Part 2: Opinions of Relatives, Friends and Acquaintances

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PART 2: OPINIONS OF RELATIVES, FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES

1. We are making an inquiry to find what people are thinking about the Women’s Services (the W.A.A.F., A.T.S., W.R.N.S., etc.) From your knowledge of those Services, would you advise any relative or acquaintance to join, or advise them not to join?

	W.A.A.F.	A.T.S	W.R.N.S.	Others
Would advise joining	1	1	1	1
Would advise against joining	2	2	2	2
Don’t know	3	3	3	3

2. If you have an objection to one or more of these services, what is the objection?

3. Have you a relative or acquaintance who might be suitable for these Services?

Yes 1

No 2

Comments :

				Age Group
M	1	AA	1	20 - 1	Investigator
W	2	A	2	25 - 2	Town
		B	3	30 - 3	Street
		C	4	35 - 4	Date
		D	5	45 - 5
				55 - 6

Name of Informant........................... No. of House in Street...............

Opinions of relations, friends and acquaintances about the Women’s Services

A.T.S.

W.A.A.F.

W.R.N.S.

Others

Proportion advising against joining the A.T.S. as compared with other services

Question 1. We are making an enquiry to find what people are thinking about the Women’s Services (The W.A.A.F., A.T.S., W.R.N.S., etc.) From your knowledge of these Services, would you advise any relative or acquaintance to join, or advise them not to join?

Analysis of Total Replies

Answers to Question I.	W.A.A.F.	A.T.S	W.R.N.S.	Others
1. Would advise joining	56%	52%	56%	53%
2. Would advise against joining	14%	19%	12%	12%
3.Don’t know	27%	26%	29%	33%
Would not influence either way	3%	3%	3%	3%
Not answered	21	23	22	41
Total interviews	546	546	546	546

This Table shows that although a proportion of people would advise girls against joining the A.T.S., the proportion, while significant, is not unduly large compared with the other Services.

It is certainly not so bad as the picture projected by the A.T.S. themselves when asked what they thought was the opinion of the general public.

Opinions of relations, friends and acquaintances about the Women’s Services

It has been suggested by an examination of the A.T.S. remarks that men, particularly men in the armed forces have a poor opinion of the A.T.S. No specific investigation of the Service men’s attitude was undertaken in this survey, but the following is an analysis of the above Table by sex.

Analysis of Replies by Sex

Answers to Question 1.	W.A.A.F.		A.T.S		W.R.N.S.		Others
Answers to Question 1.	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men
1. Would advise joining	58%	50%	53%	41%	57%	51%	55%	45%
2. Would advise against joining	14%	18%	16%	28%	11%	16%	11%	13%
3.Don’t know	26%	29%	25%	29%	29%	30%	31%	39%
4.Would not influence either way	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%	3%
Not answered	15	6	20	3	11	6	28	13
Total interviews	423	123	425	121	417	129	425	121

The difference between the proportion of men and women advising their girl or women relatives or friends against joining the A.T.S. (Women = 16%; Men = 28%) is statistically significant, and it can be said that the civilian man is rather more biased against the A.T.S. than the civilian woman. This prejudice, it will be seen, is not peculiar to the A.T.S. It is evidenced with every Service.

It was thought that a clearer picture would probably be obtained if the results were broken down by (a) those who were directly concerned in the matter, by virtue of having a daughter, or other relative, or acquaintance who was suitable for and could join a Service, and (b) those who were not so directly concerned, in other words, by reference to the replies to question 3 of the questionnaire.

The result of so analysing the data is given in the following Table. The surprising fact emerges that as far as the A.T.S. is concerned there is no difference between the two sets of persons.

Analysis of Replies by the answers, to Question 3 _.

1. Have relative or acquaintance suitable for Services.

2. Have no relative or acquaintance suitable for Services.

Answers to Question 1	W.A.A.F.		A.T.S		W.R.N.S.		Others
	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2
1. Would advise joining	57%	58%	52%	51%	52%	61%	50%	56%
2. Would advise against joining	13%	12%	18%	19%	14%	9%	13%	10%
3.Don’t know	26%	28%	26%	28%	14%	29%	33%	32%
Would not influence either way	4%	1%	4%	2%	4%	1%	4%	2%
Not answered	10	9	10	9	6	8	17	23
Total interviews	304	212	303	208	305	209	305	201

25 26 27

Objections to and appreciation of the Women’s Services

Question 2. I f you have Question 2. If you have any objection to one or more of these Services, what is the objection?

