A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
SECTION 1
Is it generally realised that all women must register with their age group, even if they are unlikely to be put into war work. How many women expect to be exempted from war work?
Questions asked: Do you expect to have to register for National Service? Do you think you will be exempt from war work or service with the Forces?
Women who have not yet registered:-
Expect to register:-
Age groups
| Expect to register: | Under 30 | 31-36 | 37-50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |
| Yes | 92 | 89 | 63 |
| No | 5 | 4 | 16 |
| Don’t know | 3 | 7 | 21 |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Sample | 151 | 78 | 945 |
“Under 30” includes young girls of 18 and 19 whose age group was not asked to register at the time of the interview, and a number of older women who for some reason or other (having been in hospital, missed the day of registration, etc.) did not register, though they should have done under the Registration Act.
A relatively high percentage of women - 32% - is either not aware, or at least not sure, that they will have to register when their age group is announced. This percentage increases proportionately with age, and is highest in the 37-50 age group, which had not yet to register under the regulations.
No class differences were found.
A further analysis of the women who do not expect to register shows that they are mostly women who expect, with more or less justification, that they will be exempt.
“I did not know that women over 40 will have to register.”
(Housewife over 40, 2 children over 14, husband clerk)
“I don’t expect to register. I shall be exempt because of my little girl”.
(Husband Army officer, 38)
“No, I don’t think I shall have to register, I have five to look after and my sister is totally blind, so it is impossible for me to do war work.”
(Widow, 40)
“I thought it was only single girls who had to register”.
(Husband steel worker, 29)
In this connection it was thought relevant to find out how many women expect to be exempted.
Three-quarters of all the women in the sample thought they would be exempt.
Certain differences in age groups, occupation groups, and in women with or without home ties exist, but they are astonishingly small, and in no group do less than half of the women expect to be exempted.
a. Children
Women expecting exemption
| Women with children under 14 | Women without children under 14 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | |
| Yes | 1122 | 82 | 891 | 65 |
| No | 83 | 6 | 217 | 16 |
| Does not know | 166 | 12 | 274 | 19 |
| 1371 | 100 | 1382 | 100 | |
b. Occupation
More than three-quarters of all factory-workers, managerial and professional workers, as well as housewives, expect to be exempted; even among the “Independent group” and the domestic servants more than half are convinced that they will be exempt.
It was not necessarily dislike of doing war work which made the women wish for exemption, but rather fear of the unknown. For housewives there was the fear of going to work again; and in the case of the working women, the fact that they were often very happy in their present jobs and afraid of being unhappy in war work.
Asked whether they were happy in their present jobs, the following answers were given:-
It is interesting to note that the managerial and professional class, as well as being the most happy in their work, also expect the highest degree of exemption.
The reasons for happiness given are, in order of their importance:-
Used to my work, have been here a long time, like it.
Think my work is useful, like it.
Work is interesting.
Good hours, good pay.
Atmosphere is nice; supervisor, managers are nice.
It is informative to see on what grounds the hope of exemption was based.
On what grounds do you think you will be exempt? By Occupation.
Some of the figures in this table are small and do not allow the calculation of statistically significant differences, but even so they suggest interesting trends. 81% of the housewives think they will be exempt because of the family they have to look after, and they are right insofar as the law permits them to be exempted. It is however, interesting that 21% of all those working give the same reason for their belief in future exemption.
Health as a reason for exemption is given by 17% of women who are not working; it is often mentioned particularly by those who have no family to look after. 10% of the working women have hopes in the same direction. Only a very small percentage give age as a reason for their expected exemption.
Additional evidence as to how much women know about registration regulations and practice was obtained by asking: “Do you know what will be the next step after registration?”
What will be the next step after registration?
Two-thirds of the women do not know what will happen. There are class differences. The A and B classes seem to be more familiar with the regulations than the C and D classes.