, though they were hired not as instruc­
tors but as operators. It may be remarked in passing that an “ excep­
tional worker may or may not be a good teacher and may be un­
willing to teach a newcomer, so that this system does not guarantee
satisfactory instruction to the beginner. One hosiery mill had a
looper and a knitter who “work on machines when not teaching’’
and another had “certain workers who instruct part of the time, as
needed;” a leather-glove factory had “an operator who does nothing
but teach,” and another had “ one girl who is taken off regular work
and paid as a time worker to train new girls, as needed;” one overall
factory had “ a woman who is detailed as an instructor ” and another
had several girl operators who also kept track of the exact work
done by the workers on “instructor’s record cards;” a cracker fac­
tory had “an instructor for each group of 6 to 10 girls, also a fore­
lady who has supervision over all;” a cotton-glove factory had “cer­
tain workers in each department who act as instructors, and all
processes are taught to each worker as the number of employees
needed on any one operation varies;” a candy factory had “one
girl who understands all lines of work and acts as instructor,”
another had “ a woman who does practically nothing but train new
girls, also two foreladies who instruct,” and still another candy fac­
tory, when a number of new workers came in at one time, had
“workers who know how to tell them what to do, and who thus
assist the forelady.”
One furniture firm employed a “helper” on many of the opera­
tions, and planned to have at any one time, for each operation, a
helper, an operator, and a third worker who had progressed from
the operation but was still available, thus establishing the “under­
study” system.
Other instruction.

Four firms gave printed instructions to new employees. A store
superintendent gave a leaflet to applicants, with the names of de­
partment managers and those who would instruct in store policies,
check making, and merchandise selling. One 5-to-50-cent store had
for its women employees a copyrighted book of instructions in store
policies, and one printing and publishing firm also used a book of
instructions for beginners. A cracker company put out a set of
instructions on health, behavior, and duties of employees, which was
revised periodically, framed, and hung on the wall in each depart­
ment.

62

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Regular group meetings of a whole or a part of the force, for talks
on salesmanship and welfare, and occasionally special talks or lec­
tures hy some one from outside the firm, were reported by two dry
goods stores and one laundry.
One of the hosiery mills was developing its own course of instruc­
tion for a future vestibule school, to he fitted up with at least a
looping and a knitting machine, and every job in the plant was
being analyzed as a basis for instruction. In this mill the “service
director” sometimes conducted a number of workers tlirough the
entire plant, explaining the relation of the various operations in the
order of production.
Foreman training courses were reported in two firms making wood
products and beet sugar. One had a lecture course twice a week on
“modern production;” the other had a course of study used by
sugar schools and classes and a number of plants in the sugar indus­
try in different parts of the country. This course was given by the
manager to his foremen during the long slack season. “They can’t
know too much,” said he. A dry goods firm said it was customary
for department managers to meet every Wednesday morning to
discuss anything of general interest to the store and thus get training
for store management and the retail business.
Instruction neglected.

From this summary of the situation it is beyond question that in
the majority of firms instruction was a definite responsibility of
foremen, forewomen, department managers, special “instructors,”
or exceptional operators who devoted a major share of their time to
this work. In one-fifth (45) of the firms, however, the report on the
system of instruction was as follows: “The girls help each other,”
“They quickly learn by watching others,” “New girls are assigned
to departments or to workers who need help and they tell her what
to do,” “They observe and get suggestions from experienced
workers.”
At first one might infer that the work was too simple to need
instruction, but these reports came from department, dry goods, and
notion stores, the wood and metal trades, candy factories, and medi­
cine and drug firms—the very types of industry previously quoted
as making definite provision for instruction.
Public continuation schools.
Even though new employees in some firms are expected to go to
work without instruction, there is at least one promising feature in
this situation, which is that instruction is being given in public con­
tinuation schools to help untrained minors to make good on their
jobs. The Iowa continuation-school law has been in effect since

