Trends in the Industrial Employment of Women Chemists1 LOIS W. WOODFORD American Cyanamid Company, Stamford, Connecticut
L
ET me quote a sentence from a survey entitled "Professional Workers in War and Peace. An Analysis of the Economic Status of the Members of the American Chemical Society, 1941 to 1943." "With only 851 females [3.7 per cent of total] reporting in 1943 it is apparent that the membership of the American Chemical Society, when considered as a whole, is predominatingly male."? Statistically, that statement may be accurate, but it does not check with all the symposia, surveys, and serious or glamorous articles that have been published about women chemists during the past five years. Nor does it jibe with a casual observation in our own laboratories, where many trained young women have taken over work formerly carried on by male employees. However, the above-mentioned survey contains some very interesting information regarding the current status of women chemists. That total figure showing only 851 women reporting data in 1943 is surprisingly low, for the number of practicing women chemists in 1941 was estimated to be about 1500, or some 5 per cent of the total American Chemical Society membership. Under normal conditions approximately 500 women with majors in chemistry were graduated from college each year, but only a small percentage actually entered the chemical field. After Pearl Harbor this appeared to indicate a reserve supply of women qualified to fill the growing number of openings on the technical staffs of essential chemical industries. The A. C. S. Employment Clearing House called hopefully for experienced women chemists, and college placement bureaus canvassed their lists of women graduates in chemistry, but the response was very unsatisfactory. Apparently, those not in chemical occupations felt ill-equipped to return to a field that requires a skilled technique acquired by practice and also keeping up with new developments, and those safely established in stable positions hesitated to risk the uncertainties of a war-created job, though the immediate salary increase might be very tempting. So it happened that the weU-trained and highly recommended women in the chemistry classes of 194244 have been able to choose the location and type of work they desired, and the remuneration was a fabulous figure. While on this subject, let me quote again: "Over the period 1941 to 1943 significant increases occurred in base monthly salary rates a t almost all ex'Address presented before the Sixth Annual Summer Conference, New England Association of Chemistry Teachers, New London, Connecticut, August 26,1944. Chen.Eng. N m , 22,791 (May 25,1944). and 22, 1084 (July 10,1944).
perience levels." Little is said about salaries for the feminine group, but a significant statement appeared in an earlier s ~ r v e y : ~ "This situation [differences in professional activities] may account also for the marked differences in earnings noted between male regular and female regular members. The extent of these differencescertainly does indicate, however, that a problem exists which warrants detailed consideration to determine whether or not an improvement could he effected in the economic status of the female regular members in terms of earnings capacity."
For the immediate present the law of supply and demand and the general tendency toward "equal pay for equal work" has fairly well taken care of these wage discrepancies, certainly in so far as recent graduates are concerned. Thus, in the five years since a group of students and faculty from the women's colleges met here at Connecticut College with representative industrialists a t a conference sponsored by the Institute of Women's Professional Relations to discuss the place of technically trained women in the chemical industries, abnormal war conditions have swung the pendulum to a far extreme, and upon the young woman chemist has fallen a serious challenge to meet these responsibilities. Her position is secure so long as the war lasts. Now our thoughts may well turn to postwar questions. Where will the pendulum stop? What fundamental changes have taken place that will determine the long-term policy, the future status of scientific women in industrial organizations? Obviously, the exigencies of the manpower shortage have forced the industrial strongholds and large numbers of women have passed beyond the routine analytical and control laboratories into industrial research and in some cases even into plant operations. Psychological prejudice of their men associates has been broken down, and the crustiest group leader has succumbed to the inevitable with the observation that some of these women know their chemistry and are "good workers." Rationalized objections, laying great weight on petty personal qualities that are overlooked in male associates, and arguments that liberties of language and dress and action are restrained by the presence of women, have gone by the board. But that old, intangible question of personality remains; and if personal characteristics are unacceptable, whether man or woman, one has to do a great deal better job than a competitor to gain and hold the approval of a supervisor. The number of qualified women available has a
Chem. Eng. News,20,1635 (December 25,1942).
