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Snake Oil Willie Band:

"Women are teachable": 1940's booklet to “assist male bosses in supervising their new female employees"

The subject has always interested me, because my mom was one of them - the women who went to work during World War II while the men were off fighting, then gave up their jobs and paychecks once those men came back.

You've come a long way, baby. From the National Archives:

By 1944, over half of American adult women were employed outside the home, making invaluable contributions to the war effort. As women went about their duties, supervisors often worried about effectively assimilating them into the workforce. This publication from the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) awkwardly attempted to assist supervisors with managing their new female employees.

Text:

When you supervise a woman…

Make clear her part in the process or product on which she works.

Allow for her lack of familiarity with machine processes.

See that her working set-up is comfortable, safe and convenient.

Start her right by kindly and careful supervision.

Avoid horseplay or “kidding”; she may resent it.

Suggest rather than reprimand.

When she does a good job, tell her so.

Listen to and aid her in her work problems. 

Text:

When you put a woman to work…

Have a job breakdown for her job.

Consider her education, work experience and temperament in assigning her to that job.

Have the necessary equipment, tools and supplies ready for her.

Try out her capacity for and familiarity with the work.

Assign her to a shift in accordance with health, home obligations and transportation arrangements.

Place her in a group of workers with similar backgrounds and interests.

Inform her fully on health and safety rules, company policies, company objectives.

Be sure she knows the location of rest-rooms, lunch facilities, dispensaries.

Don’t change her shift too often and never without notice.

Text:

Whenever you employ a woman...

Limit her hours to 8 a day, and 48 a week, if possible.

Arrange brief rest periods in the middle of each shift. 

Try to make nourishing foods available during lunch periods.

Try to provide a clean place to eat lunch, away from her workplace.

Make cool and pure drinking water accessible.

See that the toilet and restrooms are clean and adequate.

Watch work hazards - moving machinery; dust and fumes; improper lifting; careless housekeeping.

Provide properly adjusted work seats; good ventilation and lighting.

Recommend proper clothing for each job; safe, comfortable shoes; try to provide lockers and a place to change work clothes.

Relieve a monotonous job with rest periods. If possible, use music during fatigue periods.

Text:

Finally–call on a trained woman counselor in your personnel department…

To find out what women workers think and want.

To discover personal causes of poor work, absenteeism, turnover.

To assist women workers in solving personal difficulties.

To interpret women’s attitudes and actions.

To assist in adjusting women to their jobs.

The same group of documents in the Archives also has a booklet called ""Womanpower" Campaign". See the whole thing there:

Friday links

Tax day quotes, cartoons, and links, Dave Barry, and the 1967 cartoon version of The Beatles "Taxman"

How to file an online extension.

Tax Revolts from Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Death and Taxes... and Zombies: Tax implications of the zombie apocalypse.

The Long Sordid Tale of the American Income Tax.

Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 (includes an eyewitness report from 1956).

The Titanic sunk on April 14, 1912 - here's an eyewitness account. Related: Titanic Food Menus For 1st, 2nd and 3rd Class Passengers.

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include the science of dog farts, a history of the joke "Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?", the physics behind a baseball bat’s sweet spot, and a useful infographic: The Flowchart of Medieval Penitent Sexual Decision-Making.

Monday links

Infographic: The Flowchart of Medieval Penitent Sexual Decision-Making.

We missed Dog Farting Awareness Day yesterday, but Scientific American's article on the science of dog farts is still worthwhile.

When Does Work Actually Get Done? Work gets done at 11AM on a Monday in October. At all other times of day, we're basically slacking.

A history of the joke "Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?"

The Physics Behind a Baseball Bat’s Sweet Spot. Related: Mark Steyn on the history of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

Inside the Secret Workshop of the Louvre.

ICYMI, the most recent links are here, and are all April Fool's Day related.