عنوان

The Central Committee on Women's Training and Employment :

Number

TLets289144

Title Proper

The Central Committee on Women's Training and Employment :

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Aiken, Diane Rose

Title Proper by Another Author

tackling the servant problem, 1914-1945

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Oxford Brookes University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2002

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

Ph.D.

Body granting the degree

Oxford Brookes University

Text preceding or following the note

2002

Text of Note

Domestic service dominated women's lives in the first half of the twentieth century. The largest sector of female employment, paradoxically there was a perceived servant problem. Defined as a shortage of female applicants, it generated much debate both within and outside Parliament. One potential answer was training unemployed women to fill domestic service vacancies. To this end, successive Governments sanctioned and funded training centres, operating alongside State-run Employment Exchanges. This aspect of domestic service has been largely neglected by historians, yet it formed a vital component of Government policy, receiving active support from successive ministries. This thesis focuses on the semi-autonomous organisation administering those training centres - the Central Committee on Women's Training and Employment (CCWTE). Operational from 1914 until 1940 in a predominantly male-ordered society, the female-run CCWTE played a central role in State unemployment programmes. Yet, the CCWTE gradually became confined to domestic service training, being forced to abandon its other courses. This thesis seeks to show how this narrowing of opportunities was entrenched in traditional views of women's place in the home - albeit someone else's home. The male-dominated Government's aim was twofold - reduce the number of unemployed female claimants, fill domestic service vacancies. This aim ignored a fundamental element of the domestic service - its unpopularity among workers. Without addressing root issues of status and conditions, the training scheme to solve the servant problem was doomed to failure. This thesis explores the impact of the CCWTE's training work in relation to the servant problem, against constraints imposed by economic and political changes. Also included is an investigation of the role of official migration schemes. Since the servant problem was entwined with broader issues of employment and unemployment, this thesis affords insights into attitudes towards the female workforce, often manifested in gender and class bias, discriminatory practices and restricted opportunities.

Domestic service

Aiken, Diane Rose

Oxford Brookes University

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y