Full text of Womanpower Committees During World War II: United States and British Experience : Women's Bureau Bulletin, No. 244

View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

Wo manpower
Committees
during World War II

Women’s Bureau
Bulletin 244

l . S. I>KI*AK I'M KYI OK LAUOK
Martin I’. Durkin, Secretary

^tNT o?

WOMIvVS III KKAl
Frieda S. Miller, Director
Washington : 1953

^Jrcs o*

WOMANPOWER COMMITTEES
DURING WORLD WAR II
United States and British Experience

'sJjTESOi

Womens Bureau Bulletin No. 244

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

MARTIN P. DURKIN, Secretary

Womens Bureau
FRIEDA S. MILLER, Director

Washington : 1953

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office
Washington 25, D. C. - Price 25 cents

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
United States Department of Labor,
Women’s Bureau,

Washington, January 23, 1953.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit a report on the work of three
women’s committees during World War II: The Women’s Advisory
Committee to the War Manpower Commission in the United States;
the Women’s Consultative Committee to the British Ministiy of
Labor and National Service, and the Woman Power Committee which
was established largely through the efforts of British women Members
of Parliament.
This report was undertaken with the assistance of a research grant
to the Women’s Bureau from the National Security Resources Board
as part of a defense-connected project dealing with womanpower
programs. In studying women’s committees the objective was to
prepare an analytical history which would illustrate the ways in which
two major democratic nations responded to the wartime necessity
for developing basic policy on womanpower.
It was hoped that the report would be useful as a basis for womanpower planning for those in the United States called upon to consider
similar problems contingent upon another full mobilization of the
labor force. Accordingly, the Women’s Advisory Committee on De
fense Manpower, appointed by the Secretary of Labor in March 1951
as a result of the Korean conflict, was provided with this report, and
devoted extensive study and discussion to it. The contemporary
Committee directed its emphasis primarily toward analysis of the
structure, composition, and function of women’s committees during
World War II, in order to arrive at a set of principles for the estab
lishment of effective working relationships of womanpower commit
tees with the Government and the public. Recommendations of the
Women’s Advisory Committee on Defense Manpower are presented
as an appendix in this bulletin.
In preparing the report on United States experience in World War
II the research staff drew upon previously unpublished and scattered
documents from both Government and private sources. The three
histories were combined in a single report with awareness of the dif
ferences in national background and degree of emergency in both
countries, but also in recognition of the similarity of principles under
lying the steps that both governments had to take in national crisis.

iii

The Women’s Bureau is greatly indebted to the principal partici
pants in the affairs of the Women’s Advisory Committee to the War
Manpower Commission for review and modifications of the original
draft, and to the Committee’s Chairman, Margaret A. Hickey, for
significant aspects of the Committee’s work that were not documented
because of the press of circumstances.
There are undoubtedly important omissions to this report which
may some day be taken into account; there are also positive contri
butions of devoted public service and clarity of purpose such as Miss
Hickey and others gave to the Committee which will never be ade
quately recognized because they are immeasurable.
Through the gracious cooperation of Dame Mary Smieton of the
British Ministry of Labor and National Service and a group of
distinguished women who served on both British Committees, the
original draft of the British section of the report was not only reviewed
but essentially amplified to include significant data not previously
recorded.
It is still an open question as to whether the preoccupation of the
historian with facts is the best means for evaluating programs con
cerned extensively with human motivations and directed toward the
preservation of a way of life at a time when life itself is endangered.
The experience of the research staff in working with the bare bones of
documented events and then interviewing the participants, both
British and American, who brought the facts to life, led them toward
the conclusion that research is only half the story, and methodology
in problem-solving only as effective as its human agents.
The report was prepared in the Women’s Bureau’s Research Divi
sion, of which Mary N. Hilton is Chief, under the direct supervision
of Lillian V. Inke. Immediate responsibility fell to Gertrude B.
Morton with assistance from Evelyn S. Spiro in preparation of the
history of the British Consultative Committee.
Respectfully submitted.
Frieda S. Miller, Director.
Hon. Martin P. Durkin,
Secretary oj Labor.

CONTENTS
Part I—United States: The Women’s Advisory Committee to the War
Manpower Commission, 1942-45
History of the Women’s Advisory Committee______________________
Background for appointment
Appointment
Procedure
Womanpower problems on the agenda, 1942-45____________________
Recruitment
National Service legislation
15
Training
18
Summary of employment policy
29
Utilization and job adjustment
21
Community adjustments
28
Reconversion adjustments and postwar planning_____________
Evaluation of the committee’s work
35
Introduction
35
Limitations and organization problems
36
Achievements
46
Part II—Great Britain: The Woman Power Committee, 1940-45_______
Organization
49
Womanpower problems treated
53
Evaluation
56
Part III—Great Britain: The Women’s Consultative Committee, 1941—45.
Organization
Womanpower problems treated
Mobilization programs
Registration for national service
Conscription of women to the Armed Forces________________
Cooperation with other agencies
64
Evaluation
66
Appendix A—Sources
68
Appendix B—Findings from discussions by the Women’s Advisory Com
mittee on Defense Manpower on function, goals, and organizational struc
ture of a womanpower advisory committee in an emergency period_____

Page

1
1
1
3
7
9
9

58
58
60
60
61
63

Part I—THE UNITED STATES
The Women’s Advisory Committee to the
War Manpower Commission, 1942-45
History of the Women’s Advisory Committee
The Women’s Advisory Committee was appointed by Paul V.
McNutt, Chairman of the War Manpower Commission in September
1942, almost a year after the United States entered World War II.
The appointment marked the end of a period of more than two years
during which the Women’s Bureau, with some support from national
women’s organizations and from its own Labor Advisory Committee,
had worked toward obtaining official participation of women in policy
matters affecting women’s employment in the war economy.
Background for Appointment

Early in 1940, shortly after the appointment of the Advisory Com
mission to the Council of National Defense, Mary Anderson, then
Director of the Women’s Bureau, suggested to Sidney Hillman, who
was the labor member of the National Defense Advisory Commission,
that he appoint a woman to his staff as adviser in view of the antici
pated role of women in war production. Mr. Hillman recognized
the need for women’s point of view on problems relating to women
workers and asked Miss Anderson’s suggestions for candidates. How
ever, by July 1940, he appeared to have been influenced by Dr.
Reeves, his assistant and head of the Division of Training in the
National Defense Advisory Commission.
It was Dr. Reeves’ opinion that the Commission needed a woman
for research rather than for policy-making. Miss Anderson continued
to maintain her position that the appointment of a research assistant
would not fill the need for having a woman at the policy-making level.
Besides, this would have duplicated the research function which the
Women’s Bureau was carrying out at another level. Later in 1940
Miss Anderson, supported by the Women’s Bureau Labor Advisory
Committee, made another request of Mr. Hillman to appoint a woman
to his staff as adviser. No such appointment was made. It was
apparent that the National Defense Advisory Commission did not

favor the
respect to
Women’s
Bureau
Program

participation of women in development of policy with
women’s expanding integration into the labor market.1
Meanwhile, the Women’s Bureau had already initiated an
intensive program of research and field work related to
defense production demands, and had geared its studies
to the projected defense economy. Consultation was held
with employers who were changing over from men to women workers,
and recommendations were made which would promote the easy
integration of women and provide for their satisfactory working
environment. As a result of such consultation and study of working
conditions, the Bureau began to issue a series of statements, later
published as leaflets, dealing with topics relevant to the employment
of women, such as weight lifting, sanitary facilities, safety clothing,
problems of selection and counseling, health and hygiene, and many
other subjects.2 Close working relationships were established by the
Bureau with the War and Navy Departments with special reference
to the employment of women in ordnance plants, and continued
throughout the war.
As early as 1940, Miss Anderson had been requested by the Secre
tary of Labor to formulate standards for women workers and had
established the Labor Advisory Committee to the Women’s Bureau
for this initial purpose.3 The standards as developed by this Com
mittee, working with Women’s Bureau staff, were submitted to, and
adopted by, the Subcommittee on Utilization of Women in Defense
of the National Labor Supply Committee by December 1941.4
Due to the reserve of unemployed at the outset of the war, man
power officials in this period were not sufficiently pressed by a general
labor shortage to plan for the projected increase in women’s employ
ment.
War Manpower By February 1942 the Office of Production ManageCommission
ment and its National Labor Supply Committee
February 19J+2 were dissolved and labor mobilization functions were
consolidated into the War Manpower Commission.
In April of the same year, Sara Southall was appointed as adviser
to the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission on general
problems relating to the employment of women.
Miss Southall asked the cooperation of the Women’s Bureau in the
preparation of basic policy statements on recruitment, referral,
training, and employment of women. Although close working re
lationship was established between the Bureau and Miss Southall,
there were obstacles to the acceptance and channeling of policy,
i See note at beginning of appendix.
* Special Bulletin Series, Nos. 1 through 20, 1942-44, of which several are listed in Current Publications
of the Women’s Bureau. 1952.
* Still in existence as of 1952, this group is periodically called for consultation by the Bureau.
4 Various revisions of the “Standards” leaflet have been issued periodically by the Women’s Bureau,
the latest in 1950, “Recommended Standards for Employment of Women.”

many of which, were due, at this time, to continuous change and
development in the new manpower organization. The local offices of
the United States Employment Service had not yet been fully inte
grated into the organization, and there were shifts and realinements
in staff and operating personnel at the administrative level. In
addition, Miss Southall herself could not devote full time to her
assignment because of her many professional and civic commitments.®
Simultaneously with the need to resolve organization problems and
to tighten agency structure, the increasing pressures of the labor
market were felt by manpower officials by the summer of 1942. Ten
months of war production and manpower additions to the armed forces
had virtually exhausted male labor reserves. It became apparent
that women would have to be recruited not only for customary em
ployment but also for a great variety of jobs traditionally filled by
men. Factors to be dealt with in the proj ected mobilization of womanpower included the reluctance of many women to enter the labor mar
ket and the strong resistance of a number of employers and labor
unions to admitting women to nontraditional jobs.
Much earlier, the Women’s Bureau and several of the national
women’s organizations, in anticipation of the full use of the womanpower reserve, had expressed dissatisfaction with the degree of at
tention accorded by the War Manpower Commission to the labormarket problems of integrating women. Among these were the
National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs,
who recommended the establishment of a large women’s advisory
committee, and the National Women’s Trade Union League. The
latter group did not formally oppose the creation of a women’s
advisory committee but strongly favored the point of view of Miss
Anderson and nearly all women’s organizations of the period that
a women’s advisory body would have limited effectiveness, particularly
without a policy-determining status. Miss Anderson’s repeated
recommendation was for the appointment of several women at the
appropriate level to insure the acceptance and implementation of
policy and to provide for the direct channeling and use of technical
data on women’s employment problems.
Proposals for a women’s advisory group to the War Manpower
Commission had not clearly delineated thus far the functions of such
a group nor had they taken due recognition of the possible duplications
of activities among labor mobilization agencies and committees.
Appointment

In the summer of 1942, Miss Anderson approached Mr. McNutt
about the appointment of one or two women to the ManagementLabor Policy Committee of the War Manpower Commission. The•
• Miss Southall continued part time in her capacity as personnel executive of the International Harvester
Co.
230400—53------ 2

Management-Labor Policy Committee, however, completely rejected
Miss Anderson’s proposal. At the same time, the Federation of
Business and Professional Women’s Clubs submitted their request
for the appointment of a women’s advisory committee to Mr. McNutt
who accepted the proposal and delegated preparatory work to
Arthur J. Altmeyer, then Executive Director of the War Manpower
Commission.
Mr. Altmeyer invited Miss Anderson to advise him on the ap
pointment of members of the future committee, and during their
conversation pressed to convince Miss Anderson that, after the
Management-Labor Committee’s refusal to accept women members,
the appointment of a women’s advisory committee was the next
best solution. Miss Anderson agreed to the appointment of a women’s
advisory committee on the understanding that the chairman of the
new women’s committee would have full voting membership on the
Management-Labor Committee. However, when the committee
was appointed in September 1942 the status of the chairman with
regard to the Management-Labor Committee had been limited to
representing the Women’s Advisory Committee on the ManagementLabor Committee without voting rights.6 The press release of the
War Manpower Commission of September 2, 1942, in which the
appointment of the Women’s Advisory Committee was announced
simply states:
Miss Hickey, as chairman of the Women’s Advisory Committee, will
participate in the discussions of the Management-Labor Policy Com
mittee, or she may designate a representative for this purpose.

Function By Administrative Order No. 22 of the War Manpower
of
Commission of August 31, 1942, the Women’s Advisory
Committee Committee was appointed
. . to study the national
situation with regard to conditions which affected ad
versely the mobilization and utilization of women in the war effort,
and to make recommendations to the Management-Labor Policy
Committee on a policy arriving at correcting these conditions whenever
practicable.”
Point 4 of Administrative Order No. 22 states more specifically the
function which the Committee was to assume:
The Women’s Advisory Committee is authorized to consider and recom
mend to the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission matters of
major policy concerning the activities and responsibilities of the Com
mission, particularly as they affect women and the contribution women
can make in the successful prosecution of the war. The Committee•
• Miss Hickey, in an interview with a Women’s Bureau staff member pointed out that, in the beginning,
she sat on the “offside” and only after several meetings was she invited by the members to Join them at the
conference table. Other active committee members have stated subsequently that they had accepted
appointments with the understanding that their group would be represented with a vote on the Manage
ment-Labor Policy Committee. Cf. also Woman at Work, Autobiography of Mary Anderson, as told to
Mary N. Winslow. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minn., 1951, ch. 27, p. 250.

shall initiate studies and the formulation of policies, as well as consider
those referred by the chairman.

Responsibility of
Chairman

The chairman of the Committee, all through its existence,
was Margaret A. Hickey, lawyer and business executive
from St. Louis. She was directly responsible to the War
Manpower Commissioner. It was her duty to prepare
the agenda for the meetings, handle press relations, and discharge
such administrative duties as were necessary to keep the Committee
operating: Correspondence, distribution of material to members,
speeches, and other public relations activities. She was responsible
for representation of the Committee on the Management-Labor
Policy Committee of the War Manpower Commission and functioned
as liaison with other Government agencies, especially with the
Women’s Bureau, the only Government agency that had a staff
specializing in the problems of women’s employment.
Composition Selection of members for the Advisory Committee
of
aimed at a fair representation from management, labor,
Membership and the public; from key women’s organizations, the
educational field, welfare work, and the press. The
list which follows includes several members who served only part of
the full term and also several alternates who were sufficiently active
to have been considered regular members.
Ruth Allen, University of Texas, San Antonio, Tex. (Did not serve full
term of office.)
Mrs. Harris T. Baldwin of Washington, D. C., former Vice President of
the League of Women Voters.
Mrs. Dorothy J. Bellanca of New York City, Vice President of the
Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.
Bess Bloodworth of New York City, Vice President and a director of
the Namm Store, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mrs. Maudelle Bousfield, Principal of the Wendell Phillips High School,
Chicago, 111.
Elisabeth Christman of Washington, D. C., Executive Secretary of the
National Women’s Trade Union League. (Active alternate.)
Mrs. Saidie Orr Dunbar of Portland, Oreg., Executive Secretary of the
Oregon Tuberculosis Association and past president of the General
Federation of Women’s Clubs.
Mrs. Gladys Talbott Edwards of Denver, Colo., Director of Education
for the National Farmers Union.
Dr. Esther Cole Franklin, Associate in Social Studies, American Asso
ciation of University Women, Washington, D. C. (Did not serve full
term of office.)
Mrs. Beatrice Blackmar Gould of Philadelphia, Pa., Co-Editor of the
Ladies’ Home Journal.
.
Margaret A. Hickey of St. Louis, Mo., lawyer and business executive.
Mrs. Lowell Fletcher Hobart of Cincinnati, Ohio, past National Presi
dent of the American Legion Auxiliary.
Jenny Matyas of San Francisco, Calif., Vice President of the Inter
national Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.

Eleanor Park of New York City, Assistant to the Manager of Industrial
Relations, Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. (Active alternate.)
Mrs. Blanche Ralston of Coahoma, Miss., former Regional Director of
the Professional and Service Division of the Work Projects Adminis
tration.

Subcommittees

Almost immediately after the Committee’s creation,
standing subcommittees were formed which were
charged with responsibility for developing special pro
grams for the full Committee’s consideration. The three permanent
standing subcommittees were:
(1) Community Facilities and Services, under the chairmanship of
Mrs. Saidie Orr Dunbar.
(2) Public Relations, headed by Bess Bloodworth.
(3) Postwar—created in 1943 and merged in July 1944 with the Public
Relations Committee, in view of the growing reality of postwar
adjustment and the need for public education on postwar problems.

Temporary subcommittees were appointed periodically to work on
specific problems, such as education in connection with employment
of youth under 18, and also the agricultural labor situation.
Staff In February 1943, an executive secretary, Virginia Price, was
employed. In August 1944 Miss Hickey requested from the
War Manpower Commission a full-time research assistant to work
exclusively for the Women’s Advisory Committee. The Committee
supported the chairman’s request with a recommendation that the
chairman’s proposal be followed up. The request was favorably re
ceived by the Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission,
but no appointment was made.
Throughout its existence the Committee called repeatedly upon
the experience of the Women’s Bureau Director and staff, not only
for consultation on policy, but for research and information.
Meetings The Committee had altogether 39 meetings, the first on
October 1, 1942, the last one on March 21, 1945. Accord
ing to Miss Hickey the Committee discontinued meeting in 1945 but
was never formally dissolved. Meetings were held once a month
until the summer of 1944, then twice a month, and after the establish
ment of the V-E Day manpower program, on call. As a rule, the
meetings were in Washington. One meeting was held outside of
Washington in recognition of wartime travel problems. Each meet
ing lasted 2 days and included one executive session at which the
Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission joined the
group to report on manpower developments in general and on organi
zational changes in the War Manpower Commission; to present items
to be discussed by the members; and to receive and discuss the mem
bers’ suggestions and recommendations. A part of the Women’s
Advisory Committee meeting was always set aside for reports from,
and discussions with, staff members of the War Manpower Commis
6

sion or other Government agencies whose programs had bearing on
the Committee’s area of interest.
Members' Except for reimbursement for their traveling expenses and
Expenses per diem while at the monthly meetings in Washington,
members served at their own expense.