Although the question was put in this way, a direct question dealing with the objections to the service or services as dealt with in Question 1, a great number of people stated no Objection, but offered an appreciation of individual services, or of all Services. The objections and comments under this heading have been analysed as follows:-

1.	Objections to individual services	23.3	56.3%
2.	Objections to all services	20.0
3.	Comments on call-up	13.0%
4.	Appreciation of Services		43.7%
			100.0%

The objections and appreciations are detailed as follows:-

OBJECTIONS TO INDIVIDUAL SERVICE

Unspecified objections to A.T.S.	3	8.4%
Ought not use cosmetics so much	1
A.T.S. have bad reputation and a good deal to live down	21
Loose behaviour in A.T.S., A.T.S. are rough, untidy and common and only keen on getting to the men	16
Bad selection of girls; mixed types of girls; girls should be graded as it is not nice for well-brought up girls to mix with those who drink and swear	16	3.2%
There is insufficient supervision of girls and more provision should be made for the girls' leisure	21	4.3%
Not enough variety of work and no chance of using capacities	18	3.6%
Unspecified objections to W.A.A.Fs and loose behaviour in W.A.A.F.; W.A.A.Fs are a bad type	9	1.8%
Unspecified objection to W.R.N.S.	4	.8
Bad attitude of service men towards A.T.S.	4	.8
Miscellaneous	2	.4
	115	23.3%

Miscellaneous objections were that the Officers and N.C.Os were unsuitable, that officers drink too much and that there was dislike of girls acting as batmen to male officers.

OBJECTIONS TO ALL SERVICES

The services, particularly the A.T.S. have a brutalising effect on women	19	3.8%
Young girls should not be sent far away; girls who are used to staying at home should go into reserved occupations	19	3.8%
Pay is too low; I cannot do without my daughter’s help; there should ample dependants’ allowances	14	2.8%
War work and munitions in factories or office is better for girls than the services	13	2.6%
Uniform tends to loss of individuality and femininity	12	2.4%
Unspecified objections to all services	11	2.2%
No woman should be called up until the men have gone; woman should be trained for civil jobs to release men for the armed forces	8	1.6%
Broken promises; services do not give women promised jobs; promotion is slow, unfair and shows too much class distinction	7	1.4%
We don’t want women to become masculine; I don’t want to find my girl in uniform when on leave	5	1.0%
The organisation of the services is bad	4	.8%
Miscellaneous	7	1.4%
	100	20.0%

Miscellaneous: Statements were made that there is not enough work to do in the Services, that there was no privacy, that girls are too much herded, and that if all women refused to do war work and to join the services the war would soon be over.

COMMENTS ON CALL-UP

Conscription should be introduced forthwith; women will be found sufficiently patriotic	24	5.0%
Long delay between registration and calling-up is unsettling for girls	9	1.8%
The publicity about services is insufficient; girls are ignorant of what service life is really like	8	1.6%
Trained assistants and professional people should not be called up while there are still suitable women unemployed. Women are more useful where they are.	7	1.4%
Should make more use of married women or older women; should give married women part time work: should take married women without ties, especially childless married women	5	1.0%
Women’s war work is badly managed	5	1.0%
Miscellaneous	6	1.2%
	64	13.0%

Miscellaneous. Remarks included the statement that high wages for unskilled girls in Government Department, etc., are keeping women out of the Services- that local services should be introduced or extended so that girls could remain at home-that the calling up is unequal, is unfair and shows too much class distinction.

APPRECIATION OF SERVICES

All services are excellent, well spoken of and seem contented	65	13.2%
The W.A.A.F. is an excellent service. are well spoken of and seem contented	25	5.1%
The A.T.S. is an excellent service, are well spoken of and seem contented	18	3.6%
The W.R.N.S. is an excellent service, are well spoken of and seem contented	16	3.2%
Services are a healthy life for girl and tend to broaden her outlook	17	3.4%
Girls should do their share the same as boys and should go where most needed	55	11.1%
One service is as good as another	12	2.4%
Miscellaneous	8	1.6%
	216	=43.7%

Miscellaneous: The comments were; the tone of the Services is far better than that of the factory - the chances of promotion are better in the A.T.S. for the better girls since most girls in the A.T.S. appear to be of a lower standard. - and one person stated that she liked the idea of women batmen for male officers (to counter-balance the remark under “Objections to Individual Services.”)

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