I suppose this is a good place to put this although maybe "Jokes" too.
Subject: Employing women! 1943 style


Employing Women
The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation
Magazine.

This was serious and written for male supervisors of women in the work
force during World War II - a mere 58
years ago! Obviously, the intent was not to be "funny" but by today's
standards, it is amusing to say the
least! For those of you with efficiency issues, pay particular attention
to #8.

ELEVEN TIPS ON GETTING MORE EFFICIENCY OUT OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES

There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women
for jobs formerly held by men.The
draft and manpower shortage has settled that point. The important things
now are to select the most efficient
women available and how to use them to the best advantage. Here are eleven
helpful tips on the subject from
Western Properties:

1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of
responsibility than their unmarried
sisters, they're less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they
wouldn't be doing it, they still
have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public
efficiently.

2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked
outside the home at some time in their
lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time
adapting themselves and are inclined
to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress upon older women
the importance of friendliness and
courtesy.

3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a
little on the heavy side - are more
even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.

4. Obtain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical
examination - one covering female
conditions. This step not only protects the property against the
possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals
whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her
mentally or physically unfit for
the job.

5. Stress at the outset the importance of time - the fact that a minute or
two lost here and there makes
serious inroads on schedules. Until this point is gotten across, service
is likely to be slowed up.

6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties so that
they'll keep busy without
bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. Numerous
properties say that women make
excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that
they lack initiative in finding work
themselves.

7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to
another at some time during the day.
Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.

8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You
have to make some allowances for
feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if
she can keep her hair tidied, apply
fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.

9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are
often sensitive; they can't shrug
off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her
spirit and cuts off her efficiency.

10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women.
Even though a girl's husband or
father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business
where she hears too much of this.

11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can
have a proper fit. This point can't
be stressed too much in keeping women happy.

This is hilarious!!
Imagine using these guidlines today.

I LOVE this, Sara! Oh hahahahahaha!
I hate to admit that I found one or two points reasonable!
Especially THIS one:

Quote:

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General experience indicates that "husky" girls - those who are just a
little on the heavy side - are more
even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.

---

I kept thinking it was a bit like training animals really. You could really apply some of it to horses or dogs.

It's still probably a good guide today - and not just for the woman. I've hired a few blokes in my time that this instruction would have been usefull for!

Quote:

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Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined
to be cantankerous and fussy . It's always well to impress upon older women the importance of friendliness and
courtesy.

---

LOL!!!

Thanks for the laugh! It only goes to show how OFF men were on their thinking of women

I know I certainly feel more efficient when my lipstick is fresh.......

With some of the co workers I have had at past jobs, I was youthfully cantankerous and fussy.

I want to know just WHOM Jillian is laughing at!
I am NOT cantankerous and fussy! I'm NOT!

The only place I put on lipstick in, is in the car in a traffic jam, and when I do, I get to work and people say I look pale and wan!
THe only time I'd go freshen up my makeup is when I laughed so hard I cried about something...getting Rocky Raccoon eyes.
I'm wondering whether I'm the cantankerous older woman yet...do you suppose someone will tell me when I reach that phase?
I actually think this passage has a bit of smoke from the fire though...I wish it didn't...but have any of you ever attended a meeting in a corporation where there was one man and several women?
I rest my case.
THe opposite, I worked in largely male companies in the IT industry and I'd be one of very few women..and STILL, the women would resort to silly antics sometimes...

As to the swearing vociferously, with the husband and father bit, that one made my mascara run!
But my male coworkers were always so relieved that I'd excuse them for really laying it on the line with a client or supplier in my presence...and swearing like a longshoreman...as I don't say golly gee whillikers when I hit my thumb with a hammer either...

I might stick a copy of no.3 on my bathroom scales - then whenever I'm stressing out about those extra kilos I can remind myself that at least I'm 'even tempered and efficient' (though I think my husband and kids might dispute that!?)

Gee, looks like I'm out of a job. #'s 1, 2 and 4 kick me off the job train. I'm unmarried, skinny, and probably have too many health problems.

That's still pretty funny though! Hehehehe.

