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U. S, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
JAMES J. DAVIS, SECRETARY
WOMEN'S BUREAU
M A R Y ANDERSON, Director
BULLETIN
O F T H E W O M E N ' S B U R E A U , NO- 27
THE
OCCUPATIONAL PROGRESS
OF WOMEN
AN INTERPRETATION OF CENSUS STATISTICS
OF WOMEN I N GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS
WASHINGTON
G O V E R N M E N T P R I N T I N G OFFICE
1922
CONTENTS.
Page.
Introduction and summary
1
Part I . W O M E N A T W O R K I N C O N T I N E N T A L U N I T E D S T A T E S
7
Changes i n number and proportion of women in general divisions of
occupations
Domestic and personal service
I
Manufacturing and mechanical industries
Industries i n which women predominate
Industries in which women have increased at least 10,000
since 1910
Unusual occupations for women
Skilled trades
Hazardous occupations
^
1
Transportation
Trade
!
Public service
Professional service
Clerical occupations
Changes i n women's occupational status
Occupations w i t h more than 50,000 women In each
Occupations w i t h more than 1,000 women i n each
Women i n proprietary, official, and supervisory occupations*
Striking changes i n occupations for women
Changes in occupations numerically unimportant
Comparison w i t h changes i n the occupations o f men
Part I I . W O M E N A T W O E K I N A M E E I C A N T E E B I T O E I E S
General divisions of occupations
Principal occupations
Statistics f o r cities
Industrial home work i n Porto Rico—^
7
7
10
10
11
12
13
13
14
15
15
16
17
18
18
21
22
22
26
26
31
:
32
34
36
36
T E X T TABLES.
Table I. Number and proportion of a l l women 10 years of age and over
engaged in each general division of occupations, 1920 and 1910I I . Number of emploj^ees in those manufacturing industries i n
which women predominated both in 1920 and in 1910, classified by sex
I I I . Occupations i n manufacturing and mechanical industries in
each of which the number of women employed increased
10,000 or more f r o m 1910 to 1920, w i t h number and per cent
of increase
IV. Numerical increase or decrease from 1010 to 1920 among women
10 years of age and bver, according to general division of
occupations
^
V. Occupations i n which 50,000 or more women 10 years of age and
over were employed in 1920 and number of women employed
in each, 1920 and 1910
^
ni
8
11
12
18
19
IV
CONTENTS,
Table V I . N u m b e r of occupatious i n each general d i v i s i o n of occupations ^^^^
i n w h i c h 1,000 or m o r e w o m e n 10 years of age and over were
employed, 1020 and 1910
2i
V I I . E i g h t occupations i n each of w h i c h the number of women 10
years of age and over increased 50,000 or more f r o m 1910 to
1920, a n d number a n d per cent of increase
' 93
V I I I . Seven occupations i n each of w h i c h the n u m b e r of women 10
years of age and over decreased 50,000 or more f r o m 1910 to
1920, a n d number a n d per cent of decreafcie
23
I X . Occupations h a v i n g 500 or m o r e women each i n 1920 which had
moVe t h a n doubled i n n u m b e r since 1910, number of women
occupied i n 1920 a n d i n 1910, a n d p e r cent of increase
24
X . Increase or decrease f r o m 1910 t o 1920 i n n u m b e r of i)ersons of
each sex 10 years of age a n d over engaged i n certain selected
occupations, and per cent of increase or decrease
20
X I . T o t a l f e m a l e population, p o p u l a t i o n 10 years of age and over,
a n d per cent of increase f r o m 1910 t o 1920, f o r continental
U n i t e d States, f o r A l a s k a , f o r H a w a i i , a n d f o r Porto Rico
31
X I I . N u m b e r a n d p r o p o r t i o n of occupied women 10 years of age and
over i n continental U n i t e d States, i n A l a s k a , i n H a w a i i , and.
i n P o r t o Rico, 1920 a n d 1910
J
32
X I I I . Number a n d per cent d i s t r i b u t i o n of women 10 years of age and
over i n each general d i v i s i o n of occupations f o r continental
U n i t e d States, f o r A l a s k a , f o r H a w a i i , and f o r Porto Rico,
1920
33
X I V . Women 10 years of age a n d over engaged i n selected occupations, f o r A l a s k a , f o r H a w a i i , a n d f o r P o r t o Rico, 1920
Si
CHARTS.
Occupational d i s t r i b u t i o n of women, 1920 a n d 1910
AVomen i n selected professions, 1920 a n d 1910
,
W o m e n i n selected m a n u f a c t u r i n g i n d u s t r i e s , 1920 and 1910
Frontispiece.
Facing p. 16.
Facing p. 20.
L E T T E R
O F
T R A N S M I T T A L .
U N I T E D S T A T E S D E P A R T ^ I E N T OF L A B O R ,
WoME^s^'s B U R E A U ,
'Wmhington^ Septemler 30]
SIR: Herewith is transmitted a report showing the occupational
progress of women. This report is an interpretation of preliminary
census statistics of women in gainful occupations. The bureau is
trjing to answer in this report questions continually asked of it, such
as: How many women are at work in the United States and its Territorial possessions? Where do they work? What do they do? Has
their number increased or decreased during the last decade? The
replies to at least some of these questions are to be found in this
bulletin.
The research work and the writing of this report were done by
Miss Mary V. Dempsey, special agent of the Women's Bureau.
l L \ R Y ANDERSON,
Hon. JAMES J .
DAVIS,
Secretary
of
Labor,
Director.
OCCUPATIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF WOMEN
IQ20
U.7
22.6
'Qqriculture.
f o r e s t r y
a n d
M i n i m a l Wusloandry
VVla n u f Q c t u r \ n c ^
and m e c h a n i c Q p
mdustr l e s
I I . Q
>^Sportafion
t
"
Q. I
31.3
2 . 5 , 6
e>v549,3il
UJomen q a m f u l l y e m p l o y e d
8 , 0 7 5 ^ 7 7 i g u j o m e n cjolnfully. e m p l o y e d
j
THE OCCUPATIONAL PROGRESS OF WOMEN.
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY.
The country's half-awakened interest i n the problems of women i n
industry was completely aroused by the unusual conditions attending the World War. Never before had women been called so urgently
to take the places of men at the plow, the lathe, and the desk; and
n^ver had industrial crises been met more valiantly. During this
chaotic period of replacing the labor of men by that of women many
adverse conditions were met and endured and women achieved a
deserved recognition as potent factors in the industrial world.
Since that time has passed i f seems likely that women will to some
extent continue to pursue the occupations which they then undertook; at any rate, that they w i l l not lose the recognition gained during the war of their importance to industry. The industrial problems of women are far more conspicuous than they were ten—even
fiye_years ago, but their f u l l importance can not be known unless
certain questions are first answered: How many women are at work
in the United States and in its territorial possessions? Where do
they work? What do they do? Has their number increased or
decrea^d during the last few years?
The replies to many of these questions are to be found i n several
bulletins on occupation statistics recently issued by the Federal Bureau
of the Census.^ Since the figures shown i n these bulletins have so
direct a bearing on the problems of women in industry, the Women's
Bureau is publishing this interpretation of the material which they
present.
During the past few years, every time a woman invaded an occupation hallowed for generations as a pursuit for men only, attention
^as called to the fact by the woman's coworkers and i n some cases
V the press. The publicity given these changes i n the occupational
status of women caused the public to believe that a large and increasing proportion of women were seeking employment outside
S. Bureau of the Census. 14th Census: 1920. Population.
tive occupation statistics for the United States. 1922.
'Bulletin: Alaska—Occupation statistics. 1922.
Bulletin: Hawaii—Occupation statistics. 1922.
•
Bulletin: Porto Bico—Occupation statistics. 1922.
Bulletin: Compara-
statistics quoted in the present discnsslon include women 10 years of age
ana over, for the reason that figures showing the age distribution of gainfully occypied
vom^ ^ere not available a t the time this report wa« written.
1
2
T H E OCCUPATIONAL. PROGRESS OF W O M E K .
the home. When a Avoman dropped out of domestic service or gave
up dressmaking to work in a munition factory or to become a streetcar conductor, the entire community heard of her new employment,
but no one mentally subtracted her from the ranks of those in her
former occupation; and so the impression gained ground that vast
numbers of women were taking up gainful occupations for the first
time.
This impression is not upheld, however, by census statistics. In
continental United States 8,549,511 women 10 years of age and over
were gainfully occupied on January 1, 1920. This number represents an actual increase since 1910 of nearly half a million; but if
the increase in population be taken into consideration the proportion
of all women 10 years of age and over gainfully occupied decreased
from 23.4 per cent in 1910 to 21.1 per cent i n 1920.
Such general figures as these, however, by no means tell the
whole story or represent the true conditions for many important
groui:)S of wage-earning women. I n studying the returns for certain
occupations i t appears that, although the decrease in the number
of women working on farms was very great, there were large increases in many other occupations. As the figures showing the mimber of women employed on farms in 1910 and 1920 are not strictly
comparable (see explanation i n footnote to Table I , p. 8), the
change indicated for " all occupations " may be considered less significant than those for smaller groups. I n nonagricultural occupations the proportion of all women 10 years of age and over increased
from 18.1 per cent i n 1910 to 18.5 per cent i n 1920. Furthermore,
eliminating child labor from consideration", 21.3 per cent of all
Avomen 16 years of age and over were employed in nonagricultural
pursuits in 1920, as compared w i t h 20.7 per cent similarly employed
in 1910.2 This comparison confirms the general impression that proportionately more women were engaged in industrial and allied
pursuits in 1920 than in 1910, a fact which is obscured when the
figures as a whole are considered, because of the apparent great
decrease in the number of women working on farms.
Considering the general divisions of occupations, it is evident that
striking changes took place in the employment of women during this
decade.
Changes in census date and instructions to census enumerators
partially explain the tremendous decrease among women returned as
employed in agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry.
this decrease loses some of its significance, such is not the case wit
a decrease of 344,297 (13.6 per cent) among women engaged in
domestic and personal service; an increase of 832,892 (140.4 pe**
S. Bureau of the Census,
children.
l^ourteentb Census: 1920.
Population: Occupations of
3
T H E OCCUPATIONAL. PROGRESS OF W O M E K .
cent) among women in clerical occupations; an increase of 282,607
(38.5 per cent) among women in professional service; an increase
of 106,429 (99.8 per cent) among women engaged in transportation;
and an increase of 109,771 (only 6 per cent) in manufacturing and
mechanical industries. Ceii:ain of these changes indicate upheavals
in the traditions of women's employment, which may be verified by
a closer study of the facts.
The really significant deduction to be made from a study of the
census statistics is that, while the proportion of women 10 years of
age and over engaged in nonagricultural pursuits showed but a
slight increase from 1910 to 1920, there was a decided change in the
distribution of women among the various gainful occuj)ations. I n
1910 there were 203 occupations in which 1,000 or more women were
employed; in 1920 the occupations in this group had increased in
number to 232, and a very large part of this increase was in occupations in manufacturing and mechanical industries and professional
service. Increases of 50,000 or more occurred among w^omen who
were clerks in offices, stenographers and typists, bookkeepers and
cashiers, teachers, sales^vomen, telephone operators, trained nurses,
and clerks in stores. Decreases of 50,000 or more occurred among
farm laborers (at home), farm laboi^ers (working out), cooks, general servants, laundresses, dressmakers, and seamstresses (not i n factory), and milliners and millinery dealers. I f the w^omen employed
as sen^ants, as fainn laborers, as dressmakers, and as milliners had
held their own in numbers from 1910 to 1920, a pronounced increase
in the proportion of all women employed would have resulted. I f the
women in these four occupations had shown an increase in number
commensurate with that of the female population, then 25.4 per cent
of all women 10 years of age and over would have been gainfully
employed in 1920, as compared wnth 23.4 per cent so occupied in 1910.
