Abraham, Katherine, 110–11
Absorption costs: buffering from, 207, 210–11; measurement of required growth for, 246–47; non-problematic in many firms, 215–16; problematic on GPO and GWR, 208–11; relation to organizational growth, 207–10, 216; relation to turnover, 207, 216
Accountant General’s Department. See Receiver and Accountant General’s Department
Age discrimination, 96, 112–14, 214; differences in occupational age structures, alternative explanations of, 113–15; differences in occupational age structures, observed, 113, 114n; implications for age structure of occupations, 112–13; implications of human capital theory, 10–12, 11n. See also Marriage bars; Tenure bars
Age-earnings profiles, 110; human capital vs. internal labor market explanations, 110–11
Age of marriage, 107–8
Age structure of occupations. See Age discrimination
Alternative sources of secondary labor. See Cheap labor, alternative sources of
Anderson, Gregory, 67
Anderson, Michael, 3
Andrews, John, 174
Antos, Joseph, et al., 173, 175
Apprentices. See Boy clerks; Juveniles
Aron, Cynthia, 27n
Attic, concealment in. See Sex segregation
Automation, office. See Mechanization, office
Baker, Elizabeth Faulkner, 91n
Bank Introduction (document), 58
Bars. See Marriage bars; Tenure bars
Beechey, Veronica, 3
Begnoche Smith, Catherine, 8, 92
Bethnal Green telegraph office, 50, 153. See also Telegraph Service, London district offices
Bevan Letter, 156
Blackburn, Robert, 174
Blacks. See Ethnic minorities
Blain, Herbert, 246
Blau, Francine, 3, 8, 91n, 92, 248
Bliss, William Dwight Porter, 174
Boy clerks: absorption problems with, 205, 206–11, 215–16; in Britain, 200, 214–16; on GPO, 203, 204; on GWR, 200n, 202–3, 204, 211; importance of career guarantees for, 206–7; in Liverpool, 200–202; not affected by feminization, 204; rates of organizational growth required for, 209–10; supply of, 205, 211–13, 216. See also Cheap labor, alternative sources of; Juveniles
Braverman, Harry, 65, 66, 82, 83
Bridges, William, 24, 227–29, 248–51
Buffering from labor costs, 18, 22–23, 36–64, 219–20, 224, 226; between-firm variance and percent female, 52–53; capital intensity and, 22, 38–39; in executive positions, 235; noneconomic determinants of organizational success and, 23; patronage and, 23, 40, 43; precondition for discrimination, 38–39; small subgroups of workers and, 23, 39, 235; within-firm variance and percent female, 41–51, 162, 170–71. See also Labor intensity
Building location and militancy. See Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department; General Strike of 1926; Labor militancy, gender differences in
Cannon and Bowley survey, 70–72
Capital intensity. See Labor intensity
Capitalism and patriarchy, 3. See also Patriarchy
Caretaking and women’s work, 15
Casual males, 195, 196, 198. See also Cheap labor, alternative sources of; Wage clerks
Census, United States, 14, 27n
Census of GWR Staff. See GWR Staff Census
Center, Stella, 246
Chandler, Alfred, 30
Cheap labor, alternative sources of, 18, 21–22, 195–217, 222, 228–29; demographic types of, 21, 195; in printing, 215-14; relation to clerical feminization, 225–26; relative wages of, 22; supplies of, 21–22, 196–97; tenure requirements of, 197–98; training requirements for, 21, 197. See also Boy clerks
Cheap labor and women’s work, 17–18, 33, 71n, 173
Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department: description of, 30, 163, 177–80; location of women within, 178–80; shop-floor contact in, 49, 177–79; timing of feminization on, 160–61. See also General Strike of 1926
Christmas Pressure (document), 44–45
Christmas temporary sorters. See Huddersfield Christmas temporaries
Civil service, American, feminization on, 27n
Civil service, British: rate of feminization on, 27, 28; reform of, 43–44. See also Political hiring
Civil service return, 209
Class preferences in hiring, 205–6
Clerical Appointments Committee (document), 102