That is not an example of how women were thought of in 1943. It is an example of how most women were. A woman's appearance was important to her, and married women were more likely to feel as if they were filling their husband's place in the workforce. I looked at the locations of the other posters on this topic, and exactly one comes from a place where there may have been wartime employment for women.. My own Grandmother held two jobs duriing the War.

Don't think that because you are the woman you are in 2003, that you would have been exactly the same had you been a young woman in 1943

Umm, you don't think you're taking this a bit seriously, do you?

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I looked at the locations of the other posters on this topic, and exactly one comes from a place where there may have been wartime employment for women

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There were certainly women doing 'war time' work where I live and Sydney too where Blinky Bill is from, in fact there were many that came from Blinky's area to mine, so there are two of us that I know of who posted in this thread ... I'd be interested what the location is that you're referring to.

To add to that, I come from England , to which this article definitely applies. I posted it for the humour involved, not for any other reason!

Well. those of you who did come from CITIES where women did war work, I certainly apologize for the oversight. And those whose families lived in England during the War; your folks had it a heck of a lot worse than people in the US.

I am just tired of so-called educated people who think that all who came before them are laughably clueless.

Oh, so it was only in cities that women did the work in. I wonder who it was that did all the farm work when most of the men went to war?

I seriously doubt that that employment guide applied to farmers. Farms are also located in cities. What I meant was if you lived inthe same approximate location as the defense plants, you had a better idea of what occurred. Not."War work was being done 1660 miles away, but I live on the same Continent."

BTW, most farmers were exempt from the draft. And most families grew their own produce.

Sheesh!!!!!!!

Sheesh indeed!!

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most farmers were exempt from the draft.

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Who's talking about drafts? Many men in this area joined up out of a sense of duty, adventure and patriotism not because the HAD to. While there were men that stayed behind there was a large gap in the traditionally male dominated workforce. Someone had to do the work and there was a scheme here called the Australian Women's Land Army and these women went out and did the work on the farms. Perhaps it is different from the women making the bombs and so on but they did just as important a job than those women.

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And most families grew their own produce

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Of course, many still do. But the people in the cities and the many servicemen who were in Australia still most likely didn't. And where did the produce come from that these people ate? Farms! And who was doing a great deal of the work? Women! They were doing work while men were away at war, so in my book this is 'war work' and no different to the women in the first post who were taking over the jobs of tram conductors.

Again, perhaps I need to learn semaphore to get this message through. That guide applied to women who were going out into the world to work. Many farmers who tried to enlist were turned away, as their work was seen as essential to the war effort. Of course the women who were left behind on the farms did the work. And wherever did you get the idea that the families in the cities did not grow their own food?

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Many farmers who tried to enlist were turned away, as their work was seen as essential to the war effort

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Perhaps it was different between our two countries because farmers were not turned away when they volunteered here.

I said it was "most likely" that people in the cities and the many servicemen didn't grow their own food. I don't doubt that many city people have the odd vege garden but I doubt they were self sufficent enough not to have to buy some sort of produce.

My mother worked in an aeroplane factory in Southampton, I guess makes it war-work especially as Southampton got blitzed. The typical English garden was too small to grow more than part of the vegetables needed to feed a family so farms were essential to the average British family. What vegetables they could grow stood a good chance of being bombed flat!

Oh back to the original post, hilarious Ren.

If anyone would like to read more about the role of women in the UK during WWII have a look at http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/women_WW2.htm

The role of women during this period was vital to both the production of munitions and food.

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4. Obtain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination - one covering female conditions. This step not only protects the property against the possibilities of lawsuit, but reveals whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make her mentally or physically unfit for the job.

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Uh, I don't think they are talking overall health here as the specify that a physician covering female conditions.
When you think about it quite a few women may have been deemed unfit for any job just because she slept with her beau before he went off to war.

My grandmother worked during the war she was a nurse that helped patch up soldiers who had come home wounded. She would have laughed her butt off at this. At the time she was a young, beautiful, skinny, unmarried woman, who I would have described as cantankerous. oh, and she also helped out on her families farm.

That was a good read! I have a really cool fact for everyone out there - Waterloo bridge in London was designed and made entirely by women during the WWII - using a self cleaning material They knew what they were doing didn't they!!!