If a middle class woman was married then she acted as no more than the simple, stereotypical housewife. These housewives cleaned the house, raised the children and cooked for her family and would concern herself with little else. Single, middle class women however did have jobs and were the only jobs that could be described as ‘careers’. They were allowed to be in professions such as teaching and they were secretaries, they were however paid a mere two thirds of the amount paid to men in most jobs and were rarely ever promoted above the most useless of male workers. They had little chance of promotion due to a lack of education and no real incentive to work harder.
A slightly more varied choice of professions was available to working class women, but this was by no means a good thing. One of these jobs was factory work, also referred to as ‘sweated trades’ this consisted of making things in a workshop like jewellery. Around 950000 women worked in this way, the conditions were abysmal and the pay was dreadfully low. Some women could work from home and they were paid a set rate for each piece they produced. There was nothing women could do to protest against these conditions through fear of losing their jobs – something they could not afford to do. Although there were plenty of jobs at women’s disposal they would have to put up with unsanitary conditions and low pay if they wanted one.
Many other working class women worked in domestic service, being maids for the upper class families. Although this may sound like an easier option of just cleaning a luxurious mansion in reality the workers were thrust into an uncomfortable attic to live. They got little to no time to rest and were only given half a day off each week – if that. Although servants who ‘lived out’ ( did not stay with the family they catered for) were paid more the average wage was still only a near insignificant £5-10 per year. The pay was so low due to there being so many applicants as girls leaving school at twelve would join the ‘service’ and there was barely any education required to efficiently carry out the job as it was mostly manual.
The laws to stop discrimination against women in the workplace in 1914 – there quite simply were none. There was nothing to prevent employers from paying women less, refusing to offer them certain jobs or not promoting them for no apparent reason.
Popular belief suggested that men were more ‘capable’ than men in terms of work. This vastly recognized opinion made promotional prospects for women very slim. This was partly due to the lack of education for women, it was not compulsory to attend school after the age of twelve. Only 10% of children did and even less of these were women, in the event that a girl won a scholarship her parents may not even let her take it up as they would lose her earnings. Only 2% of girls even received a secondary education.
In conclusion I feel that the employment opportunities for women in 1914 were outrageously bad. Many were forced into jobs that could severely damage them both physically and mentally, they were mistreated and not even properly protected from many dangers in their working environment. There was blatant discrimination against them and nothing they could do about it or they would lose their ridiculously low paid jobs which barely gave them enough to survive, let alone an entire family. Other women who did not have to endure the torture of work in 1914 were stripped of any shred of flair, individuality or independence by doing repetitive housework on-stop or simply nothing at all. It is unfair to even call women’s work in 1914 ‘employment opportunities’ as the system was so terrible and women were either forced into or out of it.