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY^

63

1919.3 Continuation-school vocational courses were mentioned by
several managers of establishments visited, especially in Des Moines
and Clinton. Nearly 300 continuation-school children, 14 and 15
years of age, were found employed in the firms visited, chiefly in
stores and clothing factories, but also in all other types of industry
except restaurants, hotels, and the metal trades. Some of the
schools are attempting only an extension and conservation of general
education, but are thereby rendering a much needed service to juve­
nile employees who are deficient in fundamentals. Others are also
attempting technical and related vocational instruction on a generous
scale, as was reported by the employers of the pupils.
The 300 children listed in this survey, however, comprised less than
1.5 per cent of the total number of employees, and for nine-tenths of
the workers the continuation schools as yet scarcely touch the prob­
lem of minor and adult instruction.
TRAINING SUGGESTED BY MANAGERS.

Trade and industrial training.
When managers were asked whether the public schools could be of
any service to their industry a, variety of suggestions were forthcom­
ing. A department store manager said that a six-months business
course would be of advantage; the manager of a metal firm which,
because of the variety of the products manufactured, requires its
workers to know many operations, would like a machinists’ course; and
in another metal firm in which there was much specialization it was
thought that foreman training was possible. In furniture making
certain firms agreed that some progress from simple to more skilled
work was possible, and others said that a course might be given in
hand carving, tool making, and sharpening. A printing firm said
that courses in printing and ruling would be very desirable, and two
other firms with subsidiary printing departments thought their com­
positors would be more efficient if they had school training. Training
in operating power sewing machines was desired by an employer in
a fur-garment factory. In two overall factories it was said that
girls often wanted to learn the different operations, but could be
taught new work only when there was a vacancy to be filled.
! Acts of 1918> chapter 94, sections 1 and 3: Section 1. The board of director of any organized sehool
district may establish and maintain part-time schools, departments, or classes in aid of vocational and
other education for minors between the ages of fourteen (14) and sixteen (16) years (1) holding work certifi­
cates, or (2) who have not completed the eighth grade and are employed in a “store or mercantile estab­
lishment” where eight (8) or a less number of persons are employed or in “establishments or occupations
which are owned or operated by their own parents,” or (3) who have completed the eighth grade,
organize such a part-time school, department, or class whenever there are fifteen (15) minors as defined'
above, resident in the district. The courses of study of such part-time schools, departments, or classes
may include “any subject given to enlarge the civic or vocational intelligence” of the pupils attending.
Sec. 3. Such part-time school departments or classes for the attendance of children over fourteen (14) and
under sixteen (16) years of age shall be organized in accordance with standards established by the State
board for vocational education and shaft provide for not less than eight (8) hours of instruction per week
during the length of term for which public schools are established in the district. Such part-time schools
departments, or classes shall be held between the hours of eight (8) o’clock a. m. and six (6) o’clock p. m.'

64

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

One clothing manufacturer thought any vocational course would
be helpful, “as it would give dignity to factory work, since most
girls prefer to work in stores for less money than in a factory because
a factory girl is looked down upon.”
Leather glove and shoe factories favored vocational classes for
their industries “with comprehensive and detailed lessons, including
a good course in machinery, since a good operator should know how
to take apart and set up his own machine.” Four pearl-button
firms thought industrial chemistry and foremanship could be taught,
even though none of the specialized operations in button making
required more than a week to learn and instruction in these would
not be worth while.
Laundries suggested courses in water analysis, “chemicals, filter­
ing, textiles, safety, personal hygiene, dyeing, cleaning, and spotting,
and one manager believed that every process in the laundry, not
simply washing, should be taught. One laundryman was on the
school board of his town, where intermediate or junior high schools
had special laundry equipment and a course of laundry instruction
in addition to the regular sewing course, as part of the study of “ care
of the clothing.”4
One laundry manager said that he had paid one girl an initial wage
of 50 cents a day higher than that of another employer in town ($12
a week instead of $9) because she had learned to do the laundry in
her own home without assistance and demonstrated at her initial
trial in the plant that she “used her brains” in sorting, marking, and
listing clothes. This manager had previously tried to break in three
girls, apparently capable, but who had failed, he said, because they
had never done laundry work at home and were not quick to learn in
the power laundry. Incidentally this suggests that home economics
courses actually function in certain domestic industries.
Courses in foremanship were desired by several food factories,
although they showed less interest in home economics courses as
a preparation for the work to be done in their plants. I he manager
of a cracker factory said he would be glad to have classes in the plant
if the material for foreman training could be worked up on such
subjects as standards for industrial housing, principles of employ­
ment management, job analysis, safety instruction, and servicerecord keeping. Two other food manufacturing establishments
* This intermediate course in laundering was offered in alternate weeks, alternate semesters, in the
seventh, eighth, and ninth grades and covered the following subjects: Uniforms or proper dress for laundry
work; household alkalis, borax, soda, lye, ammonia, Javelle water; removal of meat and fruit stains from
cotton goods, and oil, rust, and beverage stains from linen goods; laundering table linen; removal of
medicine and other stains from bed linen; laundering embroidered linens, white and colored; removal of
stains and laundering of body linen; making of starch and soap; laundering lingeries; laundering colored
clothes; studies and tests in bluing; laundering shirts, woolens, and silk garments. The details of this
course called for practical work at every lesson In the laundry of a model suite. Here the laundry room
was as large as either the cooking or the sewing room, and was as well equipped. (Syllabus pr epared by
Maud M. Firth, home economics supervisor, Frank L. Smart, superintendent, Davenport.)

