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T H E N E W D E M O C R A C Y
A generation ago millions gave their lives in a crusade to ~ake the world safe
for democracy. The crusade ended in complete victory; democracy appeared trium-.
phant everywhere.
place to disillusionment
And then something went wrong.
and frustration.
Elation and enthusiasm gave
The men whom their country needed
Women· and Work
became men without work; homes for heroes proved to be slum tenements;
hundreds of thousands of the country's children remained below the poverty line.
Within little more than twenty years of their triumph the crusaders of democracy
were facing disaster on the beaches of Dunkirk. Gertrude Williams
It need not and must not happen again. This time the democracies must not only
win the war; they must win the peace. The peacemakers of 1919 lost the peace for
democracy because they failed to distinguish between the underlying principles·of
democracy and the outward forms in which it is clothed in a particular age. They With 13 pictorial charts in colour designed
thought they could re-establish the principles by simply restoring the old by the lsotype Institute
nineteenth-century forms. We are to-day paying the dismal price of their blunder.
and 65 photographs
This time we must see to it that twentieth-century democracy is tuned up to
twentieth-century conditions. We must recognise that scientific advance, hastened
by the stimulus of total war, has created new possibilities and evolved new tech-
niques of social organisation and planning which carry revolutionary implications
for human society. Democracy will only live on and become once again a dynamic
force if it can boldly turn those techniques and discoveries to its own purposes,
using them to put an end to unemployment, insecurity and want, and to open up
new frontiers of human life and freedom,
This is a task which cannot be left to the statesman and the expert. It is the
individual responsibility of every citizen. The essence of a democrati.: community
is that its citizens should take an active part in its decisions; and this is more
imperative than ever in an age in which the state is everywhere extending the
range of its activity. Active citizenship is the indispensable condition of freedom
in a planned society.
But the citizen can only take an active part in the community if he is properly
informed about the choices and possibilities before it. To contribute to this body
of informed opinion, as a basis of social action, is the purpose of this series. It is
written and edited by experts who believe it to be their responsibility as citizens
to put their special knowledge before the widest possible public, using all the
modern techniques of presentation to give vividness to their subjects. It is written
primarily for the citizens of Great Britain, which; as the oldest of living demo-
cracies'. has to-day a special responsibility to give leadership in working out the
'Nicholson & Watson London
pattern of the new democracy. But it is also written for the citizens of every
community who believe that democracy is the only valid principle upon which
to run a modern society, and who mean to make it work.Designed and produced by List of Pictorial Charts in Colour
(Material from sources indicated)
Adprint Ltd London
Page
Development of Men's and Women's Occupations 38-39
(Census, E. & W., 1881, 1901, 1931)
Copyright 1945 by Adprint Ltci London W1 II Age Groups and Occupations 42-43
(Census, E. & W., 1931)
Ill Professions of Women in 1911 and 1931 46-47
(Census, E. & W., 1911, 1931)
First published by IV Women's Occupations by Regions 67
Nicholson & Watson (Census, E. & W., 1931)
in association with
V Weekly Earnings of Men and Women 70-71
Wells Gardner Darton & Co Ltd (Ministr·y of Labour Gazette)
London 1945
VI Trade Union Membership 74-7S
(Ministry of Labour Gazette)
Vil Percentage of Women Occupied and Number of
Births 78-79
(Political Arithmetic, edited by Lancelot Hogben, 1938)
VIII Women at Work in Greater London and in South
Wales 82-83
(Census, E. & W., 1931)
1,
IX The Changing Home before the 19th Century 86-87
I
X The Changing Home To-day 91-92
XI Birth Rates and Social Class 94-9S
("Social ·structure of England and Wales", by A. M. Carr Saunders
and D. Caradog Jones, 1937)
XII Family Sizes 98-99
(The Home Market, by G. Harrison and F. C. Mitchell, 1936)
XIII Occupations of Women about 1930 10)
(I.LO. Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1941)
Printed in Great Britain· by Jarrold & Sons Limited NorwichPhotographic Editor: Paul Rotha Contents
P,age
A Note to the Reader 9
Spsc 1Av
rl-9 The Scope of Women's Work 11
bI ~S"' The Wartime Revolution 11
.·\})Lf7
14~ ·t; The Rise of the "Dependent" Family 13
The Effect of Marriage 19
Law and Custom 25
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Illustrations on p. 13 "The house used to be also the workshop", on p. 28 "A cotton