Procedure
Agenda Agenda for meetings were sent to members ahead of time.
Regular items on the agenda were: Reports from the chair
man on progress made and on activities between meetings; progress
reports from the chairmen of the subcommittees; “Subjects to be
discussed and acted upon” by the Committee; and reports from War
Manpower Commission staff or other Government agency staffs per
taining to subjects under discussion or of special interest to the
Committee which in many meetings took up the entire time of one
of the two meeting days. A review of speakers and of topics from
the Committee’s agenda shows a wide range of topics and of agencies
represented.
Outside
The Deputy Chairman of the War Manpower Commission
Speakers acquainted the Committee members at their first meeting
with the fundamental organization and the early develop
ment of the War Manpower Commission. Other War Manpower
Commission staff members joined the group regularly to report on
changes in policy, programs, and procedures of the War Manpower
Commission. At one early session a report was given by a War
Manpower Commission staff member on the history of the United
States Employment Service and on its role in the recruitment of
women. Other topics presented to the Women’s Advisory Com
mittee by War Manpower Commission staff were: Services to children
of working mothers; plant and community facilities; training within
industry plan (two sessions); the basic principles of the Executive
Order on 48-hour week; the background and thinking on national
service legislation as well as the contents and implications of pro
posed legislation regarding a national service act (three sessions);
the postwar demobilization of civilian workers and armed forces.
The Women’s Bureau participated at all sessions because Miss
Anderson had a standing invitation to attend or to send a substitute.
She participated fully and informally in the discussions of the group,"
more like one of the members than an invited guest. The Federal
Security Agency sent staff members to three sessions to talk on all
phases of the Federal Security program. A staff member of the War
Production Board spoke on problems of women in shipbuilding and
aircraft industries on the west coast. The United States Office of
Education was represented at two sessions when war production
training of women and problems of acceptance of counselors were
discussed. Florence Hall from the Extension Service of the United

States Department of Agriculture spoke to the Women’s Advisory
Committee on the Women’s Land Army program. Katharine F.
Lenroot and staff members of the Children’s Bureau participated
several times in discussions concerning a maternity policy for industry
and a postwar program. General Hines from the Veterans’ Admin
istration spoke to the Women’s Advisory Committee on retraining
and reemployment. Special events were addresses by Mrs. Roosevelt,
Frieda S. Miller, and Mrs. Ethel Wood, Secretary of the British
Woman Power Committee. Mrs. Roosevelt appeared twice before
the group, once to report on British womanpower under wartime
conditions and a second time to talk to them on her observations on
women in the South Pacific. Miss Miller joined the Committee in
a meeting of June 5, 1944, after her return from service in London,
and spoke about some significant aspects of wartime labor controls
in England.
Types of With very few exceptions, the only kind of official action
Action
taken by the Committee was the issuance of policy stateTaken
ments which were submitted to the War Manpower Com
mission and released to the press. In the press release
Miss Hickey usually gave a resume of the Committee’s thinking and
discussion and explained fully why current manpower developments
called for the establishment of a certain policy on womanpower
problems. If the Committee’s policy was accepted by the War
Manpower Commission, the Committee’s recommendations were in
cluded in the War Manpower Commission’s field material. Some of
the major policy statements of the Committee were published in
pamphlet form and were widely distributed, through the Committee’s
office as well as through War Manpower Commission field offices.
Occasionally the Committee’s discussion led to the initiation of
special studies by the staff of the War Manpower Commission, such
as one study on older workers and one on the part-time employment
of women.
In a few cases, as a result of the Committee’s discussions, major
policy statements were published in the form of pamphlets and
widely distributed.7
In only one instance did the official action taken by the Committee
include the full development and handling of a program: Cooperation
with women’s organizations on recruitment campaigns and other
community participation in womanpower programming.
There is one notable record of an official protest action initiated by
the Committee in May 1943, in connection with the Kaiser shipyards
day-care facilities program 8 in this case the Committee was able to* *
' See "The War Job Platform of American Women,” May 1943; "Womanpower, An Appraisal by the
War Manpower Commission,” April 1943 (on which the Committee had obtained the cooperation of the
War Manpower Commission Facts and Analysis Section); and "Women in the Postwar,” April 1945.
* See p. 31.

follow through, on policy to the point where Mr. McNutt and the
War Production Board took action.
While the minutes and policy statements issued reflect fully the
official business conducted, they do not reveal the considerable un
official activity in which a number of members engaged. Miss
Hickey was especially energetic in establishing conferences and con
sultation with executive staff members of the War Al an power Com
mission and with a long list of Government agency representatives so
that the Committee would have as much as possible of the background
information and policy on all labor mobilization problems and so that
key officials could obtain the point of view of the Committee. In
this way Miss Hickey and her colleagues, through tireless effort,
bridged unofficially the gap left by lack of provision for direct policy
channeling in many important phases of the program.
Committee members also used all of their connections with profes
sional and civic groups to disseminate information on womanpower
programs. Several of the most active members, including the chair
man, made trips across the country, usually at their own expense, to
present speeches, hold discussions, and answer questions. Groups
like the National Association of Manufacturers and the American
Management Association, as well as women’s organizations, featured
speakers from the Committee.

Womanpower Problems on the Agenda, 1942-45
During the 2% years in which the Committee operated, it dealt
with a great number of different aspects of the total problem of
womanpower planning in a war economy. However, many problems
were recurrent and were dealt with repeatedly whenever they came
to the Committee’s attention through the pressure of circumstances.
For purposes of recording the Committee’s work, the topics on which
it conferred can be classified in four major areas: (1) recruitment,
including training, and selection of women; (2) full utilization of
employed women workers through adjustments on the job as well as
(3) in the community; and (4) reconversion adjustments and postwar
planning.
Recruitment

The establishment of a basic policy on recruitment, training, and
employment of women was the first job which the "Women’s Advisory
Committee undertook after its appointment, and the War Manpower
Commission accepted the Women’s Advisory Committee recom
mendations immediately as national policy.9 With regard to recruit
ment, the Women’s Advisory Committee’s statement included the
following major principle:
... recruitment of women [should take place] on the basis of qualifica
tion for an occupation, without discrimination because of sex, race,
national origin, or creed.
’ Manual of Operations,” Title III, Secs. 2-4, October 17,1912. War Manpower Commissioni

Recruitment A week after the Women’s Advisory Committee basic
Campaigns statement had been released, the War Manpower Com
mission sought the Committee’s advice and assistance
on recruiting methods. It was the first time that the Commission
consulted the Advisory Committee on a major problem of womanpower planning; the reason for this move on the part of the War
Manpower Commission was that it had come to an impasse on the
question of recruitment of women for industrial work. Throughout
1942 the War Manpower Commission had conducted, in areas of
labor shortage, various recruitment campaigns for women workers on
a local or State-wide basis.10 In all these individual attempts, the
responsibility for the campaign rested with the United States Employ
ment Service office, but the method of reaching the women’s labor
reserve varied from locality to locality. Some communities or States
designated post offices, schools, or employers as distribution centers
for registration forms; other communities used volunteer workers to
make door-to-door canvasses.
In meetings with the Women’s Advisory Committee in October and
December 1942, War Manpower Commission staff members reported
that recruitment campaigns had been analyzed with the conclusion
that, except for a few areas, the campaigns had produced unsatisfactory
results. The over-all picture was considered alarming, especially in
view of pressing labor demands in labor shortage areas. Results
obtained in a campaign conducted in Detroit, August 1942, were used
as illustration. Only about 35 percent of the women interviewed
had responded, and only 21 percent of the responding group were
actually placed.11 War Manpower Commission officials thought that,
in general, the failures were due partly to a lack of central organization
and partly to the lack of cooperation of the part of employers who
continued to hire at the gates and ignored United States Employment
Service registers. War Manpower Commission officials asked the
Women’s Advisory Committee to cooperate in finding the reasons for
the slow response to the recruitment program and to develop a cen
tralized recruitment program.
It was the Committee’s majority opinion that the psychological
approach had been wrong and had made many campaigns ineffective
because American women resented being urged to seek employment
by women volunteers who were not employed themselves; that labor
surplus areas where many women were asking for work had not been
reached; and that recruitment campaigns would not influence women
to leave their homes in really large numbers until they had assurance
that supplementary community adjustments in the form of child-care
centers and other community facilities would be provided, and also,
1" “Summary of Campaigns Conducted in 1942 for the Mobilization or Registration of Women." War
Manpower Commission. 1943.
11 jn retrospect these figures may be said to characterize a successful campaign for a first attempt with such
limited preparation and experience, although returns by no means met manpower needs at the time.

in some instances, until they had better assurance of employer
acceptance.
A minority of committee members interpreted the failure of local
campaigns as an indication that women were not interested in going
to work and that national legislation was needed to create authoriza
tion for the national over-all registration of women. In spite of the
minority’s opposition, the Committee agreed to support the War
Manpower Commission in a recruitment policy which would:
(1) Limit enrollment of women to labor shortage areas;
(2) Include provisions for the development of child-care and other
community facilities for working women; and
(3) Stress the need for full utilization of women workers already employed.

On December 3, 1942, the following motion was adopted:
. . . That the Women’s Advisory Committee concur in support of the
plan for enrollment of women on a local basis where area committees have
agreed that such enrollment is essential.

The principles established by the Women’s Advisory Committee
were included in a revised recruitment program of the War Man
power Commission, copies of which were distributed to United States
Employment Service local offices.
The Women’s Advisory Committee, wishing to support and help
implement the War Manpower Commission’s new policy on recruit
ment of women for industrial work, undertook a strong publicity cam
paign early in 1943. Chairman and members interpreted the facts
about womanpower needs to the public over the radio, through the
press, and through addresses to public groups, and the Subcommittee
on Public Relations began its work on the preparation of background
material.
Cooperation
The urgent need for the cooperation of local groups in
with, Women’s carrying out national recruitment plans was discussed
Organizaby the Women’s Advisory Committee at the end of
tions on
1942 and early in 1943. The members expressed a
Recruitment
keen awareness of the significant fact that women’s
organizations had broad experience in community
organization and could, therefore, if they were properly guided, be
of great assistance in local recruitment campaigns. In some com
munities, individual organizations had already participated for some
time in recruitment programs. Mrs. Dunbar, the local member from
Oregon and a past president of the General Federation of Women’s
Clubs, had personally organized a local joint committee of women’s
organizations which, she felt, had worked successfully for 9 months.
In addition, many individual women’s organizations had expressed
their desire to the Women’s Advisory Committee to be officially as
sociated with the Committee’s work. The members came to the
conclusion that a systematic attempt must be made immediately to
230400—53-------3

make use of women’s organization experience and desire to kelp but
that, in order to avoid misinformation and duplication of efforts, a
nationally coordinated program had to be developed. The Sub
committee on Public Relations was given the task of working on a
comprehensive program of cooperation. Special problems to be
solved included the selection of cooperating organizations and the
development of methods of cooperation between local and national
levels. Gradually, through consent and clearance of the subcom
mittee’s preparatory work with the entire Committee, the final pro
gram emerged and was put into operation.
Procedure The “Procedure” for cooperating on recruitment with
Developed women’s organizations, as developed and formulated by
the Public Relations Subcommittee in 1943, included the
following provisions: Recruitment campaigns were to be conducted
under local sponsorship and with full utilization of local resources,
such as available media of publicity (i. e., press, radio, theaters,
clubs, church groups, stores, etc.), as well as locally available data
which the United States Employment Service office and local indus
tries could furnish with regard to the manpower situation. The
establishment of basic policies, however, as well as the preparation
of information material, would be handled entirely on a national
level.
Informa- The printed informational material used by the Women’s
tional
Advisory Committee in this first major recruitment effort
Material was a bulletin called “The War Job Platform of American
Women.” In it the Women’s Advisory Committee at
tempted, with a minimum of patriotic-appeal arguments, to present
to the American woman the facts about work opportunities and
needs; put special stress on home-front jobs on a full-time or part
time basis; and redefined jobs in service industries, in nursing, in
public utilities and transportation, in social work, on the farm, and
even in the home (with its new responsibilities for food producing and
preserving) as “battle stations.”
Besides widely distributing its bulletin (either directly from the
Women’s Advisory Committee office or through the United States
Employment Service local offices) the Committee made use of the
Office of War Information, the national women’s press, and the radio
to inform women all over the country and especially those who had
not been reached by local campaigns, as to the industries and jobs in
which additional women workers were needed and on the kind of
work requirements and conditions which they could expect when
registering for work.

Selection of
The Women’s Advisory Committee decided that the
Cooperating
selection of local women’s cooperating organizations
Organizations should be based on criteria established by the respec
tive national organization headquarters. With a
transmittal letter signed by Miss Hickey, the Committee submitted
a statement to women’s organizations in which it urged the formation
of local joint committees with women’s organization affiliates. It
was further pointed out in the statement that, as soon as local com
mittees were established, they should exert pressure to have women
members appointed to the Area WMC Labor-Management Com
mittees. The Women’s Advisory Committee statement reempha
sized that all programs were to be drawn up in accordance with the
requirements of the individual community.
Local
During 1943, joint local committees of women’s orWomanpower ganizations were formed in a number of areas in the
Committees
country to work in cooperation with local offices of
the United States Employment Service on recruit
ment campaigns. Although the Employment Service offices carried
the major work of recruitment it was conceded that the local women’s
committees were helpful in obtaining public interest and in making
suggestions on sources of woman labor supply.
In 1944 Miss Hickey reported that, as a result of the cooperative
relationship, recruitment methods had improved and enrollment for
jobs had increased. There remained, however, some areas in which
no efficient effort had been made to recruit local women reserves into
the labor market.
Toward the close of 1944, the local committees still in existence but
not especially active were in the Ohio cities of Cleveland, Dayton,
Canton, Springfield, Cincinnati; in Kalamazoo, Mich., and in Louis
ville, Ky.
Recruitment As early as October 1942 the subject of recruitment of
jor Agriwomen for agricultural work was discussed by the
cultural
Women’s Advisory Committee as a special recruitment
Work
problem. Since male workers in increasing numbers
were drawn away from agricultural areas into industrial
work as well as into the armed forces, a critical farm labor shortage
was expected for the summer of 1943. It was pointed out that in
order to meet labor needs for both seasonal peak production and
year-round quotas, large numbers of women would have to be re
cruited. The Women’s Bureau through Miss Nienburg, Assistant to
the Director, urged, at the Committee meeting, the adoption of a
Federal program of guidance to which local requirements could be
adapted. Shortly afterwards the Women’s Bureau published a
policy statement on Wartime Use of Women on Farms.12
” cf- “ Guides for Wartime Use of Women on Farms,” Women’s Bureau Special Bull. 8, 1942. For basic
recommendations made by the Women’s Bureau, cf. p. 20.

In subsequent meetings the members discussed reports they had
received from their regions which seemed to indicate confusion
among farmers and a great diversity of individual local plans. Should
farm labor be frozen? Would imported labor be as useful for yearround farm work as it might be for seasonal peak production? Re
actions toward newly formulated “Land Army” plans were mixed.
Farmers’ wives voiced opposition against importing urban women
workers. The Women’s Advisory Committee Subcommittee on
Agriculture studied the situation and came to the conclusion that
farmers were in desperate need of a coordinated program if food
production were not to be jeopardized.
The subcommittee’s conclusions were formulated in a Recommen
dation to the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission (January
14, 1943) with the urgent request that the Commission assume the
responsibility for setting up an agricultural program to include the
utilization of women. The Committee further expressed the wish
to be consulted by the War Manpower Commission staff when draw
ing up plans.
In its statement, the Women’s Advisory Committee made the
same recommendations that the Women’s Bureau had made in its
policy statement on the Wartime Use of Women on Farms. The
major points covered were as follows:
(1) A list of special occupations in agriculture which can be performed
adequately by women.
(2) Possible local sources of woman labor supply.
(3) Standards for employment of women (wages, hours, insurance,
housing).
(4) Training and supervision recommendations.
(5) Recommendations for community facilities, especially child-care
facilities.

Local
In February 1943 the Women’s Advisory Committee
Agricultural supplemented its first policy statement on women in
Committees agricultural work with a statement aiming at imple
mentation. The Committee recommended that com
munity committees be established to organize a local program for
the recruitment, training, and placement of nonfarm workers to be
employed as farm labor. The Committee further suggested that
thought should be given to the creation of a formalized Women’s
Land Army. In March 1943, the Women’s Advisory Committee
made a direct appeal to local women’s organizations to cooperate
with United States Employment Service local offices or county agri
cultural agents on labor needs and to urge their members wherever
labor shortages existed to engage in farm work, either on a voluntary
or paid basis, or to take on supervisory work. Although there are
no reliable data available on the number of local committees formed,
the United States Department of Agriculture states that a consider
14

able number of committees developed and that many local women’s
organizations enrolled their members in farm-work programs in small
communities in the areas of greatest agricultural productivity.
Women’s In February 1943, the operating responsibilities for Farm
Land
Placement Service were delegated to the Extension Service
Army
of the United States Department of Agriculture, while
policies continued to be developed in the War Manpower
Commission. A “Women’s Land Army Division” was established
in the Federal Extension Office with Florence Hall as head. According
to a report by Miss Hall, about 2,000,000 women were placed in farm
jobs from the beginning of 1943 through 1945. The majority of the
women were used in peak seasonal work, but in 1944, 11,000 women
were placed for year-round work. Women’s organizations were well
alerted and cooperated actively from the first, and a great number
of local committees were formed immediately. However, it was found
in some instances that the community had been alerted and large
numbers of women enrolled for farm work before a real need for
additional farm labor was established. County agents and United
States Employment Service officials feared a negative effect on the
morale of rural communities from badly timed recruitment measures
and worked toward a better coordination of local labor supply and
demand. After the first rush, the formation of new committees was
discouraged to some extent.
In some States the Women’s Land Army supervisor was assisted
by a State advisory committee; on the national level Women’s Land
Army officials had the cooperation of a national advisory committee
of which Miss Hickey was a member.13
National Service Legislation

The Problem A review of the Women’s Advisory Committee policy
and action in the area of recruitment of women would
be incomplete without some consideration of the Committee’s position
with regard to national service legislation to control and direct the
wartime labor supply.
It was mentioned before that as early as October and December
1942, when current recruitment failures were discussed by the Women’s
Advisory Committee, several members had pointed out the need for
national service legislation. In February 1943 the issue was taken
up again, as the controversial Austin-Wadsworth Bill had just been
introduced.
Since the Women’s Advisory Committee members had not had
time to study the Bill, the discussion was mostly concerned with the
broad issue of whether compulsory measures should replace voluntary
methods of recruitment. It was the consensus of the group that the
“ Cf. "Women's Land Army," Extension Farm Labor Program, 1943-1944-1945, U. S. Department
Agriculture, 1945.

present manpower situation did not call for national service legisla
tion, a viewpoint that was shared by the Management-Labor Policy
Committee and many War Manpower Commission officials. Several
members argued that, if the manpower situation became so serious
that voluntary recruitment had to be abandoned, the method used
in Great Britain, an over-all emergency power act to be used if and
when needed, would be preferable to the Nation-wide registration
provided for in the Austin-Wadsworth Bill.
In September 1943 the War Manpower Commission representative
at the Women’s Advisory Committee meeting pointed out to the
group that because of serious lags in production due to manpower
shortage the issue of national service legislation was likely to be
revived. A discussion followed in which the members who were
opposed to legislation argued that the continuation of the voluntary
plan would be sufficient to solve labor-shortage problems if under
utilization of available manpower were corrected. Enforced recruit
ment without full utilization of workers would only increase the
existing waste of labor. Among the suggestions which the members
made for correction of under-utilization were the following: Transfer
of workers from luxury industries (examples quoted were manufac
turing of lipsticks and pocketbooks) into essential industries; employ
ment of women, of Negroes and especially Negro women in areas
where employers continued to discriminate against them; guarantee
of seniority rights to men eligible for induction into military service.
(Many men in the eligible group now preferred induction, through
which they did not lose seniority rights to their regular jobs, since
transfer into critical industries caused loss of seniority rights.)
The President, who had previously not taken a stand in the con
troversy, in his message on the State of the Union in January 1944
recommended the passage of a national service law. A second, re
vised Austin-Wadsworth bill was introduced and hearings in the
Senate began on January 12. Mr. McNutt testified in the Senate in
support of a national service act but stressed that a satisfactory job
had been done by voluntary methods.14 * Again the Women’s Ad
visory Committee discussed the issue of national service legislation.
It became apparent during this discussion that national service leg
islation was an issue on which the Women’s Advisory Committee
was clearly divided into two camps.16 In retrospect, it seems that
on no other issue discussed by the Women’s Advisory Committee was
14 Mr. McNutt, who was the chief proponent of a national service act, and other War Manpower Commis
sion officials who framed legislation were opposed to the Austin-Wadsworth Bill because it placed ad
ministrative responsibility for registration and selection of workers in the Selective Service System rather
than on the War Manpower Commission and United States Employment Service.
i* The Women’s Bureau Director was opposed to a draft of women for two basic reasons: The Bureau
did not consider that a real womanpower shortage existed but attributed the so-called shortage to under
utilization and unsatisfactory working and community conditions; also the Bureau regarded labor conscrip
tion as undemocratic. Cf. “Women at Work," op. cit., pp. 250-251.

