Central Committee on Women's Employment#Other
{{Short description|WWI era advisory organisation}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Central Committee on Women's Employment
| image = File:BCLM-Mary Macarthur 6b.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Mary Macarthur was the original secretary of the CCWE
| abbreviation = CCWE
| motto =
| predecessor =
| merged =
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| formation = {{start date|1914|8|20|df=y}}
| founder =
| founding_location =
| extinction =
| merger =
| status =
| purpose = Employment of women
}}
The Central Committee on Women's Employment, later known as the Central Committee on Women’s Training and Employment, was an organisation set up in the United Kingdom during the First World War to provide employment for women, especially those who had become unemployed due to the War. In 1920, it became a standing committee in the House of Commons.
History
File:Margaret Bondfield 1919.jpg, a member of the CCWE.]]
The Central Committee on Women's Employment (CCWE) was created on 20 August 1914,{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj-8AAAAIAAJ&q=Central+Committee+on+Women%27s+Employment| title= For Labour and for Women: The Women's Labour League, 1906-1918| last=Collette| first=Christine| publisher=Manchester University Press| pages=168–169|date=1989|access-date=6 January 2019| isbn= 9780719025914}}{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQtYAQAAQBAJ&q=Central+Committee+on+Women%27s+Employment+1914| title= State Intervention in Great Britain: Study of Economic Control and Social Response, 1914-1919|last=Hurwitz| first=Samuel J.| publisher=Routledge| date=2013| page=134| access-date=6 January 2019| isbn= 9781136931864}}{{cite journal| title= The War and Women's Work in England| last=Abbott| first=edith| journal=Journal of Political Economy| volume = 25| number=7|date=1917| pages=641–678|jstor = 1821772|doi = 10.1086/253010| doi-access=free}} by the Home Secretary. The committee had fourteen members, of whom five were women. Lady Crewe, the wife of Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe, was appointed the chairman,{{cite news| url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/258973358| title= The Queen| work=Manchester Guardian| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| date=20 September 1927| page=7| accessdate=28 February 2020}} Harold Tennant's wife Margaret was appointed the treasurer,{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oS6DAgAAQBAJ&q=Central+Committee+on+Women%27s+Employment| title= Women and Work in Britain since 1840|last=Holloway| first=Gerry| publisher=Routledge| pages=131, 246|date=2007|access-date=6 January 2019| isbn= 9781134513000}} and Mary Macarthur was appointed secretary of the organisation. Labour movement members Susan Lawrence, Margaret Bondfield, and Marion Phillips were also members of the committee. The CCWE received funding from the newly formed Ministry of Labour,{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=H2sTDAAAQBAJ&q=Central+Committee+on+Women%E2%80%99s+Training+and+Employment| title= Young Women, Work, and Family in England 1918-1950|last=Todd| first=Selina| publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=127|date=2005|access-date=9 January 2019| isbn= 9780199282753}} and the Queen consort Mary of Teck donated money from the Queen's Fund.{{cite news| url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/33253998| title= The Art of Making Old Clothes New| work=The Times| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| date=14 October 1914| page=21| accessdate=28 February 2020}} After the War, £500,000 was given from the National Relief Fund to the CCWE for women whose incomes and opportunities had been affected by the War.{{cite news| url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/258189774| title= Vocational Training for Women| work=Manchester Guardian| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| date=6 November 1920| page=4| accessdate=28 February 2020}}
The CCWE aimed to provide employment for women, especially those who had become unemployed or displaced due to the First World War. It initially encouraged women to take up war-related jobs, such as providing army clothes for the War Office and the British Army, and knitted jumpers for babies.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/32751019/| title=The Queen And Employment For Women| work=The Times| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| date=2 September 1914| page=5| accessdate=28 February 2020}} The Labour movement through the committee campaigned for women's rights, in particular equal pay for equal work, and jobs at the end of the war, as well as the reduction of short time working hours for women. In September 1914, the employment rate for women was 8.5% lower than the previous month. In 1914, the minimum rate for women to be paid for relief work was 3d per hour, up to a maximum of 10/- including housing allowance.{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/image/32776687/| title= Work of the Central Committee| work=The Times| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| date=6 October 1914| page=25| accessdate=28 February 2020}} For other jobs, women could receive more than 3d, for example cleaners typically received 5d per hour.
After the War, the organisation became the Central Committee on Women's Training and Employment (CCWTE). The CCWTE focused on retraining women who became unemployed when the men returned. During the inter war years, Violet Markham was the CCWTE's chairwoman.{{cite web| url=http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/radio4/making-history/able-bodies.pdf|type=pdf| title= Able Bodies: Work camps and the training of the unemployed in Britain before 1939 |last=Field|first=John|publisher=University of Stirling|via=BBC Radio 4| date=6 July 2009| accessdate=9 January 2010}} In 1919, the government pledged HM Treasury money for "housecraft" training, and gave the CCWTE £50,000 to help with other training.{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iABRp1a7RMAC&q=Central+Committee+on+Women%E2%80%99s+Training+and+Employment| title= Suffrage and Power: The Women's Movement 1918-1928|last=Law| first=Cheryl| publisher=I.B. Tauris|pages=72–74|date=2000|access-date=6 January 2019| isbn= 9781860644788}} In 1920, the Central Committee on Women's Employment became a standing committee in the House of Commons.{{cite news| url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/09/demobilised-woman-women-first-world-war-army| title= Editorial: the demobilised woman – archive, 1920| work=The Guardian |orig-year=1920|date=9 February 2017|accessdate=6 January 2019}} Courses that trained women in midwifery, hairdressing, massage, teaching, as well as domestic work, ended in 1922 when funding ran out.{{Cite book|title=Servants : a downstairs view of twentieth-century Britain|url=https://archive.org/details/servantsdownstai0000leth|url-access=registration|last=Lethbridge|first=Lucy|date=2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing, W. W. Norton|isbn=978-1-4088-3407-7|location=New York City|pages=[https://archive.org/details/servantsdownstai0000leth/page/158 158]|oclc=835174126}}
Using funding from the Empire Settlement Act 1922, the CCWTE set up a home training centre in Market Harborough,{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=SWFcAgAAQBAJ&q=Central+Committee+on+Women%E2%80%99s+Training+and+Employment| title= The Routledge Encyclopaedia of UK Education, Training and Employment: From the earliest statutes to the present day|last=Wilson| first=John P.| publisher=Routledge| date=2013|access-date=6 January 2019| isbn= 9781317796510}} and later set up home training centres in Glasgow, Harrogate, Newcastle, Leamington Spa, and London.
Other
In 1915, an Irish Central Committee for the Employment of Women (CCEW) was created, to serve a similar purpose in Ireland.{{cite journal| title= New Issues and Old: women and politics in Ireland, 1914–1918| last=Pašeta| first=Senia|journal=Women's History Review| volume=28|issue = 3| pages=432–449| date=2018| doi= 10.1080/09612025.2016.1221290| s2cid=152231095| url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fa870415-76a4-4929-8f6c-03b50e6cff6e}}