II The Work Women Do 36
factory in 1840", on p. 29 "Sweated work at home in the 'nineties", on p. 34
"What men anticipated", on p. 50 "the governess", on p. 51 "the lady-help",
on p. 58 '.'lace-making", on p. 60 "Telegraph Exchange 1871", by courtesy of Changes in Numbers and Jobs 36
Rischgitz Studios; on p. 15 "the woman looks after the shop at home" (GAS INDUS-
TRY-Realist Film Unit); on p. 16 "The wife's work in the dairy is as important",
on p. 21 "but women have the deft touch", on p. 25 "The woman runs the machine", The Middle-class Woman 48
on p. 32 "a modern factory canteen", on p. 35 "the booking clerk", on p. 54 "the
saleswoman", on p.110 "Men and women work together on an A.A. mixed Battery",
on p. 111 "the girl with a pip on her shoulder has learned to take responsibility",
on p. 114 "A.T.S. Transport drivers"; on p. 119 "the civic restaurant", on p. 123
"the old kitchen", Crown Copyright Reserved; on p. 20 "Men have muscular
strength" from "The Mine" (G. B. Instructional); on p. 26 "The man applies the
skill" from "Roadways" (British Independent Films); on p. 30 "An old factory",
111 Woman's Dual Role 63
on p. 52 "the doctor", by Dorien Leigh; on p. 30 "A modern factory", by Studio
Lisa; on p. 52 '.'the research worker" from "Subject for Discussion" (MO I-Seven
League Productions); on p. 53 "the caterer" from "New Worlds for Old" (GAS Differences in Pay 63
INDUSTRY-Realist Film Unit); on p. 53 "the draughtswoman", by courtesy of the·
Ministry of Labour; on p. 55 "the almoner" from "Life begins Again" (MOI-
Rotha Films); on p. 62 "the shop assistant", by courtesy of Marks and Spencer Ltd., Do Women Need Less? 65
photograph by Douglas Glass; on p. 106 "learning a new job" from "Nightshift"
(MOI-Rotha Films); on p. 108 "making barrage balloons" from "Worker and
Warfront" (MOI-Rotha Films); on p. 109 "beauty culture", a Chicago Public The Economic Factors 69
School Photograph; on p. 115 "First Aid on a Thames ambulance ship", on p. 116
"the housewife-", on p. 117 "-takes a part-time job", photographs by P. G.
Rennell; on. p. II8 "the day nursery" from "Five-and-Under" (MOI-Rotha
Films); on p. 120 "~but housework-", by courtesy of the British Council; on
Workers and Wives 72
p. 122 '.'the municipal laundry", photo by Lee, courtesy of the U.S. Farm Security
Admm1strat10n; on p. 125 "Homework no longer fills her life but work brings new
interests" from "Battle of the Books" (MOI-Rotha Films). Public Opinion and the Married Woman Worker 85-the wife's work in the dairy is as important-
life must be more organised; groups of workers must begin and
But the coming of power machinery, by taking industry out of stop at the same time; a definite part of the day is set thus aside
the home and into the factory, made a new and sharp division for industrial work, and this means that as soon as she undertakes
between work and "life" and completely transformed both the the care of a home and family she has to give up regular paid
character of the home and of women's work. A woman sitting work because it lies outside the place where her main duties are
in her own home can spin industriously and efficiently, stir the performed. Moreover, the same changes which transferred her
pot, and keep an eye on an adventurous toddler at one and the work to the factory have altered the nature of the work inside the
same time; but she cannot feed a spinning machine in the factory home. Bread baking, beer brewing, jam preserving,· clothes-
with one hand while she rocks the baby's cradle at home with the making, etc., are now factory industries rather than household
other, nor can she move rapidly from one to the other. Factory
16CHART Ill
Professions of Women in 1911 Professions of Women in 1931
I . England and Wales
England and Wales
/ doctors;
dentists
t
midwives tt midwives
tt
+ "'""-·
t others
health services
+ nurses
others
.
-tttt
health services
jco teachers
•••I
ttttt
"·
::::~::s: singers,
."
/
painters,
sculptors
authors,
journalists
tt
t
ffL librarians
t
Each symbol represents, 3,000 women
t
,
Each full group represents 60,000 women
social welfare
ltttuttl workers
officials, etc. t ISOTYPE~
INSTITUTti'
47CHART VII
Percent~ge of Women Occupied and Number of Births I.
in the 83 County Boroughs of England and Wales, 1931
not occupied occupied
•
21 County
Boroughs
••
41 County
• Boroughs
•
21 County
Boroughs
Each woman symbol represents 1 among 10 women 14 years ond over
blue outline : not occupied red : occupied ISOTYPE~
INSTITUTW
The baby symbols represent the children born to 10 women throughout their
reproducrian oge
79CHART XI
··Birth Rate and Social Class
Births per 100 married men under 55 in 1921
Upper a~le class
............. ~~
Agricultural
...................
~
worker
~ .........
~~ ,.. ....
t ...............
Miners
~ . ~. . ·
•. ~.~......
Textile workers
~......
·
-..~.._
......
'
ISOTYPEkl
INSTITUTW
95
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