The factor described in paragraph five of the foregoing summary particularly should not be overlooked, for while the desire to better or maintain her social position usually out weighs other factors in determining a woman's choice of an occupation. it is nevertheless true that the greater muscular exertion ordinarily required by manufacturing and mechanical in dustries shuts out from these activities many women of less than average physical endurance and makes it necessary for them to earn a living in occupations making lighter physical deman Influence of the World War on the Entrance of Women into Industry.— In peace time the overwhelming majority of workers in all lines are engaged to supplying or distribut ing the normal demands of individual and family life. In war time the paramount de mand upon industry is for means to destroy life — for guns, shells, powder and other ex plosives and for the necessary man power and equipment to make these effective against the enemy. The simultaneous shifting of stress from peace to war production and the drafting of the man power from industry to military and naval service inevitably changes the cur rent of woman labor. How permanent the changes are only the results of succeeding censuses will show, but there are many evi dences that the war emergency has materially checked the momentum of the movement of women into the old women-employing industries and familiar professions. For example, the records of the United States Employment Serv ice for the period of the war showed agrow ing demand for women workers from employers in iron and steel and other metal industries; from lumber and timber mills and from the oil refineric< Without question the number of women bookkeepers and accountants has in in a marked degree Occupations in the banking business which were practically closed to women before the war drew large numbers of women to offset the shortage of men Trade and business schools during the war threw open to women courses in banking and other responsible commercial positions which were not open to women before the war.
Finally the Federal government which, be fore the war had offered opportunities to i women chiefly in clerical, stenographic and other positions demanding little or no executive or technical training called women during the war into service requiring technical knowledge, executive ability and administrative experience of no mean order.
Of course, this war draft of women from homes into industry, and from accustomed oc cupations requiring little skill to unaccustomed positions of responsibility, did not proceed to the extent that it did in England. This was due, in the first place, to the longer duration of the war period in England and the conse quent longer and greater drain on her man power; and, in the second place, to the fact that England entered the war at the outset with a preponderance of women over mm, whereas the United States entered the war with a pre ponderance of men over women. It was not Until the second draft had been made in this country that the demand for women to take the places of men began to make itself felt The first draft served only to 'take up the slack in male labor' notwithstanding the fact that the country's mills and factories had been supplying the allied nations with enormous quantities of war materials.
It would seem, therefore, that the demolish ration of the American military and naval forces would have resulted in a corresponding reduction in the number of women drawn into industry. Evidences, however, do not sus tain this conclusion. War conditions shat off the normal labor supply from immigration. Not only so, but conditions in Slavic countries set in motion a flow of emigration especially of the Slavic foreign born which made its influence felt on the general labor supply. In addition.. the increasing demand for reconstruction ma terials and the revival of peace time require ments have made demands which readily as labor rendered available by demobilization and also kept the war acquisiuon of woman labor busy in large measure.
On the whole, unquestionably the war has enlarged the opportunities of profitable employ ment for women, though as stated before. fug in what measure and howpermanent the en are, only succeeding national census figures will determine.
The Economic Status of Women in In The influence of the war upon the wages of women need not be discussed in an article of this nature, as the war wages of women, like the war wages of men, are deter mined by war conditions which involve factors not included in the general problem of •secur ing to the worker an equitable share of the products of his work' Obviously, the fundamental conditions de termining the economic status of women to in dustry arc wages, working conditions and of lising. To one or more of these darer all the problems of social and industrial unres4 are related, for the cost of involves de standard of living; working titers involve working hours and industrial hygiene; both in volve the health and earning power of the worker. Wages arc entangled with industrial skill, duration of employment and labor supply.
Wages.—The steady increase in the numbers of women entering industry even though the numbers of men may be increasing at a more rapid rate in some lines, renders an equi table wage a matter of growing importance, not only to the industries and workers directly involved, but to society as a whole. The sharp insistent demand is for a living wage as the minimum limit, for though the terms "living wage" and "minimum wage" may be used in discriminately, there is never any question about mum wage laws definitely stipulate only the cost of living as the factor to be considered in fixing the wage, for even in these cases pro vision for apprenticeship wages are made by commissions.
Amounts Paid in Wages to Women as Compared with Men.—The year 1905 is the last in which the United States census gives the total amount of money paid to women as compared with the amounts paid to men and children. If the industries shown in Table II on page 460 were arranged in the order of those showing the greatest proportions of female labor, hosiery and knit goods would lead, as 66.4 per cent of the total number of wage-earners the import of the demands. It is always an effort to secure a living wage.