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

65

thought that foreman training was possible, although the general
work in cereals was so simple that it could be learned in a few days.
One hotel manager thought schools should teach home economics
so that girls would know their jobs better, and a candy superintendent
thought a technical course on the cooking and mixing of candy, if
combined with practical experience, would be of value to young
men who ordinarily require at least a year to learn the trade. Train­
ing for chocolate dipping was suggested by two firms, as it requires
from two weeks to two months for girls to learn this occupation and
a longer time for them to acquire speed in it.
Sources of training known to employers.
When asked if they knew of courses of vocational instruction which
were being offered in Iowa or elsewhere, some employers mentioned
Y. M. C. A. classes in salesmanship; courses for bakers at Iowa State
College and at Dunwoody Institute, Minneapolis; courses in launder­
ing at Ohio Mechanics’ Institute, Cincinnati, and at Dunwoody;
laundry research at Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh; a new course for
oat millers at Dunwoody; and the proposed new schools of research
and practical demonstration for laundering and for training hotel
cooks in Chicago. A class ill leather-glove making in a New York
trade school was also mentioned as having been visited by an
employer. Many of these courses have the moral and financial
support of employers, who sometimes guarantee the institutions
offering them against a deficit in funds and who send their excep­
tional employees to attend.
TRADE EXTENSION INSTRUCTION BY THE STATE.

Training of adult males.
In the vocational training of adults Iowa State College of Agricul­
ture and Mechanic Arts (Ames) is playing an important part.5
This institution, entirely apart from the University of Iowa at
Iowa City, is reaching directly at least three industrial groups,
(1) unskilled or semiskilled operatives, (2) skilled operatives and
supervisors, and (3) experts, managers, and superintendents. No
fees are required in connection with any of these courses except
those conducted by correspondence.
Training for experts, managers, and superintendents.

Experts, managers, and superintendents already established in
business are being reached annually by means of industrial confer& The following are the regular collegiate departments of instruction at Ames: Agriculture and agricul­
tural economics, education, and journalism; animal husbandry; engineering—agricultural, architectural,
business, ceramic, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, and mining; bacteriology and hygiene; botany,
chemistry, dairying, economic science; English; farm crops and soils; farm management; forestry; genetics;
geology; history; home economics; horticulture; industrial science; landscape architecture; library; mathe­
matics; military science and tactics; modem language; music, physical education and training; physics;
psychology; public speaking; rural structure design; trades and industry; veterinary anatomy, medicine,
pathology, physiology, surgery, theory and practice; vocational education; zoology. (From General
Catalogue, Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 1920-1921, p. 62.)