there such a strong difference of opinion.16 The minutes show that
the Committee had planned to submit recommendations to Mr.
McNutt before his testimony in the Senate, but according to Miss
Hickey’s statement at a subsequent meeting no agreement could be
reached and no official statement was made, although Miss Hickey
informed Mr. McNutt unofficially of the difference of opinion among
the members.
Labor shortages were not critical in spring and summer 1944, but in
December 1944, after the German counteroffensive, production lags
again became apparent and military authorities blamed labor shortage
for it.17 President Koosevelt, in his State of the Union message in
January 1945 pressed for the second time the passage of a national
service act, and on January 16, 1945, the Committee had another
discussion regarding national service legislation. The earlier argu
ments for and against legislation were repeated and reemphasized,
but this time the majority were in favor of a national service act.
They pointed out that the President and his military advisers should
be supported in their request since they had stated that legislation
was unavoidable. They further argued that legislation would make
it possible finally to eliminate continued discriminatory practices on
the part of employers and would break down the persisting reluctance
of many women to go to work. Legislation would also furnish the
background to set up machinery for channeling labor into essential
industries, and it would provide the psychological stimulus which was
needed in order to end the war as soon as possible.
The minority reemphasized that no legislative measures would
improve the manpower situation as long as current labor supplies
were not fully utilized. They also stressed that use of compulsory
recruitment methods would be detrimental to the war effort because
greater cooperation of the people could be obtained with voluntary
methods.
Policy
The discussion led to a poll with eight votes in favor
Statement
of, and three against, legislation. The Committee is
on National sued a statement in favor of national service legislation.
Service
In this statement the Women's Advisory Committee
Legislation registered its opposition to any national service legisla
tion which would not include women as an integral
part of the labor force. The Committee recommended further with
regard to women to exempt women with children under 16 years
16 Women’s labor groups did not favor national registration for women, but several women’s civic organi
zations with a feminist program were articulate proponents of a draft of women. In the Korean war and
defense program, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women have again called for a
registration of women.
17 Cf. “United States at War,” op. cit., p. 452.

of age and not to establish an age differential between men and
women.18
Nothing ever developed as a result of this policy statement because
the proposal for a labor draft, which had been controversial since the
spring of 1942, finally died with the failure of the Austin-Wadsworth
bill to be reported out of Senate Committee in March 1944. From
this point onward, labor mobilization programs were continued on a
voluntary basis and the United States never reached the need for
conscription measures such as were adopted in Great Britain.
However, the main interest of a number of committee members in
a national service act at this time was to provide for the full inclusion
of women, as well as for their protection, if such an act were passed.
Therefore it cannot be said that all of those who favored Mr. McNutt’s
proposal for a labor draft were ardent protagonists for labor con
scription so much as for assuring that women were properly considered.
Some who voted in favor of labor draft had no strong convictions
about it; rather they felt it to be inevitable in the current situation.
Training

Training for The Committee’s considerations of recruitment probIndustrial
lems were closely related to the Committee’s approach
Work
to the question of training. From the first and with
the early support of the Women’s Bureau, the need
for training opportunities for women was recognized by the Women’s
Advisory Committee as an integral part of a womanpower program.
During the Committee’s discussion in October 1942 on basic policy
for women workers it was brought out that the majority of women
to be recruited for employment had never worked, had no knowledge
of the technical requirements of a job, and needed preemployment
training or training on the job if they were to be used effectively.
When the Women’s Advisory Committee developed its basic prin
ciples regarding the employment of women in the war, the Committee
recommended a policy under which women, on the same terms as
men, on the basis of ability only, and regardless of race, national
origin, or creed should be given training opportunities.
The Women’s Advisory Committee basic policy on training was
accepted by the War Manpower Commission in its own policy state
ment on Recruitment, Training and Employment of Women Workers
of October 17, 1942. At the same time, Miss Hickey, in a public
statement on training of women, recorded the special features of some
individual training programs in several parts of the country, but
especiallv on the west coast, and pointed out that carefully planned
i* The recommendations referring to both men and women included suggestions made by Committee
members, such as enforcement of removal of discriminatory practices on the part of employers and protection
of seniority and other rights of employees in cases of transfer. The Committee further recommended
penalties for those who would refuse to work or to engage in training for work; provision of transportation
and suitable working conditions and housing facilities for workers transferred from labor surplus to labor
shortage areas, and administrative responsibility to be placed with the Women's Advisory Committee.

training courses had reduced the time required for learning a job by
a considerable percentage.
Prior to the Women’s Advisory Committee emphasis on the need
for training opportunities for women workers, the Women’s Bureau,
and especially Miss Anderson, had appealed to manpower officials in
1942 to consider a training program for women workers. According
to the Bureau’s experience, in-plant training programs proved to be
a more acceptable method to employers than preemployment training
courses. Although employers agreed that preemployment helped
the new worker to acquire background knowledge and to choose her
future job more carefully than without any orientation, they claimed
that preemployment was wasteful because workers had to be re
trained in the individual plant where they accepted employment.
Most employers, as they changed from men workers to women
workers, proceeded with training programs of their own; however,
other employers cooperated with “Training Within Industry” pro
grams, which started in 1940.19
In January 1943, the Women’s Advisory Committee devoted the
major part of its meeting to a report on “Training Within Industry”
by War Manpower Commission staff, including a demonstration
lesson with illustrations from the Job Instruction Training Course;
but no action was taken by the Committee until October 1943 when
the Women’s Advisory Committee released a public statement by
Miss Hickey in support of the War Manpower Commission’s training
program. In this statement Miss Hickey stressed that women new
to any work experience not only needed training in skills but also
needed help in general adjustment to factory conditions and pro
cedures before they could be used effectively in production. As a
special program for women workers the Committee recommended the
following four phases of training:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)

Orientation and pre-production training.
On-the-job training under trained instructors.
Supplementary training for those who wished to increase their skills.
Re-training for transfers when needed by increased war production.

Training
jor Agricultural
Work

Since the Women’s Advisory Committee had been instrumental in arousing women’s organizations to set up local
agricultural committees to organize women’s participation
in farm work, it felt responsible for further suggestions
regarding training facilities. In February 1943 the
Committee recommended that the War Manpower Commission open
up training facilities in agriculture. It suggested especially that
schools and other agencies should be used to offer courses in handling
of machinery, animal husbandry, and in harvesting of crops. To
is “Training Within Industry” was a cooperative plan of management and labor within industry and was
designed to train new workers and re-train workers already employed for transfer to other jobs. A special
part of the program which became more important in 1943 was geared to the training of supervisory
personnel.
230400—53

-4

what extent the Women’s Advisory Committee recommendation
affected the development of agricultural training facilities is difficult
to ascertain. It may be assumed, however, that through its co
operation with women’s organizations and their local joint committees
the Women’s Advisory Committee was at least partly responsible
for the efforts of these committees to recruit women for local short
term training courses, such as one-day tractor schools. Miss Hickey
reported a month later to the Committee that a good start had been
made with local training plans. With a few exceptions no formal
training of women for agricultural jobs through facilities of schools
and colleges was provided. Farmers, like industrialists, preferred
to do their own “on-the-job” training.
Summary of Employment Policy

A summary of the basic principles of the Women’s Advisory
Committee policy on wartime employment of women is contained
in the Committee’s statement on Recruitment, Training, and Em
ployment of Women of October 1942 which recommended the
following:
(1) Removal of barriers by management and labor organizations to the
employment of women in any occupation for which they are or can be
fitted.
(2) Employment on the basis of qualifications for the job without regard
to race, national origin, or creed.
(3) Removal of upper age limits so that large numbers of older employ
able women could be brought into the labor market.
(4) Wages paid on the basis of work performed, irrespective of sex.
(5) Provisions for safety on the job.
(6) Safeguards for health of women workers through provision of
adequate medical service, 1 day of rest in 7, 8-hour shift, a maximum
48-hour week, scheduled rest periods and days, and adequate eating
facilities for each shift.
(7) Provision of counseling services to assist in the induction, integra
tion, and follow-up of the newly employed women workers.

The Women’s Advisory Committee’s basic recommendations re
garding employment of women were shortly afterward supplemented
by special recommendations for the employment of youth under 18.
The Women’s Advisory Committee recommended, also in October
1942, safeguards for their intellectual and physical development
through preserving and enforcing the existing school-attendance
laws and child-labor standards. In case of a severe emergency
and need for relaxation of such laws, the Committee urged observance
of minimum requirements with regard to physical and educational
standards.
The Women’s Advisory Committee’s basic principles regarding
employment of women and of youth under 18 in wartime were accepted
as national policy by the War Manpower Commission in October 1942
and January 1943, respectively.
20

Utilization and Job Adjustment

Throughout its existence, the Committee was strongly interested
in the problem of full utilization of womanpower, either through
bringing into employment untapped womanpower reserves or through
job adjustments for already employed women. However, in only a
few instances did the Committee follow up by special action its basic
recommendations with regard to employment and full utilization of
women war workers. Some of the problems involved were dealt with
in different contexts, as for example, the continuous discriminatory
practice of employers, which was discussed several times in connection
with national service legislation. Through its cooperative program
with women’s organizations and through personal contacts of members
in their regions the Committee maintained channels for publicity
aiming at local implementation of the basic policy. For action, the
Committee depended largely on United States Employment Service
offices.
Discrimi- With regard to discriminatory practices the Women’s
natory
Advisory Committee took the following specific action:
Practices In December 1942 an individual incident of racial dis
crimination was brought to the Committee’s attention.
The Committee voted to refer the case to the Fair Employment
Practices Committee of the War Manpower Commission. Late in
1943 the Committee became interested in reports that the Civil
Service Commission discriminated against women as candidates for
top executive positions in Government. The problem was discussed
at length, but a formal recommendation was postponed pending
further study. There is no evidence in the minutes or recommenda
tions of the Committee of any follow-up in this matter.
In August 1943, the Committee discussed the problems of another
special group of workers discriminated against by employers, the older
women, and passed a motion urging the War Manpower Commission
to continue emphasizing the need for increased utilization of older
women.20 In a public statement urging the increased utilization of
older women Miss Hickey pointed out at the same time that employ
ment of older women (from 50—70 years of age) had increased much
more slowly than that of men of the same age groups and that in
many areas the traditional upper age limit had been lifted for men,
but not for women. The Committee took no specific action on this
issue but requested a study on the employment of older women by
staff of the War Manpower Commission.
*° An interesting counterpart to this problem was brought out during the discussion in which members
stressed the need for additional public relations effort to break down indifference on the part of retired or
leisure-class women, as well as resistance of husbands against paid employment of their wives.

Wages The question might be raised as to why the Women’s Advisory
Committee did not concern itself to a greater extent with
and
Hours problems pertaining to wages and hours for women workers,
in spite of the fact that prewar standards were frequently
threatened by wartime relaxation practices. The answer to this
question lies partly in the fact that in a war economy regulation of
wages and hours becomes part of a national system of controls.
Although the Labor Department and its Bureaus, which were par
ticularly interested in maintaining prewar standards with regard to
hours and wages, never ceased to oppose extended relaxations, the
Committee may have felt that it was necessary to subjugate the
interests of special groups to the needs arising from the national
emergency.
All major policy statements adopted, both in the basic platform
and later in the postwar recommendations, included the principles of
equal pay and safeguards on hours of work. War Labor Board
decisions were reviewed for inequities, when the opportunity per
mitted, by the chairman herself, and special attention was given to
the equal-pay principle in union contracts.
The Committee’s focus on wages and hours differed from that of the
British women to some degree. Considerable attention was given in
Britain to the question of hours of work because of the nature of the
emergency which required the limit in manpower. British women
were also subject traditionally to far greater open discrimination in
wages than took place in the United States.
One full meeting of the Women’s Advisory Committee was devoted
to discussing the implications of the 48-hour week as introduced in
war plants in September 1943. The consensus was that there should
be no defined differentiation between the work of men and women so
that industrial assembly lines could be maintained without disrup
tion, and the Committee issued no recommendation on this increase
in hours.
Safety
Throughout 1943, as women workers in large numbers
and
entered employment which had formerly been considered
Medical “men’s” work, the Women’s Advisory Committee received
Services reports from War Manpower Commission staff and from
local committees on lack of adjustment of women workers
within the plants all over the country. Problems of safety had been
left largely to the individual employer’s initiative, and inspection
provisions were inadequate. In the fields of health, hygiene, and
nutrition, Federal agencies (United States Public Health Service and
the Nutrition Division of the Office of Defense Health and Welfare
Services) had given some consultation to State industrial hygiene
departments or individual employers, but no Federal agency had
supervisory power to act on a State or local level so that an uneven
program of in-plant facilities had developed. Of course, the Women’s
22

Bureau had given much consultation along these lines to employers
who took some initiative, and Bureau field agents visited over 500
plants during the war period for this, among other purposes.
In March 1943, in a basic policy statement on plant and community
facilities (which was forwarded to the War Manpower Commission,
incorporated into a Guide for Programs on Plant and Community
Facilities and Services, transmitted by the War Manpower Commis
sion to the field in October 1943) the Women’s Advisory Committee
expressed the need for the following provisions:
(1) That safety provisions be supplemented by adequate safety educa
tion.
(2) That adequate medical services should include first-aid and treat
ment facilities as well as necessary medical and professional personnel.

Physical
Examinations
for Shipyard,
Workers

When conditions in war plants, especially in the shipbuilding industry on the west coast where large numbers of women were employed for the first time, began
to cause heavy turn-over and absenteeism in the
spring of 1943, the Kaiser Shipbuilding Corporation
requested two staff members of the War Manpower Commission, Dr.
Sparks and Thelma McKelvey, to study conditions in their plants.
In June 1943 Miss Southall of the War Manpower Commission
staff, who had gone with Thelma McKelvey to the Kaiser plants,
reported to the Committee on the results of their inquiry, and in
accordance with the War Manpower Commission’s conclusions, the
Women’s Advisory Committee adopted unanimously a recommenda
tion to the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission requesting
him to urge the Shipbuilding Stabilization Committee of the War
Production Board to provide physical examinations for shipyard
workers, particularly women. The first recommendation was followed
up in August 1943 by another recommendation to the War Manpower
Commission requesting that the Committee be advised of further
action taken by the War Manpower Commission. The Women’s
Advisory Committee was informed that a letter from Mr. McNutt
transmitting the Women’s Advisory Committee recommendations
had gone to the Shipbuilding Stabilization Committee, had been
transmitted from there to Donald Nelson, Chairman of the War
Production Board, and was on the agenda at the Pacific Coast Zone
Conference. The Women’s Advisory Committee recommendations
were discussed by the Subcommittee on Health, Safety, and Sanitation
of the Pacific Coast Zone Conference in Seattle in November 1943
and were again placed on the agenda of the full Pacific Coast Zone
Conference in Portland in February 1944,21 but the result is obscured
by inadequate documentation.
11 Of. "History of the Women’s Advisory Committee,” War Manpower Commission, 1944. 5 pp. mimeo-

Maternity
Protection
Policy

At the February 1944 meeting the Committee heard
reports from staff members of the Children’s Bureau on
maternity problems of women workers in industry. The
Children’s Bureau had made a survey of 70 plants
employing a total of 250,000 women to study maternity provisions
and programs. The survey revealed that the usual practice was
termination of employment rather than maternity leave and that few
plants had any policy regarding prenatal care or selection of special
jobs to which pregnant women should be assigned. The Children’s
Bureau had published the results of the survey and outlined the
following provisions which should be part of a comprehensive ma
ternity policy:22
(1) Avoidance of penalizing regulations.
(2) Examination of women to determine continuation of employment.
(3) Job evaluation and transfer to other work.
(4) Periodic check-ups.
(5) Reasonable prenatal and postnatal leave.
(6) Cooperation of industry and unions to protect reemployment and
seniority rights of women on maternity leave.

The policy statement had been distributed to labor unions and to
industry. The Committee passed a recommendation to assist in the
distribution of the Children’s Bureau statement. In April 1944 Miss
Hickey reported that through the Committee’s efforts in distributing
the Maternity Policy Statement almost 4,000 copies had been sent
out within 1 month.
Absenteeism Throughout 1942, 1943, and 1944, as war production
and Turnneeds became more urgent, stabilization of labor
over Among became a major problem and manpower officials were
Women
increasingly interested in the causes of and remedies
Workers
for absenteeism and turn-over which developed into a
threat to the effort of meeting production schedules.
Pecommenda- It was recognized that absenteeism and turn-over were
tions jor
higher among women than men. The Women’s
In-plant
Advisory Committee took the point of view that the
Counseling
major cause for absenteeism of women workers lay in
the failure of communities to provide facilities to
assist the woman worker in her dual role of worker and homemaker,
but that maladjustment of the newly employed woman worker to
industrial life was another important cause. The Committee agreed
that counseling services in industrial plants would be instrumental
in accomplishing a better adjustment of women workers to employ
ment, in the improvement of efficiency and morale of women workers,
and in helping the reduction of absenteeism and turn-over.
a CJ. "A Maternity Policy for Industry,” U. S. Department of Labor, Children’s Bureau, 1943. This
statement, published by the Children’s Bureau, had been preceded by another statement, prepared jointly
by the Women’s Bureau and the Children’s Bureau: “Standards for Maternity Care and Employment
of Mothers In Industry,” July 1942.