Clerical labor intensity: contact, female, with manual labor, relation to, 48–50; distribution of, within CME, 163–65; efficiency in office management, relation to, 60–64; increase over time, 198–99; managerial sexism, relation to, 41n, 58; measurement of, 42–43; physical labor, relation to, 48–49; political hiring, interaction with, 47–48; Post Office, relative to railway, 39, 52–53; promotes clerical feminization, 39, 224; skill requirements, relation to, 48, 50–51; within-firm variance and percent female in CME, 165–66; within-firm variance and percent female in GPO, 41–42, 43, 47–48, 170–71; within-firm variance and percent female in GWR, 41–43, 162
Clerical unions, weakness of, 138. See also Organized labor
Clerical work: de-skilling of, 65–90, 220, 223; importance of, 25–26; status in nineteenth century, 67–68, 198. See also Mechanization, office; Skill requirements; Technological change; White-collar occupations, women in
Clerical work, feminization of, 12, 17n, 65–66, 172, 223–26; and clerical labor intensity, 224; and de-skilling, 65–66, 90, 223; and exclusion by organized labor, 172, 223–24; and female labor supply, 223; and shortage of boy labor, 213, 225–26; and synthetic turnover, 225
Clerical Work Committee (document), 63, 88, 199
Clerk, definition of: in common usage, 68; in this study, 33–34, 51, 51n, 74
CME. See Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department
Colours (document), 141
Contact with manual labor: in Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department, 49, 177–78; radicalizing force, 164, 178–79; relation to clerical labor intensity, 48–50; suitable for women, 49–50
Contract Talks (document), 141, 142, 158
Controller of Telegraph Service, testimony on synthetic turnover, 103–4. See also Scudamore, Francis
Convention (document), 157
Cook, Alice, 101
Copyists, 67–68, 85, 86, 198. See also Wage clerks
Countervailing economic advantages, 18–19
Crystal Palace telegraph office, 50, 153. See also Telegraph Service, London district offices
Culture: difficulty of a priori specification of cultural utilities, 134–35; effect on sex-typing, 13–16, 116–19; malleability of ideology, 117; theories using culture, 16, 18
Cyert, Richard, 38
Darlington, Richard, 246
Davies, Margery, 12, 18n, 24, 65, 66, 69, 86, 91n, 223
Day reserve system. See Nightwork, and night reserve system
Decision theory, 38
Depots: contact with manual labor in, 49; nightwork in, 118; non-clerical labor intensity of, 42; physical work in, 49; skill requirements in, 50; use of women in, 41–43
De-skilling, 65–90. See also Skill requirements
Dicksee, Lawrence, 246
Discrimination, 6n, 17, 53–54, 59–60; beliefs in low female productivity, 37, 54, 59, 60; bias in testing, 57; buffering from labor costs, relation to, 38–39; Kanterian homophily, relation to, 37–38; measuring, 75–76, 243–45; procrastination, relation to, 38, 59, 60; requires legitimating ideology, 116–19, 125–26; secondary utility, 36–38, 116–17; sex roles, relation to, 36–37, 59. See also Patriarchy
Domestic labor, 14–15
Dowries, marriage. See Marriage bars
Dual labor markets, 3
Dubnoff, Steven, 82
Economic concentration, 249
Economic hiring. See Buffering from labor costs; Political hiring
Economic scale, 249
Education: effect of increases on sex-typing, 12–13, 211, 226; effect of increases on supply of boy labor, 211, 212–13; female attainments, 8; requirements for clerical work, 205, 226–27. See also Human capital, acquisition of, in human capital theory; University graduates
Edwards, Richard, 93, 102, 112
Employee discrimination. See Organized labor, exclusion of women by
Enfranchisement of civil service, 144–45
Engineering Clerks (document), 51, 62, 213
Engineering offices: inefficiency of, 61–62; occupational composition of, 51, 61, 62; skill requirements in, 50–51; use of women in, 41–42
Environmental constraints, 18, 19–20, 230–32
Epstein, Cynthia, 7
Equal pay for equal work (labor demand), 117, 157
Establishment books. See GPO Establishment Books
Ethnic minorities, 195, 197; in clerical work, 199–200
Evans, Dorothy, 76, 132–33, 205–6
Exponential growth rate, 209n
Ex-servicemen’s Employment (document), 45
Family history, 3
Fawcett Association, 155. See also Postal unions (all); Sorters and sorting offices
Fawcett Revision, 146
Female Pension (document), 107
