We’ve come a long way, baby. When I say we, I mean you, men.
Transportation Magazine published an article in 1943 titled “Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees.”
The throes of WWII caused a shortage of males and companies needed to backfill their work force with the dreaded female of the species. Some Neanderthal wrote the article in the Dark Ages. I know, I know . . . Neanderthals didn’t live in the Dark Ages.
I canceled my subscription to the magazine after I read the article.
In short, the ever-so-helpful advice on how to manage female employees is thusly:
Pick young married women. They are less flirtatious and still have the pep and energy to work hard.
When you have to use older women, hire ones who have worked outside the home. Older women who haven’t been in contact with the public are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy.
“Husky” girls – those who are on the heavy side – are more even-tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
Retain a doctor to give women “special” examinations to reveal whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses that would make her physically or mentally unfit for the job.
In breaking in women who haven’t done outside work, stress the importance of time. Until this point is made, service will be slowed up.
Give female employees a definite schedule of duties for the day so they will keep busy without bothering management every few minutes. Women make excellent workers when the job is spelled out for them, but lack initiative in finding work themselves.
When possible, let the female employee change from one job to another during the day. Women are inclined to be nervous and are happy with change.
Give every girl adequate rest periods during the day. She will have more confidence and consequently be more efficient if she has time to tidy her hair, freshen her lipstick, and wash her hands several times a day.
Be tactful in issuing instructions or criticisms. Women can’t shrug off harsh words like men do. Never ridicule. It breaks their spirit and makes them less efficient.
Be considerate about using strong language around women. Their husbands and fathers may swear vociferously, but she will dislike the company if she hears too much of this.
Get enough size variety when ordering uniforms. This can’t be stressed enough in keeping women happy.
Are you freaking kidding me? I didn’t make this up. Head over to Snopes to check it out.
Since I haven’t had time to tidy my hair, freshen my lipstick, and wash my hands several times today, I feel cantankerous and fussy. I’d like to sic Rosie the Riveter on the numbskull who wrote the article.
Fast forward to 1951, IBM, that bastion of women’s lib, the right to vote, and bra burning, issued this memo:
The forward-thinking execs at IBM had the sense to make it a “temporary modification” to their employment policies. Yeah . . . married women on the staff might not work out and IBM was smart to give themselves the opportunity to renege.
Robin Coyle 
Sounds like that could have been written by someone from Maxim……….lol
Or Archie Bunker.
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**WOW @ this article..Thank you for sharing and giving us a glance back at how FAR we’ve come…Which I know all to well myself. 2 thumbs UP
I can’t believe women put up with this condescending attitude back then. I like to believe my mom wouldn’t have. She is feisty.
**Lol! Good for her..it is women like her who paved the way for us. Can you imagine the things they had to go through??? I thank them all for their staying power and strength
And I thank the men who wised up.
Lmao..Now that is real talk!
Oh no they didn’t!! *skillfull finger snapping*
This is hilarious, and unbelievable! Society really has come along way, there is no way there wouldn’t be a massive (well organised, on time and stylish) riot if something like this was published today! 😀
Oh gosh . . . you made me laugh out loud. Crisp blouses, polished shoes, tidied hair, freshened lipstick, clean hands, and teargas.
“Women make excellent workers when the job is spelled out for them, but lack initiative in finding work themselves” – yeah something like that.
My wife has a book that was given to American soldiers around WWII time, a sort of survival thing, with tips on all sorts of things like how to behave when in the UK. Lots of tips like this for dealing with the British women. Brilliant stuff. I want to figure out how to scan it in without destroying it.
I’d love to see that. How does one deal with British women?
I’ll have to dig it out and get back to you. Or maybe I’ll do a post in a few weeks and link it back to this one.
That would be awesome. I’m sure your post will get some good laughs.
Things have changed, at least in some respects – I find it astonishing that my own mother came of age before women even had the vote – she grew up in Quebec and women didn’t get the vote until 1940.
I didn’t realize Canadian women couldn’t vote until the 40s. How did your mom feel about that?
By 1917/18 most women in Canada had the vote, but not in Quebec. I never had a discussion with Mum about this but here are a few other items I’ve noted in a book I’m preparing:
In 1929 when my grandmothers are approaching 40, women are finally found to be “persons” in Canada.
I am a one-year-old, in 1950, before Canada grants full suffrage, extending the vote to some women and men previously excluded. In 1960, just four years before my Grandmother’s death, Canadian women finally win full rights to stand for election, and aboriginal Canadians no longer have to renounce their status under the Indian Act in order to qualify for the vote. In 1969, the year I become engaged, Parliament passes amendments to the Criminal Code decriminalizing contraception. In 1981, after the birth of my third daughter, it is deemed necessary to add Article 28 to the Canadian Charter: “Not withstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.” And by 2003 I have almost completed my working life and I am in semi-retirement and despite the fact that it is has been 26 years since the Canadian Human Rights Act made it discriminatory to pay men and women differently for performing work of equal value, it is noted that women working on a full-time, full-year basis make only 71% of what their male counterparts make. Progress is slow.