66

IOWA WOMK'S TX IXDUSTBY.

ouees, conventions, and short four or five day courses at the college
at Amos, while those who are unable to attend at Ames are being
reached by short courses lasting from three to five days, technical
institutes, and exhibits at various points throughout the State.
1. The lakers' short course.—Employers connected with the Iowa
Master Bakers’ Association reported that they had attended, at
Ames, a course of lectures, demonstrations, and laboratory work,
occupying four days of their annual convention. This bakers
eourse was first given in 1917 and it had 60 members enrolled in 1920.
Its program for January, 1921, included two sessions devoted to the
inspection of a flour mill, a mill laboratory, and a bakery. Other
sessions were held in a hotel in Des Moines for the consideration of
such subjects as the mechanical operation of a bake shop, with
special reference to heat, heat control, and fuels; baking materials,
sugar, sugar substitutes, baking powder, etc.; flour milling, testing, and
experimental baking; bacteria, yeasts, and molds, and their relation
to the baking industry; sweet goods demonstrations; and discussions.
2. The bottlers’ short course.—In January 1921, a new course was
given at Des Moines for the Iowa Bottlers’ Association. This
bottlers’ course consisted of lectures and demonstrations by experts
from Ames and elsewhere on bacteria, yeasts, and molds and their
relation to the bottling industry; composition of natural waters and
methods of purification for use in bottling; bottling plant efficiency;
sanitation in the bottling plant; some chemical and bacteriological
problems in the soda water industry; results of investigations made
for the Nebraska Bottlers’ Association; round-table discussion of
water problems; scientific flavoring; round-table discussion of
flavoring problems; specific gravity measurements for the bottler.
3. The canners’ short course.—The canners’ five-day course for
superintendents and managers from Iowa and surrounding States
with a recent attendance at Ames of 111 members, provided demon­
stration, discussion, and detailed individual instruction on the
Continental closing machine; seaming head adjustment; seams and
seam inspection; the corncutter, its construction, operation, caie, and
adjustments; husking and washing corn; husking corn by the piece­
work plan; temperature controls, operation, and care; cooling and its
imoortance in canning corn; tomato fertilizers; thermophilic bacteria,
curing sweet-corn seed; problems of the corn growei, problems
of the corn canner; criticisms and comparison of Iowa packs; pro­
duction of tomatoes; bacteria in spoilage; inspection of the college ma­
chine shops and power plant; demonstration of oxyacetylene welding.
The Iowa-Nebraska Canners’ Association and the inspection service
of the National Canners’ Association cooperated with Iowa College
in presenting this program. While specially intended for super­
intendents and foremen it was open to anyone interested in the
commercial canning of food products.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

67

4. The electric metermen7ft short course.—A rather unusual four-day
course for electric metermen lias been conducted at Ames for the
last three years with an attendance for the current year of 70. With
possibilities for anyone to specialize according to his own needs and
experience the following were the subjects covered: The fundamental
principles upon which meters operate; the function of mechanical and
electrical features used in the construction of meters; the installation,
wiring, testing, and adjusting of meters for single phase and polyphase
service; adjustments for light and full load; general assembling and
repairs in connection with maintenance; special problems brought in
by metermen. Experts and practical men gave lectures, demon­
strations, and laboratory work and individual instruction for eight
hours a day. Manufacturers displayed samples of the latest types
of meters and meter equipment
Training for semiskilled and unskilled workers.

Tn addition to the groups of industrial experts, managers, and
superintendents reached by these annual conventions and short
courses, a second industrial group is being reached by evening classes
which meet once or twice a week for a period of two to six months
depending upon the length of the course.
1. Evening classes.—Unit courses in mechanical drawing, map
drawing, builders’ drawing, sheet-metal drawing, shop mathematics,
strength of materials, the steam boiler, heating and ventilating,
elements of mechanics, elements of structural engineering, and the
gas engine are offered for semiskilled operatives. These classes are
conducted in industrial centers of the State, wherever a sufficient
number of persons are interested, and are usually run in cooperation
with local boards of education.
2. Correspondence courses.—For those workers who are beyond the
reach of the industrial centers in which the above evening courses
are offered, Iowa State College provides correspondence courses of
10 to 20 lessons, general enrollment requirements being an eighthgrade education and an age of at least 17 years. The charge for
correspondence, instruction, textbooks, and stationery is 50 cents a
lesson, but upon completion of any course 25 per cent of the cost is
refunded to the student.
Training for skilled operators and supervisors.