On the whole, the great change seems to have been in a decrease
among women working in or for the home and in personal-service
occupations, and a corresponding increase in clerical and allied occupations, in teaching, and in nursing, all of which have been womenemploying occupations for many decades but have not before reached
such numerical importance.
In manufacturing and mechanical industries it is necessary to
search more closely for the significant changes. Increases since 1910
of more than 10,000 w^omen were found among semiskilled operatives
in food, iron and steel, and clothing industries, in silk and knitting
^Jiills, and in electrical supply, shoe, and cigar and tobacco factories;
^niong laborers in cotton mills; and among forewomen and overseers
in manufacturing. Tlie most striking increase shown for women i n
^^y industrial group was that for operatives in automobile fac-
4
THE
OCCUPAnON"AL. PROGRESS OF
WOMEN,
tories, among whom there was an increase of 1,408 per cent. In
the entire iron and steel industry women increased 145.4 per cent as
semiskilled operatives. A slightly larger increase (148.1 per cent)
occurred among women operatives i n electrical supply, factories.
Many of the changes which took place i n manufacturing and me-,
chanical industries were indicative of changes w i t h m the industries
themselves and showed increases for men also, but i t is significant
to find that while women operatives i n automobile factories increased
1,408 per cent (from 848 i n 1910 to 12,788 i n 1920), the largest percentage increase for women i n any one industry, men operatives in
automobile factories increased only 435.4 per cent (from 20,243 in
1910 . to 108,376 i n 1920), the second largest percentage increase for
men. Clearly, i n this one rapidly developing industry the employnient of women was increasing at a much greater rate than that ^
men, though the number of men employed was still far in excess of
the number of women.
I n studying all occupations employing an appreciable number
(1,000 or more) of both men and women i n 1910 and 1920, an
interesting situation was found to exist. The changes in rate of
increase or decrease for the two sexes were entirely disproportionate,
and i n by far the greater number of cases the women took the lead
i n the rate of increase. O f course, i n most of the occupations considered, men still were numerically far above women, and the conspicuously large percentage increases shown f o r women in certain
occupations are the direct result of small basic figures in 1910; but
these huge increases none the less indicate that more and more
industrial opportunities are being offered to women.
Contrary to general impression, women seem not to have gone
into absolutely new occupations to any great extent. They had,
however, enlarged their field of work by entering i n greater numbers
occupations in which formerly they had but scant representation.
The statistics for women i n American Territories show that nnusual problems exist for these women whose conditions of employment are a more direct national responsibility. From these figures
i t appears that while the numbers gainfully employed in Alaska are
so small as to be almost negligible (2,005), Hawaii and Porto Eico
both have considerable numbers of gainfully occupied women whose
employment falls under somewhat different classifications from those
for the women in continental United States.
I n Hawaii 45 per cent of the, 14,263 gainfully employed women
are engaged i n agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, 24 per
cent >are in domestic and personal service, and 13.4 per cent are m
professional service, most of the last group being teachers.
THE
O O C T J P A T I O K A L PROGRESS OF W O M E N - .
5
The number of women employed i n Porto Eico (86,462) was much
larger than the number i n either Hawaii or Alaska, and their occupational distribution indicates a very different situation for them.
In domestic and personal service were found 37.6 per cent of Porto
Eican women, while another very large group, 35.6 per cent, were i n
manufacturing and mechanical industries; only 20.5 per cent were
in agriculture. Of the more than 86,000 Porto Kican women who
were engaged in manufacturing and mechanical industries nearly
14,000, about one-sixth, were reported as sewing outfeide of factories,
numbers which illustrate the great prevalence of industrial home
work for women i n Porto Rico.
All the figures for the Territories, however, are representative
of such unusual conditions that they can not be compared in any
way with what seem to be similar figures for continental United
States, and can be satisfactorily interpreted only in connection with
an intimate knowledge of the local situations. They are presented
in this bulletin in the hope that they may somewhat illuminate the
question and draw attention to the extent of the problem regarding
the employment of women w i t h which this country is faced in the
regulation of its territorial affairs.
PART I.
WOMEN A T W O R K I N CONTINENTAL U N I T E D STATES,
CHANGES I N NUMBER AND PROPORTION OF WOMEN I N GENERAL
DIVISIONS OF OCCUPATIONS.
In all general divisions of occupations other than agriculture,
forestry, and animal husbandry and domestic and personal service,
women have increased in number since 1910. (See Table I.) I n
clerical occupations they were nearly two and one-half times as
numerous in 1920 as i n 1910, as they were also in the extraction of
minerals, though the number in the latter industrial group was
small; the number i n transportation doubled; those in trade increased 42.7 per cent, and those i n professional service 38.5 per cent.
Much more significant than numerical increases or decreases, however, is the comparison of the proportion of all women occupied in
1920 and in 1910 as shown for each general division of occupations
in Table I , on the page following.
Domestic and personal service.
In domestic and personal service a great decrease in both the
number and the proportion of women so occupied is shown in Table
I. Under this heading the Census Bureau groups not only servants,
waitresses, and laundresses, as one might expect, but all persons
who cater directly to our personal needs, Avith the exception of
physicians, trained nurses, healers, etc., who are classified under
professional service. For instance, barbers, hairdressers, and manicurists, bootblacks, elevator tenders, janitors and sextons, laundry
operatives, midwives and nurses (not trained), porters, bartenders,
bathhouse keepers and attendants, cleaners and renovators (clothing, etc.) are among the occupations which belong in this group.
Certain proprietary occupations likewise fall in this class, such
as laundry owners, officials, and managers; restaurant, caf6, and
lunch-room keepers; hotel keepers and managers; boarding and
lodging house keepers; saloon keepers; and billiard room, dance
hall, and skating-rink keepers. The designation "domestic and
personal service " thus includes a much larger group than servants
only, though the latter comprise nearly one-half of the total number
'Of women engaged in this general division of occupations.
In this group w^ere employed 5.4 per cent of all women 10 years
of age and over i n 1920, as compared w i t h 7.3 per cent i n 1910.
This decrease, however, does not necessarily represent a net loss to
7
T H E OCCUPATIONAL. PROGRESS OF WOMEK.
8
tlie ranks of those gainfully employed, for some women turned from
domestic service to factory work or other industrial employment,
a statement especially true of negro women, who entered factory
employment in large numbers during the war.
TABLE
I.—Number and proportion
of all women 10 years of age and over
engaged in each general division of occupations, 1920 and 1910.^
1920
General division of occupations.
1910
Per cent
of
Number of women Number of
women.
10 years women.
of age
and over.
Per cent
of
women
10 years
ofage
and over.
40,449,34G
100.0
34,552,712
loao
8,549,511
21.1
8,075,772
23.4
Agriciature, forestry, and animal husbandry.
1,084,128
2.7
1,807,501
5.2
Nonagrricultural occupations
_. .
Extraction of minerals
Jfanufacturing and mechanical industries....
Transportation
Trade
Public service (not elsewhere classified 3)
Professional service
Domestic and personal service
Clerical occupations
7,485,383
2,864
1,930,341
213,054
667,792
21,794
1,016,498
2,186,924
1,426,116
18.5
6,268,271
1,094
1,820,670
106,625
468,088
13,558
733,891
2,531,221
593 224
18.1
POPULATION 10 YEABS OP AGE A N D OVER
All occupations
4.8
.5
1.7
.1
2.5
5.4
3.5
)
5w3
.3
1.4
2.1
r.3
1.7
1 The decrease during the decade 1910 to 1920 in the proportion of all women 10 years of age and over
who were gainfully occupied is to some extent apparent only and may probably be attributed to three
main causes: 1. The change in the census date from April 15 in 1910 to January 1 in 1920—from a very busy
farming season to a time of the year when all farming activities are at their lowest ebb. This change in
date probably resulted in a great reduction in the number of women returned In agnculture,^ forestry,
and animal husbandry, though the returns for men apparently were to a less extent affected by the same
circumstance. 2. An overstatement in 1910 of the number of women engaged in agriculture, forestry,
and animal husbandry—a general division of occupations which comprised 22.4 per cent of all occupied
women in 1910 and 12.7 per cent in 1920. The Census Bureau in 1910 (U. S. Bureau of the Census. 13th
Census; 1910, v. 4, Population; occupation statistics, p. 28) estimates this overstatement at ahnost half a
million, and suggests that it may have been largely the result of an instruction issued to census enumerators to return every woman working regularly at outdoor farm work as a farm laborer. In compliance
with this instruction many women who regularly fed their chickens or did other chores for an hour or so
each morning undoubtedly were returned as gainfully occupied. To correct this tendency to overetatement census enumerators were in 1920 instructed as follows: ''159. Women doing farm work. For a
woman who work-^ onlj/ occasionally, or only a sTiort time each day at outdoor farm or garden work, or m
the dairy, or in caring for live stock or poultry, the return should he none; but for a woman who wcrKS
regularly
vsorliing
a n d moat of the time a t such w o r k , t h e r e t u r n s h o u l d be farm laborer—home
out: laborer-garden;
laborer—dairy
farm;
laborer—'stock farm;
or lahorer^poultry
lamm—
farm; farm
yard, as the case
may be. Of course, a woman who herself operates or runs a farm or plantation should be reports as
farmer and not as a ^farm laborer.'" This stringent instmction, together with the change in ^usus date,
naturally resulted in the return of relatively fewer women in agricultural pursuits, since m JamW few
women are regularly employed most of the time out of doors on farms. Possibly, also, early in 1920 some
women who had formerly been emploved on farms may have been occupied vdth other work, though tnere
IS but Uttlo evidence to support this theory. 3. A great decrease in the employment of girls 10 to 15 y<^rs
of age. This decrease to a large extent overlaps the decrease among women in a g r i c u l t u r a l work, omu
is by no means confined to this sphere
^
of the Census. 14th Census: 1920. P.^
-—
10 to 15 years of ago who were gainfully occupied uroppea irom ii.y per ueut nX IVLKf W a." I't/*
The numerical decrease during the decade was 290,476, of which 222,106 was in the number employea in
agricultural pursuits and 68,370 in the number employed in nonagricultural pursuits.
® Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent.
' For explanation, see p. 15.
Many and varied are the reasons assigned for a numerical decrease
of 344,297 women in domestic and personal service in a single decade,
most of which occurred among women employed as servants and
laundresses. Some persons have reached the conclusion that " the
secret lies in the perfecting of the machine " ; i n other words, that
9
T H E OCCUPATIONAL. PROGRESS OF W O M E K .
fewer servants are needed because of the widespread adoption of
mechanical household devices.^ But is the extensive use of these
devices the cause or the eifect of a shortage of servants"? Would so
many families have invested i n vacuum cleaners, in electric laundry
appliances, in iceless refrigerators, none of which is inexpensive, i f
servants were to be had as in former days? Probably in many instances the machine i n the home has displaced the servant, while
in other cases i t merely took the place already abandoned by the
servant.
It is true that during the war period large numbers of those who
had been servants were attracted to other pursuits by the higher wage
offered, thus leaving an actual shortage of servants in many sections—a shortage which still existed to a considerable extent in 1920.
It is also true that the wages of servants have within the past decade
increased beyond the ability of many families to pay. This phenomenal increase might be considered an enticement for women to
enter this class of work, yet servants become fewer and fewer in
number, and apparently the American people are becoming reconciled to the scarcity and have decided to n m their homes without
them.
The servant problem pertains almost exclusively to the urban community. Few, indeed, relatively speaking, are the servants employed
on farms, and though the tendency of wealthy families to live the
year round in country homes within motoring distance of the large
cities becomes more and more evident, such families comprise an
extremely small proportion of our population. I n the cities a great
drift toward apartment-house life has been noted in recent years
and the scarcity of servants has been considered a prominent factor,
in the trend away from large private houses.
Is the decrease i n the number of servants permanent or temporary? "WTiat part does the higher esteem usually shown toward factory work, with its clearly defined hours, play in this shortage?