Feminization. See Clerical work, feminization of; Occupational sex-typing
Filing, 83, 87; breakdown in Engineering Department, 61
Firm size in sectoral theories, 249–50
Flat rate wages. See Tenure-based salaries
Fligstein, Neil, 91n
Foner, Philip, 20
Foreign Office. See Sex segregation
Freeman, Richard, 138
Gallie, Duncan, 121
Gardiner, Glenn, 246
Garfinkle, Stuart, 224n
General Manager of GWR: contrasted with GPO Secretary, 58; role in feminizing GWR, 56
General Post Office: competitive pressures within, 32; continuity of policies through World War I, 131–32; growth of, 130–31, 208–9; history of, 31–32, 239–40; labor relations on, 142–52; model employer, 120, 150, 214; occupational composition of, 33–34, 167, 239–40, 242–43; rate of feminization on, 26–27, 132, 167; regional differences within, 33, 240; salaries on, 73–76, 189; sex segregation within, 130–33. See also Buffering from labor costs; Political hiring; Postal unions (all)
General Strike (document), 142, 164, 165, 166, 180, 181, 186, 188
General Strike of 1926, 142, 160–61, 163–66, 177–78; differences in female participation by male participation, 187–88; differences in participation by building, 178–82; differences in participation by secretarial status, 184–88; differences in participation by shop-floor contact, 177–78, 180–82; good test of direct effects, 176
Gladden, Edgar Norman, 32, 44, 101, 102
Goods Stations (document), 63, 199
Grand Classification (document), 141
Great Western Railway: amalgamation and nationalization threat, 29–30, 131–32, 141; competitive pressures within, 30–31; description of, 29–30; early development of clerical work on, 30; early rejection of women by, 55–56; efficiency in office management, 62–64; growth of, 208; history of, 29–31; hours abuses on, 63; labor relations on, 139–42; Liverpool sales office, 200n; occupational composition of, 33–34, 241–43; rate and timing of feminization on, 26–27, 160–61; recession of 1879, 63–64; regional differences within, 33; salaries on, 74; sex segregation within, 127; World War I, changes of policy during, 131–32, 158. See also Railway Clerks Association; Unions, railway, blue-collar
Grimm, James, 91n
GPO. See General Post Office
GPO Establishment Books, 26, 32, 46n, 47, 51, 68, 75, 80, 81, 101, 105, 111, 123, 128, 151, 153, 154, 167, 239–40
GPO Women (document), 205
GWR. See Great Western Railway
GWR Petitions (document), 140, 141, 161, 211
GWR Staff Census, 26, 43, 52, 74, 79, 105, 111, 160, 162, 199, 203, 208
GWR Women (document), 26, 27n, 56, 130, 205
Hall, C. E., 145, 147, 148, 156
Hanami, Tadashi, 101
Handwriting, 85n
Hanham, H. J., 44
Hayashi, Hiroko, 101
Herrnstadt, Irwin, 82
Herzberg, Max, 246
High-status jobs, exclusion of women from, 91–115, 232–36; extent of, 46, 46n, 65, 105, 123–25, 133; lagged effects of synthetic turnover, 115; marriage bars and, 97; nightwork and, 121–26; role of managers and professionals in, 233–36; role of skilled workers in, 20, 233–36; sex segregation and, 127–28; synthetic turnover as an explanation of, 109, 115, 123, 125–26, 232–33; theories of, 6, 91–92. See also Human capital theory; Natural turnover hypothesis; Percent non-entry; Synthetic turnover
Hirsch, Barry, 174
Historical research on women’s work, 3, 24
Historicist models, 12n, 96, 115, 230–32. See also Vacancy models
Hobhouse (document), 76, 108, 120, 121, 150, 205
Holcombe, Lee, 91n
Homophily, 37–38
Horowitz, Morris, 82
Huddersfield Christmas temporaries, 44–45
Hudis, Paula, 24, 26, 217, 232
Human capital: acquisition of, in human capital theory, 6; cost of loss, 10, 10n, 93; regeneration of, 9. See also Education
Human capital requirements. See Skill requirements
Human capital theory, 3, 5–12, 17, 18, 91–94, 91n; implications for age discrimination, 10–12, 11n. See also Natural turnover hypothesis
Humphreys, B. V., 148, 149, 150, 151
Hunt, Audrey, 96
Ideology. See Culture; Discrimination; Legitimating ideologies; Patriarchy; Sex roles
Illegal immigrants. See Ethnic minorities
ILO. See International Labour Office
Indirect standardization, 183