Before the war some industries which employed women had provided
counseling services. Others introduced such services during the war as
they employed larger numbers of women or employed women for the
first time. Initiative in introducing a counseling service and selection
of counseling personnel was left entirely to the individual employer.
Up to 1943 the Women’s Bureau alone had been concerned with coun
seling services for women in industry; their recommendations were
available on request but had not been adopted as general policy.
The Women’s Advisory Committee had included in its original
policy statement on the employment of women a recommendation
regarding counseling service as a method of inducting, integrating,
and following up newly employed women workers. Throughout 1943,
the Committee collected factual material from the War Manpower
Commission and from community sources in the members’ regions
about individual attempts in industry to reduce absenteeism and
turn-over through the use of counseling. In December 1943 Miss
Hickey released a public statement in which she recommended wider
development of in-plant counseling services. Her recommendation
was illustrated by individual experiments in which the employment
of counselors had led to elimination of technical or morale problems
and had thus reduced absenteeism and turn-over. Miss Hickey
further made some basic recommendations regarding the areas in
which a woman counselor should be used, such as orientation, place
ment, safety, health, and clothing regulations, training, assistance to
workers with personal problems, and assistance to supervisory person
nel. In addition, standards for the selection of women counselors were
included in the statement. Miss Hickey stated that the key require
ment for a woman counselor was training in, and ability to deal in,
human relations rather than any specific experience in industry, which
could be acquired.
In the April 1944 meeting of the Women’s Advisory Committee the
item of women counselors in industry was on the agenda. Mrs.
Frances W. Trigg, Special Agent in War Production Training of
Women, Office of Education, discussed with the Committee certain
problems to be solved before counseling services in industry could
become fully effective. She reported that employers apparently had
failed fully to accept counseling service as an important function within
the plant. Many had chosen counselors from among friends of ex
ecutives, socially prominent women, social workers, in general only
women without industrial background.23 No special training for
counselors had been provided. The result, in many cases, had been
that women workers did not accept the counselors and that their
presence in the plants had remained ineffective. Furthermore, man
23 The lack of industrial background apparently was a more serious obstacle towards the acceptance of
counselors by workers than Miss Hickey assumed in her statement. Mrs. Trigg pointed out that coun
selors without any previous industrial experience did not speak the women workers’ language and found it
hard to establish rapport.

agement had failed, as a whole, to give the woman counselor the status
and authority necessary for the job.
During the discussion Committee members reemphasized their
belief in the effectiveness of carefully planned counseling services,
although they agreed that good personnel relationships and good
supervisors remained the most important factors in the attempt to
work toward stabilization of women’s employment. A member sug
gested that copies of a “Job Analysis for Counselors in Industry,”
which was in the process of preparation by the Office of Education,
should be disseminated through the American Management Associa
tion and the National Association of Manufacturers, particularly
since several committee members had personal contacts with those
groups.
Part-time The Women’s Advisory Committee’s interest in part-time
Work
work developed as an integral part of the Committee’s
preoccupation with the problem of the lack of full utiliza
tion of womanpower. In April 1943 the Committee had its first
discussion of part-time work. It was pointed out that large numbers
of workers, and especially women workers, could be made available
for employment in areas of critical labor shortages if employers would
cooperate in part-time arrangements. Committee members agreed
that many housewives who were unable to combine full-time employ
ment with their domestic responsibilities and women not fully em
ployed could be used for short periods during the day, or for several
days within a week, to share industrial jobs with other part-time
workers or to serve as relief for full-time workers, if employers could
be persuaded to make the necessary adjustments in plant organization.
At the Committee’s request, the War Manpower Commission had
prepared two reports on part-time work, one on past experience and
the other on the special problems arising from split-shift arrange
ments in industry,24 and Miss Anderson reported at the April meeting
of the Women’s Advisory Committee that the Women’s Bureau was
in the process of making a study of part-time work. The Women’s
Advisory Committee decided to postpone a policy statement of its
own until the Women’s Bureau study was ready for release, but they
reviewed Miss Anderson’s recommendations.
The Women’s Bureau recommended wider use of part-time em
ployment of women to increase war production, to avoid, if possible,
the extension of hours of regular women workers beyond 8 hours a
day or 48 hours a week; also for the purpose of meeting essential
civilian requirements and release at the same time some full-time
workers for war production industries; and especially to reduce ab
» Cf. "Review of Experience in the Use of Part-time Workers” and “Problems Incident to the Em,
ployment of Part-time Workers,” War Manpower Commission, Bureau of Program Planning and Review,
Washington, 1943.

senteeism of full-time workers through relief shifts.26 It was further
recommended in the Women’s Bureau statement that wage rates
and work conditions should be the same for part-time workers as for
full-time employees; that beginning and ending hours should be
adjusted to the needs of women with children of school age and that
women with children of preschool age should not be recruited.
In its statement released September 1943, the Women’s Advisory
Committee followed the Women’s Bureau recommendations and said
specifically that part-time arrangements should be introduced only
under the following circumstances:
(1) If the supply of full-time workers is inadequate.
(2) If untapped labor reserves, especially minorities, are fully utilized.
(3) If the alternative solution is to bring in workers from outside with a
heavy drain on available community facilities.
(4) If part-time arrangements are feasible in local plants.
(5) If wages, working conditions, health standards are the same as for
full-time workers.

As to the groups to be utilized in split-shift arrangements, Miss
Hickey pointed out in the policy release that housewives (if their
home schedules were given consideration), older men and women,
and persons not working a full 48-hour week would be the reserve
from which additional labor could be drawn.
On the whole, the part-time program was never popular with in
dustry in the United States. Even in Great Britain, which had a
much more critical manpower situation, employers did not accept
part-time employment on a wide scale.
Seniority In order to encourage voluntary transfers of skilled
Rights oj workers to essential industries, the President’s order of
Women December 1942 had established a guarantee that workers
Workers who were transferred would be permitted to return to
their peacetime jobs after the war without loss of seniority
rights. By mid-1943 the Women’s Advisory Committee became
interested in the effects of the seniority regulation on women workers
as it applied in the field of transportation.
Committee members discussed the situation in their August 1943
meeting on the basis of reports received from railroad yards and bus
companies. They had learned that men who precede women in
seniority were often transferred into jobs which were physically
lighter and better paid so that the women workers in the company
had to stay on heavier and less well-paid jobs, as for example intercity
bus drivers who had to load busses, change tires and find overnight
accommodations on the road. Light work, such as electrical work,
for which women would have been especially well suited, was fre
quently assigned to men with higher seniority. The question was
raised whether men should receive a “seniority bonus’’ if they per-28
28 “Part-Time Employment of Women in Wartime,” Women’s Bureau. Special Bull. 13, June 1943.
230400—53------ 5

formed equal work with women of lower seniority status. The result
of this discussion was a recommendation by the Women’s Advisory
Committee of August 13, 1943, in which the Committee formulated
the following policy with regard to seniority rights of women workers
in the field of transportation:
(1) All jobs that women can do should be open to women without
regard to seniority.
(2) If a man with “older” seniority rights bids on a job that a woman
can do and that a woman holds, he shall stay on his job if it is one
that only a man can do or shall be transferred to a similar job.
(3) Women are to be considered as “temporary” for the duration on
all jobs which are considered “men’s jobs.” On such jobs
women acquire seniority rights only among themselves.
(4) After the war, those women who stay on their wartime jobs shall
acquire the same seniority status as men, with seniority retro
active.

In addition it was reemphasized that this policy should not affect the
principle of equal pay. Apparently the Committee made no attempt
to follow up this recommendation.
Community Adjustments

The Women’s Advisory Committee gave a great deal of consider
ation to the question of community adjustment to women’s employ
ment as a means of maintaining full use of the womanpower reserve
and of protecting the long-range national interest.
The basic principle which underlies the Committee’s entire policy
in the field of child-care facilities was formulated in the Committee’s
original statement on the “Recruitment, Training, and Employment
of Women” of October 1942. This statement postulated that, in
order to protect the family group and to disrupt family life as little as
possible, the recruitment ot women with young children should be
postponed until all other local labor reserves were absorbed and that
community-sponsored, facilities for mothers of young children should be
provided if such mothers had to work. The War Manpower Commis
sion adopted the Women’s Advisory Committee recommendation and
incorporated it, in January 1943, in its “Amendment to Policy on
Employment in Industry of Women with Young Children.”26 Point
IV of the Statement says specifically:
Whenever it is found that women with young children are gainfully
employed in essential activities, or that the labor requirements of
essential activities have not been met after the exhaustion of all other
sources of labor supply and that to meet such requirements, women
with young children must be recruited, it is essential that:
(a) Such women be employed at such hours, on such shifts or on such
part-time schedules as will cause the least disruption in their family
life; and
» See “Manual of Operations,” War Manpower Commission, Title III, Section 2-2 (1).

(b) If any such women are unable to arrange for the satisfactory
care of their children during working hours, adequate facilities be
provided for the care of their children during working hours. Such
facilities should be developed as community projects and not under
the auspices of individual employers or employer groups.

Survey of In an effort to work toward implementation of basic
Existing
policy on community facilities, a subcommittee on ways
Child-Care and means was established immediately after the WomPrograms en’s Advisory Committee’s appointment. The sub
committee started its work with a survey of existing
child-care programs. In the field of community and child-care
facilities for women workers, a report was presented to the Committee
by Miss Anderson at a meeting in February 1943. The Women’s
Bureau had developed a program of cooperation on the question of
inadequate community facilities with the War and Navy Departments
as well as with the Wage and Hour Division. The Women’s Bureau
had further been requested by the War Manpower Commission to
cooperate with Dr. Taft, head of the Office of Defense Health and
Welfare Services on this problem. In response to this request, Wom
en’s Bureau field staff were making surveys in communities with
concentration of war workers where the lack of community facilities
was recognized as detrimental to production efforts; in addition they
served as consultants in such communities.27
At the meeting in February 1943 at which Miss Anderson gave her
report, the Subcommittee on Community Facilities also made its first
major report on day-care facilities for children of women workers.
The report disclosed a very complex situation.
At least six major Government agencies were engaged in indi
vidual day-care programs.28 The Committee’s consensus was that
the need for coordination was urgent. However, the Committee
decided against making recommendations as to the selection of any
particular Federal agency as coordinator of a day-care program. It
may be assumed that the Committee’s decision against a definite
recommendation was based partly on the consideration that the
problem of child-care facilities was peripheral to its major task,
which was the full mobilization of womanpower, and should remain
the major responsibility of agencies directly concerned with child
care; it may also be that the Committee thought it unwise and
The results of these surveys in 37 war-industry communities were published as Special Bull. 15, “Com
munity Services for War Workers,” Women’s Bureau, February 1944.
28 The Office of Defense Health and Welfare Services (WMC), the U. S. Office of Education, the Chil
dren’s Bureau, the Federal Works Agency, the Office of Civilian Defense, and the Works Project Admin
istration.

beyond its advisory function to become actively involved in the ju
risdictional conflicts of agencies interested in day-cere programs.29
Recommenda- The Women’s Advisory Committee formulated its
tions on
own recommendations to the War Manpower ComCommunity
mission on community facilities policy in March 1943,
Facilities
based on the Women’s Bureau study of 37 war-produc
tion communities. The Women’s Advisory Com
mittee recommendations called for:
(1) Adequate medical and sanitary conditions (in communities with work
ers in war production and essential civilian services).
(2) Expansion and adaptation of eating facilities (in communities
with concentration of war workers).
(3) Expansion and adaptation of school facilities, provision of ade
quate number of qualified teachers.
(4) Child-care provisions in form of nurseries, extended school pro
grams, daily foster-home care, homemaker service, supervised
playground facilities.
(5) Adult recreation facilities.
(6) Adjustment of shopping facilities in accordance with work hours
and plant locations.
(7) Opening up of community counseling and information services to
help the in-migrant workers and their families orient themselves in
and adjust to the community.

During the discussion of the draft, several committee members
pointed out that the need for immediate implementation was urgent
and that additional recommendations regarding machinery for ex
ecution of the policy were indicated. However, another group of
members maintained that implementation would be the operating
agency’s (i. e., the War Manpower Commission’s) responsibility.
The Committee compromised on making a strong statement to the
War Manpower Commission as to its responsibility for prompt
implementation of the policy. The Committee further passed
a motion to the effect that, if the Women’s Advisory Committee
recommendations were accepted by the War Manpower Commission,
the policy statement should be widely disseminated; if, however, the
Women’s Advisory Committee recommendations were not to be
accepted, they should, nevertheless, be widely publicized as the
Women’s Advisory Committee policy. In October 1943, the Com
mittee’s recommendations were included in the War Manpower
Commission’s “Guide for Programs on Plant and Community
Facilities and Services” and the Guide was distributed through War
Manpower Commission field offices.
In accordance with the Committee’s decision in March 1943 to
21 The Federal Works Agency was administering funds which had been made available in 1942 for child
day-care centers from appropriations under the Community Facilities Act of June 1941 (Lanham Act).
The FWA used the former WPA child-care facilities without regard to plans for day-care facilities on a
State and local level which the Children’s Bureau was working on jointly with the U. S. Office of Educa
tion after receiving $400,000 from the President’s Emergency Fund in August 1942.

refrain from making recommendations on implementation of basic
policy on community facilities, the Committee subsequently did not
make any systematic attempt to work further at getting action on
this problem. It did, however, continue to reemphasize, through
repeated formal recommendations, the War Manpower Commission’s
responsibility and the urgent need for implementation.
Special
A test case arose when the Kaiser Shipbuilding plant
Action on received, in May 1943, an appropriation of a million and
Day-Care a half dollars from the Maritime Commission to set up
Centers
child-care centers. The Women’s Advisory Committee
was unanimous in considering this event a profound break
with national policy as enunciated by the War Manpower Commission
and based on Women’s Advisory Committee recommendations. The
Committee had strongly recommended that a program for child-care
facilities should be developed and that such child-care facilities
should be sponsored by the community, not by the individual em
ployer. When the Committee learned of the allocation of funds to
the Kaiser Corporation, a memorandum protesting this action was
sent to Mr. McNutt who, in turn informed Mr. Kaiser and the
Maritime Commission of the reaction by the Women’s Advisory
Committee. The allocation of funds could not be annulled. Mr.
Kaiser had received the funds. However, he assured the War
Manpower Commission chairman that the project would be handled
through community facilities. The Women’s Advisory Committee
protest further resulted in a statement from the War Production
Board that no grants of this kind would be given to any other employer,
until the Kaiser plan had been tried. There is no evidence of any
other identifiable allocation of government funds to private employers
for the purpose of setting up day-care centers.30
It is interesting to note further reports in connection with the
Kaiser incident. In April 1944 Mrs. Dunbar, the west coast member
of the Committee, reported in committee meeting that the Kaiser
center was under-utilized to such an extent that the company was
now accepting children of working fathers. The greatest obstacle
to greater utilization of the center appeared to be the transportation
of the children. Other committee members and War Manpower
Commission staff members pointed out that, in general, the public’s
acceptance of day-care facilities was slow, not only because of poor
location and transportation problems, but also because public opinion
continued to associate day-care services with charity and socialwelfare programs.
so There is, however, evidence that a number of other employers were allocated money, in the “cost-plus’*
part of the defense contract, for the purpose of establishing child day-care facilities or other community aids
to war production. The extent to which this was done has not been estimated.

Shopping After the 48-hour week was introduced reports came in
Facilities from War Manpower Commission regions to the effect
that storekeepers did not make a sufficient effort to adjust
store hours to women’s work hours. The Women’s Bureau was also
concerned about the disruptive effect on employed women of inade
quate shopping facilities and issued, in May 1943, a policy statement
in which it was urged that shopping facilities must be provided if
women workers’ efficiency was to be maintained and if turn-over and
absenteeism were to be avoided. The Women’s Bureau recommended
that retail and service establishment hours should be adjusted to
work hours. The Women’s Advisory Committee recommended that
the War Manpower Commission support the Women’s Bureau state
ment and the War Manpower Commission accepted this recommen
dation and included the Women’s Bureau recommendation for the
adjustment of store hours in its field instructions.
Throughout the war, shopping problems of women war workers,
as well as housing, transportation, in-plant, and other community
facilities problems, were never satisfactorily solved in a general way
although some individual communities found solutions to some aspects
of the entire problem. However, early in 1944, a War Manpower
Commission staff member reported to the Women’s Advisory Com
mittee that the dissemination of the War Manpower Commission
community facilities program through the local offices had been
effective in easing some of the community facilities problems. One
instance was cited in which absenteeism had decreased from 13 to 3
percent within 1 month after shopping facilities had been provided.
Educational
Reports from the regions alerted Committee members
Opportunities to the growing shortage of teachers, especially in rural
communities. The lack of qualified teaching staff
combined with the overcrowding of physical facilities in war-produc
tion centers caused the Women’s Advisory Committee to pass a
motion on June 16, 1943, calling the attention of women’s groups to
the growing shortage of teachers in rural schools and urging them to
lend their assistance toward averting a critical situation during the
coming school year. In December 1943 the Women’s Advisory Com
mittee requested the War Manpower Commission Chairman to urge
the War Production Board to review and relax restrictions on mate
rials for the construction of school buildings. There is, however, no
indication that either of the two motions was followed up by the
Commission.
Reconversion Adjustments and Postwar Planning

As early as May 1943, when the Committee was confronted with
many current problems that needed immediate attention, members
began nevertheless to include postwar problems in the agenda. Post
war planning was considered by the Women’s Advisory Committee
32

as essential, not only as an integral part of any long-range planning,
but as a means of intensifying the war effort. In working and fighting,
people must be sustained by thoughts of the peace to come, according
to the Committee’s belief.31
In December 1943 the Committee released a public statement in
which it dealt with postwar problems as they concern women workers.
The statement called for continuation in the postwar period of the
Women’s Advisory Committee basic policy on the employment of
women workers, especially for sustained effort to remove all barriers
by management and labor unions to the employment of women in
occupations for which they are, or can be suited; for the admittance
of women to training programs on equal basis with men; and for
equal wages. The Committee added a warning, addressed to those
who believed that all women war workers would return to their
homes after the war. The statement says:
. . . but any easy assumption that a great number of women will return
to their homes is to be seriously questioned. Almost 14,000,000 working
women are not newcomers to the labor force. The number of women
who want and need to work has increased enormously during the war.
There will be an even higher proportion of unmarried women in our
population. There will be hundreds of thousands of women who must
accept the permanent function of breadwinner because of the loss of
husbands in the war. And there are the women who have adjusted
their family life and found a new, often hard-won economic status,
which they do not wish to lose.
Prospects for job security and other new job opportunities after the
war are as important to these women as to men. Furthermore, no
society can boast of democratic ideals, if it utilizes its womanpower in
a crisis and neglects it in peace.

By unanimously passed motion at the December 1943 meeting,
the Committee submitted the statement to Mr. McNutt with the
request to submit it to Bernard M. Baruch, Chairman, Advisory
Unit for War and Post-War Adjustment Policy in the Office of War
Mobilization. On December 31, 1943, Mr. McNutt transmitted the
statement to Mr. Baruch.
Some problems, essentially postwar- or reconversion-connected,
became acute a considerable time before the end of hostilities. For
example, the problem of the separation of women from war jobs was
serious long before the end of the war. Early in 1944 the Committee’s
discussions revealed concern about the social and economic effects of
current lay-offs of women workers. Large numbers of women were
being prematurely dismissed from plants throughout the country in
a spirit of “the war is in the bag.” The Committee felt keenly that,
in view of probably much greater numbers of separations at the end
of the war, it was necessary to form a basic policy as early as possible.
Similarly, the Women’s Bureau staff had begun to gather data on postwar problems and to think
about the implications of transition. See Special Bull. 18, “A Preview as to Women Workers in Tran
sition from War to Peace,” issued March 1944.

The recommendations which the Women’s Advisory Committee made
to the War Manpower Commission on February 16, 1944, for adoption
of a basic policy on the withdrawal of women from industry were as
follows:
(1) Provision for counseling service in industry on:
(a) Other job opportunities in the community;
(b) retraining programs;
(c) social-security rights.
(2) Humane treatment of separations, through early notice.
(3) First groups to be laid off: Split-shift workers and youth.
(4) Women workers who wished to return to their homes after the war to
be urged to resign voluntarily.
(5) Separation procedure to be developed under consideration of the
following criteria:
(a) skill necessary on job;
(b) seniority on the job;
(c) dismissal pay based on length of service.

