METHOD

SAMPLE

CONCLUSION

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS PUT BY THE MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND NATIONAL SERVICE

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?

2. Do women feel that registration procedure is curt and official, or that facilities should be available on registration days for discussing the possibilities of war work?

3. Do women generally understand there are likely to be individual differences in the period between registration and interview? Do they understand that not all women will be called to an interview immediately after registration?

4. Is there any feeling that the interviewing accommodation is in some places not suitable?

5. Are women in general satisfied that the interviewing procedure is fair, and that the interviewing officers are doing their best to help them within the framework of their instructions?

6. Do women feel that in general the Exchanges note special qualifications and place women in the war jobs to which they are best fitted? How do women, especially those without qualifications, react to having practically no choice of the jobs to which they must go?

7. How many women are prepared to take war work, either whole or part-time? Have those, who are prepared, done anything concrete to get war work? Do women in the non-registration age groups, who come to offer their services voluntarily, feel they are well received at the Exchanges and that everything is done to place them in employment?

8. What do women think about being tied to their employers under the Essential Work Order? Does this militate against recruitment, or does it help by producing a feeling of greater stabilisation of employment? Do women appreciate that release may be granted if their domestic circumstances change?

9. Do they feel that many women are successfully evading conscription, and what do they think about it? In particular, is there any grievance against wives of service men, civil servants or local Government employees, or any feeling that the idle rich are getting off with voluntary or soft options?

10. What is the general view about private domestic service? Is there a strong feeling about the large households? Is it thought that domestic service in small households, such as the one maid household where man and wife are in war jobs, or where there are a number of children, is in itself a form of national service?

11. What do women feel about the Control of Employment Order for women in the 20-30 age group?

12. Are women in favour of conscription for the women’s auxiliary services, and the freer use of directions under the Defence Regulations to specific jobs?

APPENDIX 1 “Have you read the half-page announcement of the Ministry of Labour in the papers, which was headed How the Call-Up Affects the Women of Britain ? Was there anything you did not understand? Have you still got it?”

APPENDIX 2 Questionnaire.