Changes of habit arising out of occupation or recent developments

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CHANGES OF HABIT ARISING OUT OF OCCUPATION OR RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

A series of questions were asked in order to bring to light the effect on habits in Foundation garments of Occupations, possible stockings' shortage, and the wearing of trousers by women interviewed.

Effect of Occupation

All women interviewed except Housewives were asked:

“Has your job meant any change in your wearing of supporting garments?”

	Light Engineering		Textile		Clerical		Shop Assistant		Other Factories		Transport		Agriculture		Total
	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%	No	%
Garments wear out more quickly. Have to be changed more often	53	5.5	36	3.5	7	0.6	2	0.4	28	7.2	4	3.4	-	-	130	3.1
Changed type because of job. Can’t wear tight things	7	0.7	20	2.0	2	0.2	2	0.4	4	1.0	2	1.7	8	9.3	45	1.1
Need more support in present job	37	3.8	22	2.2	8	0.7	1	0.2	8	2.1	6	5.1	-	-	82	2.0
Don’t wear corset or belt at work now, or do not wear it as often	27	2.8	3	0.3	4	0.4	-	-	2	0.5	-	-	28	32.6	64	1.5
Wear belt or corset more often	2	0.2	4	0.4	11	1.0	-	-	1	0.3	2	1.7	-	-	20	0.5
Don’t wear bones now	3	0.3	4	0.4	4	0.4	-	-	3	0.8	1	0.8	-	-	15	0.4
Buy stronger garment to make them last	8	0.8	11	1.1	1	0.1	-	-	2	0.5	1	0.8	-	-	23	0.5
Other changes	3	0.3	6	0.6	7	0.6	2	0.4	6	1.6	-	-	4	4.7	28	0.7
No change due to job	829	85.6	914	9.5	1074	96.0	444	98.5	332	86.0	102	86.4	45	53.4	3741	90.3
Total	969		1020		1118		451		386		118		86		4148

It will be noticed that the effects so far are small.

Wearing of Trousers by Women

It was thought that the wearing of trousers as a growing habit amongst women would have relevance to a study of Foundation Garments. An attempt was therefore made to estimate the extent to which trousers are worn and the effect this has on the wearing of Foundation Garments.

The question was asked:

“Do you ever wear slacks or trousers?”

	Yes		No		Total
Housewives	210	20.6	808	79.4	1,018
Light Engineering	397	41.2	566	58.8	963
Textiles	233	22.8	787	77.2	1,020
Clerical	454	40.7	660	59.3	1,114
Shop Assistants	189	42.0	262	58.0	451
Other Factories	137	35.6	248	64.4	385
Transport	60	50.8	58	49.2	118
Agriculture	86	100.0	-	-	86
Total	1,766	34.3	3,389	65.7	5,155

All subjects answering Yes were asked:

“Do you wear corsets or belts at the same time?”

	Yes		No		Total
Housewives	110	54.9	92	45.6	202	± 7
Light Engineering	270	69.4	119	30.6	389
Textiles	155	69.2	69	30.8	224
Clerical	177	39.3	274	60.7	451
Shop Assistants	101	54.0	86	46.0	187	± 7.4
Other Factories	92	68.6	42	31.4	134	± 8
Transport	45	77.6	13	22.4	58
Agriculture	25	29.0	61	71.0	86
Total	975	56.3	756	43.7	1,731

It will be noticed that the question has been put in an extreme form, and that the figures will represent the maximum figure for wearing of trousers.

Further, many women answering No to the second part of the question, wear supporting garments only as stocking support.

It will be seen that some of the figures in the second table are subject to considerable margin of possible error.

Regional analyses of these Tables are given in the secion on Regional Differences.

Wearing of Trousers in different Age Groups”Do you ever wear slacks or trousers?”

Age	Yes	%	No	%	Total
40 & over	180	14.3	1083	85.7	1263
30 to 39	500	33.5	993	67.5	1493
20 to 29	823	45.4	995	54.6	1816
Under 20	265	45.0	323	55.0	588
Total	1768		3392		5160

If “Yes to the first part of this question: “Do you wear corsets or belts at the same time?”

Age	Yes	%	No	%	Total
40 & over	123	71.9	48	28.1	171
30 to 39	310	65.2	173	35.8	483
20 to 29	417	51.3	396	48.7	813
Under 20	128	48.2	138	51.8	266
Total	978		755		1733

It will be seen that distinct age differences emerge in both tables.

In particular in the second table it will be seen that there is a division between the two groups under 30 and the two groups over 30. Similarly in the first table whilst the under 30s divide in about the same proportion there is a difference between the 30s to 40s and the 40s and over.

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