Both the statement that went to Mr. Baruch and the statement
on lay-offs of women in industry were widely distributed by the
Committee.
In June 1944 the chairman of the Women’s Advisory Committee
dissolved the Subcommittee on Post-War Planning as such, increased
the membership of the Public Relations Subcommittee, and merged
the work assignments of both. The new committee retained the
title of Public Relations Subcommittee, and Bess Bloodworth, the
original chairman of the Public Relations Subcommittee, continued
to serve. From then on the subcommittee concentrated its efforts
to a large extent on the development of a comprehensive policy state
ment regarding women in the postwar world. The formal policy
statement was published in April 1945 and related to the status of
all women, whether gainfully employed or engaged in homemaking.
The statement refers to three groups of women and embodies the
following principles:
(1) For women who work in their homes, the following recommendations—
Extension of social-security provisions benefiting the family.
Federal aid to education to equalize educational opportunities;
16-year age limit; and creation of the post of Secretary of Educa
tion in the Cabinet; stress on vocational and adult education
program.
Development of low-cost housing program.
Development of an adult-education program in nutrition.
Development of a nursery-school program.
(2) For women who work outside their homes, the following recommen
dations—
Expansion for women of existing training programs and in-plant
facilities.

Responsibility for "cushioning” separation effects to rest with the
United States Employment Service to make possible a minimum
of dislocation and suffering; to be implemented by provision of

adequate staff and finances, and by appointment of advisory
committees of men and women at every level;
Continuation of part-time arrangements to meet the work require
ments of special groups of women, e.g., wives of disabled vet
erans, wives with children who need additional income to meet
the higher cost of living.
(3) For women in household employment, the following
recommendations—
Inclusion of household employees under the social security act,
workmen’s compensation laws, minimum wage and hours laws;
standards as to hours, vacations, sick leave, living arrangements.

Evaluation of the Committee's Work
Introduction

Conclusions about the Committee's limitations and achievements
can be drawn from several sources: What the Committee members
thought about their own efforts and contributions, both during its
existence and in retrospect; how persons in the agency to which they
were attached regarded their achievements; and the record of their
accomplishment, as far as it can be traced in the absence of detailed
and contemporaneous documentation, which was not provided either
in the minutes of the Committee or in the annals of the War Man
power Commission and other cooperating agencies.
In addition, an advisory group must be evaluated in relation to
the appointing agency, since its scope, function, program, and the
way in which it is used are dependent extensively upon the agency
it serves. The recognition of this fact is inescapable and provides a
reasonable measure of performance, since it imposes equally certain
responsibilities on both the agency and the advisory group. Theo
retically, and regardless of pressures and circumstances, the appoint
ing agent should determine conclusively the need for an advisory
group, be able to establish a clear-cut set of objectives, arrange for
appropriate consideration of reports and recommendations, and be
competent to appraise the recommendations. What action shall
be taken upon recommendations is the final responsibility of the
appointing agent, and the advisory group must be prepared to work
on this basis, as any staff group. It must also understand fully
the objectives of the agency it advises, accept the directives given
to it, and within this framework develop its method of operation
and become productive.
An advisory group which is selected from among various affilia
tions and sets of experience, and whose members may have special
interests, must learn to work, in as short a time as possible, as a homo
geneous group. Without the day-to-day contact on the job, some
burden is therefore imposed by the necessity of members to acquire
sufficient technical data to give them background and focus and to
enable them to develop a common basis of communication. On

the other hand, there is an advantage in their partial detachment:
They should be able to bring considerable objectivity to the tasks
at hand.
Regardless of the adequacy of working relationships and the
clarity of purpose of all involved, there are still external factors,
particularly in large governmental agencies with complex inter
relationships, that can affect the functioning and productivity of
the advisory group beyond its control and beyond the control of
the appointing agency within the time limits demanded by operating
problems.
It is not feasible, and probably not practical, to attempt a detailed
analysis of all the factors present in the external situation which
may have affected the work of the Women’s Advisory Committee,
but the most obvious factors, for which positive documentation
exists, will be taken into consideration.
Finally, it is not the purpose of this report to appraise the col
lective or individual competence of the committee members or of the
War Manpower Commission; nor would this serve any useful end.
Conclusions are drawn along broad lines, and against accepted stand
ards for administrative procedure, with full recognition of the dis
crepancies between theory and practice in all human organizations.
An examination of the area of discrepancy is the justifiably recurrent
task of those who continue to work collectively with the forms
provided for getting things done in a complex and democratic society.
It is hoped that this examination of the machinery affecting one
segment of the gigantic manpower program of World War II may
reveal, at least, some experience that can serve as partial check-list
guidepost, or area for further exploration to those who carry on the
program in a parallel situation.
Limitations and Organization Problems

No formal self-appraisal was made by the Committee
at any time, but their minutes record considerable
evidence of concern about the results of their labor.
They seemed to be well aware of their advisory char
acter and the limitation it imposed. In fact, several
of the members approached the job of committee membership “with
tongue in cheek,” as one of them put it subsequently, wondering if
there were a real place for such a group and whether their delibera
tions and conclusions would find the appropriate channels for expres
sion and action, particularly in view of the unfavorable administrative
attitude demonstrated up to the time of appointment toward accept
ance of women at top advisory levels. Thus forearmed, they checked
repeatedly upon the policy or action recommended on a specific
topic to determine whether anything had been done toward imple
mentation.

From the
Committee’s
Point of
View

By the spring of 1943, a feeling of frustration had developed among
Committee members concerning the apparent tabling or filing of the
reports which they forwarded to the War Manpower Commission.
This feeling, together with the still-unresolved problems of community
provisions for day care of children for employed women resulted in
issuance of a special invitation to Mr. McNutt for full discussion of
both the general lack of progress which caused them some anxiety,
and the urgent day-care problem before them.
Mr. McNutt appeared at the Committee meeting of May 12, 1943,
and was presented with the situation regarding day care as an example
of delay on recommendations. It was pointed out that the Commit
tee had urgently advocated community-sponsored child-care facilities,
but that no program had been developed to date. In addition, the
Women’s Advisory Committee recommendation that older and single
women should be employed before women with children under 14,
unless adequate child-care and community-facilities programs were
developed, had been ignored. As a result of lack of adequate Gov
ernment or community interest in facilities problems, employers
felt that they had to take matters into their own hands. In the
Kaiser case, for example, 500 children at the age from 6 months to
6 years had to be accommodated in company-sponsored day-care
centers32 and, because of the lack of community facilities and espec
ially of child-care facilities, absenteeism and turn-over of women had
increased all over the country in industries employing large numbers
of women workers. This tended to make employers antagonistic
toward women workers and had increased employers’ reluctance
fully to utilize the available woman-power reserve.
During the conference with Mr. McNutt, several committee mem
bers, in order to express most strongly their criticism of the ineffectual
status they felt the Committee had within the War Manpower Com
mission, compared their own status to that of the ManagementLabor Policy Committee, which, they stressed, had definite authority
and effect on War Manpower Commission policy and operations.
Mr. McNutt, in his answer, pointed out that Miss Hickey’s lack of
full membership on the Management-Labor Policy Committee was
only a formality and that, actually, she had frequently influenced the
Management-Labor Policy Committee in a most constructive way.
However, the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission did not
yield to the request of the Women’s Advisory Committee for more
authoritative representation. The Committee requested (in view of
the fact that now 16 million women were employed in industry) that
Miss Hickey be appointed as a voting member to the ManagementLabor Policy Committee 33 and that qualified women be appointed to* 83
M See p. 81.
83 Miss Hickey had been excluded a few days earlier from an emergency meeting of the ManagementLabor Policy Committee, an incident which roused the Committee and may have been instrumental in
crystallizing the Committee's review of its own function and status.

regional management-labor committees not supplemental to, but on
the same level as, men. While Mr. McNutt, in an unofficial conver
sation with Miss Hickey, appeared to approve of the appointment of
qualified women to the Management-Labor Committee, he formally
refused to make appointments on any level, explaining that he could
not change the established membership of the Management-Labor
Committee.
At the next meeting of the Women’s Advisory Committee the War
Manpower Commissioner explained in great detail the “staff” and
“line” principles of organization under which the War Manpower
Commission was set up in order to justify his refusal to appoint
women members to management-labor committees on any level.
Women’s activities, according to the War Manpower Commission,
should be integrated in total policy-making, but the solution of
problems through program-making was the responsibility of operating
officials. In conclusion, Mr. McNutt stated that the Women’s
Advisory Committee might make general manpower policy sugges
tions as well as recommendations concerning women in particular,
but that before issuance of orders and specific programs the Com
mittee’s approval was needed only on women. The gains from this
effort of the Committee to obtain an identifiable voice in planning
were mainly those of mutual clarification of roles. Specific questions,
like the day-care problem, seem to have been lost in the temporarily
debated issue of relationship of the Women’s Advisory Committee to
the Management-Labor Policy Committee and the relationship, in
general, of advisory groups to an administrative body. In addition
to having the air cleared generally, Miss Hickey felt that the two
conferences had led to better understanding, and the War Manpower
Commission did agree to review the Committee’s recommendations
directly instead of having them submitted first to the ManagementLabor Policy Committee, which had been the practice up to this
time. On the other hand, Mr. McNutt apparently had felt it neces
sary to explain in detail the staff-line relationship and some of the
formal mechanics of procedure which the Committee was not aware
of to the same degree.
Another basic limitation which the Committee felt was the absence
of technical assistance or staff of its own. The Women’s Bureau and
the technical staff of the War Manpower Commission were busy with
full work programs of their own. One case in which this was keenly
felt by committee members grew out of a report, at their June 1943
meeting, on the manpower situation on the west coast. A member
of the War Manpower Commission staff described the situation as
follows: Employers were forced now to accept women workers but
were shocked by the high incidence of absenteeism and turn-over;
the question was, what methods should be used to stabilize this
situation? The members suggested a study to find out whether
38

there was any correlation between irregularities in women’s employ
ment and the adequacy of community facilities. They thought that
exit interviews and polls should be conducted by a group of profes
sional workers. When the discussion led to the conclusion that
the only staff available would be from the United States Employment
Service (whose activities had become less burdensome with the
exhaustion of labor reserves) War Manpower Commission officials
explained that appropriation cuts made this solution impossible.
The chance to make a significant study of causes of employment
instability and under-utilization of women workers was lost at this
particular time. The various implications of the Committee’s need
for more technical assistance were to be discussed later. There is no
record of consideration of alternatives to this limitation on the part
of the Committee.
Problems of staff and time, however, were raised in several other
connections by the Committee. The heavy workload of preparing
for, and reporting upon, all meetings, was carried by Miss Hickey
and the subcommittee chairmen. Apparently the War Manpower
Commission was not able, in the emergency, to provide adequate
assistance in the preparation of advance materials and the gathering
of data. To what extent the committee members would have made
use of advance preparation, or study between meetings is, as with all
such committees, an open question.
Finally, the problem of official representation of women to a rea
sonable degree, at all levels, was one which the Committee felt as a
limitation from its origin until its last meeting; this problem was, of
course, interrelated with the entire pattern of administrative proce
dure as well as traditional attitude. Fuller participation of women
on the Management-Labor Policy Committee could have opened the
door to participation at the local level, but it cannot be stated with
complete certainty that traditional attitudes provided the sole or
greatest obstacle when some of the organizational factors are exam
ined. Nevertheless, the Women’s Advisory Committee sought and
found some alternatives to limited participation on the appropriate
official levels.
Several
On program, it is believed by some reviewers in retrospect
Outside
that a good opportunity was overlooked by the Committee
Opinions to gather more data and develop important information on
the subject of equal pay, since this was a period in which
women were entering the labor market to an unprecedented degree
and performing many jobs held before almost exclusively by men.
There is evidence that discriminatory pay and work opportunity
practices did exist; the issue of equal pay and its corollary, equal
opportunity, may have helped to create obstacles to the fullest pos
sible integration of womanpower at a time when the labor supply was
most critical. Although the Committee embodied the equality prin

ciple in all of its basic policy and program releases, there was com
paratively little emphasis on equal pay.
Similarly, the question of equal opportunity appeared once or twice
on the agenda for specific discussion, but was dropped in favor of
more pressing matters and also because of the absence of data.
In extenuation of the Committee it must be pointed out that the
dilemma which employed women face ordinarily is never so sharp as
in time of labor shortage in a national crisis, which creates, on the
one hand, the proper conditions for removal of discriminatory employ
ment practices and which, on the other hand, imposes a situation
upon women in which they are required to meet suddenly an arduous
test of adaptability to new environments and versatility in carrying
the two roles of employee and homemaker. Given the opportunity
for the test, women are wary of attracting unpopular attention to
issues in their own behalf. This consideration, and the fact that
there was so much to accomplish in so little time, on the total womanpower mobilization, undoubtedly account for the lack of emphasis
on the question of equal pay.
WMC
There is no written record of War Manpower Commission
Attitude appraisal of the Committee’s limitations, and indeed very
little concerning its achievements. Since limitations are
under consideration, however, it will round out the story to include
observations in retrospect about the Committee of some of the officials
who were at the top administrative level in the War Manpower Com
mission and who maintain a continuing interest in favor of women’s
advisory services in connection with the manpower program. After
6 years, these comments, in the nature of general impressions, relate
mainly to the atmosphere into which the Women’s Advisory Com
mittee stepped at its first meeting.
There was a difference of opinion between the Director of the
Women’s Bureau and the representatives of some, but not all, women’s
civic groups as to the method of participation of women, but all
agreed that the extent of staff participation of women, on women’s
special problems, within the War Manpower Commission organiza
tion was inadequate. At least three identifiably different points of
view on method of using women advisers wore recognized early by
manpower planners in the Department of Labor and later by the
War Manpower Commission as well. There is no doubt that each
point of view was represented with considerable persistence, and in
the climate of war crisis it was easy for men in the administration to
evade the pressures or dismiss the requests for action as unnecessarily
feminist, thus reacting in accordance with tradition. Many informal
as well as official conferences took place concerning the method of
women’s participation, and in the process there was probably no agent
or agency representing women which was not questioned or unfavor
ably criticized as to competence and objectives, either by hard-pressed
40

administrative officials or by the various women’s representatives who
defended their own separate proposals and who, it must be admitted,
were each as biased in their own favor as many other organizations
fired with patriotism and anxious for recognition. Whether women
react more emotionally than men in this kind of situation is less
important to administrators than to students of human behavior;
the fact is that women, like other groups which have a minority role
at any given time, are likely both to use defensive tactics and to
become more vulnerable to biased criticism. There is no doubt, ac
cording to lasting impressions of War Manpower Commission con
temporaries, that the attitude toward women’s participation was
negative at the time of the appointment of the Women’s Advisory
Committee, as a result of pressures, counter pressures, traditional
behavior patterns, and the inability to unite for a common purpose
in which all parties concerned must share responsibility.
Let it be said in favor of the Women’s Advisory Committee that
many of its members were not unaware of the emotional climate sur
rounding their initiation into manpower planning; some had decided
misgivings, but the group managed to dissolve their fears in recogni
tion of the larger job to be done. It took 7 months, however, from
October 1942 to May 1943, before the War Manpower Commission
and its staff advisers on women’s problems sat down to consider the
problem of how to improve communication.
External Only the most significant and traceable factors which
Factors affected the work of the Women’s Advisory Committee are
to be taken into consideration in this brief review. This is
done with due appreciation for the arduous tasks which all persons
faced in the manpower organization. Nor is it within the scope of
this report to include an analysis of over-all policy and program in
which every staff and line group or official participated. So that the
conclusions drawn may be related in proper perspective it seems
appropriate to preface them by an observation on the larger program,
made in the Bureau of the Budget’s historical review of this period:
The Nation’s management of its war tasks was not ... a smooth, unin
terrupted, undeviating progress toward unchanging objectives . . .
The immediate objectives were highly flexible and the execution of the
program was changeable, at times hesitant and uncertain. This had
to be. The tasks were unique, the problems not well understood, the
resources not well inventoried, the necessary objectives not always
clearly visualized, the methods to obtain them untried ... 84

There was, then, the war itself which provided an unprecedented
situation in manpower planning, and within this framework, the use
of women in the manpower program to an unusual degree and in
tradition-breaking patterns. Nevertheless, several questions may
be asked in accordance with the responsibilities imposed upon the
" "The United States at War," p. 506. Bureau of the Budget, 1946.

principal manpower organization for the use of women advisers in
this period: (1) Was the need for a Women’s Advisory Committee
clearly established? (2) Did the terms of appointment specifically
set forth objectives for the Committee? (3) Was the organization
plan for use of women’s advisory services appropriate to the need
and practical for getting policy into operating channels ?
The need for counsel on women’s problems was recognized in the
early organization of the War Manpower Commission by the appoint
ment of one woman staff consultant to the Director of the United
States Employment Service in 1941 and, in 1942, a woman to the
staff of the War Manpower Commission. Later another woman staff
consultant to the War Manpower Commission was appointed on a
part-time basis. Meanwhile there had taken place, beginning in 1940,
the several conferences between the Director of the Women’s Bureau
and the National Defense Advisory Commission, and also conferences
in 1942 with Mr. McNutt, about the appointment of women to the
Management-Labor Policy Committee. Between 1940 and 1942 var
ious women’s organizations had requested the appointment of women
advisers in the manpower program, and as previously observed,
several different groups and officials, not all in agreement as to the
kind and extent of women’s representation, had made themselves
heard. It is the general opinion of War Manpower Commission
contemporaries, that the chairman was not firmly convinced of the
necessity for having a Women’s Advisory Committee when he ap
pointed it in August 1942, but that he had yielded to general pressures
and recommendations.
Further, there were some doubts and uneasiness concerning what
was then regarded as a developing attitude of militancy or a crusading
spirit on the part of women leaders, especially in view of an unfortu
nate experience that the War Manpower Commission had at the outset
in all-out recruitment-for-women-workers campaigns in several areas
too far in advance of need, producing strained relations between em
ployers, job applicants, the public, and the United States Employ
ment Service. It was felt in some quarters that this early experience
in overextended recruitment had been pressed by too zealous women’s
staff advisers.35 Responsibility for the badly timed program rested
upon the War Manpower Commission, and it cannot be positively
stated, in retrospect, whether it was a matter of inadequate super
vision, inadequately trained staff, the misguided enthusiasm of one or
two women’s advisers, or whether it could be charged to the general
confusion and haste attendant upon a complex and newly established
» Based on interview with Richard D. Fletcher, Assistant Chief, United States Employment Service,
who was wartime staff assistant in WMC.

organization in which the line-staff functions had not yet been crystal
lized nor the channels of communications wholly identified. Never
theless, the tendency to prejudge women as administrators and ad
visers, on the basis of one unhappy experience, emerged to cloud the
atmosphere in which the Women’s Advisory Committee was appointed.
Concerning the terms of appointment, Point 4 of WMC Adminis
trative Order No. 22 is quoted again:
The Women’s Advisory Committee is authorized to consider and
recommend to the chairman of the War Manpower Commission matters of
major policy concerning the activities and responsibilities of the
Commission, particularly as they affect women and the contribution
women can make in the successful prosecution of the war. The Com
mittee shall initiate studies and the formulation of policies, as well as
consider those referred by the chairman.

