On This Day, 20 July 1916

Birmingham Daily Post

Thursday 20 July 1916

WOMEN ON THE LAND

BIRMINGHAM STUDENTS’ SUCCESSFUL WORK

The suggestion that women should be employed on the land has been put to a practical test during the past fortnight by three prominent agriculturalists in the Oswestry district, which is novel to the Welsh border country, has proved a great success. Seven ladies, with no previous agricultural experience, are now engaged on the three farms, in the manual occupations of cutting thistles, hoeing turnips and mangels, cleaning potatoes, and hay gathering. Five of them came direct from the Birmingham University Training College for Teachers, and the other two are Mrs. Barry, a local lady, and Mrs. Spiers, wife of Major Spiers, second in command of the Cheshire Regiment, stationed in the district. The work is superintended by a lady who received a special course of training under the auspices of the National Women’s Land Service Corps, and is carried on from a purely patriotically desire to help the country in the present crisis.
The women are paid by piecework, on the same scale as men, and at present they each and on average 2s. a day. Sleeping accommodation is provided in a roomy tent, and a similar structure serves as a kitchen in which food is cooked. They go about their arduous duties in a business-like style, and in the comparatively short period they have been engaged in their present occupation they have exhibited great aptitude for improvement. Oswestry farmers have hitherto been very reluctant to employ women, but it is now thought that the success which has attended the innovation will lead to a widespread adoption of the idea.