American Working Women (1950)

[Music] la [Music] 5:00 in the afternoon the end of the standard 8 hour working day for most Americans among them 17 million women since 9:00 this morning hundreds of these women have been busy assembling and checking the tiny parts that go into electric hearing aids Hazel Kennedy is one of these women 5:00 in the factory is not day's end for her it is merely the moment that divides her business hours from her personal hours but put away her tools and tidying up her bench is the act that separates the two lives of Hazel Kennedy in her middle 30s married and the mother of two children Hazel is a skilled worker and fond of her job she's had three pay raises and a promotion since she first came here she's a high school graduate like many of the girls in the factory and she continued working after marriage to augment her family's income her job is important to her but not all important when she registers her departure on the factory time clock she and millions like her are stepping out of one area of their lives into another an area of closer and more personal relationships push back the clock close to the hour of 5 again it is nearly quitting time for the tellers and Clerks of a downtown Bank there is no Factory likee commotion here but a quiet dignified slowing down of activity no matter how anxious one is to get [Music] home the silent signal on the face of his pocket watch releases both the vice president of the bank and his [Music] secretary she is Joan Morgan placed here by a secretarial school which recommends only its most apt graduates she likes her employer and is conscientious about her work but she is still young still unmarried and her major interest is outside the bank Waits impatiently outside the bank with no major responsibilities girls like Joan use their jobs as lucrative intervals between school and marriage their incomes are seldom high but then neither are their job Ambitions Jan can be said to be marking time but while she does she fills a very useful place in the country's working economy and has a good time in the bargain in a scientific laboratory quitting time comes only when the day experiments can be safely put aside these white mice represent countless hours of observation and note recording to Martha Hansen she is a lab assistant in a research institute devoted to the study of the cause and cure of cancer colleg trained in biological science Martha represents a growing segment of women whose dominant interest is in the vocation whose life is more or less in their [Music] work she is going home now to a room she shares with Joan Morgan the secretary but unlike her friend she leaves her daily tasks with reluctance because many shops stay open late to serve the people who go home at 5:00 Anne Maloney Works a little longer than the rest it's Anne's job to assist women Shoppers as head sales girl in a lingerie store her employer leaves her on her own much of the time she is accountable for the cash receipts at the end of the day her position of trust is one that pays well but it is not what Anne would like most to be doing like Joan Morgan and Hazel Kennedy she does not live to work she works to live so with an four working women have been represented four out of 17 million women in America who work more or less 8 hours a day for wages but what of the remainder of the day that follows Hazel Kennedy driving home from the factory has already stopped and bought the groceries for the evening meal it's a 10-m trip to her home so a car is a necessity to the kennedies every evening on the way home she stops to pick up her husband Ed at the small Hardware Factory where he is Master Mechanic and foran he's usually waiting for her at a little after 5 when the lives of two working people converge and the kennedies start to gather into a family unit they've arranged for Hazel's married sister to care for their two children at her house during after school hours the youngsters stay there until their parents can pick them up and take them home since school occupies their weekday hours the children are well adjusted to the arrangement they have been taught to realize the practicality of their parents' purposes Hazel and Ed have saved and made personal sacrifices in order to own a home of their own it's not large but it's fairly new and situated in a pleasant neighborhood not far from Ed's Factory and a few blocks from a good school although Ed Kennedy earns good wages is owning this comfortable and attractive house would have been beyond his own means it was bought with the help of Hazel's income but there is another reason why she works at a full-time job the kennedies want their children to have a better life than theirs they want them to be able to go to college to study for careers of their own choice this will take money which must be accumulated in the intervening years the Kennedy's work is not over at 5:00 there is the dinner to prepare and household repairs for Ed to tend to there are no servants in the average American Home nor is the wife the servant everybody helps around the house for in good homes the children are trained at an early age to be useful Hazel's children have definite personal and household [Music] responsibilities the youngsters may not do everything with skill but their Spirit of cooperation shows their careful upbringing the young women's Christian Association house is home for Martha the girl who works in the research laboratory coming as she does from another city this home offers her friendships outside the sphere of her work the expense of her small apartment here is shared with her roommate Joan the secretary [Music] the interests of the two girls are different but by sharing the enthusiasms of Youth they get along fine since they have no immediate family obligations both these girls wages go to support only themselves Joan is engaged her fiance is just beginning a career as an architect so she is realistic enough to know that she'll probably continue working for a few years after marriage but Martha is devoted to science when she does decide to marry it will probably be with someone with the same educational background as herself someone who will share her career with her home to Anne Maloney is her parents' house it is a good house in a good neighborhood if it appears above her income level it is because it is All That Remains of the substantial estate of her one well-to-do father for 10 years now Anne has been the sole support and comfort of her parents while she was in college her father fell ill and never fully recovered she had to come home give up her studies in music this was a blow to her personal plans as she had both a talent and a great love for music while her father's Health has improved he still must live quietly and cannot contribute to the support of the household that will be ANS job as far ahead as she can see her mother is still able to prepare the family meals and do most of the housework which frees