Internal labor markets: on GPO and GWR, 101–2; and nightwork, 121–22; stagnation in, 94, 101–2, 104, 121–22. See also Job ladders on GWR; Tenure-based salaries
International Labour Office (document), 100, 106, 106n, 112
Irish railway telegraph women. See Signallers, Irish railway telegraph, expulsion of women
Japan, marriage bars in, 100–101, 109–10
Jenkinson, Lambert, 102
Job ladders on GWR, 78–79
Juveniles, 195–96; supply of, and blue-collar feminization, 213–14. See also Boy clerks
Kalleberg, Arne, 9n, 227, 248–51
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, 3, 37–38, 185
Kessler-Harris, Alice, 3, 9n, 12, 20, 24, 24n, 117, 136, 137n, 174, 229–30
Kingsford, Peter, 101
Klingender, Francis Donald, 28, 65, 67, 70, 71, 72, 102
Labor control, women as, 167, 222; in early Telegraph Service, 123, 190–93; after 1871 in GPO, 193. See also Labor militancy, gender differences in; Segmentation of labor force
Labor force participation, female. See Labor supply, female
Labor intensity: Post office, relative to railway, 39; promoting female employment, 38–39, 226, 227–28; in sectoral theories, 250–51. See also Buffering from labor costs; Clerical labor intensity
Labor militancy, gender differences in, 173–94, 222; direct effects, 173–74, 188, 193; effect on white-collar organizing, 175; indirect effects, 173, 174, 188, 193; lower female strike rates, 173, 176–77, 180–84, 188, 190–92, 193; lower female union membership, 173, 176; men as role models for women, 187–88; spurious effects, 173, 175–77, 184–85, 187–88. See also General Strike of 1926; Labor control, women as; Segmentation of labor force
Labor supply, female: determinants of, 4, 6, 7; effect on sex-typing, 5–13, 19, 33, 223; importance in nineteenth century, 9n; relation to synthetic turnover, 94–95; relative to other sources of cheap labor, 196–97, 204
Labour Report (document), 88, 142, 212
Lad clerks. See Boy clerks
Laws, Judith Long, 92
Learning curves: managerial vs. clerical, 111; relation to synthetic turnover, 94–95. See also Skill requirements
Leffingwell, William, 246
Legal restrictions on female employment, 19, 20, 119–20, 135, 230, 232
Legitimating ideologies, 116–35, 221; case-specificity of, 117–18; importance of precedent, 117; minor role in determining sex-type, 134–35. See also Discrimination; Nightwork; Occupational sex-typing; Patriarchy; Sex segregation
Life table analysis, 106–9
Liverpool, age of clerks in. See Boy clerks
Lockwood, David, 65, 67, 70, 72, 73, 139, 176
Logistic regression, 183–84
London and Northwestern Railway, 27n, 30
London Branches (document), 50, 153, 154
London district telegraph offices. See Signallers, telegraph, London branch office anti-feminist agitation; Telegraph Service, London district offices
Lyle, Jerolyn, 91n
Macdermot, Edward Terence, 31
Madden, Jennifer, 91n
Male Pension (document), 107
March, James, 38
Marriage age. See Age of marriage
Marriage bars: in Britain, 97–99, 100; dowries in Britain, 98; dowries on GPO and GWR, 102; estimating effect of, on turnover, 106–7; extent of, 97–101, 109; on GPO, 102–5; on GWR, 102; implication for job assignments, 97; in Japan, 100–101, 109–10; logic of, 96–97; more prevalent in large bureaucracies, 112; more prevalent in white-collar jobs, 99–100, 110–14; relationship to labor scarcity, 114–15; relationship to law, 109; for teachers, 99, 100; timing of introduction in Telegraph Service, 104, 125–26; in U.S., 98–100, 109. See also Synthetic turnover
Martindale, Hilda, 129
Marxism, 3
McClelland, Frank, 246
McCord, James, 246
McDonagh Commission, 37n
Mechanization, office, 65, 82–83, 84; adding machines, 84; addressographs, 86; dictating machines, 85; duplicating machines, 86; repair requirements, 86; typing, 85–86. See also Office management; Skill requirements; Taylorism; Technological change
Militancy, measures of, 175. See also Labor militancy, gender differences in; Organized labor, exclusion of women by
Military, use of, as scabs, 190–92
Mincer, Jacob, 110
Model employer. See General Post Office, model employer
Money Order Department, 31; percent non-entry in, 80–81; salaries in, 74–75, 76, 80–81; use of women in, 41, 44, 126–27, 128
Montagna, Paul, 108
Moore, William, 174