A third industrial group—consisting of exceptionally successful
operators, foremen, and supervisors, and including also teachers of
manual training in schools—is being reached by industrial teacher­
training classes. The courses are offered by Iowa State College in
evening classes in cities where a sufficient number of members can
be enrolled. Some of the work is offered also by correspondence.
Tlie members may become teachers in the public vocational schools
or special “instructors” in industrial establishments.

68

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

1. Teacher training courses.—There are 14 courses dealing with
trade processes and related technical information. The following
subjects are taught: English, technique of teaching trades; adminis­
tration and organization of vocational education; trade analysis I
and II; trade mathematics, trade drawing, trade science; technique
of teaching related subjects; developing courses in related subjects;
principles of industrial education and organization; methods of
teaching trade science, mathematics, and drawing; supervised teach­
ing courses I and II.
2. Foreman training courses.—A line of educational effort started
only recently promises to be of as great importance as industrial
teacher-training while reaching in part the same group of trade and
industrial workers. This is the “managerial course for foremen”
offered in Des Moines with an enrollment of 16 foremen from various
types of industry. These courses attempt to develop the instruc­
tional material which the members most desire to receive after a
preliminary conference over their problems and responsibilities.
Additional classes of this type are being carried in Mason City,
where three groups are segregated according to industry—17 foremen
from a meat-packing plant, 29 from the cement plants, and 17 from
the brick, tile, sand, and gravel plants. At Marshalltown, 15 fore­
men from the locomotive repair shops are studying the problems of
foremanship.
3. Other courses for men.—Short courses for engineers, automobile
mechanics, firemen, and janitors have also been offered by the ex­
tension department of Iowa StateCollege of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts, and new programs are being developed as rapidly as resources
and technical information can be marshaled.
Training of adult females.
Short course in telephony.—Of special interest to this survey is the
short course in telephony for women. This is the only course offered
by the State college for training women supervisors in any industry
in Iowa. The average annual attendance for the first five years has
been 400 and the expected enrollment for 1921 is 600. Two and
three day schools for telephone operators have been conducted for
the past five years in 16 centers of the State and are planned for
17 centers in 1921.
The purpose of these schools is to teach standard methods of oper­
ating, both local and long-distance practice, and to afford an oppor­
tunity for operators of neighboring exchanges to become acquainted
with each other. Demonstration switchboards and telephones are
provided, and instruction has been given by the traveling chief
operator of the Iowa Independent Telephone Association.
Correspondence course in telephony.—Similar to the evening classes
and correspondence courses already listed as serving the needs of
semiskilled men workers, a correspondence course is provided in

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

69

telephony “to meet the needs of women employees who are am­
bitious to occupy the positions of greater responsibility.” The
course comprises a thorough study of telephone material, plant
construction, operation, and maintenance, only sufficient funda­
mental theory being introduced to insure an understanding of the
reasons for existing practices and methods. Each of the nine
subjects or units consists of 12 lessons and costs $12, including
textbooks. The subjects treated are: General science of telephony;
applied mathematics; substation courses I and II; primary cable
course; exchange aerial construction I and II; and central office
equipment, courses 1 and II.
Women’s limited share in industrial training.

Continuation schools, intermediate schools, senior high schools, and
the State college constitute a four-link chain in education that holds
the professional and industrial workers of the State together and
State institutions whereby every trade and industrial worker may
be reached are already provided.
Nevertheless the observer can not but be struck with the number
of such opportunities offered to men in trade and industry and
with the very limited share of attention that is being given to the
vocational needs of women.
The excellent home-economics department of Iowa State College
has fully 800 women students and graduate students enrolled, and
it has been estimated that 70 per cent of the graduates become
home economics teachers.
Extension work in home economics purposes to train people in
home-making occupations, and the instruction offered in continua­
tion and intermediate schools can function only incidentally for wage
earning in laundry, food, and sewing trades where it reaches the group
of girls who drop out of school and go to work. It can not be ex­
pected to serve the industrial needs of the increasingly large number
of women employed in purely manufacturing occupations.
In view of the extensive utilization of women in the industries of
Iowa it is apparent that very insufficient consideration has been given
to the industrial training of the women workers of the State.
Only if vocational courses offered by the State College of Agri­
culture and Mechanic Arts are opened to women, only if new courses
are developed to meet the needs of both men and women, in single
and in mixed groups, and only if membership of women in these
classes is actively recruited from places of employment, can this
vocational instruction hope to be adequate to the needs of the
women of the State—commendable as its present beginnings are.
Larger appropriations for technical information service and a larger
scheme for usefulness must be provided before the women in trade
and industry in Iowa can come into their own in the field of in­
dustrial training.

