"The adolescent stage of life has long seemed to me one of the most fascinating of all themes, more worthy, perhaps, than anything in the world of reverence, most inviting study, and in most crying need of a service we do not yet understand how to render aright." G. Stanley Hall , Adolescence , I. xix. THE GIRL IN INDUSTRY BY D. J. COLLIER WITH A FOREWORD AND INTRODUCTION BY B. L. HUTCHINS AUTHOR OF "WOMEN IN MODERN INDUSTRY" LONDON G. BELL AND SONS, LTD. 1918...

The problem of the adolescent at work is a very complex one; not only the economic, but also the educational, physiological, and biological reactions of industrial work have to be considered. The present work does not attempt anything like a comprehensive discussion of the subject; it is merely a small contribution to existing knowledge of the facts in regard to one section only: the physiological effects of industrial work on growing girls. The young, it is often said, are the nation's capital.

Numbers Employed. —The whole number of girls employed from 10 to 21 years of age amounted in 1911 to over a million and a half, or about 40 per cent of the total female population of that age. If, however, we restrict ourselves to the adolescent girls at the ages 14 and under 18, we find that the total number employed amounted to nearly 794,800, or 58·6 per cent of the whole. The 41·4 per cent unoccupied include girls of the class in which women do not work for money, girls studying who intend t

Hours. —The evidence to be considered under this heading is concerned with various factors: the total number of hours worked each week, the length of the spells, and the number and length of the pauses for rest and meals, as well as the time of employment, i.e. day or night work. At the time when the inquiry was initiated (October 1916), practically all the munition factories in Birmingham were working a 60-hour week, and only in a very few cases had three 8-hour shifts been tried. This was due

In addition to the influence of these special considerations on the health of girls in factory employment, certain ailments and forms of physical disability which may not of themselves be immediately incapacitating may be induced by the general unfavourable environment of industrial life Amongst such disorders may be classed: Growing girls are particularly liable to these disorders, so that their extent was made the subject of special inquiry. Anaemia. —The absence of an absolute standard and co

Any realisation of the particular problems and needs of adolescents by attempts to fit work to their physical capacity is so rare that the few cases where such provisions are made stand out in marked contrast. In munition and other factories where Welfare Workers are in charge, efforts are generally made to limit overtime and night work to those over 18, but at the time the inquiry was made in Birmingham and Coventry girls over 16 were in most cases expected to take their turn at night work with

In reviewing the effects of the transition from school to factory life it must be remembered that the evidence from the non-textile industries refers to girls who are over 14 years of age, while in the textile towns the large majority of the children start work either as half-timers at 12 or as full timers at 13. The general trend of the evidence shows that the taking up of non-textile employment is attended by a considerable falling-off in health. Most girls become thinner and lose their colour

Girls in the Mule Rooms. —The shortage of boy labour in the spinning branch of the cotton industry has led during recent years to a revival of the old custom of employing women and girls in the mule rooms. In strongly organised districts this means that girls are being engaged as piecers in increasing numbers, while where Trade Union organisation is weak, outside the great spinning areas, as in Wigan, they are frequently acting as mule minders. As might be expected, the influence of war conditio

The greater part of the evidence considered in this report was based on opinions derived from personal observations with very little scientific and no statistical groundwork. The complete report leaves us with a fairly accurate picture of the conditions under which a large proportion of the adolescent workers of the country are employed, with some general notions as to how these conditions react on their health and physique. Exact conclusions as to the particular effects of the conditions of lab

Occupations of Girls in England and Wales, according to Census of 1911 00's omitted in Employed Columns Key: A: Employed. B: Per cent. [Extracted from The Present Position of the Juvenile Labour Problem , by F. Keeling.] Proportion per 1000 Girls engaged in Occupations in certain Districts, England and Wales, 1911 [15] Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited , Edinburgh . [1] Adolescence , vol. i. 167. [2] Report on Physical Deterioration , 1904, p. 123. [3] Health and Physique of School Child