| Show Women found l 1 11 Averse verse to 10 Being r Called Maids s MILWAUKEE Most Most women do donot donot donot not like to be maids Even less do they like to be called maids I Several Milwaukee agencies are sharply aware of this For years they tried to sell a domestic em em- employment employment employment program to Milwaukee girls with the aim of improving household working conditions butt but most girls would have no part of it Although they could cook wash and take care of children many many women did not like to earn a living that way j i iThe The household employment pro- pro program program program gram which was at its height here hereabout hereabout about 10 years ago under the super super- supervision supervision supervision vision of a citizens' citizens group the YWCA and the vocational school was never very successful even even during depression years when women were forced into domestic jobs At best it consisted of em employer em s and placement bureaus and a training school The spark of life it did have apparently was snuffed out by the surge of industrial employment which ac accompanied I ac-I ac- ac accompanied companied World War II Although the Milwaukee citizens' citizens committee on household employ employment employ 1 ment died with the demand for household jobs about 19 cities including in in- including including Milwaukee were included I in a recent report on household employment programs published by the women's bureau of the United States department of labor Problem General No community has solved the important problem of household employment according to Frieda S. S Miller director of the bureau While specific spec ic standards and progress progress progress ress of programs varied from city to city she found the local projects projects projects have accepted the basic prin- prin principle principle principle ciple that wages and working con con- conditions conditions conditions for should be beset beset set in hi the same way as for other workers 1 Establishment of working con- con condition condition standards n 2 Better training for employer and 3 3 Efficient placement service 4 Improved status for household r For the worker wrote Miss Mins Miller such programs should re re- result result result sult in better working conditions and more job security in the long established but oc oc- oc- oc For the employer they should mean better trained and better satisfied workers a partial answer to the difficulties thousands of homemakers homemaker have experienced since close to a half million domes domes- domestic tic workers left homes for wartime jobs several years ago Failure of the citizens' citizens group in Milwaukee to interest a sufficient number of women in the program is attributed by Mrs Walter Blount chairman to the war warThe warThe The uThe war was upon us and we knew there was no use in trying to attract girls to housework when there was so much war work she said said- Worked with YWCA For a number of years the citi citi- citizens citizens' citizens citizens' citizens citizens' zens' zens group worked with the YWCA in operating a household and employers' employers placement bureau They intended that ultimately the question of wages hours and work work- working working working ing conditions would be considered The program passed to the voca voca- vocational vocational school where after a struggle struggle struggle gle to interest girls it faded From 1938 to 1942 the school had hada a domestic program according to Miss Isabel Scholl the counselor who directed it The program mainly was a training course A five room apartment was constructed con con- constructed constructed for training in household work with full and part time classes |