T

APPENDIX.
Table I.—Number

and per cent of employees working each specified number of weekly hours, by sex and industry.
NUMBER.

Fe­
Male. male.
Box and basket manufacturing. 127
Button manufacturing........ 261
Candy manufacturing.......... 567
Cigar manufacturing............ 229
Clothing manufacturing...... 475
Miscellaneous food manufac­
turing.................................. 1,547
Miscellaneous manufacturing... 4,968
General mercantile.............. 819
5-and-10 cent stores..............
53
Laundries.............................. 370
Printing and publishing............| 558
All industries &.

198
464
945
631
1,490

Employees whose weekly hours were—

33 and un­
der 44.

{Male.

44 and under 46.

46 and under 48.

48 and un­
der 50.

50 and un­
der 52.

52 and un­
der 54.

54 and un­
der 56.

56 and un­
der 58.

58 and un­
der 60.

60 and
over.

Fe­
Fe­
Fe­ Male. Fe­ Male. Fe­ Male. Fe­ Male. Fe­ Male. Fe­ Male. male. Male. male.
Fe­
Fe­
male.
male.
male.
male.
male.
male. Male. male. Male. male.
68

52

19

69

175
168

11
5
28

12
9
87

298
3 326

306
3 178
6

22
142

5
121
4

6
82

20
262

22

72

164 3 905 *1, 167

249

3
3
4

95
42

1,184
1,267
2,246
256
827
561

4
284

.9,974 10,069

301

1

6
11

13

70
18
165

171
65
187

67
*314
519
30
466

151

154

32
26
81

1,751 *2,360

566

13
275
286
199
191

48
165
81
277 *1,034
355
146
619 1,477
11
4
146
189
71
28
299
476

102

50
199

35
32
183
171
741

379 1,963 3,597

10

5
2 123
16

1135

345
2,744

226
313

103
73
163

28
72
160
49

9
33

21

6

2

10

6

14
157

3
223

484
77

21

46
9

740

281

9
16

941 |23,285 2 731

116

205

"12

101

8

”*4

178

373

36

76

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY,

Industry.

Number of
full-time
employees
reporting
complete
data.1

PER CENT.
Box and basket manufacturing.
Button manufacturing.............
Candy manufacturing................
Cigar manufacturing..................
Clothing manufacturing............
Miscellaneous food manufacturing.......................................
Miscellaneous manufacturing...
General mercantile....................
5-and-lO cent stores.....................
Laundries....................................
Printing and publishing............

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

1.6

3.0

.5
1.3
.8

.7
i.i
3.6

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100. 0
100.0

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

.3
5.7
.1

.7 19.1
25.8
3.6 3 6.7 3 14.0
1.6
.3
.4
1.6
2.4
14.7 40.7

All industries &.................. 100.0

100.0

3.0

45.7
41.5
8.8

26.3

15.0

27.7
11.3

1.9
2.2
5.9

1.6 3 9.1 311.6

1.4
2.9

34.8

7.1
12.6
1.3 18.0
1.4 21.8
5.8 41.9

.4
9.6
.2

5.9

8.7

2.5

3.8

17.7
6.9
19.4
27.1
49.7

22.0
27.6
28.2
21.4
4.4

6.6
59.3
30.3
31.5
12.8

4.7
4.2
12.3
7.9
34.7

6.6
.4
18.1
10.3
12.6

3.9

5.2
7.1
75.6
20.8
7.6
85.3

13.9
3.1
5-7
21.9 4 20.8 4 24. S
65.8
17.8
23.1
57.0
7.5
11.7
8.6
51.1
56.3
53.3

.1
3.9
49.1
21.9

.8
4.6
28. 5
19.7

55! 2

19.7

35.7 417.6 4 23.4

5.7

5.1

2.8

...... .......