How much of the falling off is due to the curtailment of immigration since 1914, which has meant practically the elimination of those
J^ecruits who in the past took the places of girls who went on to
other employment? D i d the war-time action of the Government in
urging the American people to release for more necessary employment every servant possible place a lasting stigma on domestic and
personal service as nonessential work? Or, what is far more likely,
did this action of the Government tend to introduce women who
lacked initiative to new kinds of work which they individually would
never have undertaken, yet which they found themselves perfectly
'Exit the servant in 'the house,
America at Work.
V,- 0, No. 1, June, 1022.
10'
T H E OCCUPATIONAI. PROGRESS OF WOMEK.
capable of doing and which was often more interesting, at. higher
pay, and done under more desirable working conditions? ;Were
there not also at the date of the census some women customarily
employed as servants who were remaining at home because it was
easy for the men of the family to find work? Was not the latter
cause responsible for some part of the decrease among negro women
iservants in the South? To what extent the.suggestions here made
may be considered factors in the reduction i n the number of women
employed in domestic and personal service is a matter of sheer conjecture, the only certainty being an actual decrease since l&lO of
431,546 among women employed as servants and laundresses.
Yet not every occupation listed under domestic and personal
service shows a falling off in numbers during this decade. On the
contrary, the most phenomenal change i n any one occupation was
that of elevator tenders, a group which increased from 25 in 1910
to 7,337 i n 1020. Large increases were noted also among barbers,
hairdressers, and manicurists; restaurant, cafe, and lunch-room
keepers; laundry owners, officials, and managers; cleaners and renovators (clothing, etc.); janitors and sextons; and waitresses; while
smaller increases were found in the numbers of housekeepers and
stewardesses, nurses (not trained), and laundry operatives. These
increases, however, were completely outweighed by the enormous
decreases among servants, laundresses (not in laundry), cooks, and
boarding and lodging house keepers.
Manufacturing and mechanical industries.
Under manufacturing and mechanical industries are grouped not
only all factory laborers and semiskilled operatives but all persons
engaged in the skilled building and hand trades, together with their
apprentices, and all persons working i n manufacturing industries
in proprietary, official, and supervisory capacities. Clerks in factories are grouped with clerical occupations.
Over 100,000 more women were employed in manufacturing and
mechanical industries i n 1920 than i n 1910, yet the proportion which
women in this general division of occupations formed of all women
10 years of age and over decreased from 1910 to 1920. I n other
words, the number of women engaged i n manufacturing and mechanical industries increased only 6 per cent, while the number of
women 10 years of age and over in the population increased IT
per cent.
Industries m which women predoimnate,—^Women employees outnumbered men in 11 manufacturing industries both i n 1920 and in
1910. Among these were the clothing industries as a whole, as well
as four of their six subdivisions; also silk mills, knitting m i l l s , candy
t h e
occupational
progress
of
w0me2t.
11
factories, and other groups less important numerically. The numbers of men and women occupied in these 11 industries are shown in
Table II.
TABLE n.—Kumifcr
of employees ^ in those manufacturing
industries
in
icomen predominated
both in 1920 and 1910, classified
hp sex.
1920
which
1910
Industry.
Male.
Blank-book, envelope, tag, paper-bag, etc., factories.
Candy factories
Clothing industries
Corset factories
Glove factories
Shirt, collar, and-ciiflf factories..
Other clothing factories»
Enitting mills
Lace and embroidery mills.
linen mills
Paper-box factories
Sift mills
Female.
Male.
7,763
25,311
33,554
4,518
15,453
150,132
1,309
7,483
11,678
32,545
272,005
12,101
17,631
43,407
125,957
154,290
1,661
5,799
14,132
31,360
33,525
6,763
1,224
9,478
50,303
86,022
13,264
1,808
14,358
75,498
26,792
4,804
1,182
5,653
31,705
Female.
7,071
68,878
11 928
1 540
13,667
51,472
»Includes laborers and semiskilled operatives.
• Except hat factories (felt) and suit, coat, cloak, and overall factories.
According to the census bulletin the only instance of an industry
where women lost in 1920 the numerical supremacy which they had
in 1910,is in straw factories (including straw-hat factories), where
in 1910 women numbered 4,064 and men 2,264, while in 1920 there
were 8,264 men and only 6,415 women. Offsetting the decrease in
this industr}^, however, is the striking increase in numbers of women
in cigar and tobacco factories. I n 1910 these women numbered
T6,801, as compared with 91,392 men, while the 1920 figures for the
same industry show 97,822 women and 82,557 men. This comparison
indicates that women are supplanting men in the manufacture of
cigars and tobacco, but there is only slight evidence of a similar
tendency in other industries.
Industries in which
women have increased at least lOfiOO since
iW.^Those groups listed under manufacturing and mechanical
industries in which at least 10,000 more women were employed i n
1920 than in 1910 afford an interesting study, even though the increase in per cent is not always large.
Great numerical increases are shown among women employed as
semiskilled operatives in food, iron and steel, and clothing industries. But a number of different specific industries form the component parts of each of these groups, making the inclusive figures
less significant. Considering, therefore, specific industries rather
than groups of related industries, it is apparent that durirng the
decade 1910 to 1920 women operatives increased more in number i n
14819'—22
3
12
the
ogoupa;rional peogress o f
women.
" other clothing factories," i n silk mills, in " other iron and sted
factoriesj"' in electrical-supply factox'ies, and i n knitting mills, than
i n any other factories.^ I n general, however, these increases m
merely indicative of changes which are taking place for all workers
regardless of sex.
T a b l e Ilh—Ocaipations
in manufaGt^ring and mechanical industries in each
of which the ivumher of women employed increased 10,000 or more from 19io
to 1920, with nHmJ)er and per cent of increase.
Increase 1910
to 1920.
Occupation.
Number. Percent
Semiskilled operatives, food industries.
SemiskiUed operatives, candy factories
Semiskilled operatives, iron and steel industries.
Semiskilled operatives, automoMJe factories
Semiskilled operatives, other iron and steel factories i.
Semiskilled operatives, clothing industries
35,S02
81.0
34,263
145.4
11,940
20,295
1,408.0
126. s
28,273
Semiskilled operatives, other clothing factories*.
SemiskiUed operatives, silk mills.
Semiskilled operatives, electrical supply factories...
Semiskilled operatives, knitting mills
Semiskilled operatives, shoe factories
Semiskilled operatives, cigar and tobacco factories..
Laborers, cotton mills
Forewomen and overseers (manufacturing)
97.8
14,033
12.0
.35.4
tm
348
15,344
14,146
12,116
10,902
10,431
44.5
148.1
23.5
23.9
16.9
189.0
J Includes ail iron and steel factories and foundries other than agricultural implement factories, automobile factories, blast furnaces and steel rolling mills, car and railroad shops, ship and boat building, and
wagon and carriage factories.
i Includes aU clothing factories other than corset factories, glove factories, hat factories (felt), shirt, ooUar,
and cuff factories, and suit, coat, cloak, and overall factories.
Ummial aoeupaiions for women.—Occupations grouped under
manufacturing and mechanical industries which form one of the
last strongholds of which men have a monopoly are the skilled
building and hand trades. To be sure, some women returned their
occupations as machinists, electricians, carpenters, and house painters, but they were extremely few i n number. The widow who continues to run her husband's plumbing, blacksmith, or carpenter shop
has a tendency to return her occupation as plumber, b l a c k s n i i t h , or
carpenter, though she may never have had the tools of the trade in
her hands- The girl who after long experience i n a factory becomes
expert i n the operation of a certain machine may decide that she
ought to return her occupation as machinist. Largely because of
such returns the error in the number of women reported in the skilled
building and hand trades is stiU believed to be high, though every
* F o r explanation of terms, see footnotes to Table I I I .
THE OCCTJPATIOIJ^AL PROGRESS OF WOMEiT,
13
practicable means was used to insure the accuracy of figures showing
w o m e n i n unusual occupations.
Although women have l o n g been firmly established as an integral
part of our i n d u s t r i a l l i f e , they seem more reluctant t h a n men to
assume the four years^ apprenticeship necessary to become a ma.chinist, an electrician, or a cabinetmaker, as evidenced by the small
n u m b e r of women apprentices who are reported f o r tiiese trades.
The small number o f women i n the b u i l d i n g 4ind hand trades may
also be due t o the fact that these occupations involve w o r k of a very
heavy nature.
Skilled trades,—Certain skilled hand trades in which women have
been more or less numerous in the past showed decreases during the
decade under consideration. These trades are bakers; compositors,
linotypers, and typesetters; jewelers and lapidaries (factory);
tailoresses; enamelers, lacquer^rs, and japanners; and shoemakers
and cobblers (not in factory), liurger reductions in the number of
dressmakers and milliners are discussed on page 24. The numbers of
women employed as jewelers and watchmakers (not in factory) and
as engravers show slight increases. I t will be <obsexved that the
hand trades enumerated i n this paragraph combine lighter work
and less rigid apprenticeships tlian tliose of most other trades. These
ieatures may explain their attraction for women.
On January 192Q, the skilled building andliand trades in which
no women were employed were boilermakers; .millwrights.; wheelwrights; brass jnolders, founders, and .casters; cement .finishers;
pressmen and plate printers (printing); rollers and roll hands
(metal) ; roofers and slaters; and structural-iron workers (building),
fewer tlian 10 women returned their occupations as blacl^smiths,
forgemen, and hammermen; bride and stone masons; cabinetmakers;
coopers; loom fixers; macliinists; toolmakers and die setters and
ankers; gunsmiths, locksmiths, and bellhangers; millers tg^ain,
flour, feed, etc.); iron molders, founders, and caters; plasterers;
plumbers and gas and steam fitters; sawj^ers; annealers and temperers (metal); stonecutters; and coppersmiths.
Bazardom
occwpatians.—K
few distinctive occupations are shown
separately under manufactui^ng and mechanical industries, not because they are necessarily classed as skilled trades but because of
the peculiar occupational hazards involved. One of these groups includes filers, grinders, buffers, and polishers (metal). This occupation group gave employment to 2,470 women i n 1920, as compared
^ith 2,846 in 1910. By far the greater number of tliese w^omen were
t^mployed as buffers and polishers—occupations in which the workers
pin the risk of contracting diseases caused l)y metal dust and filings
fe the air.
.14
the
occupationai. progress
women.
Only six women were classified in the group of furnacemen,
smeltermen, heaters, pourers, etc.—metal^working occupations in
which the employees are necessarily exposed to great e^rtremes.of
heat. Forty-four women worked as oilers of machinery in factories,
an occupation with a high accident rate. Women employed in lead
and zinc factories numbered 346 in 1920, as against 337 in 1910.
Many of the processes carried on in this industry have been proved
by medical authorities to be extremely detrimental to the health of
women, as are also certain processes involving work with lead in
potteries, paint, rubber, and chemical factories.
Transportation.
This term includes water transportation; road and street transportation (including the building, repair, and cleaning of streets);
railroad transportation; and transportation by express, post, telegraph, and telephone. The 106,625 women engaged in this general
division of occupations in 1910 had practically doubled in 1920.
(See Table I.)
Perhaps women are pioneering more in this field than in any
other general division of occupations. Though small numbers are
involved—possibly to some extent because of the very recent dates
on which women began to undertake these occupations—there has
been a great increase among women chauffeurs; among draymen,
teamsters, and expressmen; garage keepers; garage laborers; switchmen and flagmen on steam railroads; ticket and station agents;
telegraph messengers; steam and street railway laborers, etc.; while
the large numbers of women working as telephone operators and
telegraph operators in 1910 had in each case more than doubled by
1920. I n this general division of occupations the census returns
for January 1, 1920, show no women working as locomotive engineers or firemen, brakemen, steam railroad conductors or motormen, railway mail clerks, or forewomen on docks or in water transportation. That there were no women railway mail clerks may
seem surprising in view of the fact that on December 6, 1919, the
United States Civil Service Commission threw open to women the examinations for railway mail clerks. Some time in 1920 after the
census was taken, appointments were made from this register and
women now technically hold the positions of railway mail clerks.
