Source 5 shows women gauging car parts at Cowley in 1929. Although it would have been cheaper to employ women this is not a stereotypical job for women to have done. It was seen as men’s work and is a very boring and repetitive job.
Source 6 shows tyre fitting at Cowley in 1955. There are four men doing this job wearing overalls. It was a dirty job that was usually done by men at the time.
Source 1 and Source 3 show a good contrast in the work done by men and women in the Cowley factory. They were both taken in the 1930’s, just 4 years apart. Source 1 shows the work men were expected to do which was dirty manual labour. Source 3 shows the work women were expected to do which was sitting at a sewing machine. Both are very stereotypical work for men and women at the time.
When Source 5 is compared with Source 6 it shows a variety of jobs that could be done by both sexes. Source 6 depicts men in overall fitting tyres which is a dirty job seen as ‘men’s work’. Source 5 shows a similar job, gauging car parts, being done by women, which is not what would have been expected at the time. The women are also wearing overalls suggesting a filthy job similar to the conditions the men would have had to work in.
To compare the women’s work done in the middle of the 20th century Source 3 and 4 could be compared. Source 3 shows women sat sewing which is what would have been expected in the 1930’s. Source 4 also shows the stereotypical jobs that would have been done by women, the clerical filing. Although Source 4 also shows that women could break through the ‘glass ceiling’ and get promoted to do the same work as the men. This is shown by the one woman sat in the line of accountants which is male dominated.
To compare men’s work done at the Cowley factory Source 1 could be cross referenced with Source 6. Source 1 shows the men doing manual labour as they fit car interiors along a production line. Source 6 shows more men doing manual labour in the form of fitting tyres. This comparison shows the stereotypical work was not only done by women at the time. Most men were given laborious and dirty jobs.
To conclude, most jobs shown in Sources 1-6 are stereotypical not only for women but for men as well. Sources 1 and 6 show the typical work done by men and Sources 3 and 4 show the typical work done by women. The only exceptions are Source 5, which shows women doing typical men’s work, and Source 4 which shows that some women were given better jobs than it was first thought.
Question 3 – Collection B and C
Look carefully at the sources in collection B and collection C together. How useful are the sources in Collection C in adding to the understanding that you have already gained from Collection B about the roles of women in the car industry?
Source 1 in Collection C in an extract from the Rover group newspaper taken in the 1960’s. The story is about the Kirkby plant setting up a laundrette to attract women workers. This means they can have their laundry done while they are at work. Mrs Christine Fell is in charge of the laundrette which is stereotypical women’s work. However the women who take their washing to the laundrette are assemblers, Doris Thompson and Josephine Murphy, which was seen as typical men’s work. The newspaper was sent round to boost the moral of the women and encourage them to work at Rover by enticing them with an offer that is stereotypical, as they expect women to be doing their husband and families washing.
Source 2 is also a newspaper report, from the late 50’s. It talks about Mrs Eileen Mills who is being promoted to Deputy Forewoman. This could be seen as patronising as it has taken her 18 years but Rover are proud to be promoting women. She had all the right qualifications to work in the company’s engineering department, after being in the Land Army and learning tractor maintenance but instead she has worked for 18 years in the Trim Shop sewing upholstery.
Source 1 could compare with Photo 3 in Collection B as women in Source 1 are in charge of the laundry which is stereotypical women’s work and in Photo 3 there are rows of women sewing which is also stereotypical work for women. As Photo 3 was taken 1934 this shows that women were being patronised back then just as they are in Source 1 taken in the 1960’s.
Photo 5 in Collection B, taken in 1929, contrasts as it shows a line of women gauging car parts which was then seen as men’s work. As this was taken in 1929 it seems strange that women were then doing stereotypical work in the 1960’s rather than the 1920’s.
Although if Source 1 was interpreted in a diffrernt way it would contrast with Photo 1 in Collection B. Photo 1 shows a line of assembly workers all of whom are male yet in Source 1 female assemblers are referred to, ‘Mrs Josephine Murphy and Mrs Doris Thompson, assemblers who called to collect their laundry.’ This shows that more women into men’s jobs by the 1960’s than in Photo which was taken in 1938.