National Manpower Council, 5n, 13, 65, 91n, 96
National Union of Railwaymen. See Unions, railway, blue-collar
National Whitley Council (document), 97, 98, 104–5, 112
Natural turnover hypothesis, 5–12, 91–94, 91n, 105, 115. See also Human capital theory
Nelson, Anne, 174
Neo-classical economics, 3
New London Survey, 70–72
Newman, Robert, 174
Nichols, Frederick, 246
Night reserve system. See Nightwork
Nightwork, 118–26; barrier to feminization, 54, 118, 122; in clerical offices, 118–19, 155; in depots, 118; effects relatively minor, 134–35; exclusion from, on GPO and GWR, 118; and exclusion of women from skilled positions, 123–26; incentive system and, 121–23; legal restrictions on women doing, 119–20; model employer effects, 120; and night reserve system, 121–22; quantitative test of effect on percent female, 134; in sorting offices, 118–19; synthetic turnover and, 122–26; in telegraph offices, 118, 123–26; unpopularity of, 120–21; women’s willingness to do, 119, 122
Norms. See Culture, effect on sex-typing
Northcote, Sir Stafford, 43
Northern Recruitment (document), 63
NUR. See Unions, railway, blue-collar
O’Brien, Mary, 3
Occupational sex-typing: framework for thinking about, 16–23; importance of, 4; past theories of, 5–23; role of alternative sources of cheap labor in, 21–22, 216–17, 222, 228–29; role of buffering from labor costs in, 36–39, 219–20, 227–28; role of culture in, 13–16, 116–19, 134–35, 221; role of human capital in, 5–12, 200–201; role of labor supply in, 12–13, 33; role of organized labor in, 136–38, 159, 172, 221–22, 229–30, 233–36; role of physical strength in, 15–16; role of sex segregation, 127–28, 134–35; stability of, 26, 115. See also Cheap labor and women’s work
Occupational status. See Status, occupational
Office automation. See Mechanization, office
Office management: development of formal routines, 87–88; efficiency and clerical labor intensity, 60–64; narrow definition of, 61n; rationalization of, 65, 83–89, 199. See also Mechanization, offices; Taylorism
Office Management Association, 70n
Office mechanization. See Mechanization, office
Older women, employment of. See Age discrimination
Oppenheimer, Valerie Kincaide, 4, 5n, 13, 17n, 26, 65, 91, 91n, 99, 111
Organized labor, exclusion of women by, 19–20, 136–72, 221–22, 223, 229–30, 233–36; device for creating labor scarcity, 136–37, 235–36; exclusionary force correlates with labor strength, 137–38, 172; extent of opposition to women, 136, 152–58; informal exclusion of women by, 159–71; by managers, 233–35; by professionals, 234–36; strength of poor predictor of sex-type on CME, 160–61, 163–66; strength of poor predictor of sex-type on GPO, 166–71; strength of poor predictor of sex-type on GWR, 160–62; tolerance of women after feminization, 137, 137n; weakness of organized labor and, 20, 137–38, 152–59. See also Railway Clerks Association; Segmentation of labor force; Unions, railway, blue-collar
Overcrowding hypothesis, 4, 75, 195, 235
Palloni, Alberto, 247
Panel analysis, 46
Parliament, 32n
Parsley, Clifford, 9n
Particularistic sanctions, 95, 96, 101–2
Patriarchy: difficulty of specifying patriarchical utilities, 134–35; existence in managerial decision-making, 5, 36–38, 53–60, 117–18; incorporation in economic theory, 3–4, 5, 115–18; relationship to capitalism, 3–4. See also Discrimination
Patronage. See Buffering from labor costs; Political hiring
Phelps, Edmund, 6n
Percent non-entry: measurement of, 77–80, 245; as measure of status, 46, 77–78; trends in, within GPO, 80–81; trends in, within GWR, 77–80; trends similar to those of salaries, 81; within-firm variance and percent female in GPO, 46–48, 170–71; within-firm variance and percent female in GWR, 46n. See also High-status jobs, exclusion of women from; Status, occupational
Phelps, Edmund, 92
Physical requirements of women’s work, 15–16, 48–49, 57–58
Piecework. See Tenure-based salaries
Pitman, Isaac, 84
Political hiring, 230; abolition of patronage, 43–44; history of, 43–45, 52–53; inhibits feminization, 40, 43–48; measurement of, 45, 45n; support for unemployment exchanges, 44–45; veterans’ preference, 44–45; within-firm variance and percent female within GPO, 46–48, 170–71. See also General Post Office, model employer