These women are employed, however, only in terminal stations and
are never permitted to work on trains where they would be s u b j e c t e d
to the peculiar hazards attached to this occupation.
Notwithstanding the fact that from 1910 to 1920 women e n t e r e d
in numbers many transportation pursuits which they previously
the
o c c u p a t i o k a l p r o g r e s s o f woilen^.
15
had not followed to any great extent, yet of the total increase of
women in these pursuits during the decade more than 84 per cent
was in the single occupation of telephone operator.
Trade.
tfnder " Trade " are listed wholesale and retail dealers and most of
their employees; bankers, brokers, and money lenders; real estate
and insurance agents; undertakers; and workers in coal and lumber
yards, grain elevators, stockyards, and warehouses.
The number of women engaged in trade increased 42.7 per cent
from 1910 to 1920, and in many occupations, mainly those of a proprietary nature, enormous increases are shown. Of the total net
increase of 199,704 women in trade, 164,637, or 82.4 per cent, were
engaged in two occupations which women have long pursued—clerks
in stores and saleswomen in stores. There is no occupation listed
under " Trade " in which women are not engaged.
Public service.
In the group known as " Public service (not elsewhere classified) "
the number of women increased 60.7 per cent. The persons shown in
this general division of occupations form for the most part a residuary public-service group, as many persons who work for the Government are classified according to the actual work they are doing.
For instance, all Government clerks, stenographers, etc., are classed
with clerical occupations, nav'y yard machinists are grouped with
other machinists in the manufacturing and mechanical industries,
operatives in the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and in the
Government Printing Office are classified as printing-office operatives
rather than as Government employees, and physicians and trained
nurses in the Government service are classified under professional
service. Because of the multiplicity of activities in which the Government was engaged at the date of the census—a year after the
close of the war—the Census Bureau deemed it imperative to group
under " Public service " only those Government employees who were
engaged in peculiarly public-service pursuits and who could not
properly be classified under any other general division of occupations.
During the decade under consideration women officials have
greatly increased i n number, especially county officials; also Federal
officials other than postmistresses increased from 275 in 1910 to 652
in 1920. Probation and truant officers numbered 780 in 1920, though
there were only 188 in 1910. A t the date of the census no women
^ere employed as firemen in city fire departments, and there were
Jio Women soldiers, sailors, or marines. During the war women
doing subclerical work in the Navy Department were known as
yeomen (f) and were entitled to all the privileges of military status,
X6
THE
OCCUPATIO:N'AL PROGRESS o r
WOKK^T.
but the Secretary of the Na.vy ruled i n 1919 that yeomen (f) should
thereafter be given a civil rather than a military status, -provided
they were able to meet the qualifications laid down by the Civil
Service Commission.
Professional service.
Professional service may be said to have three main subdivisions:
Professional and semiprofessional pursuits and the occupations of
attendants and helpera From 1910 to 1920 women in this general
division of occupations increased 38.5 per cent, and i n 1920 they
comprised 11.9 per cent of all gainfully occupied women as against
per cent i n 1910.
I n 1920 professional service included eight more occupations with
1,000 or more women in each than there had been in 1910. (See
Table VI.) These eight occupations were those of chemists, assayers,
and metallurgists; clergymen; draftsmen; lawyers, judges, and justices; osteopathstheatrical owners, managers, and officials; a]3stractors, notaries, and justices of the peace; and theater ushers.
Professionsan which women trebled in number from 1910 to 1920
are those o^^ chemists, assayers, and metallurgists; lawyers, judges,
and justices; college presidents and professors; religious, charity,
^nd welfare workers; and teachers of athletics and dancing. Draftsmen were' five times as numerous as i n 1910 and designers had
doubled in number.
The marked increase in women librarians, a group which numbered nearly two and one-half times as many in 1920 as in 1910, and
the large decrease in librarians' assistants and attendants were due
in part to the classification of cataloguers in libraries with librarians
in 1920 and with librarians' assistants and attendants in 1910. Considering these two groups as one unit, the number of women so
engaged has increased 73.6 per cent.
A slight decline was noted in the number of artists, sculptors, and
teachers of art, as well as in the number of women physicians and
surgeons and osteopaths combined, while there was a pronounced
decrease in the case of women musicians and teachers of music. The
instruction to enumerators which stated that a woman's occupation
should be one pursued regularly
and most of tlie tiim^ no doubt
militated against the occupational returns of a large number of
music teachers who are occupied neither regularly nor most of the
time. A decrease from 1,220 to 698 is noted among fortune tellers,
hypnotists, and spiritualists—a group classed with s e m i p r o f e s s i o n a l
pursuits. Increasing legal restrictions may have tended to reduce
® The number of women osteopaths in 1910 was unknown, since they were at that time
included with physicians and snrgeons.
WOMEN IN SELECTED^ PROFESSIONS, 1920-1910
to OOO StQOOO
Trained
70 000
lAOfOOO
nurses
m u s i c i a n s and teachers
o|
music
25»67g
Reliqious,choritv,Qnd
vielfore
woAers
8,889
Qrtists, sculptors,ona 14-,6I7
teachers of ort
QoTors ond showmen t4,354*
iB88S0B
1920
\QlO
L i b r^arians
C o l l e a e presidents
or\d
processors
f0»075
^,958
Physicians^ surqeons,
/ and
osnreopotris
8 , 8 8 ^
Q.OIO
CTuthors, editors, and
reporters
8 , 7 3 6
Healers
Desiqners,draftsmen
inventors 3,0 i x
Oil
r^OOO
in
or
^920,
proj'essions
m o r e
ep<'cept
includedl
women
school
v^ere
in
whIoK
enqocjedl
teocKincj.
the
o c c u p a t i o n a l progress o f w0me2t.
71
the number of women in this class. To some extent the decrease in
the numbers of women artists, musicians, fortune tellers, etc., may
have been due to the greater demand for women workers in 1920
and the higher compensation paid in other occupations.
Mining engineering is apparently the only profession not yet
invaded by at least one woman, though but one, the superintendent
of a dog hospital, reported her occupation as veterinary surgeon.
Among the somewhat unusual professions for women are noted 8
aeronauts, 27 inventors, 41 technical engineers, and 137 architects.
Two occupations listed under agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, though they require professional attainments, are landscape
gardeners, of whom 25 were women, and foresters, forest rangers,
and timber cruisers, an occupation engagingbut 2 women.
Of the total net increase of 282,607 women in professional service,
228,370, or 80.8 per cent, Avere found in two time-honored feminine
pursuits—^those of teachers and trained nurses.
Clerical occupations.
This general division of occupations, in which the number of
women increased 140.4 per cent in the decade, presumably embraces
all clerical workers regardless of the industry in which they may
be employed. I n 1920, 16.7 per cent of all women workers were
engaged in clerical occupations, as compared with 7.3 per cent in,
1910. At both dates the number thus reported is probably slightly,
low. This condition is a result of the unfortunate tendency in
common parlance to call saleswomen in stores "clerks in stores."
Although census enumerators were specifically directed to the contrary, thousands of saleswomen have undoubtedly been so returned.
Since all evidence pointed to the fact that the overwhelming majority
of these " clerks in stores" were actually selling" goods, those so
designated have been classed with " Trade," even though i t is recognized that in so doing some clerical workers in stores are unavoidably
separated from clerical occupations. The increase from IWO to
1920 of 832,892 women in clerical occupations formed 69.6 per cent
of the net increase of 1,197,112 women in nonagricultural pursuits.
In other words, the numerical increase among women in clerical
occupations was greater than the increase shown for all other general
^visions of occupations combined; it was seven and one-half times
great as the increase among women in manufacturing and
ftiechanical industries and almost three times as great as that among
^omen in professional service. These facts are strikingly brought
in the following Table I V which shows the actual increase or
flecrease in number of women employed in each general division of
occupations.
18
the
occxtpational pkogress of
womeiir.
O^ABi^ IX^^^'^unierical increase or decrease from 1910 to J920 among ivomen
10 years of age and over, according to general division of occupations.
General division of occupations.
Increase, Decrease.
ieioto
1920.
1920.
47^739
A<mVtiltiirA forftstrv. andftTilitifll husbandry
Extraction of minerals
i,T70
109,771
723.373
m,m
S,236
282^^7
344,297
CHANGES
IN
WOMEN'S
OCCUPATIONAL
OTATUS,
Some of the most conspicuous changes in the occupational status
of women are brought out by a study of those occupations and
occupation groups in which vast numbers of women were employed,
as shown by reports of the Twelfth, Thirteenth, and JPoiirteeath
Censuses.
Occupations with more than 50,000 women in each.
The Fourteenth Census, taken i n 1^20, lists 30 occupatiouB i n
«ach of which more than 50,000 women were employed in jeontinent a l United States. <See Table V ) . I n 1910 there were
oeeupations employing such numbers of women and in 1900 only 19 occupations, I n 20 years^ then, the number of occupations and occupation groups employing as many as 50,000 women increased from 19
to 30, though the validity of the comparison with the 1900 figures
is somewhat impaired by changes made since that time in the occupation classification scheme used by the Census Bureau. Until 1010,
however, the number of women employed in each of the following
occupation groups, the classification of which has remained essentially the same since 1900 and which now employ numbers greatly
in excess of 50,000, was below that figure; Retail dealers, telephone operators, shoe-factory operatives, cigar and tobacco factory
operatives, and silk, woolen and worsted, and knitting mill opemtives.
The 19 occupation groups each employing more than 50^000 women
i n 1900 comprised 88.8 per cent of all wage-earning women 16
years of age and over ; the 28 similar groups shown i n 1910 represented 88.t per cent of all working women 10 years of age and
over; but while these groups increased to 30 in number in 1920, ^^^
proportion they formed of all gainfully occupied wromen 10 years
of age and over decreased to 85.7 per cent—another indication that
the occupational field for women is broadening rather than concentrating on a few long-established occupations. I t is true, however,
t h e occtjpationiu:^ p r o g r e s s o f w o m e i t .
19
that only a very small proportion of all gainfully occupied women
iyere in 1920 engaged i n occupations not pursued by women for
laany years.
liBLE v . - — w h i c h
50,000 or more loomen 10 years of age and over
icere employed in 1920 and mnnber of women employed in each, 1920 a^d
mo^
Occupation.
Number of women 10
years of aee and over
employed in—
1920
Tarmers, general farms
Farm laborers, general farms «
Dressmakers and seamstresses (not in factory)...
jCUiners and millinery dealers
Cigar and tobacco factories Clothing industries
Food industries
Iron and steel industries....
jShoe factories
Cotton mills..
Woolen and worsted millstdTOljoii© operators.
QerKsin stores*
Retail dealers
Salfiswomen (stores;
Hasiclansand tea
Teiichers (school),
Trained nurses
B^eepers and cashiers
Clerks (except clerks in stores)
Stenographers and typists
^7,253
788,611
235,519
83,960
265,^43
72,402
6^819
73,412
149,185
72,768
61,715
178,379
170,397
7S,9S0
356,321
72,678
635,207
143,664
114,740
m,350
385,874
80,747
132,658
1,012,133
116,921
345,746
472,163
564,744
1910
257,703
1.514,107
447,760
122,447
71,845
36,600
23,557
69,266
140,666
65,338
50,360
62,056
111.664
67,103
250,487
84,478
476,864
76,508
142,400
173,333
520,<X>1
76,355
110,912
1,309,^9
85,798
183,569
122.665
263,315
of differences in the occupation classification used by the Census Bureau in 1900, it was not
ifl^bleto mclude the 1900figuresin .this table.