The first sentence is very comprehensive and certainly instructs the
Committee that its role is in the area of major policy. The second
sentence includes the initiation of studies, and this becomes a matter
for discussion. Whether the Committee was to have technical
assistance to make studies or whether it would have direct relation
ship with those agencies whose normal function it was to make studies
is not clear. At this point, the question may first be raised as to
why the Women’s Bureau with its technical services for many kinds
of studies was not directly tied in with the Women’s Advisory Com
mittee, or appointed directly to advise the War Manpower Commission
on women’s employment problems.
Again, while the Women’s Advisory Committee was instructed to
report to the War Manpower Commission, in the terms of its appoint
ment, it was planned at once that all of its recommendations would
be referred for action first to the Management-Labor Policy Com
mittee. This tended to set up a delaying process and resulted in an
organization pattern of having one committee work through another
committee.
Meanwhile, the executive director of the War Manpower Commis
sion was already deeply involved in problems of organization, juris
diction, authority, and control related in part or in whole to the
prosecution of the entire labor mobilization program. The Federal
Security Agency and the Department of Labor each had had vested
interests in a part of the manpower program, and the creation of a
War Manpower Commission did not resolve jurisdictional disagree
ment; both the organization structure and the functions assigned were
questioned or discussed at length by the War Manpower Commission
and other agencies such as the War Production Board and the Selective
Service System, the National Defense Mediation Board (later, the
National War Labor Board), to name a few principals. Also, the
Management-Labor Policy Committee, although appointed by Com

missioner McNutt in June 1942, tended to direct the War Manpower
Commission rather than advise it.36
Whether Mr. McNutt’s intention in referring Women’s Advisory
Committee recommendations to the Management-Labor Committee
was to delay action on them or to channel them appropriately, the
effect was certainly to forestall consideration. Seven months later,
however, when questioned by the Women’s Advisory Committee on
this procedure, Mr. McNutt may have been influenced to yield to a
more direct working relationship as a result of his own experience with
the Management-Labor Committee members. Similarly, his reason
for not wishing to recommend a voting status in this body for Miss
Hickey may have been based on his dissatisfaction with the Manage
ment-Labor Committee’s assumption of authority.
Against this broad background which, although superficially treated,
indicates the kind of organizational problems that confronted principal
participants in the World War II manpower program, it may seem
fruitless to pursue the organization question with respect to the special
interests of women. But all large organization problems are a syn
thesis of multitudinous microscopic patterns, and the large adminis
trative questions vary from the small less in kind than in degree.
There is always, of course, more than one way to establish an architec
ture of organization, and theoretically perhaps an ideal way. A more
serious tax upon administrative ingenuity and energy than establishing
the perfect organization pattern is to get the job done, once the
pattern is delineated for better or worse, and to a great extent this
involves the principle of coordination of interrelated functions.
The question was raised earlier as to why the Women’s Bureau was
not more closely tied in with the Committee especially for the purpose
of providing technical assistance. To pursue the question logically,
it seems appropriate for the War Manpower Commissioner to have
directly delegated the Women’s Bureau with the task of initiating and
carrying out all studies and research pertinent to women’s role in the
labor mobilization. In addition to making this division of work
between the Committee and the Bureau, Mr. McNutt could have
further provided for the coordination of the collective wisdom in both
the specialized Government agency and the group of competent civilian
advisers. As it was, the efforts of both groups reached their destina
tion through more devious channels, and some were lost en route or
arrived too late, as a result.
The Women's Bureau Director of the period has pointed out on
several occasions 37 the duplication of effort that took place because
38 “The Committee contained several very able individuals, and its members were both closer to and
more directly concerned with matters of labor supply than the Commission members. Thus while it had
been originally conceived as a purely consultative body it soon proceeded on its own motion to discuss in
detail all important actions proposed by the WMC staff and also to propound manpower programs of its
own . .
from "The United States at War,” Bureau of the Budget, 1946, p. 187.
37 See especially "Woman at Work,” op. cit.

the pertinent functions with respect to women’s interests were not
moved together organizationally at the outset. Standards of employ
ment developed as early as 1940 by the Women’s Bureau were applica
ble with few amendments to the womanpower situation in 1942 and
could have been used by the National Defense Advisory Commission,
and by the woman’s adviser to the War Manpower Commission, and
again later by the Women’s Advisory Committee. Each of these
bodies in turn deliberated upon the adoption of standards and upon
many other policy matters that could easily have been channeled into
the operational main stream much sooner, thus leaving the way open
for deliberation upon issues in areas which had not been explored to
the same degree.
Since the over-all civilian and military manpower agencies had some
problems in working from a stage of competition to a program of
coordination of effort, it is perhaps too much to have expected coor
dination of women’s interests in civilian life with those of the newly
organized women’s branches of the Armed Forces. This particular
question is still to be resolved in another era of national emergency.
It is hoped that duplication will be reduced and the coordination
increased.
Frequently, the answers given to some of the questions concerning
the assignment of function are based on the assumption, or even
positive judgment, that this or that agency or bureau was not “ready”
for responsibility, or that it was not considered adequate in size or
quality for the job to be done. But the Nation, after all, was not
“ready” for total war on all fronts, and yet grew in stature, under its
responsibilities, to win the war.
It may be concluded, in this microscopic parallel, that the various
women’s groups also got the job done, that women’s interests were, on
the whole represented, and that ways were eventually found to coor
dinate efforts that had not been provided by officialdom. The out
standing exception to adequate handling of women’s interests in this
period lies in the inadequate and unsystematic provision for day care
of children of employed mothers, and for housing and transportation
in many tight labor-market areas, all of which affected production
schedules as well as the national welfare. In turn, this “woman’s
problem,” which cuts across the interests of the entire community and
the manpower program, would undoubtedly have had greater atten
tion at an earlier date if appropriate voice had been given to women
on the Management-Labor Policy Committee, and official representa
tion in the community on the area labor-management committees.
It seems sound, in any case, to permit a voice in their own affairs to
one-third of the civilian working population, especially when that
one-third carries a far greater proportion of responsibility for the
maintenance of family and community welfare.

Achievements

The
Evaluation of the Committee’s achievements is based
Record primarily on the record. Review of the agenda and the
amount of time and attention accorded to basic womanpower
policy provides evidence of the Committee’s collective judgment and
sense of the appropriate. Although they produced very few original
formulations of policy, but used extensively the materials at hand
(such as Women’s Bureau studies), it should not be concluded from
this that they were lacking in creative ability, but rather that the
situation did not require it. They appeared more and more to rec
ognize their job as one of reviewing the materials already developed by
technical and professional staff in the agencies in the light of their
own varied background and experience, of giving the proper emphasis
to proposals in relation to current need, and of obtaining action on
the policy and procedure which they and many specialists had
formulated.
The fact that some of the recommendations did not become an
integral part of manpower operating procedure or were perhaps illtimed is not the Committee’s responsibility. For example, the child
day-care program cut across the operating interests of many agencies
and met obstacles through a general Congressional attitude of laissezfaire, if not outright opposition to broad Government participation
in such matters. This and other unproductive recommendations can
perhaps also be classified in the too-little and too-late category.
The most outstanding contribution appears in retrospect to be the
Committee’s development of a cooperative program with women’s
organizations, as a way of obtaining participation by women in
women’s problems. As the Committee’s deliberations increasingly
centered around the need for cooperation of the entire community
in a national program of full utilization of manpower, it seemed
logical to utilize organizations whose members had had a great deal
of experience in some aspects of community organization. The
Committee was to a large extent instrumental in drawing together
into a joint effort the various elements of many groups. After the
Committee's success in initiating the organization of local joint
womanpower committees to handle recruitment campaigns, the Com
mittee concentrated increasingly on developing methods by which
women’s organizations could be drawn into the task of helping solve
women workers’ problems. More and more systematically were
policy statements and recommendations of the Women’s Advisory
Committee with regard to in-plant and community adjustments,
as well as reprints of cooperating agencies’ statements and carefully
selected and edited background material, channeled into the com
munities through the women’s organizations. To reach the public
the Committee did not depend on the regular channels of the press
and local United States Employment Service offices.
46

War Manpower Commission officials must have considered the
Committee’s program of cooperation with women’s organizations of
vital assistance in execution of the manpower program, for when the
subject of the Committee’s discontinuance came up for discussion in
mid-1944 the Commission’s executive director urged continued
intensified work with women’s organizations to aid in the prosecution
of the last and most critical phase of the war. At this point the
Committee also felt that they should not cut off contact established
as a result of considerable effort, with organizations that reached
toward millions of women in communities throughout the Nation.
Through its preoccupation with the causes of under-utilization of
womanpower the Committee directed its energies increasingly to the
numerous, interrelated problems that women face as workers on the
job, and to those problems with which they are confronted as home
makers in the community. According to the Committee’s view,
neither group of problems could be solved separately but both together
had to be tackled by a joint community effort. The Committee’s
postwar policy statement with its recommendations for women's
right to work, for high standards of work conditions as well as ex
tended social-security coverage and educational opportunities, is
perhaps the strongest indication of how far the Committee had gone
in believing that the community as a whole, rather than individuals
or individual groups and agencies, should be responsible for pro
viding safeguards for family life and maternal and child health to
meet the needs arising from increased employment of women with
children and family responsibility.
Equal concern for women as wage earners and for women as ful
filling their appropriate roles in the family and in the community has
characterized increasingly the kind of approach made whenever women
meet to consider seriously their common problems. The Committee’s
record in this respect should set at rest the alarm of those who wince
at the memory of objectives ascribed to the early feminists as seeking
to usurp the traditional masculine role or seeking special privileges
which have no justification. To offset the unfortunate circumstances
preceding their appointment, and the obstacles with which they had
to cope, the Women’s Advisory Committee demonstrated that it
could hold to its purpose, that, in addition, it could quietly go about
its business, without offending propriety or tradition, and finally that
its purpose embraced larger objectives than special privilege.
Ojf the In accrediting the Committee solely through its official record
Record it must be stressed again that the record is incomplete,
particularly with respect to the work of the chairman and a
number of individually alert members. Personal follow-up of recom
mendations was made by several members among large organizations
such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the American
Management Association, and also with scores of smaller civic, man

agement, educational, and labor groups throughout the country.
Committee members who undertook trips to present speeches, hold
discussions, answer questions and ferret out public opinion, usually
did so at their own expense. It is not possible to evaluate the scope
and depth of this kind of service, especially since it took place during
an emergency period which did not permit time for documentation
of activity.
There is general agreement among all reviewers that the selection
of committee personnel was fortuitous in that it drew upon the services
of women of excellent ability, good understanding of the often delicate
issues involved, and devotion to purpose. These factors helped the
Committee steer a steady and middle-of-the-road course between the
extremes of feminism and subservience to reaction in countless off-therecord situations which called for judgment tempered with amiability.

Part II—GREAT BRITAIN
The Woman Power Committee, 1940-45
Organization
During the first year of World War II, many business and profes
sional women in Great Britain lost their jobs. At that time the
British Government gave no indication that it was ready to employ
women in policy-forming positions. Women were thought of largely
as “green” labor, and no official training programs for women were
in operation. Concerned at the way in which its members were
being affected, and also anticipating a later demand for women at
higher levels, the British Federation of Business and Professional
Women sent a deputation to the women Members of Parliament in
the summer of 1940 to ask them to press for the utilization of the skills
and experience of business and professional women in the war effort.
Lady Astor responded by inviting representatives of the leading
women’s organizations and trade unions to meet the women Members
of Parliament of all parties. From these informal meetings in Lady
Astor’s house, which were experimental, the Woman Power Com
mittee gradually evolved.
The Woman Power Committee, as it was finally established, con
sisted of 21 women. Ten were Members of Parliament,1 as follows:
Irene Ward (Chairman), The Viscountess Astor, Thelma Cazalet,
The Viscountess Davidson, Mrs. Agnes Hardie, Megan Lloyd George,
Eleanor F. Rathbone, Dr. Edith Summerskill, Mrs. Mavis Tate, and
Mrs. Beatrice Wright. In addition, there were 3 trade unionists and
8 members who came from women’s key organizations such as the
British Federation of Business and Professional Women, the National
Council of Social Service, and the Women’s Farm and Garden Asso
ciation. These included: Dame Dorothy Elliott, B. Anne Godwin,
Anne Loughlin, Dame Janet Campbell, The Lady Violet Bonham
Carter, Mrs. Ayrton Gould, Dame Caroline Haslett, The Hon. Elea
nor Plumer, and Mrs. Ethel M. Wood, C. B. E.
Chairman of the Woman Power Committee throughout its exist
ence was Irene Ward, M. P., C. B. E.
> There were altogether only 14 women in Parliament in 1940, out of a total of 615 Members of Parliament.

The members voted to pay dues of 2 guineas each per year. This
fund was supplemented by additional contributions and outside
grants.
Purpose The Woman Power Committee had no executive or even
advisory power. Its greatest value was to provide a me
dium through which the women’s organizations could bring problems
quickly to the notice of women Members of Parliament, who could
raise questions in Parliament. It also enabled the women Members
of Parliament to get first-hand information of actual conditions affect
ing women in different parts of the country. It was due to pressure
from the women Members of Parliament, at the instance of the
Woman Power Committee, that at least two all-day debates on
womanpower problems were held in the House. The Committee
decided not to encroach upon matters recognized as falling within
the province of the trade unions, or within that of other groups
dealing with specialized questions relating to women. It therefore
agreed to devote itself mainly to problems confronting the special
use of the women’s labor reserve in the war emergency period and
the broad policies relating to their use. Their objectives were ex
pressed as follows, in summary:
(1) To further the fullest utilization of womanpower in the war effort
and secure equitable treatment of women workers.
(2) To collect and consider facts concerning any matter influencing the
use of womanpower.
(3) To make formal representations to appropriate authorities where
action was necessary on women’s problems.
(4) To prepare statements for the press with regard to the use of womanpower.
(5) To cooperate with other societies on special aspects of recruitment,
employment, and working conditions of women.
(6) To press for inclusion of trained and experienced women in all the
stages of the war effort, from policy-framing downward.

As seen in the early period of the war, the proposed program was
to indicate ways in which women could be used to release men.
Recommendations were to be made concerning short technical train
ing courses of all kinds for women who already possessed special
experience in related fields. Suggestions were to be offered on methods
of adapting the recruiting machinery to effect these changes. The
Committee held discussions on the transfer of administrative and
professional women into occupations other than those for which they
were previously trained. A memorandum transmitted to Ernest
Bevin recommended changes in the functioning and staffing of the
Employment Exchanges, and improved publicity.
Because the Women’s Consultative Committee was formally ap
pointed in March 1941 to advise the Minister of Labor on questions
relating to the mobilization of women for war work, the Woman
50

Power Committee left this area of activity and devoted more of its
attention to the social problems confronting women. Arrangements
to assist employed women with the safety and care of their children
under 5 years of age, recommendations as to methods for sustaining
the morale of women outside the labor force, methods of utilizing
women volunteers in local defense, the use of part-time workers to
relieve full-time employees, equal compensation for women receiving
civilian war injuries—all of these topics and many others came
within the purview of the Committee. Indeed, there was no aspect
of women’s contribution to which the Woman Power Committee did
not give some attention.
As the Committee was an independent voluntary body not respon
sible to any government official or department, it formulated its own
agenda to meet the pressing problems arising during each stage of
the emergency.
Its unofficial status meant that the kinds of action open to the
Woman Power Committee were not limited by official regulations or
policy. On the other hand, its lack of official status constituted in
itself a very serious limitation which made it necessary for the Com
mittee to use methods which would obtain it a hearing or a voice in
official and public affairs. As to method, it was restricted only by
the dictates of custom and manners accruing to public figures. In
the public mind the Committee was associated with the British
feminist tradition, an association carrying both the advantages and
disadvantages of a pioneering effort.
Though official status was not sought, the fact that women Members
of Parliament were actively associated with the Committee made it
possible to exert Parliamentary pressure. Further, the traditional
right of Members to have access to Ministers made it easy to convey
the views of the Woman Power Committee to official quarters. The
fact that the Woman Power Committee was so largely a parliamentary
committee put an immense and unusual influence in its hands.
There is no doubt that the emergency nature of the war years,
which affected all economic and social institutions, influenced the
kinds of action taken by the Woman Power Committee, since they
had to consider all action in terms of both the emergency and women’s
role in it.
Formal
In general, the basic action taken was the formulation
Statements of policy concerning women’s role and status, and all
policies were expressed in either recommendations or
resolutions. Recommendations were incorporated into various mem
oranda addressed to appropriate government officials. Resolutions
were also included in memoranda, were public in nature, and fre
quently were issued as statements to the press; whereas recommenda
tions were not given widespread publicity.

Deputations More emphatic action on several issues was taken by
the Woman Power Committee through the medium of
formal deputations, or delegations, of the Committee, who waited
upon public officials to make verbal communication of policy.
Where it was felt that government consideration was not given or
action was not taken after repeated efforts of the Committee to draw
the Minister of Labor’s attention to conditions requiring amelioration,
a strong type of protest was organized by the method of deputations.
These deputations met with varying success. Often they were fol
lowed by an exchange of correspondence with the authorities involved.
Sometimes they were reinforced by the active support of other
women’s organizations resulting in a combined delegation. Some
times they led to action by individual women M. P.’s in conferring
with appropriate ministers or in asking a question in the House.
Cooperation
The Committee worked in close cooperation with
with Women’s women’s organizations throughout the country, many
Organizaof which gradually came to find that they could
tions and
appeal to the Committee in case of need. Some
Trade Unions groups even endeavored to use the Woman Power
Committee as a sounding board for their views.
From the very inception of the Woman Power Committee it was
agreed that there should be no duplication of functions which were
recognized to fall within the province of trade unions. Only insofar
as the Committee might wish to support the unions’ campaigns
dealing with women was it considered desirable to discuss specialized
topics relating to industrial or agricultural conditions of women in
the labor force.
Publicity In the fall of 1941, a deputation of women editors came
to the Committee to interest it in the circulation and
scope of women’s journals and the services which the women editors
could render to the Committee. They stated that they would like
a close liaison with the Committee, in whose work their readers
would be interested. The Committee agreed that greater use should
be made of these journals for educating women about war work.
It was not until the autumn of 1943 that the matter of a publicrelations officer was considered, and then, since the appointment of
an individual for publicity work was thought too expensive, the
Committee decided to use the free services of the Press Association.
The Committee took an interest in the use of films as a medium
for extending the employment of women in the more skilled opera
tions, and it was instrumental in obtaining improvements in the
preparation of films. As to radio, the Committee tendered a report
to the Board of Governors of the British Broadcasting Company
requesting a second woman governor and an additional woman to
be used in the Committee’s suggested series of talks.
52

Publications
and Reports

A documented report entitled “Mainly for Men” was
prepared on the employment problems of and atti
tudes toward women under war conditions. This was
written by Mrs. Ethel Wood, Honorary Secretary of the Woman
Power Committee, and it was based on statistics of the British
Institute of Public Opinion and on material collected by the Council
of Women Civil Servants.
In the later days of the war when the issue of equal pay had assumed
great public importance and had the backing of many organizations,
the Woman Power Committee prepared a statement on the general
background and history of the equal compensation problem for the
use of interested groups.
In another research study, also prepared by the Honorary Secre
tary in connection with a committee questionnaire to management
research groups, provided data on the degree of absenteeism among
women workers.
There were several other reports, compiled by individual members
or subcommittees, and approved by the Woman Power Committee
as a whole. Some were made into pamphlets for propaganda purposes,
such as the one on Women in the Foreign Services; others were trans
mitted as memoranda to government officials; and still others were
supplied to members of Parliament for their use in the House of
Commons.

