The following is an excerpt from the July 1943 issue of Transportation Magazine. This was written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II.
Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees
Suzanne
The best one is number 5
5) In breaking in women who haven't previously done outside work, stress at the outset the importance of time!That's a classic!!!!!!!
Seems quite reasonable and accurate for attitudes at the time, especially in Yank - not that it might perhaps go down well now. The worst thing in it is that it's called "Transportation" magazine; transportation is a punishment, unlike "transport", which is a means of getting something from A to B.
Subject: Re: Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees
"they lack initiative in finding work themselves" "husky" girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are likely to be more even-tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters" "a surprising number of women turned down for nervous disorders." "Women are inclined to be nervous and they're happier with change" "make some allowances for feminine psychology" "pick young married women" "older women ... ... are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy"
Reasonable?
Thinking back over the many years during which I have employed women, the most efficient ones do seem generally to have been 'just a little bit on the heavy side' and the most difficult ones have generally been the older ones. However, the sample size is not statistically significant, so no firm conclusions can be drawn from those observations.
Colin Bignell
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Suz" saying something like:
Seems perfectly fine to me.
Quite right! I'm cantankerous and fussy. Maybe thats why I'm unemployable :) and unmarried too :)
Anna
I'll never be fussy, but I can't wait to be cantankerous. I'm going to have a mid-life crisis when I hit 40. Going to do the whole blonde dye, mini skirt, sad thing and then ding on my 41st birthday I'm going to turn into an old trout. Can't wait to get a zimmer/ stick/ ye olde shopping trolley and takes the ankles of some lad shouting "Out of my way, young man".
It was written 60 years ago, in the 'States, too - it's probably an accurate reflection ot the times. It's not (necessarily ;) ) accurate today. It was, WRT "women", a fairly underdeveloped society compared to today. I'm just surprised that it didn't draw any racial distinction (please do not consider that a troll).
My Granddad was a sheet metal basher, during WWII in B'ham. His job was to organize teams of women to build aircraft. He did sort them into who would be best at various types of work. Chunky ones got to use an air hammers and riveters and other heavier tasks. Petite ones were selected to crawl into tiny inspection voids to install control wires and pulleys. Ones with 'refined' hands were set to installing instruments.
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