I Includes farm laborers (home farm) and farm laborers (working out).
Many of the ''Clerks in stores" probably are Saleswomen."
»includes chambermaids, cooks, ladies* maids, nursemaids, bell girls, chore girls, etc., and other servants.
About one-half of the 30 occupation group.s each employing more
than 50,000 women in 1920 have for. many decades been considered
tiaditionally feminine callings; such as servants, dressmakers, milliners, schoolteachers, boarding-house keepers, stenographers iind
typists, musicians, nurses both trained and untrained, laundresses,
clothing-factory operatives, textile-mill operatives, etc. Certain
other occupations, such as saleswomen, bookkeepers and cashiers,
^^tail dealei^, cigar^factory operatives, shoe-factory operatives,
clerks in stores, and clerks in offices, have within the last decade or
^^wo come to be regarded as offering opportunities just as suitable for
^omen as for men.
Not all Americans know that farm labor is the occupation in
^tich more women are engaged tihan in any other except domestic
yet according to census figui'es this condition has prevailed
20
T H E OCCUPATIONAL PROGRESS OF WOMEN.
in the United States for at least 40 years. The number of. women
who i n 1920 returned their occupation as farm laborer on general
farms was 788,611, and this figure, admitted by the Census Bureau to
be an understatement because of the change in census date,® represents
an enormous decrease since 1910 in this occupation. The number ot
women farmers operating general farms sliows a decrease of only
10,450. This group has probably not been affected by the change in
date, for i t is likely that a woman who owns and operates her farm
considers herself just as much of a farmer in January as in April,
but a woman who works in the fields during the summer months does
not always return her occupation as farm laborer during January.
Some of the 28 occupations which in 1910 had more than 50,000
women at work showed great decreases i n 1920, notably farm laborers, servants, laundresses, dressmakers, and milliners, yet all of
them retained in the census of 1920 their standing as employing more
than 50,000 women.
The two groups in which the number of women employed reached
50,000 for the first time in 1920 are semiskilled, operatives in iron and
steel industries and in food industries. Partly because of the seasonal nature of the food industries and the change in census date to
a time nearer the latest harvest season, and partly because of the
growth of the industries, the number of men, women, and children
returned as operatives in food industries shows a great increase since
1910.
Iron and steel industries,—^It is probable that women are a permanent factor in the iron and steel industries. The number employed as semiskilled operatives increased 145.4 per cent during the
decade 1910 to 1920, and the niunber of women laborers more than
doubled. Although the census was taken only 14 months after the
close of the war, and the industrial prosperity due to the war still
existed, the fact must not be overlooked that there was a great increase from 1900 to 1910 in the number of women employed in the
iron and steel industries, indicating that women were firmly established there even before the war, whose industrial upheaval served
only to accelerate a movement already well imder way.
The greatest increase for any manufacturing industry in which
an appreciable number of women were employed in 1920 is shown
for automobile factories, where Avomen working as semisldlled operatives increased 1,408 per cent, or from 848 in 1910 to 12,788 in 1^20,
Men operatives in automobile fectories increased from 20,243 in
to 108,376 i n 1920, or 435.4 per cent, the largest i n c r e a s e in any
occupation for men except operatives i n ship and boat building.
Women operatives i n blast furnaces and steel-rolling mills, another subdivision of the iron and steel industries, numbered^^^^j^j^
« See footnote to Table I , p. 8.
WOMEN
IN SELECTED^ MANUFACTURING
INDUSTRIES 1920'IQIO
Clothin<) mdustnes
243'0S6
Cotton nulls
I65.e5
146,43.
Ciqarand tobacco
'|Qctone&
.Food mdusTries
= I020
= 1910
KniTTinc] rri'Jls
Sl^oo f a o t o r i e s
Silk
milts
Iron_. and.steel
industries
Ufode^rji^ond
urorsled
Vail
i n d u s t r i e s inciucJedi m w h t o K
>50,000 o r m o r e worv^en w e r e
e m p l o y e d in 1Q20.
THE OCOUPATIOKAIi PEOGRESS OF W0ME2T.
21
1920, nearly twice as many as were similarly employed in 1910.
Women are seldom employed in the actual operation of blast furnaces and steel-rolling mills, but a number of steel mills have ironmanufacturing departments employing women who may have returned their occupations as steel-mill operative. The increase in the
number of women employed as operatives i n iron and steel factories
and foundries manufacturing machinerjT^ and iron and steel products
other than those already mentioned was 126.5 per cent during the
decade considered, 36,338 being employed on the census date.
Occupations with more than 1,000 women in each*
The number of occupations each employing 1,000 or more women in
the various industrial groups is shown in the table following.
T a b i j : VL—Number
of occupations
in each general
fpliich i.OOO or more women
10 years of age and
end 1910,
General division of occupations.
divhion
of occupations
in
over were employe^,
1920
Number of occupations in wbich
1,000 or more
women 10 years
of age and over
were employed.
1S20
AU occupations..
A^culture, forestry, and animal husbandry.,
Extraction of minerals
Jfanufacturing and mechanical industries. - . „
Transportation.
Trade.....
PuWie gervioe (not elsewhere classified)
F^easioual service
Domestic and personalserviee...
Clmcal occupations
232
15;
1 L.
Ill '
6 I
30 J
5
32
22]
11
1910
20313
98
6
27
3
24
22
10
The comparison presented in Table V I is the more interesting i f
one considers that only 125 occupations were represented by 1,000
or more women each in the census of 1900. This difference must be
discounted^ however, because of the fact that the occupation classification in use at that census was much less comprehensive in scope
than were those used in 1910 and 1920. Furthermore, as the population increases i t is natural to find a larger number of occupations
affording employment to 1,000 women, even i f each occupation had
nierely retained its relative proportion.
On the whole, the number of occupations in which 1,000 or more
women were engaged was greater by 29 in 1920 than in 1910. I t is
particularly interesting to find that the two groups in which most
of these additional occupations were found were the manufacturing
and mechanical industries, which showed an increase of 13 in the
22
. T H E OCCUPATIONAL, PROGRESS OF W O M E N .
number of occupations employing 1,000 or more women, and profes*
sional service, which showed an increase of 8.
Of the 572 occupations and occupation groups established by the
census classification for 1920, women were employed in all but 35,
while of the 428 such classes in 1910 there were 49 in which no women
were engaged. I n general, it may be said that the statistics reported
for women in unusual occupations are more nearly accurate for 1920
than they were for 1910, because in 1920 a much more rigid scrutiny
was made of the returns of such occupations to eliminate every possible error.
Women in proprietary, official, and supervisory occupations.
Healthy increases occurred among women engaged in proprietary,
official, and supervisory pursuits in nearly every field of employment. Women managers and superintendents of factories were
nearly three and one-half times as numerous in 1920 as in 1910;
officials of factories were more than eight times as numerous, and
women manufacturei-s showed a substantial increase. There were in
1920 more than two and one-half times as many women bankers and
bank officials as in 1910, while women insurance agents doubled and
real estate agents and officials more than trebled in number. Women
stockbrokers increased 81.6 per cent, and retail dealers 17.7 per cent,
though the number of women commission brokers and wholesale
merchants declined. Theater owners, officials, and managers numbered more than four times as many as in 1910, a change probably due
in part to the increased number of motion-picture theaters. In spite
of the great general decrease noted in the case of women engaged in
agricultural pursuits farm forewomen increjjsed 84.4 per cent between 1910 and 1920. Forewomen and overseers in factories increased
52.8 per cent. Laundry owners, officials, and managers increased
47.4 per cent; restaurant, cafe, and lunchroom keepers also showed a
big increase, though hotel keepers and managers p r a c t i c a l l y remained
stationary. Women proprietors, officials, and managers of telegraph
and telephone companies decreased from 1,409 in 1910 to 544 in 1920,
a condition probably due in part to the taking over of small rural
exchanges by the large telephone companies.
Striking changes in occupations for women.
I n certain occupational groups overwhelming changes have occurred in the employment of women during the decade from 1910
to 1920. The unusual conditions brought about by the war, as well as
the phenomenal' development and specialization of industry during
this period, are responsible for these changes, the nature of which is
brought out by a study of the eight occupations in each of which the
number of women increased at least SO-jOOO during thp decade, ana,
the
o c c U p a t i o n a l progress of
23
w0me2t.
the seven occupations i n each of which a similar decrease took place.
as a c o n t r a s t )
TABLE Vll^—Eight occupations in each of tchich the mimher of women 10 years
of age and over increased 50,000 or more from 1910 to 1920, and numher and
percent of increase.
Increase^l910tol920.
Occupation.
Number. Per cent.
nprtfl recent clerks in stores)
^lAnnffrftTihers Slid tvoistsiirtfttrfifiners and cashiers
Tpftchprs fschool).
fiftlMiroitten ( s t o r e s ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Trainwinurses
Clerks in stores *
.
349,498
301,429
162,177
158,343
. . . . . . . . .105,834
9a 117
67,156
58^803
284.9
114.5
88-3
33.2
42.3
102.1
87.8
52.7
»lfanyof the "Clerks in stores*' probably are "Saleswomen."
TABLE VIIL—/SEI^EN occupations
in each of which
the number
of ^vomen 10
years
of age and over decreased 50,000 or more from 1910 to 1920, and number and
per cent of decrease.
Decrease 1910 to 1920.
Occupation.
Number. Per cent,
Fann laborers (home farm) i
General servants »
Dressmakers and seamstresses (not in factory).,
Laundresses (not in laundry)
Fann laborers (working out) i
Cooks
.. . .
Hilliners and millinery dealers
.!
599,943
216,762
212,241
134,130
125,563
"64,818
61.0
23.7
47.4
25.8
37.2
19.4
43.2
^T^e d^prease in this occupation, which is primarily due to the change in the census date, is discussed
"Ij^pt chambermaids, cooks, ladies' maids, nursemaids, and bell girls, chore girls, etc.
During the decade considered the greatest numerical increases
^ere found i n the various clerical occupations, a field i n which
women have been prominent for many years, though not to so overwhelming an extent prior to 1920. As fast as the war claimed men
in clerical occupations women filled their places, and it seems doubtful that women w i l l relinquish the position which they have won in
this field of endeavor.
Telephone operators have more than doubled in number since 1910
and still the telephone companies scour the bypaths and hedges for
operators and yet more operators. Tliese figures bear mute testi^pny to the eminence which the telephone has attained in our industrial and social life.
The great increase in the number of trained nurses is probably
directly traceable to war conditions; furthermore, the number reported in 1920 may even be an understatement, because the Census
24
t h e
oooupationai. progress
of
womek.
Bureau classifies in this group only those who made i t clear that they
were trained, registered, graduate, or professional nurses; .those who
deemed i t sufficient to return their occupations simply as "nurse"
or as " nurse, private family," or in some other indefinite fashion,
were relegated to the group of practical nurses, who themselves had
increased more than 20,000 during the decade. The understatement i n the number of trained nurses is probably slight, however,
since i t is a trait of human nature to return the highest occupation
to which one is entitled.
No doubt war conditions with their accompanying new opportimities in industry brought about some part of the decreases among
laundresses, cooks, and servants, as has already been stated. To the
great development of the steam laundry and its machinery may be
attributed no small part of the decrease i n the case of laundresses
working at home; while the increasing tendency of women to buy
their clothes ready-made, together with the better paid positions
opened during the war to many former workers in this occupation,
presumably accounts for a large part of the great reduction in the
number of dressmakers and seamstresses who were not employed in
factories. I n the case of milliners and millinery dealers, however,
the decrease is not so readily accounted for, though i t is known that
so-caUed millinery factories where standardized hats are manufactured are both increasing in number and enlarging in size.
The number of women more than doubled from 1910 to 1920 in
77 occupations employing each at least 500 women in 1920 (see Table
I X ) . Between 1890 and 1900—only 20 years earlier—there were
but 14 occupations in which the number of women increased by more
than 100 per cent.