Pollard, Sydney, 30
Pollins, Harold, 31
Postal Order Department. See Money Order Department
Postal unions (all): campaigns to exclude women, 152–56, 159; history of, 142–52; political tactics, 144, 146–47, 148–51, 154; quantitative tests of power of, 166–71; as vanguard clerical unions, 138–39, 172; weakness of, 139, 151–52, 159. See also General Post Office; Postal unions, clerical; Signallers, telegraph; Sorters and sorting offices; Telegraph Strike
Postal unions, clerical: strength of, 143–44, 152, 155–56. See also Savings Bank, Postal, strike in
Postmaster General (document), 209
Postmen, strike of 1890, 147
Post Office. See General Post Office
Power, Marilyn, 3
Prather, Jane, 17n
Pratt, Edwin, 144
Price, James, 8n, 92, 196, 198
Price indices, 71
Printed forms. See Records, business
Printers, 229. See also Savings Bank Print Shop
Promotion prospects. See Percent non-entry
Protective legislation. See Legal restrictions on female employment
Purdue University sample, 99–100, 112
Quantitative research on occupational sex-typing, 24–25, 227–30
RAGO. See Receiver and Accountant General’s Department
Raikes Revision, 147–48
Railway Clearing House, 63
Railway Clerk (newspaper), 142, 156, 157
Railway Clerks Association: censorship of dissent, 156–57; cost of feminist policies, 158n; formal recognition, 141–42; founding, 139–40; gender-related demands, 157–58; history of, 139–42; informal protest by rank and file, 159, 161–62; internal disputes concerning feminization, 152, 156–57; 1912 salary campaign, 140; 1920 contract negotiation, 142, 158; political tactics, 140; post-war arbitrations, 142; quantitative tests of power of, 160–66; safety issues, 90n; Sunday pay campaign, 140; as vanguard clerical union, 138–39, 172; weakness of, 139, 142, 151–52, 157–59; in World War I, 140–41. See also General Strike of 1926; Organized labor, exclusion of women by
Railway Report (document), 52
Railway Return (document), 208
Railways, British: rate of feminization on, 27, 28; similarity to American railways, 27n
RCA. See Railway Clerks Association
RCA Contract (document), 142
Receiver and Accountant General’s Department: efficiency of, 62; percent non-entry on, 80–81; rate of feminization on, 44, 56; salaries in, 74–75, 76, 80–81
Recession on GWR. See Great Western Railway, recession of 1879
Records, business: format of, 83, 88; poor design in Engineering Department, 61
Registry: efficiency of, 62; percent non-entry in, 80–81; salaries in, 74–75, 80–81; use of women in, 41
Returned Letter Office: efficiency of, 62; percent non-entry in, 80–81; salaries in, 74–75, 81; use of women in, 41,44, 56
Richards, Peter Godfrey, 44
Robinson, Edwin, 246
Ross, Jane, 91n
Rotella, Elyce, 5, 65, 91n, 111
Salaried Recruitment (document), 84, 140, 161, 205, 211, 212
Salaries: correlation of change of, with percent female on GWR, 162; determinants of, 4, 9, 9n, 69–70, 71n, 72, 76, 110–11, 161; implications for deskilling, 72–73, 76–77; implications for feminization, 73; levels for British clerks, 70–72, 73; levels for clerks in GPO, 72–76; levels for clerks in GWR, 72–73; proxy for labor strength, 161–62; proxy for skill, 69–70; sex-adjusted, 75–76, 243–45; standardization of, on GWR, 161–62; trends in, similar to percent non-entry, 81. See also Tenure-based salaries
Savings Bank, Postal, 31; managerial resistance to feminization, 56–58; nightwork in, 155; percent non-entry in, 80–81; salaries in, 74–75, 81; strike in, 148, 155–56; use of women in, 41, 44, 128
Savings Bank Print Shop, 213–14
Savings Bank Print Shop (document), 214
Schulze, J. William, 246
Scott, Joan, 3
Scudamore, Francis, 44, 103–4, 125, 190
Secombe, Harry, 3
Secondary sector: concentration of women in, 91n, 228n, 248–51; rapid changes of sex-type within, 217, 232; unit of analysis problems, 248–51
Secondary utilities, 36; and sequential problem-solving, 38
Secretaries: definition and measurement of, 184, 185–86; market power of, 185; strike proneness of, 186–88