Contraception was a criminal offense? Interesting. Again, I didn’t realize Canada was so late in giving women the same rights as men. I think the US talks a good game about equal pay for equal work for women, but I don’t think it is really happening. Thanks for the history lesson. I learned something here.
A criminal offence indeed, at least on the books – I don’t think police were ferreting out illegal events occurring in the bedrooms of the nation. A case of laws falling far behind accepted norms. However, it was still the law. And your welcome 😉
That made me laugh. However, I’m not actually sure things have changed ALL that much. They’re not as blatant as to put it in writing now, but I’m pretty sure a lot of them still think it! I definitely see women managers not being taken as seriously as their male counterparts.
If men wrote such things down these days, their sorry arses would be sued.
Hey, can someone describe what that “special” doctor’s examination entailed? :O
We have come a long way, but when I see some of the legislation being put forward and touted in various states, including from women, I see some major backsliding.
The phrase “special doctor’s examination” is a tad creepy. It gives me a vision of long black rubber gloves. Ew.
I always treat women with respect.
They scare me.
That is the way it should be.
I’ll take your word for it!
Lance Armstrong could say, “Hey, I might have called you a bitch, but I never called you ‘even tempered’ or ‘efficient!”
Lance Romance needs to get off steroids. They make him grouchy.
On behalf of my forefathers, please accept my apology.
Apology accepted.
In 1989 in South Africa, I did not get a job because, and I quote, I had not yet had any children and that would probably happen in the next few years, causing staffing problems.
That is terrible! On the bright side, who would want to work for such a company anyway.
They were all like that in those days 😦
I have an undergrad in engineering, and after a brief stint in the co-op program at Caterpillar Tractor Company while I was still in school, I went to work for IBM, a company that treated me very well. Caterpillar was a horrible place for a woman in engineering. I would walk through the manufacturing plant to the sound of wolf whistles and bells ringing. No one took me seriously. The year I graduated, IBM put a two-page spread in Time magazine, showing two pairs of baby booties, blue and pink. The caption read: “Guess which one will grow up to be the engineer?” My brother had it framed for me as a graduation present. The remainder of the copy explained how IBM was working to increase the number of women represented in the fields of math, science, and engineering. It was definitely true. My manager was a woman. Her boss was a woman, and so was her boss. When I worked in marketing, women were recognized as equal–and in some cases better–at selling computers. I worked for IBM for five years before deciding to change careers completely. No person, man or woman, there ever showed me anything but respect. I also worked with someone who was openly transgender. The company respected the person’s name and sex change. This was 1985. Very progressive for its time. It’s easy to look at the written documents from the 40s and 50s and gasp at how moronic they are (from today’s perspective), but we have come a long way, and IBM has promoted a decent share of women executives. They also paid one-twenty-fifth of the nation’s corporate income tax in the 1980s, unlike many others that worked to minimize the amount of taxes they paid. I haven’t worked at IBM for many years, but I still respect the company much more than, let’s say, most of the others lining Wall Street. Sorry about soap-boxing…
I wonder if IBM paid female engineers the SAME as their male counterparts. Apples to apples, i bet they didn’t.
In my case, they did. In the co-op program, I made just as much as my counterparts with equal education and experience. I actually made more than than one guy I knew whose grades weren’t as good as mine. And when I hired in full time, two IBM locations held a bidding war to hire me. The only male engineer making more than me had a masters in engineering compared to my bachelors. My experience working for a nonprofit after that was distinctly different, where I was charged with finding my replacement when I was leaving the position. When we made “him” an offer, my ED actually said, “I guess we’ll have to pay “HIM” more than we paid you. AND the ED was a woman. Left a very bad taste in my mouth.
How nice to hear that IBM treats it’s female employees with such respect. They have a cheerleader in you, not a soap-boxer. My sister-in-law worked for Xerox and they treated their female employees very well too . . . something along the lines of what you mentioned about IBM’s mentality.
I too worked for a non-profit for years and the pay in general was lower than the corporate world (no surprise there) but the pay for the handful of men who worked there was always higher than the female staff’s wage.
Extraordinary
Seriously. I’m glad the times have changed.
What a great post! I work in an office full of women, and none of us have time to check our hair. It is funny someone thought that way. I wonder if the writer made it up or if he talked to someone.
Yeah . . . did he do extensive research to prepare to write the article? I bet he just stood around the water cooler with his cronies and they came up with this nonsense on their own.
I would not be surprised. That would be sad if it was the true story.
What an article – would be hilarious if it wasn’t for real… After the war many women who had worked quite happily & proficiently in the name of the “war effort” were informed they could return to homelife now the men were back, and resume their rightful place. Interestingly I am almost through reading the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn written in 1943 but set a few decades earlier. Women’s place in society had progressed slightly by 1943, but only just. It’s progressed further since but still has a ways to go. In many workplaces, there’s still unequal pay and a boy’s club mentality. Stereotyping runs deep.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is one of my favorite books. I should re-read it because it has been years. I loved Francie’s spunk.