Womanpower Problems Treated
The Committee was quite comprehensive in its consideration of
various aspects of women in the war economy. Some of the topics
that were considered by the Committee were the problems of train
ing and recruitment, conditions and grievances in the women’s
services, inequalities in women’s war bonuses and allowances, repre
sentation of women on government committees and in high-level
executive positions, problems of child welfare and child adoption,
changes in legislation (such as separate assessment of income tar
of married women in the National Service), admission of women into
the diplomatic and consular services, and the future status of women
in reconstruction and the postwar world.
Basic
In September 1940 a discussion was incorporated into a
Policy on memorandum addressed to the Lord Privy Seal regarding
Women
the use of womanpower in the war effort. Attention was
drawn to the extent to which vast potential reserves of
womanpower had been ignored and to the lack of absorption of
available women workers into useful employment. The memorandum
urged the need for national planning without “undue regard to sex
and other irrelevant factors” to obtain 100 percent efficiency. It
recommended the appointment of a woman under-secretary to
coordinate all activities regarding the utilization of womanpower.

It stressed the need for representation of women on all bodies con
cerned with planning for national production. It suggested that
the Committee be empowered to act in an advisory capacity on
problems of registration, training, and employment of women. The
final recommendation was that a resonable proportion of women
should be admitted to administrative, executive, and managerial
positions.
Compulsory An example of the Committee’s carefulness to reconMobilization cile women’s interests with those of the manpower
program in general dealt with the problem of compulsory
mobilization of women. When the first appeals to patriotism were
made, the Committee whole-heartedly supported the appeals to
women. As time went on, however, and the number of women avail
able for jobs seemed to exceed the demand, the Committee began to
inquire as to why women were not being used. Complaints were
pouring in from women who had registered at the Employment
Exchanges but had not obtained work.
As a result of the complaints and pressures the Committee made
a careful investigation of labor needs and found that the Auxiliary
Territorial Service was still short of recruits—about, 200,000. This
fact, together with the knowledge that there were other unmet needs
in critical demand areas, influenced committee members to continue
their support of the mobilization program regardless of the lags and
contradictions which characterized industrial mobilization, particu
larly at the outset.
Selection The inadequacies of the Government’s placement and
and
training techniques were deplored and some concrete
Training suggestions for change were offered. To cite one point, it
was considered imperative that expert interviewers be
hired who were trained to assess the value of the qualifications of the
applicants and the job requirements of the employers. This memo
randum also emphasized the fact that whereas theoretically all tem
porary civil-service posts were open to women as well as men, in actual
practice this principle was not consistently followed.
This problem was brought to the attention of the Ministry of Labor
by the Woman Power Committee and was subsequently followed up
by the Women’s Consultative Committee. It was finally solved
through a cooperative effort making use of the advice and suggestions
put forward by the Committee and fitting them into the working of an
existing structure, expanded and adapted for its new duties.

Women in
Agriculture

When acute food shortages emphasized the need for
increased womanpower on the farms, the discussion
revolved about the treatment of regular agricultural
workers as compared with industrial women workers. Since the
Committee felt that regular workers should look to trade unions for
improvement of conditions and pay, it decided not to carry the matter
any further.
Child
An illustration of the welfare considerations which conDay Care cerned the Committee was the memorandum dealing with
the care of children under 5 years of age. It attacked the
system of “minders” (sitters) and stressed the need of increased
nurseries so that women could be released for industrial work.
The memorandum further pointed out the problems of child care
under war conditions. It recommended the coordination of treatment
through establishment of a separate department of child welfare in
the Ministry of Health.
In May 1941 a deputation went to the Ministry of Health explaining
the need for frequent close inspection of nurseries, for equipment and
proper buildings, for recreation programs, and for the raising of
standards and skill among those caring for and teaching young children.
The Minister agreed with many of the points raised, particularly the
need for coordination, and stated that the Committee’s memorandum
would be quite helpful. However, he doubted that a special body for
handling children’s matters would be approved.
Civil
In March 1942, when the threat of enemy invasion was
Defense imminent, the Committee proposed that women should be
represented on every regional and local committee set up
to deal with invasion problems confronting the civilian population.
The Committee felt that instruction on methods of self-defense should
be given to women. It strongly suggested that greater clarification
of the behavior expected of the civilian population in the event of
invasion was necessary.
Miscellaneous civil-defense problems were acted upon by the
Woman Power Committee, particularly in the early stages of the
emergency; for example, the Committee concerned itself with condi
tions in air-raid shelters.
Equal Com- Probably the most important single topic affecting the
pensation
status of women in general that was considered and
acted upon by the Woman Power Committee—outside
of problems directly related to the emergency—was the question of
equal compensation. This problem arose in various ways related to
the war-employment program, and later, postwar planning.

Mrs. Mavis Tate, M. P., who was a member of the Woman Power
Committee, took charge of the campaign for equal compensation and
was supported by Members of Parliament of all parties. Early in
1940 a deputation representing several million women, and led by the
Woman Power Committee, interviewed the Minister of Pensions on
the subject of equal compensation for war injuries. He explained
that rates for compensation for war injuries were based on the average
earnings of men and women, the rates being 35 shillings for men and
28 shillings for women. The deputation argued that there was no
difference in the cost of living of injured persons of the two sexes to
justify the inequality in their allowances. The campaign also included
a demand for the payment of compensation to a married woman in
her own right. The only result of these representations was a slight
increase—2 shillings, 4 pence—in the weekly rate of payment to the
non-gainfully occupied woman. This occurred when the bill was
passed in its final form in May 1941. The opposition was, therefore,
maintained.
In November 1941, Mrs. Tate initiated a parliamentary amendment
which led to a debate on equal compensation. In the ensuing vote,
the Government, which opposed the amendment for equalizing com
pensation, netted the smallest majority obtained since it took office:
95 votes for the amendment; 229 against it. This strong feeling caused
the appointment of a Select Committee (of which one-third were
women M. P.’s) to begin a continuing inquiry, and to initiate a new
series of actions on an old problem in Great Britain.

Evaluation
One of the serious shortcomings of the Woman Power Committee
was the ambiguity of its status. Because it had no official functions
and was unattached to any specific government agency, the Committee
was never formally recognized. Government agencies, therefore, did
not feel compelled to consider seriously the Committee’s recom
mendations.
On the other had, some of the very factors which impeded the
activities of the Committee proved to be sources of strength. Since
the Committee was unaffiliated with a government body, the members
felt free to criticize official policies and procedures. They were at
liberty also to cut across departmental boundaries for the very reason
that they were independent and not accountable to any one agency.
Then too, there was advantage of pressure which could be brought
to bear on the Government by parliamentary means. There was no
decision of the Committee which could not be pressed on the Govern
ment by question and answer in the House of Commons, and, indeed,
three debates especially devoted to women’s questions took place in

successive years. Women Members of Parliament took full advantage
of their parliamentary rights to ventilate the views held by the
Woman Power Committee.
The Committee enjoyed the privilege of choosing its own fields of
interest but took care to time its activities with the general progress
of the war and to support the general mobilization scheme.
In several respects, the Committee was in the vanguard of in
itiating reforms. It severely criticized the existing recruitment ma
chinery and offered valuable suggestions for the improved functioning
of the employment exchanges; it recommended improvement changes
in child-care facilities.
The contacts of the Committee with their parliamentary con
stituents and women’s groups provided more intimate knowledge of
conditions on the local level than the government departments had
at their command. The Committee was not subject to the pressures
of the critical emergencies which often resulted in bogging down
community authorities in day-to-day details.
When one of the government departments indicated there would be
a departmental investigation of the criticism of conditions in the
Women’s Auxiliary Service, the Committee urged that the investiga
tion be handled by an independent body on which women were
adequately represented. As a result, a special committee was ap
pointed under Violet Markham, with a number of women members.
The interests of the Committee were not restricted to current
problems. It was also concerned with formulation of policies which
had far-reaching effects. As early as February 1943, the Committee
requested the Government to declare a policy on the status of women
in the postwar period. It asked for full recognition of women’s
rights to a proper share in the machinery of Government, including
a women of Cabinet rank in connection with reconstruction.
In summary, it may be stated that the Committee was useful in
uniting a number of women of various outlooks, and in obtaining an
interest in, and some action toward, improvements in the conditions
of women’s work; and that one of its special contributions was to help
bring about a new pattern of cooperation and consultation between
government departments and women’s voluntary organizations.

Part III—GREAT BRITAIN
The Women’s Consultative Committee, 1941-45
Organization
The Minister of Labor and National Service appointed the Women’s
Consultative Committee in March 1941, to advise him “on questions
affecting the recruiting and registration of women and on the best
methods of seeking their services for the war effort.” 1
The Consultative Committee had a membership of nine women 2
who met twice a month under the chairmanship of the ParliamentarySecretary to the Minister of Labor. Three women were Members of
Parliament, two were trade unionists, and two held high office in the
two main political party organizations. All members were ap
pointed as individuals, and not as official representatives of their
affiliations. In addition Dame Caroline Haslett, Adviser on Women’s
Training to the Ministry of Labor, attended all meetings of the
Committee.
In November 1945, the Ministry of Labor announced, officially,8
that the Consultative Committee, having completed its official task,
had been dissolved, and was immediately reappointed “to advise the
Ministry of Labor and National Service on questions relating to the
resettlement of women in civilian life.” ** The new Committee held
its first meeting on October 24, 1945, under the continued chair
manship of the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Labor and
National Service.
Appointment The Women’s Consultative Committee was appointed
at the time when the need for a large contribution
from women to war work, which had been foreseen for some time, was
becoming actual and practical. There was a strong feeling in the
country and among responsible women that greater attention needed
1 Ministry of Labor Gazette, March 1941, p. 52.
* List of original Consultative Committee members appointed in March 1941: Dorothy Elliott, trade
unionist; Mrs. Walter Elliot, Chairman of Nation Girls’ Clubs Association; Florence Hancock, trade
unionist; General Counsel; Countess of Limerick; Majorie Maxi; Dr. Edith Summerskill, M. P.; Irene Ward,
M. P.; Mary E. Sutherland.
* Ministry of Labor Gazette, November 1945, p. 193.
* List of members of the reappointed Committee: Alice Bacon, M. P.; Viscountess Davidson, O. B. E.
J. P.; Mrs Walter Elliot; Florence Hancock, O. B. E.; Countess of Limerick, C. B. E.; Lady Megan Lloyd
George, M. P.; Majorie Maxi, C. B. E.; Mary E. Sutherland, J. P.

to be paid to the means by which speedy and full use could be made
of the resources of womanpower available. This feeling was focused
through the activities of the Woman Power Committee which had
organized itself spontaneously in 1940 in order to observe, review
critically, and safeguard the methods by which womanpower was
utilized in the war effort. The Woman Power Committee’s discus
sions in early 1941 reveal that committee members were greatly
disappointed by the lack of response on the Ministry of Labor’s part
to their suggestions regarding recruitment of women and that they
were of the opinion that there should be an advisory committee of
women working closely with the Ministry. This need was recognized
by the Minister of Labor and the appointment of the Women’s Con
sultative Committee took place.
The role of this Committee must be related to that of other con
sultative machinery established by the Minister of Labor to assist
him in general mobilization plans. Organized employers and trade
unions were represented on a National Joint Advisory Council which
advised the Minister on all major questions of policy affecting men
and women, including general questions on wages and working condi
tions, which are fixed through joint negotiating machinery. The
Women’s Consultative Committee, while dealing with all questions
specially affecting the mobilization of women for war work, was not
concerned with negotiations on conditions of employment or wages.
Procedure The Consultative Committee’s procedure at meetings
was informal in character. Papers were circulated on
questions on which the Minister desired its advice, or in response to
requests from members. It was not the practice to formulate and
release precisely worded recommendations. Individual members
made comments and the meeting reached conclusions or expressed a
consensus according to the nature of the subject under discussion.
These conclusions or expressions of view were recorded in minutes
and were conveyed to the Minister through the chairman. In addi
tion, the Minister personally attended a considerable number of the
meetings and thus maintained close touch with the members.
The Committee was taken fully into confidence on all questions,
and there was no public statement made of the nature of their advice
on the various matters considered by them. Hence, it is not possible
to state their conclusions or to assess the exact extent to which the
decisions taken coincided with their advice. The Committee seems
to have made clear from the outset that it expected to be consulted
on all important questions of policy affecting women before decisions
were taken. All available information suggests that the members
felt that their advice was fully used in policy-making and implementa
tion. There is no evidence that the Committee used outside support
or pressure, although it must be assumed that the Minister kept in

mind the close connection of the members with powerful public
groups in general and with the Woman Power Committee.
The Minister never released any statement as to what extent he had
incorporated the Committee’s advice into policy. The only indica
tion of how he actually made use of the Committee’s recommenda
tions is the following statement: “I am very grateful for the help I
have had from the Women’s Committee. . . . Advice and help
have been given to me and, to do me credit, I do not believe I have
turned down any of the advice; I have acted upon it.” 6

Womanpower Problems Treated
Main Area The main areas in which the Committee’s advice was
of Interest sought were those concerning the policy which was to
govern the Ministry of Labor’s action in mobilizing
women for war work, the methods of administration of the various
orders and controls through which this mobilization was achieved,
and the proper treatment of various groups of women whose circum
stances needed special consideration.
In addition, the Committee cooperated to a considerable extent
with other government agencies. In some instances the chairman
acted as liaison and conveyed the Committee’s suggestions to other
Ministries; more frequently the members requested that represent
atives from other agencies be invited to their discussions.
A third aspect of the Committee’s work concerned the relationships
of the Ministry with outside organizations, and the public-relations
work which needed to be carried out was an integral part of the whole
mobilization plan.
The provision of community facilities and welfare services gener
ally were the responsibility of a separate body, the Factory and Wel
fare Advisory Board, on which women were well represented. The
Committee’s consideration of such questions was therefore incidental
to its main work.
Mobilization Programs

In order that the Committee might be fully aware of the background
of manpower needs against which their advice was sought, members
were given annually a full review of the estimated demands for women
in the current year. Thus, at its first meeting and again at its fifth
meeting, early in 1941, the Committee was given a paper containing
the estimated demands for women in the various women’s services
and in industry for that year. In the following year a detailed survey
of the demands for women was given by the Director General of Man
power, and a similar review was made in July 1943. This was, of
course, supplemented throughout the period of the Committee’s work*
* Quoted in “British Policies and Methods in Employing Women in Wartime,” by Janet M. Hooks.
Women’s Bureau Bull. 200,1944.

by specific information as to the needs of the various services and
industries to whose problems the Committee turned its attention, as
described below.
The mobilization of womanpower in Great Britain, once the demand
for women had reached the practical stage, was carried out through
a combination of a clear lead to the women as to their duty and the
priorities of the various types of work, and finally, the orderly assess
ment of resources brought about by a Registration Scheme, the Control
of Engagement Order, and the Essential Works Order, backed as
necessary by the power to direct women into individual jobs of critical
importance. Thus, while the first question on which the Committee’s
advice was sought was that of registration for employment, the
Committee took opportunity at its fourth, and again at its seventh
and eighth meetings, to stress the importance of making full informa
tion available to women and to the organizations in touch with women
about the exact needs of the situation so that the maximum voluntary
movement toward desired objectives might be achieved. This system
insured that while the power of compulsory orders was there in the
background, the actual number of formal directions issued to women
was very small, most women undertaking voluntarily the work which
they were asked to do.
Registration for National Service

Against this background the Committee’s advice was sought on
the many problems arising from the adoption for the first time of
registration of women. Should registration be on a national basis
covering one age class at a time, or on a regional basis covering a
number of age groups? In what way should the women registered
be classified so as to group those who could be expected to take work
immediately and those who should be called upon only as a last resort?
Which age classes should be registered first? Was it desirable to
complete a drastic review of all the women in the younger age classes,
including women with household responsibilities, before registering
any of the age groups over 45 ? Should women over 50 be registered ?
Should there be special registrations of women of all ages with skills
in short supply, for instance, nurses ?
In addition to these general questions of policy relating to the
administration of the registration orders, the Committee was con
sulted about the way in which certain special groups of women should
be treated. Fairness in the demands made on individuals was the
general aim, but the Committee’s advice was needed on how that
principle should be applied to such groups as women with domestic
responsibilities, the wives of men serving with the Armed Forces and
the merchant marine, women engaged in voluntary work, students,
religious sisters, women with children at boarding school, women
recently widowed.

An example may be given by telling the story of the Committee’s
examination of the problem of women responsible for a household.
Their first discussion on this came at the outset where the classification
of registered women was to be decided. Already, in September 1941,
the need had arisen to call such women in for interview and ask them,
without any pressure applied, to work outside their homes. By
March 1942, the Committee was deliberating upon proposals for the
tightening up of this procedure and for a careful review of the position
of individual women so that a decision might be reached about their
availability for full- or part-time work. This procedure was reviewed
by the Committee and simplified 3 months later. By February 1943,
when the mobilization of manpower was approaching its peak, the
Committee was consulted on the policy of directing to compulsory
employment women who could be regarded as available for part-time
work only. The Committee considered in detail the standards which
were to be employed in deciding these cases, and whether the standards
should be varied by age groups. A few months later the Committee
reviewed the possibility of calling upon women who, although they
had young children living with them, were not in fact required to care
for the children full time, because of the presence of a relative or other
adult in the house. This proposal was, however, abandoned in view
of the possible risk to the welfare of the children. A further refine
ment in standards involved the issue of a letter to married women with
children in certain areas of very heavy labor demand, drawing the
women’s attention to the urgent need for their services but making
clear that no pressure at all was placed upon them.
This example of the attention paid by the Committee to one group
of women alone illustrates the nature of its work in this area. It
would be possible to give a similar analysis with respect to other groups,
showing the gradual tightening up of the registration program, re
sulting both from the increased need and also from the increased
experience gained by the Department and by the Women’s Consulta
tive Committee in the administration of these far-reaching powers.
Mobility Recurrent discussions took place on the problems of
classifying women by degree of mobility. Labor short
ages were concentrated to a considerable degree in certain areas,
and large-scale transfers of workers were involved in meeting them.
In addition the Women’s Services Auxiliary to the Armed Forces was
required to be mobile.
Many women were ready and willing to move away from home.
Where it was necessary to require women to do so under compulsory
powers there was obvious need for the greatest care to avoid personal
hardship, in view of the domestic and personal responsibilities which
many single women were found to carry. The Committee’s advice
was consequently sought upon the standards to be applied.
62

The Essential These were the most drastic of the labor controls used
Work Orders during the war since they permitted the Minister of
Labor to require an individual to undertake one spe
cific job or to remain in a particular job unless permission to leave was
granted by an officer of the Ministry of Labor. Proper safeguards
for the worker were of the highest importance. Since they affected
both men and women, the detailed discussion and agreement with
representatives of employers and trade unions took place in the
appropriate consultative body outside the Women’s Committee, but
the latter were consulted as to any special considerations affecting
women. For instance, after consultation with the Committee, the
age below which women were not directed away from home was fixed
at 20. It was decided also that women who, because of their home
commitments, were available only for part-time employment should
not be tied to their jobs by the operation of the Essential Work
Order.
Conscription of Women to the Armed Forces