Anne for her job six days of the week it's been a long time in America since homemaking was the only career allowed to women Anne understands her mother's old-fashioned domestic viewpoints but also wants to know those of the outside world she's more adaptable than her mother and although she wants a home of her own someday she would not let homemaking keep her from outside even though the malonies own their own home household accounts are a constant concern and salary is not large yet it must cover taxes and insurance and bills for heating lighting and repairs as well as provide food and clothing for a family of three her responsibilities are numerous yet she Bears them well glad that she can help the load is never so heavy that she cannot still find solace in her love of Music at least one evening a week Anne spends a few Pleasant hours with a music appreciation group listening to recordings [Music] [Applause] [Music] meanwhile with the radio turned down low and the children both in bed the Kennedy living room has its own mood of peace and relaxation while Hazel catches up on the family mending she and her husband share the news of the neighborhood the gossip of their jobs plans for the future all the high hopes of a congenial [Music] family that same evening with no thought of tomorrow's typewriter and appointment book Joan is out for an evening of movie entertainment with her young architect [Music] back at the girls apartment Martha does some unfinished research but the theories of biostatics can become less exciting as the hour gets late it's a biological fact that even scientists need plenty of sleep this is the end of their day the day of four among the 17 million women in America America who work these women are ready for rest from jobs that 50 years ago were believed beyond their abilities since those yesterdays there has been much favorable change and with each tomorrow such working women will find more opportunity to shape their own lives in their own way [Music] the alarm clock warns the working woman of the dawn of a new day punctuality is a prime requisite for all jobs in America and most Americans follow an undeviating morning [Music] schedule once out of bed time must be allowed for waking up for taking a shower eating breakfast dressing properly and for travel to the [Music] job a peek out the window to check the weather is a little morning ritual with many women is it cool enough for her wool suit does it look like rain of all four women the one with the biggest morning responsibilities is Hazel she must be up a little sooner than the others because the kennedies have family breakfast at home and the children must be ready for school she will also fix a lunch for Ed but she will have her own at the plant cafeteria once more Hazel starts her 8-hour Factory routine her trained fingers perform their precise and delicate tasks as she assembles the minute electric tubes that go into hearing [Music] aids for work requiring such fine skills an increasing number of firms are finding women indispensable more and more women are being employed not not only as Checkers and assemblers but as full-fledged operators on intricate machine jobs under modern conditions factory work no longer means drudgery and exhaustion for women even in fields which demand sustained concentration most Factory employers have discovered that women work infinitely better under good conditions than they do under poor ones it pays dividends to allow regular rest periods and to provide cheerful and sanitary washrooms and lockers paid vacations and other benefits these are standard requirements at any modern [Music] plant Good Health Care is another essential modern dispensaries are provided where the working woman can receive immediate treatment for a cold or a cut or almost any condition which is hampering her General wellbeing an efficiency factory work with its repetitive routine would not satisfy a person like Joan who is trained for her job as a personal secretary her duties range from stenography to diplomacy and call for the expression of many qualities from tact to intuition although Joan does not plan to rise to an executive position in the world of business she admires the increasing number of women who do this visitor is not only the manager of a thriving business in the community she is also a member of the state legislature one of three women in that lawmaking body meeting highly successful women is a fascinating aspect of Joan's job in fact she feels partly paid in the interesting variety of her work since most American working women take constant pride in their appearance lunch hour shopping sessions are often a necessity and often a pleasure an and Joan who do not know each other meet across the counter as Clerk and customer they represent an equation at the root of American economy wherein women are both producers and consumers buyers and sellers by such transactions each strengthens the other's economic position and the stability of the community as a whole [Music] just as all working women are vital to American economy so girls like Martha Hansen working in this laboratory are vital to the social structure which that economy supports a structure which has enabled Martha and many girls like her to prove the thinking capacity of women it may be a long time before Martha becomes a leading scientist most of the creative positions in her field of scientific research are as yet held by men that is a challenge not a reason for despair even now Martha feels herself part of important developments part of a great Movement by science to Break Down The Walls of ignorance and futility she knows that her accuracy her patience and her attention to small detail are invaluable to the kind of research work she is doing by such abilities women can and do make enormous contributions in the field of science these contributions Martha hopes will lead her to positions of increased responsibility but the kind of job is not the important thing Martha with her scientific mind and her interest in humanity might have been a [Music] nurse an patient and unselfish might have been a teacher Joan might have been a hairdresser Hazel steady and reliable might have worked on her father's Farm almost any of these girls with proper training might fill any one of the more than 17 million jobs in a thousand fields which are open to American women there are few fields which are still closed to them every day more are expanding their present opportunities but it is not the job that counts it is the woman herself the woman who works to make a better world for her children and the woman who works to make a better world for mankind these are not more important nor less than the woman who works for her parents sake nor is she greater or smaller than the one who works for the sake of herself for each takes an honest pride in her work knowing that she has demonstrated her rightful place beside men in shaping the world of the future oh [Music]