failed to meet the growth and replacement requirements of many organizations, and the resultant upgrading of staff has proved extremely bothersome. It has long been the general policy of the American Cyanamid Company to employ women in both lahoratory and nonlaboratory positions. Dr. Walter Landis' excellent summation of the industrial point of view regarding the place of technically trained women in the chemical industries, read a t the conference4 here in April, 1939, is well worth re-reading in the light of current conditions and as a guide to future trends. At Stamford approximately 30 per cent of our total staff are women; about one-third of these, or 16 per cent of our professional staff, are chemists, physicists, or biologists in laboratory positions. With the exception of summer workers, many of whom are undergraduate science majors, these women are permanent members of our organization, and represent growth in technical staff to meet requirements of our current research and development program, which is directly or indirectly related to the war effort. Analysis of our personnel records shows that in the five-year period from August, 1936, to August, 1941, there was a gradual rise in the number of our women workers to a total of about 75, of whom 53 were college trained, 16 in laboratory and 37 in office positions. During the next two years (August, 1941, to August, 1943) the total doubled to 150, showing the effect of the withdrawal of draft-eligible young men, and in the summer of 1944 the figure reached 265. Some significant data on turnover among this group of 156 college-trained women are summarized in the tables shown elsewhere on this page. The crux of the whole question, in my opinion, is in the above tables. Training of new personnel is expensive, and the results of industrial research and production are measured on the profit-and-loss sheet. Call it the "biological factor" or a more direct but less dignified term-matrimonial mortality-this probability of short tenure on the job is a handicap for all women in industrial work, and makes them potentially less valuable employees than men with equivalent basic qualifications. It becomes more important, of course, in higher skilled occupations where comparatively long training periods are required. Strictly speaking, these young women who have come into the laboratories fresh from college have not yet earned the right to professional classification. They must undergo what amounts to a practical graduate training course in the work expected of them, whether their specific assignment is in the analytical or the physical testing laboratory, as assistants in the biological or chemical research groups, or in the development division-a vast territory entirely foreign to their previous conceptions of laboratory work. During this period they are under close supervision and are being evaluated as to scientific ability, breadth of training, and personal characteristics, in short, for capacity to develop - as their experience broadens. Frankly, this 4
Chenz. Industries, 44,502 (May, 1939).
current crop falls far short of expectations, and of standards set in previous years. We strongly suspect that many in this group are more interested in exploring the "matrimonial marketplace" than in assuming adult responsibility toward their work and making a real success in a chosen career. Under normal conditions they would qualify only, and none too well, for classification as scientific assistants, a group which our experience indicates can be filled just about as satis; factorily by those with little beyond high-school training.
-
Tomovea. 193644
Pniod Firs1 EmPlaycd sincr
P I ~ Wto
Present staff Chemist Physicist Biologist Office stat7 Total
1936 lo I941
I936
3
1941 lo 1943
1943
Told
11 6 8 3
22
-
7 5
-
381/1 13 15 22
28
40
88'/2
-
-
-
37%
23
7
67%
4 1 1
44% 7 12
2 W 1
2
-
12 -
5
15%
Released Chemist Physicist Biologist Office staa Total *Changed to half-time
Marriage Military service Changed position Health Continue studies
0 0 0 0
Total
0
0
6
-
-
work after marriage.
RBA~ON PO.S LBAMNC 24,/, 10 3 3 9 . 2 1 1 1
2
-
-
-
1
2 -
37'12
23
7
67l/a
LBNOTHOP SBRVICB (August, 1944) R I I O ~ S ~ ~
Over 8 ye7 to 8 years 6 t o 7 years 5 r o o yeem 4 to 5 yeam 3 to 4 years 2 to 3 years 1 to 2 years Less than 1 year Awrage length of service
prrsrnl sion
2 3
1 3
7%
7,/?
8 25 19
. 4 24 40
671h 1.97 years
88% 2 . lyears
-
What does the future hold for the very capable young woman chemist? Assuming a reasonably sound economic situation, there is no reason to believe that management will not continue to use well-qualified women in laboratory positions. On the other hand, for their own self-interest, it would be well to look a little more carefully into the advantages of those disdained desk positions. Young men are quite frank to admit that they regard laboratory work only as a steppingstone to reach their objectivesome line of administrative activity. The chemical industry is "big business," and technically trained personnel are needed in every department, not only in research and production, in patents and literature work, but in technical sales service and market developments, advertising, personnel, accounting, and executive offices. Opportunities in any of these fields offer a challenge which many find as thrilling as any laboratory experiment, and such posi-
tions are not the refuge of the unfit; they require exceptional background and special qualifications and particularly good personal characteristics. For further information, read the series of papers given by businessmen chemists a t the Symposium on Industrial Demands for Nonlaboratory Chemists a t Cleveland last Apri1.l Leaders of chemical thought envision a very busy postwar world, with new materials now in war production leading the transition to normal peacetime activities. Discoveries in medicine and public health, de"THIS JOURNAL, 21,269-87 (1944).
velopments in aviation, the general acceleration in world-wide transportation, better foods, textiles, clothing, wider utilization of glass and plastics, synthetic rubber with tailored properties-all promise a more satisfying mode of living. The chemical world of the future will have a place for all who are qualified to take a part*in its development, but the present tendency toward feminine monopoly will be broken. Women must face the fact that in a competitive market they must offer comparable training and ability and definite evidence of an ambition to grow in professional stature.
