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16
I do not think the proposed restriction would be any hardship
in Bethnal Green; for no interference is contemplated with home
employment, or what is known as the Domestic Workshop, and the
establishment of Cretches would provide for the occasional absence
of the mother, should she get a day's washing or charing. Moreover,
it would not be impossible to utilize these establishments for
educational purposes, and some plain and simple instructions in the
feeding of infants might be given to the mothers who bring children
to be taken care of.
I have made some enquiries amongst the manufacturers in my
district and also amongst the women themselves. I find that the
employment of child-bearing women is not very prevalent in large
Factories and Workshops. The married women mostly work at
home at Boxmaking, Tailoring, or Bootwork. Factory Owners tell
me that the proportion of married women among their female hands
does not exceed five per cent., and some of these are widows.
Occasionally their female hands continue their occupation for a
time after marriage, but if they become pregnant they leave the
Factory six or eight weeks before the expected confinement. Some
employers say they will not be bothered with women who have
children and decline to allow them to return, as they are apt to be
irregular in attendance, and frequently kept at home on account of
illness in their families. I notice that many Factory Owners have a
somewhat vague knowledge of the law as it at present stands, and I
should say that few female operatives know anything about it. In
my opinion the clause is a dead letter in Bethnal Green. As
the offence under the Factory Act is " knowingly employing a
woman, etc." How is a manufacturer to know the date of a
woman's confinement ? Say she absents herself from work for six
weeks before her child is born, and returns a fortnight afterwards,
who can check her statement if she chooses to tell a lie ?
Should it be seriously intended to enforce the law, the production
of a certificate of birth (which can be obtained for sixpence, and
which gives full particulars), must be made obligatory on all women
returning to employment after child-bearing. Even if this is done
what is to prevent a woman seeking fresh employment where she is
not known ?