Source 2 compares with Photo 3 in Collection B as it shows the story behind the new Deputy Forewoman who used to work in the Trim Shop sewing for 18 years. Photo 3 shows women sewing in the Trim Shop in 1934. This backs up Source 2 especially as Photo 3 was taken 25 years before Source 2 and for 18 of those years Mrs Eileen Mills was sewing in the Trim Shop.
Source 2 also compares with Photo 4 as they both show a women who has been promoted. Photo 4 shows the women sat behind a desk in the middle of a line of men with the other women in front of her doing the lower paid clerical jobs. Although it could be see that women were becoming equal to men in the car industry as they were being promoted only one woman in each source has been promoted and in Source 2 it has taken her 18 years to do it. Both were taken in around the same year as well which shows what a novelty it was to hear of a woman being promoted.
Sources 1 and 2 are not very reliable as they were printed to advertise the good side of the Rover Group and so are biased. This means that they do not go far in backing up the photos in Collection B.
Question 4 – Collection D
Compare the sources carefully. What similarities and differences can you detect?
Collection D is made up of two sources from the Rover Group. Source 1 is a page taken from a wages book in 1941. Because this was taken during the war most men were involved in the war service and so there are more women than men working in the factory. The factory is more likely to be producing weapons now rather than cars. The source shows a lack of equal pay. Women are paid about half of the wage of men. For example Mr Hoffman is paid £5 6s 9d where as Miss Carigan is paid £2 5s 9d, although this was before the Equal Pay Act.
Source 2 shows details of women in the workplace in 1997 at Rover group. This was long after the Equal Pay Act. Of a total workforce of 38 255, 2585 were women. This was 6.76% of the workforce. These small amounts of female workers were paid by the hour which suggests they were lower paid workers, possibly cleaners. This amounted to 52.15% of the women workforce. Managers who were female took up only 0.67% of the total workers.
The similarities of these sources are that both have female workers who are paid lower than the males. One before and one after the Equal Pay Act. Men are favoured at these jobs. Neither source gives the full picture. As Source 1 is only part of the wages book and Source 2 shows the percentage of women working for the company but not how much they are paid.
In Source 1 there are a high percentage of women working for the Rover Group due to the war. Mainly doing office and secretarial jobs. Whereas in Source 2 most women are not in the offices as they do not have a permanent annual wage although some of them are in managerial posts.
Question 5 – Collection D
Compare the sources carefully. How do you account for the differences?
Source 1 is a wages book produced by Rover Group in 1941. It was made to keep track of all the weekly wage payments. There are some gaps in its evidence as it is only one page from the wage book, which must have been several pages long. It is also not known which car plant it has been taken from; this shows it is not a very accurate account of women in the car industry. Although it is a reflection of the whole years wages from the whole company and should have been audited, making it a reliable source. This wages book was also from before the Equal Pay Act.
Source 2 was taken from figures at the Rover Group on February 5th 1997 and was produced for school use. It infers it is information from all the Rover factories. It isn’t very reliable as it only shows the figures of women workers and no men to compare them to. Also 38% of the women that work there are not mentioned (938 people). There may be errors or gaps in the evidence as it has not been audited or checked. This source was taken after the Equal Pay Act and the women should have better pay, but have lower skilled jobs.
Most of the differences between these sources can be accounted for the fact they were taken one either side of the Equal Pay Act. In Source 1 the wages book shows women been paid low wages whereas in Source 2 some women are in managerial grades, this is because the Equal Pay Act has forced the employer to employ more women in higher paid jobs.
Something else the accounts for the differences is that Source 1 is only one page from one book in one factory, and so does not have much of a range. Source 2 however contains figures for the whole Rover Groups women workers. Source 1 is also affected by the war. More women would have been working for Rover at that time than as usual because the majority of men that worked there would have gone to war. This would have changed the wages book dramatically by increasing the number of women on the pay role.
Question 6
Use ALL the sources together with your own knowledge. To what extent would you agree with the statement “Women have never played a significant part in the British Car Industry”? Explain you answer fully.
Significant can be defined as ‘having an implied meaning’ and also as ‘important, notable, or momentous’. The sources I have studied are taken only from the Rover Group, and so do not account for the whole of the British Car Industry at any one time. I disagree with this statement to a certain extent, as during the Second World War women had to learn skills and work in the factories, which contributed to the car industry. As well as manual jobs in the car industry women are in managerial grades at car plants and work in marketing. Although the impact these jobs have had could probably not be described as significant.