Secretary of Post Office: contrasted with General Manager of GWR, 58; efficiency of, 62; role in Engineering paperwork crisis, 61; role in feminizing Savings Bank, 56–58
Secretary’s Office on GWR, sex segregation within, 129–30
Segmentation of labor force, 126n, 136–37, 167, 174, 190–94, 222. See also Labor control, women as; Labor militancy, gender differences in; Reich, Michael
Selective recruitment (for high turnover), 95, 96
Sexism. See Patriarchy
Sex roles, 13, 36–37; effect on militancy, 174. See also Culture, effect on sex-typing
Sex segregation, 126–33; administrative difficulty of, 128–30; and concealment in attic, 129; concern with, as barrier to feminization, 54, 55–56, 57, 127–28; effects relatively minor, 134–35; exclusion of women from high-status jobs and, 127–28; facilitated by presence of high-status women, 133; in Foreign Office, 129; on GPO, 130–33; on GWR, 127, 129–30, 131–32; in Money Order Department, 126–27, 128; normative origins of, 59, 128, 132; relation to age of department, 132; in sorting, 127; in Telegraph Service, 124, 125, 126
Sexual harassment, 134–35
Shallcross, Ruth, 99
Shorthand, 84–85
Shyrock, Henry, 106n
Siegel, Jacob, 106n
Signallers, Irish railway telegraph, expulsion of women, 59–60
Signallers, telegraph, 33–34; labor agitation by, 145, 146–48, 149, 188–93; London branch office anti-feminist agitation, 152–54; strength of, 143, 145, 147, 148, 151–52, 153, 154, 166–68, 190; supply of, 60, 123, 167, 206; teletype anti-feminist agitation, 154; unions in private sector, 189; use of women as, 41–42, 44, 166–67. See also Postal unions (all), political tactics; Skill requirements, telegraph signallers; Telegraph Service; Telegraph Strike
Simon, Herbert, 38
Singelmann, Joachim, 82
Skill: firm specificity of, on GPO and GWR, 101–2; measurement of, 69–70, 72, 77–80; relationship to status, 6,78
Skill requirements: accounting, 108; clerical work, 65–90, 110, 111, 143, 198–99, 205–6, 220; depots, 50; engineers, 108; relationship to clerical labor intensity, 48, 50–51; relationship to feminization, 65–66, 220, 223, 226–27; relationship to technological change, 66–67, 81–90, 220; relation to alternative sources of secondary labor, 197; sorting, 50, 74–75, 80–81, 108, 143; telegraph signallers, 60, 108, 123–24, 143, 151; training times in GPO, 108. See also Technological change
Snyder, David, 24, 26, 115, 217, 232
Sorters and sorting offices, 33–34; labor agitation, 145–46, 147; nightwork in, 118–19; percent non-entry in, 80–81; physical labor in, 49; political pressures to use men, 44–45; salaries in, 74–75, 81; skill requirements in, 50, 74–75, 80–81, 108, 143; strength of, 143; temporary women in World War I, 45, 54–55, 119, 126n, 127, 154–55; union attempts to exclude women in, 126n, 154–55; use of women in, 41, 56. See also Night-work; Postal unions (all), political tactics
Staff Charts (document), 49, 160, 164, 165, 166, 178, 186, 188, 199
Staff Expenses (document), 63
Staff Statistics (document), 63, 74, 79, 102, 161, 205, 212
State intervention, 250. See also Legal restrictions on female employment; Political hiring
Statistical discrimination, 92, 92n. See also Natural turnover hypothesis
Status, occupational: measurable by percent non-entry, 46, 77–78; measurable by relative salaries, 72n; relation to skill, 6, 78; trends in, 65–81, 89–90; trends in promotion prospects, 77–81. See also Percent non-entry
Stevenson, Mary, 4
Stinchcombe, Arthur, 12n
Supply-side theories of sex-typing. See Labor supply, female, effect on sex-typing
Swift, Henry G., 143, 145, 147, 148, 149, 156
Swindon. See Chief Mechanical Engineer’s Department
Synthetic turnover, 19, 91–115, 220–21; on GPO, 101–9; on GWR, 101–3, 105–9; relation to feminization of clerical work, 225; relation to gender discrimination, 94–97; relation to labor scarcity, 94–95, 109, 114–15; relation to law, 109; relation to learning curves, 94–95, 109; relation to nightwork, 122–26; relation to tenure-based salaries, 94, 109–14. See also Age discrimination; High-status jobs, exclusion of women from, lagged effects of synthetic turnover; Marriage bars; Tenure bars