Conscription to the armed forces was one of the major decisions
of the war affecting women. For the first time, it was proposed that
women should be drafted to serve in the armed forces. The Women’s
Consultative Committee was fully consulted before the Government’s
decision was reached, both on the general issue and on the related
question of whether the Conscription Act should apply to married
women as well as to single women. As a result, it applied only to
single women. In practice, an option to undertake certain very
limited types of civilian war work was given. But a proper estimate
of public feeling on both of these points, both among civilian men and
women and among the men in the armed forces, was of the greatest
importance. This was an excellent example of the way in which the
Women’s Consultative Committee could focus for the advice of the
Minister the views of responsible women in the country. After the
decision was taken, the Committee was consulted on all the detailed
arrangements involved in the working of the Act to insure fair treat
ment and due attention to the personal circumstances of individual
women.
Mobilization
From the first, the Committee played an active part
Policy
in suggesting to the Ministry ways in which it felt
Administration that the administration of far-reaching powers for
mobilization of women into essential employment
could be carried out with a minimum of friction. The Committee
attached great importance to good cooperation between the local
staff of the Ministry and the women who were being called for inter
view to local offices of the Ministry of Labor, many of them for the
first time in their lives. Thus, as early as their fourth meeting, the
Committee discussed the provision of suitable staff for these inter

views. Great stress was laid on the need for a strengthening of the
supervisory staff: for interviewers of mature age and experience; for
adequate training of interviewers and for giving them instructions
that would make clear the considerate and careful atmosphere in
which the interviews were to be conducted.
As the work progressed, the Women’s Committee was consulted
about the desirability of the use of the women’s panels which were
to become a feature of the wartime administration of the mobilization
of women. These panels consisted of two or three women of status
in the community, combining among them a knowledge of industry
and employment and of home conditions of varying kinds. They
were first used as a means by which any woman who felt that her
personal and domestic circumstances had not been properly taken into
account could ask for independent investigation. They were used
to determine doubtful cases of mobility, of availability for work,
whether full time or part time, and still later they were asked to
advise on the extent to which it was reasonable to withdraw domestic
staff from households. The Women’s Committee was consulted as
to the guidance to be given to the panels and as to the methods of
selection of their members.
Cooperation With Other Agencies

Other
Much of the time of the Women’s Committee was taken
Government up with examining the needs of various industries and
Agencies
services, the means of recruitment for them, and the
removal of obstacles to such recruitment. Need for
such an examination might spring from a request from the Ministry
for advice, or from the knowledge possessed by the members that a
problem needed attention.
Thus, at their sixth meeting, the Committee discussed with senior
officers from the War Office the needs of the Auxiliary Territorial
Service for Women and their pay, welfare arrangements, staffing,
methods of recruitment, and training. Arrangements were made for
the members to visit a reception depot of the Auxiliary Territorial
Service. The points raised in that preliminary discussion were fol
lowed by a number of discussions with officers of the ATS, on such
questions as the training and selection of officers. Similar discus
sions were held with the other two services.6 One problem which
was closely examined by the Committee with regard to all three
women’s services was that of the possibility of posting women to
employment near their homes in order to minimize the demand
which the services made on young mobile women who were in short
supply. Throughout the war the Committee maintained a close
watch on recruitment to the women’s services and the conditions in•
• Women’s Royal Naval Service and Women’s Auxiliary Air Force.

these services, and discussed with representatives from the depart
ments concerned the various problems which, from time to time,
judging from their knowledge of the feeling in the country, needed
attention.
Similar discussions were held with representatives of the Ministry
of Agriculture as to the Land Army, and with senior officers of the
Land Army itself. Representatives from the Ministry of Health
attended Committee meetings to discuss problems of nursing shortage,
methods of recruitment, publicity, salaries, and retirement plans.
One of the major problems was the recruitment of women for the
government shell factories and for aircraft factories. The Commit
tee examined with representatives of the Ministry of Supply and the
Ministry of Aircraft Production the problems of welfare, of the pro
vision of properly trained personnel managers, of supervision, of the
arrangements for training for the women concerned, and of similar
problems arising from the rapid increases in the numbers employed.
Cooperation Much of the attention of the Committee was directed
with,
toward more extensive employment of women in enEmployers gineering. Its efforts were directed to insuring that
women were able to make their full contribution. The
Committee asked to meet with representatives of employers’ organiza
tions, and this was arranged. For example, the Committee discussed
with the Engineering Employers’ Federation the extent to which
women were being trained for skilled and semiskilled occupations,
whether this was being done sufficiently in advance of demand,
whether split-shift working was being organized to enable married
women with domestic responsibilities to undertake work, whether
the age limits fixed for recruitment were too high, the extent of
prejudice among employers against the employment of women and
what could be done to overcome it. By March 1942, the Committee
was considering a proposal for the formation of a Women’s Technical
Service Register which was to encourage the proper use of women
with technical qualifications in industry. This proposal was sub
sequently adopted.
Public
From the outset, the Committee members were conEelations cemed with the public-relations aspect of the mobilization
of women. They welcomed the appointment early in their
period of work of a woman press officer in the Ministry who would
pay special attention to the mobilization of the women’s press, and
they received reports on progress. They called for a report at an
early meeting on the extent to which use was being made throughout
the country of women’s organizations. At their eleventh meeting,
they discussed the organization of a national conference of women’s
organizations. The conference took place in September 1942. The
Committee continued to pay careful attention to adequate publicity

for recruitment to the various industries and services and was con
sulted on the publicity campaigns which were undertaken by the
Ministry.
Community As explained earlier, welfare arrangements for workers
Facilities
both inside and outside the factory fell within the scope
of another advisory body. Inevitably, however, the
Women’s Consultative Committee discussed from time to time the
needs for community facilities which sprang from the efforts which
the Committee itself was making to encourage the recruitment of
women. The provision of day nurseries, of child guardians, of war
workers’ clubs, better transportation arrangements, and shopping
facilities for women, were recommended; as has already been shown,
the Committee, in discussing problems of recruitment for individual
industries and services, laid great stress on good personnel manage
ment. The views of the Committee on these subjects were conveyed
to the Factory and Welfare Advisory Boards.

Evaluation
The Consultative Committee was an integrated staff committee of
the Ministry of Labor, with the parliamentary secretary to the
Minister acting as chairman and with all liaison and publicity taken
care of through regular Ministry channels. The staff character of the
Committee relieved it of operating responsibility and left it free to
concentrate on formulation of policy and program. The regular
Ministry staff relied heavily upon the Committee for advice with
respect to all the problems of women workers which came within
the purview of the Ministry.
As an integral part of the Ministry of Labor, the Committee did
not suffer in efficiency from the lack of a staff of its own. The Com
mittee had direct access to data gathered and analyzed by the Ministry
staff and the material available in the Ministry was effectively used
for the preparation and information of the members.
Although the members of the Consultative Committee were not
appointed as representatives of the organizations they were affiliated
with, it may nevertheless be assumed that their close connection with,
and their leadership in, political and other public groups enabled
them to contribute to the exchange of thinking between the Ministry
and the public; they especially served as an informal medium of com
munication between the Government and their own affiliations.
Further, their contacts provided a channel for consideration of, and
maintenance of interest in, “grass roots” attitudes. Since the chair
man of the Woman Power Committee was a member of the Con
sultative Committee, it may also be assumed with certainty that, in
spite of the lack of official or even formal collaboration between the

Consultative and the Woman Power Committees, a constant informal
exchange and flow of thinking took place between the two groups of
women.
In conclusion, it may be said that the work of the Consultative
Committee effected a definite strengthening of British women’s
participation in important aspects of womanpower planning. Its
appointment instilled confidence in the public generally that the
Ministry would have practical and sound advice available to it in
the special area of womanpower. The value that the Ministry of
Labor itself placed upon the contribution of the Consultative Com
mittee is expressed in the fact that the Minister reappointed the
Committee at the end of the emergency to serve in the postwar period
and that the Committee has continued to advise the Ministry on
programs concerning women workers up to the present time.

APPENDIX
Sources
Ed. Note.—The source materials used in the preparation of this report include
both published and unpublished records, listed here. The material was supple
mented and clarified through a study of pertinent correspondence and minutes
to which the authors had access. Part I, on the United States, received the benefit
of personal interviews with Mary Anderson, Director of the Women’s Bureau
until 1944, and others who spoke from first-hand experience. Parts II and III,
on Great Britain, were sent to England for review by Dame Mary Smieton and
by women members of the two British committees; the part on the Women’s
Consultative Committee, especially, was revised and amplified by them to include
significant data not previously recorded.

Part I
Anderson, Mary. Woman at Work: Autobiography of Mary Anderson, as told
to Mary N. Winslow. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, Minn.
1951.
Bureau of the Budget. The United States at War: Development and Adminis
tration of the War Program by the Federal Government. Prepared under the
auspices of the Committee of Records of War Administration by the War
Records Section. Washington, 1947.
International Labor Office. The War and Women’s Employment: The Experience
of the United Kingdom and the United States. Montreal. 1946. (Washington
Office, ILO, 1825 Jefferson PI. NW., Washington, D. C.)
U. S. Department of Agriculture, Extension Service, Women’s Land Army.
Farm Labor Extension Program, 1943, 1944, 1945. Washington. 1945.
U. S. Department of Labor, Employment Service. A Short History of the War
Manpower Commission. June 1948.
-------- Women’s Bureau. Comments as to work of the Women’s Bureau, U. S.
Department of Labor, in period September 1939 to June 1944, by Mary Ander
son (typewritten manuscript on file in Women’s Bureau).
•
------------------ Community Services for War Workers. Special Bull. 15. 1944.
------------------ Correspondence between National Federation of Business and
Professional Women’s Clubs and the Women’s Bureau.
------------------ Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program.
Special Bull. 1. 1940.
------------------ Guides for Wartime Use of Women on Farms. Special Bull. 8.
1942.
------------------Part-time Employment of Women in Wartime. Special Bull. 13.
1943.
------------------The Woman Counselor in War Industries, An Effective System.
Special Bull. 16. 1944.
------------------War History Statement, by Bertha M. Neinburg (typewritten, on
file in Women’s Bureau).

War Manpower Commission. (Printed publications may be purchased from
Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25,
D. C., or consulted in depository libraries.)
-------- Bureau of Program Planning and Review. Problems Incident to the
Employment of Part-time Workers. 1943.
------------------Review of Experience in the Use of Part-time Workers. 1943.
-------- Employment Service. Operations Bulletin, B-63, Planning and Con
ducting a Campaign for the Enrollment of Women in War Time Employment.
1943.
------------------Summary of Campaigns Conducted in 1942 for the Mobilization
or Registration of Women. 1943. (mimeographed)
------------------Training Within Industry, Progress Report. 1942.
-------- Women’s Advisory Committee. Minutes of 38 Meetings of the Women’s
Advisory Committee, October 1942-March 1945.
------------------The War Job Platform of American Women. 1943.
-------- -—------ The Wartime Responsibility of Women’s Organizations. 1944.
------------------Woman in the Post War. 1945.
------------------Womanpower, An Appraisal by the Women’s Advisory Committee.
1943.
------------------Press releases (mimeographed, on file in Women’s Bureau).
------------------Recommendations by Women’s Advisory Committee to War
Manpower Commission (mimeographed, on file in Women’s Bureau).
* *

* *

Additional information was obtained through interviews and correspondence
with the following persons:
Mary Anderson, Director, Women’s Bureau, 1920-44.
Bess Bloodworth, Member of the Women’s Advisory Committee, and Chairman,
Subcommittee for Public Relations 1942-45; personnel executive and later
vice president of The Namm Store, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Field Consultant for
Women’s Bureau, 1951.
Richard D. Fletcher, Assistant Chief, United States Employment Service.
Mrs. Beatrice Blackmar Gould, co-editor, Ladies’ Home Journal.
Florence L. Hall, Chief, Women’s Land Army Division, Extension Service,
USD A, 1943-45; field agent for home demonstration work in the Northeastern
Region, Extension Service, USDA, 1946- .
Margaret A. Hickey, Chairman of the Women’s Advisory Committee; lawyer
and business executive.
Don Larin, Farm Placement Service, Bureau of Employment Security.
Frieda S. Miller, Industrial Commissioner of New York State, 1938-43; Special
Assistant to Ambassador John G. Winant in London, 1943-44; Director,
Women’s Bureau, 1944- .
Mary-Elizabeth Pidgeon, economic consultant, Women’s Bureau.
Part II
Douie, Vera. Daughters of Britain. Oxford, 1949.
International Labor Office. The War and Women’s Employment, Part I.
Montreal, 1946.
Minute Book of the Woman Power Committee, Vols. I and II (on loan to the
Women’s Bureau from Mrs. E. M. Wood, London).
Plumer, Eleanor. The Work of the Woman Power Committee, Past and Future,
in Report of the Conference on War and Post-War Work for Women. London,
1943

U. S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. British Policies and Methods
in Employing Women in Wartime. Bull. 200. 1944.
-------- -------- The Role of Women in Wartime Britain, 1939-1945. 1950.
(Mimeographed, on file.)
Part III
British Information Service, London and New York. Women in Britain. Sep
tember 1948.
-------- Women’s War Work in Britain, October 1942. Revisions: June 1943
and November 1943.
Correspondence between Frieda S. Miller, Director, Women’s Bureau, U. S.
Department of Labor and Dame Mary Smieton, Ministry of Labor and Na
tional Service, London.
Douie, Vera. Daughters of Britain. Oxford, 1949.
International Labor Office. The War and Women’s Employment. Montreal,
1946.
Ministry of Labor and National Service, London. Report for the Years 1939
1946. 1947.
-------- Women’s Consultative Committee. Miscellaneous documents: Prelimi
nary drafts, reports, etc. (Mimeographed, on loan from Great Britain).
Undated.
-------- Ministry of Labor Gazette, March 1941 and November 1945.
Minute Book of the Woman Power Committee, Vol. I (on loan to the Women’s
Bureau from Mrs. E. M. Wood, London).
People in Production, An Enquiry into British War Production, Part I, A Report
prepared by Mass Observation for the Advertising Service Guild. London,
1942.
U. S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. British Policies and Methods in
Employing Women in Wartime. Bull. 200. 1944.
Wood, Ethel M. The Pilgrimage of Perseverance. National Council of Social
Services. London, 1949.

* * * *
In addition, the following were consulted personally through correspondence
and interview:
Dame Dorothy Elliott, Chairman, Board of Directors, National Institute of
Houseworkers, 53 Mount Street, London, W. 1.
Mrs. Walter Elliot, Chairman, National Girls Clubs Association, Harwood,
Harwick, Scotland.
Sir Archibald McD. Gordon, Labor Attach^, British Embassy, Washington, D. C.
Dame Florence Hancock, National Woman Officer, Transport and General
Workers Union, Transport House, Smith Square, London, S. W. 1.
Dame Caroline Haslett, Director, The Electrical Association for Women, 35
Grosvenor Place, London, S. W. 1.
Dame Mary Smieton, Ministry of Labor and National Service, 8 St. James’
Square, London, S. W. 1.
Mary E. Sutherland, Secretary, Standing Joint Committee of Working Women’s
Organization, Transport House, Smith Square, London, S. W. 1.
Irene Ward, Member of Parliament, C. B. E., London.

Findings from Discussions1 by
THE WOMEN’S ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON DEFENSE
MANPOWER

on
Functions, Goals, and Organizational Structure of a Womanpower
Advisory Committee in an Emergency Period

Introduction
It has long been the opinion of most women whose advice has been
sought in connection with manpower programs that, wherever pos
sible, women committee members who were selected to advise on
women’s problems, could function more effectively if integrated
directly with the manpower agency at the top policy making level.
However, it has historically been a practice to set up some special
machinery to give appropriate attention to the problems involved
in the mobilization of womanpower.
With this experience in mind, the Women’s Advisory Committee
on Defense Manpower has been studying the American and British
womanpower committees which functioned during World War II and
has agreed upon certain broad principles which might serve in a
national emergency as a guide in the establishment of a women’s
committee advisory to the agency responsible for manpower.

Functions of Committee
A womanpower advisory committee would be advisory and con
sultative on all policies that affect the integration of women into the
work force under emergency conditions, and the resultant problems
which will occur in the social and economic structure.
The committee may initiate policy considerations and should follow
through on the use of the recommendations and advice given, staying
within the framework of its advisory function.
The committee should interpret its role to outside groups and
agencies, and carry on an educational program with the public in
regard to the manpower agency policy and programs.
The committee should also serve as a focal point and medium
through which all women’s groups could find adequate expression of
their points of view.
i The Women’s Advisory Committee on Defense Manpower appointed by the Secretary of Labor in the
spring of 1951 devoted two sessions to a discussion of the reports on the British and American Committees
which functioned during World War II. The discussions were held on September 22 and December 5, 1952.
At the second meeting the Committee requested Bess Bloodworth, who had led the discussions at both
meetings, to summarize their deliberations and prepare a report of findings. The Committee approved the
substance of the report which is presented in this bulletin as an appendix.

Broad Goal
The committee’s perspective should be broad and directed towards
the coordination of the long-range interest of women with the longrange interest of the Nation, consistent with the immediate needs
caused by the emergency.

Organizational Structure
1. Composition of the committee.—The committee should be
made up of experienced, mature women, able to deal with com
plex interrelations and to relate special experiences to the total
problem. Some members may be specialists professionally, but
all should have the capacity for a “generalist’s” point of view.
Members should be appointed as individuals rather than as
official representatives of their affiliated organizations.
Representation should be as broad as possible on a geographic,
social, and economic basis, and include the important segments
of the public interest, such as labor, business, agriculture, educa
tion, religion, etc.
Adequate representation will determine the size of the com
mittee, but it must be small enough to be efficient and large
enough to provide an adequate working quorum. Expansion of
the committee might be accomplished by the use of subcommit
tees as needed, to be chosen from outside the committee and
to operate under the chairmanship of a member of the main
committee.
Experience has indicated that provision for alternate member
ship is undesirable during an emergency period and that only
women who can attend meetings regularly should be selected
for membership.
Membership should not include employees of the Federal
Government, but qualified members of State and local govern
ments may be considered for membership.
2. Chairman.—The chairman should report directly to the
head of the manpower authority, and provision should be made
for direct working relationships at the policy-making level with
appropriate Government agencies.
The chairman should be very carefully selected. She should
be a woman of stature in the Nation, experienced in labor and
business procedures, with a broad grasp of human relations, a
knowledge of and experience with, public and private organiza
tions and agencies.
The chairman should be available to carry on a virtually full
time job, and adequate provision should be made by the Gov
ernment to take care of all reasonable expenses connected with
this obligation.
3. Executive secretary .—There should be an executive secre
tary whose duties would be to assist the chairman in preparing
72

for meetings, advance preparation of members, and public rela
tions; to coordinate the work of the committee with that of the
subcommittees; and to serve as liaison with other Government
agencies. It is recommended that the executive secretary be
selected on the basis of recent experience in a Federal agency,
and that she be detailed or employed to report directly to the
chairman of the advisory committee.
4. Office and staff.—The committee should have its own
office and adequate clerical staff, with the necessary equipment,
supplies, and services furnished by the manpower agency.

Coordination With Other Government Agencies
Care should be exercised to avoid duplication of program. Channels
should be established for free communication with other agencies.
The committee should make use of technical specialists in other
agencies, and the Government should provide funds with which the
Manpower Committee can reimburse these agencies for such services.

Public Relations
The committee should interpret and promote various aspects of the
womanpower program. All public relations media represented by
committee members should be used after the chairman has coordinated
the plans and cleared them with the appropriate publicity channels of
the manpower authority organization.

73
U

S. GOVERN MENT PRINTING OFPtCEi 1953

Full text of Womanpower Committees During World War II: United States and British Experience : Women's Bureau Bulletin, No. 244

FRASER