'Women in Woodworking'.

Articles about women in woodworking today might profile women who own and operate successful woodworking companies or who function in any number of corporate management positions. But articles on the same subject in the late 1940s and early '50s presented a vastly different view.

It was the shortage of available men to work in furniture factories during the war that brought women workers into woodworking in the first place. In the late '40s, an article in Wood Products by industry member Joseph Halperin said that, "Employers in general favor placing more and more women into the production lines." He listed as their reasons: Shortage of male help; less union trouble with women; cheaper pay, and more modern machinery to boost production (the latter point referring to the development of new, easier-to-operate machinery, designed "to fit women's needs").

Halperin noted that women were operating all types of machines, and he commented that "it is with pride that many a girl points out to her friends that she is running a crane, a router or a punch press." But he added, "Women have become self supporting, but they have also begun to lose their femininity. With what results it is too early to say, but as a male it is hard for me to find anything glamorous in a begrimed female after 8 hours in the mill."

Such an aversion apparently was not shared by all men in the plant, however, because Halperin also cited the existence of "mill house romeos" as one of the pitfalls of having women woodworkers. Other disadvantages with females in the factory included higher absenteeism, higher turnover and a need for more frequent rest periods, according to Halperin. In addition, "it takes them quite a long time to learn anything of a mechanical nature," he said. Halperin's conclusions in the 1940s were strong: "There is a place for women in the factory, but not at the sacrifice of men. If this policy of hiring women in preference to men is to become the plan of the future, then we must surely encourage a moraless and decadent nature.

However, by August 1951, when Halperin wrote again on the subject for Wood Combined with Wood Products, his opinions seemed to have softened somewhat. This time he concluded, "All in all this firm has become accustomed to women employees, and the supervisors, by putting forward an extra effort, have made it pay off in satisfied production, employees and management."