I find it hard to believe women let men treat/talkabout them like that back then. I’m pretty sure my mom and grandmother wouldn’t have stood for it.
Oh my, in a lot of ways, they kind of have it backwards from what I often see.
Women handle pressure fine, at least as good.
Scott
Think of all the stay-at-home moms who handle the pressures of raising a family, preparing meals, car pools, soccer practices, doctor appoints AND a colicky baby single-handedly.
Yep, of course, then there are those that don’t…
The ones that make for poor mothers, etc…
That’s a point for another discussion and not so valid here.
Don’t I know it . . . I worked for a non-profit for 10 years that worked to prevent child abuse. Some mothers shouldn’t be mothers.
I taught several of those students.
This makes my teeth hurt. I was never a feminist. I feel I must find a stronger word now. Someone was passing around one of those early instructions on how to please your husband: hair neatly combed, freshly pressed dress, fresh lipstick, smelling wonderful, children in bed, supper on the table when the dear man walks through the front door. Ugh. Kind of funny actually.
How times have changed. I’d like to think that my foremothers didn’t but up with this BS. We are of good Irish stock and don’t take any gruff from men!
Haha, this is so hilarious and outrageous, you can’t make this up! I think we need an updated manual for how to handle men in the workplace today. Some of them seriously need help…
Were women really that subservient back then? Were men that thickheaded. I find it hard to believe . . . at least about the women.
That’s a good question. I don’t watch Mad Men because I tried the first few episodes and couldn’t put up with the nasty attitudes those guys had. They clearly didn’t treat women as equal in the 1960s so I doubt it was any better in the 1940s. Even though companies don’t dare to have some rules today, a lot of men I’ve worked with believe some of this is still very true. Sigh.
wow– just wow. Thank God we are stonger now
And men are wiser.
you think?
A girl can hope . . .
Well found. Our poor grandmothers!!
What a different world it was back then . . . thank goodness.
I love the last one. Jeeze. And they thought we were cantankerous before. They haven’t seen anything yet.
Watch out men from 1943. Dana’s dander is up. Go get ’em Dana!
Wow. Thank God we have come a long way from this.
If a woman read this back in l943, I wonder what she thought about it. Outrage? Resignation?
Definitely. OMG!!
My God, I never knew I needed a manual.
Do you know if there is a similar guide for women who manage men? I’m certain there wasn’t one in 1943 because seriously, who would’ve put a woman in charge?
1. Men are proud of their farts…
2. They don’t read manuals. Or ask for directions.
di-whats?
my mother brought me up in such a way that I did not know there was this type of discrimination — it was not something I discovered until I was in university and was dubbed a womens’ libber. I took the mantle on proudly
Good for your mom. My mom was the same way. However, she had a book from the 1940s in her underwear drawer on being a good wife and while snooping, I found it. My 10-year-old brain found the section on “Pleasing Your Man” titillating. It was stuff like when your husband is amorous, do your best to fulfill his manly needs. No wonder I am one of five kids!
I hope you dad had a similar one telling him to cater to his wife’s womanly needs– I always laugh when I think of manly needs!
Well . . . he has been doing something right. They’ve been married 63 years.
wow – yes he has
I think I just threw up.
Oh, and for the record, if the following is true–“Older women who haven’t been in contact with the public are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy.”–then I am in serious trouble…
No . . . you are okay. You’ve been in contact with the public. Think of all your book signings.
All two of them. But I am attending a book club tonight where they’ll be discussing my book. And another one on Sunday. Needless to say, I’m petrified.
I recommend that you tidy your hair, put on fresh lipstick, wash your hands, and have a stiff drink first. You’ll do fine.
I put on a pretty good mask–literally and figuratively–but it’s still weird, you know?
Good luck. Not that you need it.
Thanks. 🙂
Wow, loved that! Contrast that with nowadays when you are considered to be loafing if you are applying lipstick, or doing your hair. You have washed your hands today at least twice, haven’t you????
Yes . . . my hair is tidy, my lipstick fresh, and my hands are clean. Hence, I am the picture of efficiency today.
I remember a time (in the dark ages) when I would be asked if I was married or pregnant during job interviews! We certainly have come a long way, but unfortunately there is still a hangover from the bad-old-days in a lot of companies.
I think I fit into this category now “Older women who haven’t been in contact with the public are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy” LOL! 😉
My new favorite word is cantankerous. It bumped the word curmudgeon from its number one spot. Being cantankerous and fussy makes me feel like the diva I am.
Hey, wait a damned minute!
First of all, what’s wrong with that 1943 article? I think that it ought to be reissued. Secondly, who needs manuals or directions?
Okay, okay, I’m kidding, I’M KIDDING!
Seriously, I’ve lived long enough to see these transformations in business and society and I, despite the curmudgeon in my title, have always welcomed and admired independently-minded women.
You admire independent-minded women? No wonder we get along so well. You can call me curmudgeon-at-small from now on.
No way. We are all curmudgeons-at-large.
How about if I am Cantankerous-at-Large?
We have a winner.