22.6
10.8

2L 7
2.3
4.2

9.3 2 32.9 *7.3

......

0.8
4.2

7.5

4.8

6.0

27.8

23.6

1.5
1.0

3.9
3.4

.7

7.4

2.8

17.3

1. 5
1.1
1.8

3.7

.4

.8

1 Employees working less than 33 hours a week are not considered full-time employees.
4 Includes 2 factories (110 men and 93 women) now working 30 hours—3 days a week.
* Includes 1 factory (9 men and (19 women) now working 421 hours—5 days a week.
4 Includes 1 factory (42 men and 55 women) now working 30 hours—4 days a week ;5 weeks a month; and 1 factory (163 men and 35 women) now working 40 hours—5 days a week.
• Restaurants excluded because of irregularity of horns. See separate tabulation.

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY,

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

-1

Table II.—Number

and per cent of employees working edeh specified number of daily hours, by sex and industry.

to

NUMBER.

Industry.

Number of estab­
lishments and
number of full­
time employees
reporting com­
plete data.1

Establishments and employees whose daily hours were—

8 and under 9.

6 and under 8.

9 and under 10.

10 and under 11.

12 and over.

11 and under 12.

Box manufacturing..........................
Button manufacturing....................
Candy manufacturing.....................
Cigar'manufacturing........................
Clothing manufacturing..................
Miscellaneous foodmanufacturing..
Miscellaneous manufacturing.........
General mercantile..........................
Laundries.........................................
Printing and publishing.................
All industriesa.......................

2

134
83
4
2
16
70
93
6
147 324
5
137
566
17
473
13 1,611
864 356
20
791 2,09(3
14
42 255
9
182 425
13
7
558 559

189

110 4,485 5,297

198
464
939
631
1,402
1,176
1,267
2,233
255
780
561

1

1

4

3
4
3
1
6
3

3
3
5
134
20
1

7
7
28
4
101
36

189 11,247 9,906

22

S
10
18
11
24
19
37
19
9
27
7

127
261
567
229
425
2,912
4,955
813
53
347
558

1
167

43
4
116
8
13
300
70
6
14
283
7 293
19 3,198
13
5
11
1
15
161

60
295
560
295
808
233
688
101
355

92 4,488 3,395

5
5
1

145
194
9

153
279
5

7
9
3

400
761
6

428
122

3
3

182
106

1

1
1
1

292
6
2

37

1

4
987

6 | 288

1

3

300

37

31 1,519

IOWA WOMEN IN INDUSTRY,

Fe­
Fe­ Estab­
Estab­
Fe­ Estab­
Fe­ Estab­
Fe­ Estab­
Fe­ Estab­
Fe­ Estab­
lish­
lish­ Male. male. lish­ Male. male. lish­ Male. male. lish­ Male. male. lish­ Male. male. lish­ Male. male. ments. Male. male.
ments.
ments.
ments.
ments.
ments.
ments.

PER CENT.

Cigar manufacturing........................
Miscellaneous food manufacturing..

Laundries.........................................

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

0.8

2.0

65. 4

.5
1.3

.7

3.2. 3
64.2
32.2
55.3
17.4
97.3
79.2
52.4

100.0

Box and basket manufacturing—

100.0

1.5

1.2

4.6
.4
.1

1.1
2.0

.3

8.0
1.6

67.7
3.4
9.9
51.3
40.4
40.2
28.1
93.9

33.9
44.4
52.9
30.6
66.6
10.1

64.5

1.6
20.8

100.0

30.3
63.6
59.6
46.8
57.6
19.8
54.3
4.5

55.6
34.2
3.9

33.0
29.7

13.7
15.5
.7

36.4
9.6

100.0

54.5
99.6

46.4

45.5

1.9

39.9

53.5

39.9

34.3

13.5

6.2
2.1

...........