TABLE I X . — O c c u p a t i o n s having 500 or more women each in 1920 which had
more than doubled in niimher since 1910, numher of women occupied in 1929
and in 1910, and per cent of increase.
Number of women Percent
ofinoccupied in—
Occupation.
1920
Elevator tenders
ChaufYeurs
Laborers, automobile factories
Theater ushers
Serniskmed operatives, automobHe factories
Switchmen and flagmea (steam railroGd)
Semiskilled operatives, petroleum refineries
grajroen, teamsters, and expressmen
Officials (manufacturing)
Laborer, butter, cheese, and condensed milk factories
SmiskiUed operatives, butter, cheese, and condensed milk factories,
B/aftsmen...
. ...
La^rers, furniture factories...
Theatrical owners, managers, and o f f i c i i ' .
Protiation and tmant officers
»Not computed because base is less than 100.
1
7,337
'm
2,467
2 363
12,788
m
3,381
1,016
2,745
1,985
2^672
i.m
1 257
780
1910
25
33
139
147
848
52
70
73
401
128
533
391
529
233
295
188
1910 to
m
1 674.8
1 500.7
m
693.8
415.0
407.7
405.1
345.9
326.1
3119
the
25
o c c u p a t i o n a l p r o g r e s s op w o m e k .
TIBLE lX.---OcGupatioii8 Tiaving 500 or more women each in 1020 which had
more than doahled in number since 1910^ number of women occupied in 1920
and in ^910^ and per cent of
increase—Continued.
Number of women Per cent
occupied in—
ofinOccupation.
dOTis in stores).Accountants and^auditors
'tics, dancing, etc.)„.
ts (manufacturing)..
houses..
,hter and paddnglio
a canning
nticeg
,
ng and packingMcstate agents and officials:
Uborers, brass mill^.*.
-MA driers, ciothing and men's fumishiiigs
Semiskilled operative^ sugar factories and refineries..
Bdigious, charity, and wdfare workers
Laborers, rul)t>er factories-..
rSjCottoff mills
lAborers, slaughter and packing houses..
laborers, cigar and tobacco factories
. Opticians (retail dealers)
Decorators, drapers, and window dressers (stores)..
ifiaiskilled operatives^ car and railroad shops«.,
Laborers, tanneries
Bankers and bank officials
km^'managers and officials. "
Sm^ed operatives,flourand £
Um^ States officials (except post]
tats (retaU dealers)
T.
Mail dealers, departmentstores
WM^electrical supply factories.
1" *!! I l l I!
fie^skilled operatives^ other iron'and steel factories ^
wborers, other woodworking factories *
-
curios, antiquW/and no ve^^^^^
Retaildealers.mu'
.» . . ^
I- W CUI u uoi i» tives.. . .,
Jgsmger, errand, and office girls 6"..
^wrers, steam railroad
fv^ " "petaiorSr,,
fjborers, porters, and helpers in stores
j«oorers,Bianoand organ factories
rs^tos^^ziers, and vamishers (factory)
1111..
1920
1910
8,910
472,163
13 378
1,495
4,034
10,075
4,950
S,08o
3,315
2,290
122,665
3,586
405
1,163
2,958
1,462
2 405
987
1,504
990
2,927
279
558
1,044
216
3,223
9,208
871
1,738
3 213
662
26,927
3 952
1 714
112
1,155
2,476
1,787
976
777
4.226
27,389
2.169
2,730
4,349
584
588
652
962
952
3.227
13 602
36 338
2,993
4,931
6,652
5,016
5ei;744
760
549
1,530
725
9,787
3.262
16 860
6,586
6,098
858
178,379
8,403
'725
2.263
5 0S3
1,322
579
5,767
1,432
4; 956
330
439
948
685
377
307
1,672
11,041
878
1,112
1,781
240
242
275
407
406
1,381
16,043
1,346
2,245
2,577
2,325
263,315
358
259
729
347
4,695
1,675
8,219
3 248
3,009
424
88,262
4,164
360
1,129
2,537
1910 to
1920.
289.1
284.9
27aa
269.1
216.9
24a6
238.6
236;2
235.9
228-5
225.6
214.6
212.2
21US
207.8
206.5
202.9
198.9
196.0
189.0
187.^
179.7
169.4
163.1
161.2
160.9
158.9
153.1
152.8
148.1
147.0
145.5
144.2
143.3
143.0
137:1
136.4
134.5
133.7
131.0
125.5
122.4
119.6
119.3
115.7
114.5
112.3
112.0
109.9
108.9
108.5
107.1
105,1
102.8
102.7
102.4
102.1
101.8
101.4
100.4
100.4
t w S ^ y includes some teachers in schools below coUegiate rank. ^
mS.
^^^^ ^^^ steel factories and foundries other'than agncidtural implement fiictories,. autoa^d^*
fumac^ and steel rolling millsrcar and; railroad shops, ship and boat building.
J d ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ o r S n r ^ t o r i e f f other than ftiniitarBfoctories».piano and organ factories, and saw
^^cept telegraph messengers.
E x c e p t under extraordinary conditions, those occupations whicli
^^^ increases amounting to huge numbers (see Table V I I ) are not
26
THE
OCCUPATIONAL
PROGRESS
OF
W 0 M E 2 t . 26
the ones which show great percentage increases. Clerks (except
clerks in stores), stenographers and typists, and telephone operators
are occupations which appear in Tables VII and IX as having increased enormously both in number and in per cent.
Changes in occupations numerically unimportant.
Changed times and changing conditions are evidenced also by
increases and decreases in occupations which are unimportant numerically. The country loses nothing by the fact that there are
fewer midwives, fewer women bartenders and saloon keepers, fewer
bathhouse keepers and attendants, and fewer dance-hall and skatingrink keepers. Nor is the country always the gainer when women
branch out into new and untried occupations; for instance, 323
women reported their occupations as longshoremen and stevedores in
1920, as compared with 44 i n 1910; 1,495 said they were .coal-mine
operatives, and 163 gave their occupations as laborers on road and
street building and repairing.
On the other hand, policewomen numbered 236 in 1920 and street
'car conductors 253; in neither of these occupations was a single
woman returned in 1910.
COMPARISON
W I T H
CHANGES
IN
T H E
OCCUPATIONS
OF
MEN.
As women branch out into every phase of industry, are they taking,
the places of men or are they merely keeping pace with development
in our industrial life? Table X throws a little light on this question,
as i t shows the increase or decrease from 1910 to 1920 in the number
of men and women engaged in occupations in which 1,000 or more
persons of each sex were employed at each census.
T a b l e X . — / n e r e a ^ e or decrease from 1910 to 1920 in number
of persons of each
sex 10 years of age and over engaged in certain
selected ^ occupations, and per
cent of inoi'ease or
deci'ease.
Increase ( + ) or decrease ( - ) , 1910 to 1920.
Occupation.
Number.
POPULATION 10 TEARS OF AGE AND OVEE
AU occupations
AgricTdtnre, forestry, and animal husbandry
+5,262,411
+2,973,173
-982,551
Dairy fanners, farmers, and stock raisers
+230,041
Dairy farm, farm, and stock farm laborers
-1,302,635
Daily farm, farm, garden, orchard, etc., foremen
+35,289
Gardeners, floats, fruit growers, and nurserymen..,...
+28,695
Garden, greenhouse, orchard, and nursery laborers...
+1,136
Poultry raisers and poultry yard laborers
+3,C02
Extraction of minerals
ployed at each census (1920 and 1910).
Female.
Male.
+123,284
Number.
Percent.
+14.2 +5,896,634
+17.1
Per cent.
+473,739
+5.9
- 9 . 1 . -723,373
-40.0
+4.0
-28.6
+81.3
+2L8
+0.9
+30.6
-8,120
-725,169
+6 564
+ 1 449
+ 1 947
-271
-3.1
-47.8
+12.8
+1,770
+iei.i
+9.9
THE
O C C U P A T I O N A L PHOGEESS OF
27
WOMEN.
TABLE
or decrease from 1910 to 1920 in number of persons of each
sejp 10 years of age and over engaged in certain selected ocmpations, and per
cent of increase or decrease—Continued.
Increase ( + ) or decrease ( - ) , 1910 to i m
Occupation.
Male.
Pemale.
Number.. Per cent.
ICannfacturing ajid mechanical industries.
Bakers.
Buffers and polisbers (metal)
Compositors, linotypers, and tn)esctters.,
Foremen and overseers (manufacturing)..
Jewelers and lapidaries (factory)
Laborers:
Building, general, and not specified laborers..
Chemical and allied industn
Cigar and tobacco factories.
ng industries
Electrical supply factories..
Food industries
- Iron and steel industries
Other meta 1 industries
Lumber and furniture industries.
Paper and pulp mills..
Prmting and pul " "
Rubber factone
Shoe factories
Textile industriesCk)tton mills..,
Knitting milU
Silk mills.....
Woolen and worsted mills.
Manuiacturers and officials..
Milliners and millinery dealers
Broom and brush factories
Button factories
Oiemiealand allied industries
Cigar and tobacco factories
Clay, glass, and stone industries
Clothing industries
Electrical supply fiictories
Food industries
Iron and steelindustries
Other metal industries
leather belt, leather case. etc.. factories.
Lumber and furniture industries
Paper and pulp mills.,
box factories,
. aiding, and tent factories..
SUk mills
Textile dyeing,finishingVandp^^^^
^^^ worsted mills
:":::::::
+23.6
+8,595
- +293
+15,321
+ 121,884
-1,082
+10.1
+1.0
+13.5
+78.5
-12.3
-245,604
+31,283
+9,859
-32,223
+990
+13,509
+67,706
+240,221
+20,637
-3,354
+19,827
+3,669
+35,291
+6,242
-28.8
+78.8
+86.2
-21.1
+18.3
+134.4
+89.6
+50.4
+49.0
+109,771
Percent.
+6.0
-186
-278
-2,745
+10,431
-792
-3.9
-12.1
-19.5
+52.8
-42.9
+66.2
+70.3
+288.7
+78.5
-671
+1,265
+8,906
+1,941
+1,546
+1,846
+9,814
+6,451
+2,477
+6,723
+1,048
+726
+2,630
+2,691
-4.2
+62.3
+179.7
; +81.3
+32.1
+133.7
+155.2
+105.1
+93-9
+167.4
+73.3
.+39.8
+198.9
+115.7
+27,609
+2,339
+4,664
+7,993
+94,023
-28,603
-1,802
+8,349
+86.2
+64.9
+173.6
+78.0
+91.6
-11.4
-33.0
+14.0
+10,902
+1,800
+1,618
+1,944
+3,488
+3,627
-52,849
+1,134
+189.0
+50.8
+145.5
+95.1
+238.6
+77.2
-43.2
+100.4
+1,182
+ 14,914
-18,694
-6,961
-5,148
+23,816
+47,810
+286,678
+11,888
+4,336
- 4 246
+15,618
+2,215
+6,430
+46,200
+11,069
+5,806
-3,148
+13.1
+16.3
+86.9
-23.4
-8.8
-3.5
+174.7
+69.6
+83.0
+24.3
+51.2
' -2.8
+60.1
+46.6
+19.6
+218.2
+9.1
+298.5
-9.9
+261
+430
+4,722
+12,115
+3,704
+28,373
+16,348
+35,802
+34,262
+9,688
+1,300
+4,693
+2,768
+5,183
+8,411
+14,146
+2,381
+1,722
+12.3
+9.0
+34.9
+16.9
+39.2
+12.0
+148.1
+97.8
+145.4
+46.0
+42.2
+33.6
+26.2
+2.5
+14.4
+80.7
+23.9
+60.0
+90.3
-4,652
+13,786
—56
+4,394
+1,750
+1,692
+214
+13,934
+986
+11,573
-3,391
+8,410
-26.3
+9.9
-2.8
+19.5
+40.4
+56.0
.+9.2
+48.0
+8.8
+21.8
-2.1
+44.4
-9,308
+8,519
-397
+15,344
+1,306
+245
-36
+22,408
+379
+9,659
-8,985
+974
-47.3
+6.1
-15.2
+23.5
+11.2
+7.0
-3.5
+44.5
+7.3
+18.6
-22.0
+75.3
+319,733
+12.6
+106,429
+99.8
-76,307
-14.1
+13.1
+L4
+22.3
+3,338
+309
+8,641
+90,117
+i;053
+102.8
+30.6
+105.1
+102.1
+87.2
+1,086
Rubber facto..