Taylorism, 83–84, 89n; on GWR, 63, 88, 199; opposition to wage clerks, 199; writings, 69, 82–83, 246. See also Office management, rationalization of; Technological change
Technical offices. See Technicians
Technicians, 50–51, 61, 164–65
Technological change: burden for female occupations, 66; de-skilling, relation to, 66–67, 81–90; job elimination, relation to, 66–67; in telegraph offices, 151. See also Clerical work, feminization of; Mechanization, office; Office management, rationalization of; Skill requirements
Telegraph (document), 151, 154
Telegraph Estimates (document), 191
Telegraph Report (document), 59, 124, 206
Telegraph Service, 31; de-feminization of, 124–26, 134; early feminization of, 41, 42, 44, 123, 167, 190; elite offices within, 168; exclusion of women from high-status positions on, 123–26, 168; labor intensity of, 41–42, 123, 134; London district offices, 50, 126, 152–54; nationalization of, 44, 59, 145, 189; nightwork in, 118, 121–26, 189; percent non-entry in, 80–81; physical labor in, 49; role of labor strength in excluding women from, 154–56, 166–68; salaries in, 74–75, 81, 189; sex segregation in, 124, 126; split-sex offices in, 49, 152–54; union-breaking in, 189–90; use of neighborhood in gender decisions, 50, 153. See also Internal labor markets; Marriage bars, timing of introduction in Telegraph Service; Night-work; Signallers, telegraph; Skill requirements, telegraph signallers; Telegraph Strike
Telegraph Strike, 145, 188–93; disincentives for women to participate, 192; good test of direct effects, 176; participation in, correlates with experience, 192
Telegraph Strike (document), 145, 190, 191, 192
Telegraph Substitution (document), 37n, 120, 125
Telephone Departments, 31; use of women in, 41–42
Temporary women sorters. See Huddersfield Christmas sorters; Sorters and sorting offices, temporary women in World War I
Tenure bars, 95–97; pension-based, on GPO and GWR, 102–3. See also Marriage bars
Tenure-based salaries: concentration in white-collar work, 110–12, 226; costs of, 94, 103; as motivation device, 93; not a proxy of human capital acquisition, 110–11; promote feminization of white-collar jobs, 226; promote synthetic turnover, 94–95, 103; viability in sales, 111–12. See also Internal labor markets
Textile mills, 217
Training times. See Skill requirements
Treasury, 32
Trevelyan, Sir Charles, 43
Tucket, Angela, 179
Turnover: absolute career lengths, 107–9; absorption of boy clerks and, 207; alternative sources of secondary labor and, 197–98, 207; casual males and, 198; costs and benefits of, 92–94, 95; gender differentials, 8, 92, 96, 107–8; on GPO and GWR, 101–3, 105–9, 207–8; juveniles and, 195–96, 197–98; in natural turnover theory, 91, 91n, 92; reduction through selective promotion, 108–9
Unions, postal. See Postal unions (all); Postmen, strike of 1890; Signallers, telegraph; Sorters and sorting offices
Unions, railway, blue-collar: engine drivers and firemen, 63n; role in General Strike in 1926, 179; union formation and hours abuses, 63. See also Organized labor, exclusion of women by
Unions, railway, white-collar. See Railway Clerks Association
United States Census. See Census, United States
United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Security (document), 114
University graduates, 212
UPOW. See Postal unions (all); Postmen, strike of 1890; Signallers, telegraph; Sorters and sorting offices
Vacancy models, 230–32; causes of vacancies, 231; effect of vacancies on sex-typing, 230–31
Veterans’ preference. See Political hiring, veterans’ preference
Voos, Paula, 193–94
Wages. See Salaries; Tenure-based salaries
War Cabinet (document), 45n, 107
Weber, Max, 117
Wertheimer, Barbara, 174
White-collar occupations, women in, 226–27, 228
Whitley Council (document), 45
Whitley Councils, 141, 144, 150–51, 154, 169
Wigham, Eric, 150
Williamson, Oliver, 93
Wolf, Wendy, 91n
World War I. See Great Western Railway, history of; Sorters and sorting offices, temporary women in World War I
Wright, Erik, 82
Wrigley, Edward Anthony, 108
WWI Nightwork (document), 119
WWI Sorters (document), 55, 126n, 155
Zaretsky, Eli, 3
Zimbalist, Andrew, 82