10.0
.1
.2

3.1

2.7

0.1

0.4

1.2

.4

.8

.........
2.6

Persons working less than 6 hours a day are not considered full-time employees.
Information not reported in four cases, and restaurants (30 in number) excluded because of irregularity of hours.
Less than 0.05 per cent.
Note.—This tabulation is based on actual number of employees reported as working specified hours. Establishments working their various departments different hours
appear in this classification in more than one group.
1
2
8

III.—Number and per cent of employees in restaurants working each specified number of weekly hours, by sex,|

Table

Male.

Female.

Male.

Hours worked.
Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.
33 and under 44......

Female.

Male.

Hours worked.

3

46 and under 48_
_
48 and under 50_
_
50 and under 52---52 and under 54_
_
54 and under 56 —

48

58 and under 60_
_

5

3

12

7

2.2

2.2
8. 6

34.5
5.0
3.6

40
44
26
44

Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.

12.6
12.0

2

7.1

1

12.0

11
2

3.0

9
42
27

2.5
11.5
7.4

66 and
68 and

under 68___
under 70___

Female.

Hours worked.

3

1.4

14

3.9

2.2

11
11
1

3.0
3.0
.3
5.2

Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent.

8.6

72 and under 74_
_

1
12
10

7.2

19
24

76 and under 78....

4

2.9

4

7

6.6

L

1

2

IOWA WOMEX IX INDUSTRY,

10.0

1.4
84 and under 86_
_

14

90 and under 92_
_
Total.............

10.1

$

2

1.4

2

139

100.0

366

2.2

100.0

CO

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V

PUBLICATIONS OF THE WOMEN’S BUREAU.
Annual Report of the Director. 1920.
Bulletins Nos.—
_ .
,
.
.
1 Proposed Employment of Women During the War in the Industries of Niagara
Palls, N. Y. 16 pp. 1918.
2. Labor Laws for Women in Industry in Indiana. 29 pp. 1918.
3. Standards for the Employment of Women in Industry. 7 pp. 1919.
4. Wages of Candy Makers in Philadelphia in 1919. 46 pp. 1919.
5. The Eight-Hour Day in Federal and State Legislation. 19 pp. 1919.
6 The Employment of Women in Hazardous Industries in the United States.
8 pp. 1919.
.
7. Night-Work Laws in the United States. 4 pp. 1919.
8. Women in the Government Service. 37 pp. 1920.
9. Home Work in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 35 pp. 1920.
_ _
10. Hours and Conditions of Work for Women in Industry in Virginia. 32 pp.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

Women Street Oar Conductors and Ticket Agents. 90 pp. 1920.
The New Position of Women in American Industry. 158 pp. 1920.
Industrial Opportunities and Training for Women and Girls. 48 pp. 1920.
A Physiological Basis for the Shorter Working Day for Women. 20 pp. 1921.
Some Effects of Legislation Limiting Hours of Work for W6men. 26 pp.
1921.
.
16. State Laws Affecting Working Women. 1921.
17. Women’s Wages in Kansas. 104 pp. 1921.
18. Health Problems of Women in Industry. (Reprint of paper published in
The Nation’s Health, May, 1921.)
19. Iowa Women in Industry. 73 pp. 1921.
rts Nos.—
_ ,
I. Eight-Hour and Eight-and-a-Half-Hour Laws for Women Workers.
II. Nine-Hour Laws for Women Workers.
III. Ten-Hour Laws for Women Workers.
IV. Ten-and-a-Quarter-Hour, Ten-and-a-Half-Hour, Eleven-Hour, and TwelveHour Laws for Women Workers.
V. Weekly Hour Laws for Women Workers.
VI. Laws Providing for a Day of Rest, One Shorter Work Day, Time for Meals
and Rest Periods for Women Workers.
VII. Night-Work Laws for Women Workers.
VIII. Homework Laws in the United States.
IX. Minimum Wage Legislation in the United States. 3 sections.
X. Mothers’ Pension Laws in the United States. 4 sections.