Shoe factories
Straw factories
Tanneries
Textile industriesCarpet mills;
Cottoi
Trwsportation.
+2,080,022
Number.
-1.1
+6.1
28 „
T H E . OCCUPATIOITAL. PEOGEESS OF
o j a b l e x.—/w^jrease or dea^ease from
WOMEK.
1910 to Id^O in number
of persons of each
sex 10 years of age and over enffa^ed in certain selected occupations^ and pep
cent of increase or decrease—Continued.
Increase ( + ) or decrease ( - ) , igiO to 1920.
Occupation.
Trade
Bankers and bank official?
Clerks in stores*
-—
Cominercial travelers
Demonstrators
Floorwalkers and foremen in stores.
Fruit graders and packers
Inspectors, gaugers, and samplers
Insurance agents
Laborers, porters, and helpers in stores
Packers, wbolesaie and retail tmde
Beal estate agents and officialsRetail dealers
Sales agents
Salesmen and saleswomen (stores)
Public service (not elsewhere dMSified)
t>fficials and inspectors (city)
Officials and inspectors (county)
Postmasters
Professional service
• Actors and showmen
Artists^ sculptors, and teachers of artw
Authors, editors, and reporters
College presidents and professors 3
Dentists
H ^ e r ^ i c e p t ost^palis ^ d p h y ^ a n s an(
Keepers of charitable and penal institutions.
LibrariansMusidans and teachers of music
Officials of I edges, societies, etc
Photographers
Physicians and surgeons and osteopaths^....
Religious, charity, and welfare workers
Teachers (athletics, dancing, etc.)
Teachers (school)
Trained nurses
Domestic and personal-service
Barbers, hairdressers, and manicurists
Boarding and lodging house keepers
Charwomen and cleaners
Cleaners and renovators (clothing, etc.)
Cooks
(Jeneralservantsii
Hotel keepers and managers
Housekeepers and stewards
Janitors and sextons
Laborers (domestic and professional service).
Launderers and laundresses (not in laundry)
Laundry operatives
Nurses (not trained)
Restauran.t, caf6, and lunch room keepers...
Waiters
Clerical occupations
Accountants and auditors
Agents, canvassers, and collectors
Bookeepers and cashiers
Bundle and cash boys and girls..
Messenger, errand, m d offic^ioysaiid ^fis ^
Stenographers and typists
Male.
Female.
Number.
Percent,
+428,605
+13.6
+199.704
+23,762
-32,068
+15,487
+389
+2,311
+998
+28,909
+18,433
+3,211
+16,992
+121,369
+8,783
+142,710
+43.7
-U.6
+9.6
+31.1
+11.2
+86,3
+8.5
+33-6
+18.8
+30.9
+13.8
+10.8
+27.9
+22.8
+2,554
+58,803
+213
+54
+993
+1,048
-730
+2,546
+4,241
+3,089
+6,281
+11,877
-2,464
+105,834
+302,933
+68.0
+S,236
-281
+1,361
+1,600
-0.9
+7.S
+8.4
+576
+1,687
+2,486
+167,921
+17.5'
+2S2,6ffr
+1,66S
-1,475
+10,622
- C 2
+11.3
-1-2
Number. Percent.
+1,254
-^812
+2,497
+83.6
+40.2
+5.9
+217.9
+5L6
+3,075
+5.0
+53^
-11800
+192
-^355
-0.7
+99.8
+105.1
-1.3
-6.1
+158,343
+67,156
-23,370
-1.9
-344,297
+9,988
-4,400
+4 653
+4,879
+12,853
+11,292
+5.8
-19,1
+64.7
+39.9
+11.0
+13.0
-17.5
+8.3
+63.3
-37.9
-20.5
+11.3
+21.4
+43.'8
+9.3
+15,580
H^547
+4,710
+2,707
+201
+2,755
+3,329
+329
-992
+7,070
-8,820
+1,322
+57,961
-19,041
-2,811
+4 059
+3; 412
+22,027
+9,509
+12.6
+1.2
+^'686
-64,818
-216,762
-101
+31,017
+7,586
-1540
-134,130
+4,392
+21,746
+5 128
+31,123
+556,596
+48.7
+832,892
+09,420
+63,616
+6,599
-1,768
+417,909
+3,788
-2,968
+194.7
+66.0
+2.5
-41.4
+69.9
+4.1
-5.6
+9,792
+7,029
+162,177
- 2 125
+349,498
+5,092
+301,429
«Many ofthe "Clerksin stores"' probably are " Salesmen and saleswomen."
» Probably includes some teache
„?^^nsus ori910 and therefore they mmt
•Osteopaths were included with ]
be combined with physicians and surgeons In 1920 for purposes of comparison.
wtnen* cooks;
6Exclusive of bell W s , chore boys, etc.; butlers; chambermaids; coachmen and footmen,
ladies' maids, valets, etc.; and nursemaids.
? Except telegraph messengers.
T H E OCGUPATIONAL» PROGRESS OF WDMEK;
29
, A study of this table shows that in a majority of the occupalisted an increase or a decrease was common to both sexes.
Of the 125 occupations shown, only 29 indicated a decrease for
one sex and an increase for the other. Most of these 29 occupations were in manufacturing and mechanical industries and in professional service.
The rate of increase in the various occupations, however, was by
no means the same for each sex. Table X shows 83 occupations with
increases for both men and women and 50 occupations with greater
percentage increases for women than for men. With all due allowance for the smaller basic figures in the case of women workers, it is
nerertheless of interest to note that in each of 12 occupations the per
eait of increase for women was more than 100 points higher than
that shown for men in the same occupation.
No one is surprised to learn that men decreased in number and
women increased as clerks in stores^ as school teachers, as trained
nurses, and as stenographers and typists. But why should men
actors and showmen decrease 1,475 during this decade and women
in the same profession increase 1,254? Why did the number of
men authors, editors, and reporters decline 382 in ten years and
women increase 2,497 during the same period? On the other hand,
why did the number of women musicians and artists decrease while
men in the same professions were increasing? The only answers
to these questions which suggest themselves are that the war may
have caused a temporary shortage in the number of men actors;
and that many women musicians and artists who had previously
been content to " dabble " in these pursuits turned to more remunerative employment.
It is even more startling to learn that male cooks increased
12,853 and general servants 11,292, when the reduction among women
in these two classes has already been shown to have run into the
hundreds of thousands. The Census Bureau does not distinguish
between servants in private homes and those employed in more
public capacities, but it is probable that the proportion of all men
servants who are employed in hotels, restaurants, clubs, etc., is
pater than the proportion of all women servants so employed, and
it is probable that an increase rather than a reduction has taken place
^inong employees in this type of establishment.
The great increase in the number of women telegraph operators
has already been mentioned in this report, but its significance is
not brought out unless one understands that there was no corre^onding increase among the men engaged in this occupation. I n
1920 there were 8,641 more women and 840 more men workmg as
telegraph operators than in 1910. I n 1920 men still outnumbered
tions
30
T H E OCCUPATIONAL PROGRESS OF WOMEN.
women nearly four to one in this occupation, but if the rate of
increase noted for the decade in question continues, it will not be
long before women overtake the men in numbers.
From Table X it appears that women are supplanting men in
cigar and tobacco factories, while they show increases in lumber and
furniture industl^ies and in clay, glass, and stone industries which are
made conspicuous by decreases in the number of men as well as by
the fact that they have in the past not been considered as offering any
special inducements leading to the employment of women.
The numbers of both men and women operatives greatly increased
in those industries which showed an unusual development during this
decade, notably iron and steel industries, food industries, rubber factories, electrical supply factories, and silk mills. These industries
experienced an imperative demand for labor, but in general it may
be said that the numerical increases for the semiskilled of the two
sexes were in the same proportion, roughly speaking, as were the
total numbers of gainfully employed i n the United States—a ratio of
nearly 4 men to 1 woman. These JBgures show that the employment
of women in important industrial occupations is keeping pace with
the needs of industry, that opportunities for such employment are
steadily increasing, and that a very significant development of the
use of women in manufacturing and mechanical industries has occurred during the past decade, even though men are numerically
much more important.
PART I I .
WOMEN AT WORK I N AMERICAN TERRITORIES.
Much information of interest concorning the employment of
women in the territorial possessions of the United States is found in
three bulletins on " Occupation Statistics " issued by the Bureau of
the Census early in 1922. These bulletins give the number of gamfully employed women in Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto Rico, classified
by occupation, by color or race, nativity, and parentage, by age, and
by marital condition, for each of the Territories as a whole, and for
Honolulu and Hilo in Hawaii, and for Arecibo, Bayamon, Caguas,
Mayaguez, Ponce, and San Juan in Porto Rico. Comparisons are
made with the census statistics of 1910 and 1900.
In studying the statistics for women at work in the three Terri, tories, two things must be borne in mind: First, the difference in size
of the female population of the three Territories; and second, the
remarkable differences in the per cent of increase shown for this
population from 1910 to 1920. Table X I shows the increases in the
Territorial population for women during the decade considered and
compares them with the corresponding increase for continental
United States.
TABLE X I . — T o U i l female population^ fan ale population
10 years of age and
over, ana per ceiH of increase from 1910 to 1920, for continental
United States,
for Alaska, for Hawaii,
and for Porto
Rico,
Total female population.
Female population 10 years of
age and over.
Area.
Sgjgental United States
HawaU
Porto Rico...
1920
1910
51,810,189
20,497
m,766
651,984
44,639,989
18,499
68,810
560,711
Per cent
of
increase.
1920
1910.
Percent
of
increase.
16.1 40,449,346 34,552,712
13,859
1^824
10.8
47,502
70,994
52.3
395,084
456,646
16.3
17.1
7.0
49.5
15.6
phenomenal increase for one decade is noted in the female
population of Hawaii, the per cent shown being more than three
times as great as that for continental United States- The number of
^omen in Alaska is increasing very slowly, however, while in
,
Bico, by far the most populous of the Territories, the increase
^ female population is practically the same as that for the United
states as a whole.
31
32
THE
OCCUPATIO]SRAL, P R O G R E S S OE
WDMEJS".
I n each of the three Territories studied the per cent of increase
is less among women 10 years of age and over than among those of
all ages; the opposite is true of the United States. These facts
may indicate a higher birth rate in the Territories than in the
United States; or, on the other hand, they may indicate that the
accessions by immigration of adult women overbalance m the United
States the natural increase in the population.
Alaska is the only Territory in which the increase in the number
of gainfully employed women has more than kept pace with the
increase in female population 10 years of age and over. Thi? fact
is brought out in Table X I L
T A B i i E X I I . — N u m 7 ) e r and proportion
age and over in dontinental
United
Rico, 1920 and 1910.
of gainfully
occupied teamen 10 years of
States, in Alaska, in Bateau^ and in Porto
Women 10 years of age and over.
1320
Area.
Total
number.
1910
Engaged in gainful
occupations.
Number.
Continental TJnited States........ 4(^449,346
Alaska......
............
....
141824
Hawaii
70,994
Porto Rico
456,645
8,649,511
2L0S5
14,263
86,462
Total
mimber.
Number. Percent.
Per cent.
21.1
14.1
20.1
18,9
Engaged in gainful
Dccupatioais.