Most of the adverts in Collection A would agree with this statement. Advertisement 1 shows a model sat in the car which doesn’t contribute to the car industry at all, let alone significantly. Advertisement 2 also portrays women as ditzy and insignificant the advert implies women wouldn’t buy or drive a car which shows the attitude the car industry itself had towards women’s role in it. A women is used to advertise the MGB GT in advert 3 by leaning against it which shows her to not have any knowledge about cars and couldn’t be described as ‘notable or momentous’. Advert 4 has no women in it, but instead shows two pilots chatting next to the car; this implies men to have greater knowledge about cars as it seems that is what they are chatting about.
Photograph 1 of collection B also seems to agree with the statement as it shows workers on an assembly line, all of whom are male. Its message is that the men are working on the cars because they are more skilled at such work and play more of a significant role. Photo 3 has the same message but portrayed differently, as this shows women sewing in a trim shop at Cowley. This is typical women’s work as is not vital to the cars production. Women are not doing significant work in photograph 4 either they are in a line filing papers, and doing clerical work while the men are sat behind them doing the more significant jobs of writing and checking the paperwork. Photograph 6 shows tyre fitting at Cowley factory where only men are visible, implying the women are incapable of doing these more vital jobs.
Some of collection C agrees with this statement too, as the first article in the collection writes about a laundrette being opened at Kirkby factory to entice the women workers. This is a stereotypical way of attracting women workers and the people who work in this new laundrette are all women because it is seen as women’s work. No men are photographed taking in their washing or interviewed about its convenience because the job of the laundry is viewed as a women’s job and the workers laundry is hardly significant to the development of the car industry.
It could be said that Collection D also agrees with the statement as in Source 1, the wages book, the women workers are paid half as much as the men. Four of the women’s wages come in at under three pounds whereas four of the men’s are over four pounds. The second source could also agree because only a tiny 0.67% of the total workforce are women in managerial grades and only 6.76% of the workforce, as a whole, are female workers.
However it could be argued that Collection A disagrees with the statement because advertising is a big part of the car industry and where a big portion of the money goes. Without such advertisements people would not have bought the cars, and so these adverts could be seen as significant.
Photo 2 in Collection B could disagree with this statement because it shows the workers of Cowley factory cycling home, and it is clear that both men and women are leaving the factory which shows that women were just as important as the men were. Photo 5 also disagrees as it shows many women gauging car parts at a car factory, implying they are skilled and knowledgeable about how cars work.
Collection C could also be argued to disagree with the statement as in the first article of a newspaper it reads ‘Mrs. Josephine Murphy and Mrs. Doris Thompson, assemblers, who called to collect their laundry…..’. These two women work as assemblers in the factory which is a job done usually by men. This shows the women’s significance is equal to the men’s. The second newspaper article tells the story of Mrs. Eileen Mills who has been promoted to deputy forewoman. This was a managerial position and shows how valued she was as an employee.
Source 1 of Collection D could also disagree with the statement because the wages book shows many women who were on the pay role of the car plant. Source 2 shows that 10.10% of all the females in the factory were in managerial grades which is quite a high percentage of the total female workforce. It works out at 261 out of 2585 women.
Women were greatly valued during both of the world wars as they were there to take over their husband’s jobs and had to learn new skills very quickly and apply them equally as fast. They were seen as significant at the time because they had to farm the nation’s food and make the army’s ammunition. The Great Depression had begun and Britain became more dependant on what it could produce itself which put women’s new found skills into action. More British made products were needed as exports and imports had been damaged by the war and the bombing so women continued to work in the factories as they had been during the war. This was at a time when the Equal Pay Act had not been passed and for a long time women were not being paid as much as their male work colleagues, but they continued to do their jobs.
I believe that these sources show the overall view that women were not as significant to the car industry as men were. Women are used more in the advertisements than the decision making and even though women did work in some of the factories gauging car parts and sewing upholstery does not significantly contribute to the car industry. Although, this view is limited to Britain in the 1930’s – 1990’s and so is not completely reliable. Women are making more of an impact on industry in general since the new millennium. I do not think that women have played what could be described as a significant role in the car industry up to date, but that what they have achieved has been notable and, at times, rather important.