3^ 552,712
13,859
47,502
395,084
8,075,772
1 723
11 271
76,892
25.4
12.4
23.7
19.5
I n 1920 there was a larger proportion of women employed in
Hawaii than in Alaska or i n Porto Kico, though a slightly smaller
proportion than in continental United States. I n 1910 the proportion of women occupied was higher in Hawaii than in continental
United States, much higher than in Porto Eico, and nearly twice as
high as in Alaska.
I n Porto Rico and in Hawaii, as in continental United States, the
proportion of women occupied decreased from 1910 to 1920; this decrease was especially marked in Hawaii.
I n the United States the ratio of gainfully employed men to
women in 1920 was 3.9 to 1; in Alaska it was 11.9 to 1; in Hawaii
6.8 to 1; and in Porto Eico 3.7 to 1.
GENERAL
DIVISIONS
OP
OCCUPATIONS-
Table X I I I gives an idea of what the women in the T e r r i t o r i e s
are doing and compares their distribution in the general divisions
of occupations with that for continental United States.
33
T H E OCCUPATIONAL PROGRESS OF WOMEN*.
TABLE
p^^ ^^^^^ distribution of women 10 years of age and
met in each general division of occupations for continental United States, for
Alaslca, for Hawaii, and for Porto Rico, 1920.
Continental
U n i t ^ StatesGeEeral division of occupations.
Number.
Alaska.
Per
cent
Numdistriber.
bution.
HawaU.
Porto Rico.
Per
Per
cent
Numcent Numdistriber.
distriber.
bution.
bution.
Per
cent
distribution.
8,549,511
100.0
2,085
100.0
14,263
100.0
86,462
100.0
1,084,128
2,m
12.7
0)
61
20
2.9
1.0
6,415
45.0
17,719
20.5
1,030,341
213,054
667 792
Trade
21 7&4
Pablic service (n. e. c.')
1,010,498
Phtfesaonal service
Domestic and personal service— 2,186,924
1,426,116
fleriraloccuDatioxLS.....
22.6
2.5
7.8
0.3
11.9
25.6
16.7
503
32
169
18
395
739
148
24.1
L5
8.1
0.9
18.9
35.4
7.1
1,057
153
708
20
1,918
3,419
573
7.4
1.1
5.0
0.1
13.4
24.0
4.0
30,809
'283
916
63
3,253
32,482
937
35.6
0.3
1.1
ai
3.8
37.6
1.1
AMctature, forestry, and animal
nnshandrv
*
FTtrai'tion of minerals....
Manufecturing and mechanical
iTidiistriGs
I Less than one-teuth of 1 per cent.
»Not elsewhere classified-
Agricultural pursuits claimed a much larger proportion of the
working women in Hawaii than i n the other two Territories; nearly
one-half of the employed women i n these islands were working on
farms, while 20.5 per cent in Porto Eico, 12.7 per cent in continental
United States, and 2.9 per cent in Alaska were similarly engaged.
Porto Rico occupied the highest place in the proportion of wageearning women who were engaged in manufacturing and mechanical
industries (35.6 per cent); between 20 and 25 per cent were so occupied in Alaska and i n the United States and only 7.4 per cent in
Hawaii. A much smaller proportion of the working women of Porto
Bico were engaged i n trade than in the other areas considered. The
proportion of professional women was highest in Alaska, and higher
in Hawaii than in the United States; while professional women in
Porto Eico comprised only 3.8 per cent of all gainfully occupied
women.
One out of every three working women i n Porto Eico and Alaska
Was engaged in domestic and personal service, as compared with one
oiit of every four in continental United States and in Hawaii- Yet
Porto Eico, which had the highest proportion of women in this general division of occupations, showed a numerical decrease from 1910
tol920 of 12,667 (28.1 per cent) among those so occupied; in Hawaii
fte corresponding decrease was 355 (9.4 per cent); and in the United
States 344,297 (13.6 per cent). I n Alaska the number of women engaged in domestic and personal service increased 11.3 per cent during
fte decade, though the proportion of all women so engaged showed a
'34
,THE
OCCUPATIONAL
PRINCIPAL
PROGRESS
OF
WOMEN.
OCCUPATIONS.
I n Table X I V are presented certain selected occupations which
-offer employment to women in the Territorial possessions.
TABLE X I V . — ^ V o n l e n 30 years
of age and over
for Alaska, for Hawafi,
engaged
in selected^ occupations
and for Porto Rico, 1920.
'
Women 10 years of age and
over: 1920.
Occupation.
AU occupations.,
•Agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry.
Hawaii.
2,085
14,263
86.462
61
6,415
17,719
140
771
2,153
238
122
193
Fanners, coffee farms
Farmers, general farms
Farmers, sugar farms
Farmers, tobacco farms
Garden and orchard laborers..
General farmers (laborers)...
Laborers, coffee f^rms.........
Laborers, general farms
Laborers, pineapple farms
Laborers, sugar farms
Laborers, tobacco farms
"134'
424
180
629
4,651
—
282
2,268
2,964
1,774
6,667
20
3Bxtraction of minerals
UazLUfacturing and mechanical industries
Apprentices to dressmakers and milliners
Dressmakers and seamstresses (not in factory).
Straw hat makers
Tailoresses
Workers * in— '
Cigar making and tobacco working
Clothing industries
Food industries
Fish curing and packing
Fruit and vegetable canning, etc
Sugar factories
Textile industries
Lace and embroidery making
503
1,057
30,809
120
10
274'
19
102
1,311
12,650
3,633
U
3,568
(')
201
.
384
Transportation
Telephone operators
Trade
Laborers, i
, and helpers in stores
Retail dealers..
Saleswomen (stores).
Professional service
=..
283
32
153
25
123
190
169
708
91(
1
68
84
39
223
433
70
442
, 373
395
1,918
3,253
25
15
245
75
^
.
1,447
233
63
18
Public service (not elsewhere speclfled)..
Musicians and teachers of music
Religious, charity, and welfare workers
Teachers
Trainednurses
Porto
Rico.
Alaska.
1 Only those occupations are shown in this table in which 100 or more women were employed in Alaska,
Hawaii, and Porto Rico combined.
•
,
* „ lahnrprs
3 " General farmers (laborers)" operate small f&rms of their own, but work most of the time as laoorers
for other farmers.
'
x. ^ a with«\ll
* I f any women were engaged in this occupation they were so few in number as to be classea wim •
other occupations" in the census bulletins.
* Includes laborers and semiskilled operatives.
THE
OCCUPATIOKAL
TABLE X I V . — W o m c / t 10 years
PROGRESS
of age ami
for Alaska, for Hawaii,
over
OF
engaged
and for Porto Rico,
'B5
WOMEN.
in selected
occupat'mia,
Continued.
Women 10 years of age and
over: 1920.
Occupation.
Domestic and personal service.
Barbers, hairdressers, and manicurists
' Boarding and lodging house keepers
Hotel keepers and managers
Housekeepers and stewardesses
.
Hunters, trappers, and guides
Janitors and sextons
Laundresses (not in laundry)
Laundry operatives
Midwives and nurses (not trained)
Restaurant, caf6, and lunch room keepers-.
Servants
Cooks
Nursemaids
ClKlcal bccnpations.
Bookkeepers and cashiers
Clerks (except clerks in stores).,
Stenographers and typists
Alaska.
Hawaii.
739
3,419
15
49
28
50
74
5
63
43
39
15
244
148
131
49
16
155
Porto
Eico.
73
502
76
148
16
2,159
510
30
107
17
39
6t
102
28
119
16,317
116
,.147
126
15,382
6,016
153
28
,148
573
937
110
108
'331.
140
235
506
»If any women were engaged in this occupation they were so few in number as to be classed with " All
other occupations ** i n the census bulletins.
Some occupations numerically important deserve special mention.
In Alaska there were only three occupations employing as many as
approximately 250 women; these were workers in fish curing and
packing, teachers, and servants. More than 90 per cent of the 252
women working in Alaskan fish curing and packing were American
Indians, and nearly two-thirds of the women engaged in this industry
were married. As might be expected, 207 of the 245 women teachers
were Americans by birth; more than one-third of the teachers were
married women. A number of women of each race and nativity
group represented in the Territory were employed as servants.
In Hawaii 4,651 women were working as sugar-farm laborers;
4,116 of these women, or 88.5 per cent, were Japanese; more than
three-fourths of all the sugar-farm laborers were married women.
The servants in Hawaii numbered 2,159, of whom 1,667 were Japanese, with a scattering number in each of the many races represented
among the women of these islands. One-half of these women servants were married. Of the 1,447 women teachers 707 were classed
as "Other Caucasians " and presumably the majority of them were
Americans; 176 were part Caucasian and part Hawaiian; 164 were
Japanese, 113 Chinese, 97 native Hawaiian, 97 Portuguese, and 82
part Hawaiian and part Asiatic. Among the women working as
laborers on coffee farms and on pineapple farms the Japanese had
an overwhehning majority, as indeed they bad in all agricultural
36
T H E OCCUPATION'AIJ PROGRESS OF WOMEN-.
pursuits. As retail dealers and as saleswomen the Japanese women
also predominated. More than one-half of the trained nurses in
TIawaii were of Caucasian origin, as were also more than one-half
of the women engaged in clerical pursuits.
Nearly three-fourths of the women engaged in agricultural pursuits in Porto Rico were classed as "Native whites" by the-Census
Bureau. Presumably the great majority of persons in this vohv and
nativity group were bom in Porto Kico of Spanish ori^n. Among
the dressmakers and their apprentices 70.4 per cent were ^'native
whites,^' and in most other occupations this nativity group predominated, though in domestic and personal service nearly one-half the
women were negroes.
STATISTICS P O R
CITIES-
Occupation statistics are shown s e p a r ^ l y for Honolulu and Hilo
i n Hawaii. Only one-third of the women workers of the islands
were living in these two cities, axsondition that bears close relation to
the fact that 45 per cent of all women at work in Hawaii ^ere
engaged in agricultural pursuits.
No urban communities are mentioned in the bulletin on Alaska,
but for Porto Eico statistics ^re given showing the women occupied
i n Arecibo, Bayamon, Caguas, Mayaguez, Ponce, and San Juan.
The women workers in these six cities comprised only one-fourth of
the total number at work—an even smaller proportion than in Hawaii. This situation can not be explained as in Hawaii, however,
l)y a large proportion in agricultural pursuits, since only 20.5 per
cent of all women workers were thus engaged i n Porto Eico in 1920.
INDUSTRIAL HOME WORK
I N PORTO
RICO.
Nearly 14,000 women, or one-sixth ,of all gainfully occupied women
in Porto Eico, were workiag as dressmakers and seamstresses or
their apprentices (not in f^tories) whUe in continental United
States only 3.8 per cent of all working women were so engag^
Probably the majority of these women were engaged i n h a n d w o r k o n
fine muslin underwear, generally done at home. Because of the
fact that this work was done at home and by hand, most of the
workers returned their occupations as dressmakers or as seamstresses
and were classified by the Census Bureau as dressmakers and seamstresses (not i n fa<;tory), the only possible classification of tlie data
as returned. On the other hand, .these women for the most part were
in reality industrial home workers, just as are those sweat-shop
workers who in the big industrial cities of the United States perform certain factory processes on the sewing machine or by hand m
their own homes. I n other industries also work is given out to be
the
o c c u p a t i o n a l p r o g r e s s op w o m e ^ t .
37
done at home, and lace makers, cigar makers, tobacco workers, and
straw-hat makers were found engaged in home work on factory
processes.
Conditions are, of course, by the very nature of things
decidedly different in Porto Eico from those in a large industrial center, and, although definite information as to the extent of home work
in, those trades is not given, tfeSl the Census Bureau by a slight
change in wording from that used to describe similar occupations in
the United States indicates that a majority of those whose occupations are listed above seem to be engaged in home work on factory
processes as well as dressmaking.
@FedFRASER