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Employees packing Smarties, 1953
© Borthwick Institute
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“Very strict but very good …”: Women’s memories of rules and regulations at the Rowntree factory, York |
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“We used to have little chatters on the quiet but we weren’t supposed to” (Audrey): Talking and Singing
Packing Tried Favourites, 1929
© Borthwick Institute |
Those working around the conveyors were able to talk and even sing. During the Second World War, music was played over speakers in the workrooms to boost morale. Indeed, singing was seen as the sign of a happy workforce, as well as providing a rhythm by which to work. Still, both talking and singing were regulated to some extent if they were believed to interfere with productivity.
Quaker-influenced rules aimed to enforce decorum at all times: for instance the directive “That packers conduct themselves in a decorous fashion especially in the matter of loud talking.” However, oral accounts suggest that not everyone conformed. As Audrey recalled,
“Some were a bit rough and they used to swear to each other– you used to hear them shouting across to each other (laughs). You used to close your ears to a lot of things.”
Women’s narratives indicate that talking and singing were not simply ways of relieving the monotony of factory work. For some women, learning to talk like the “old school” (those workers who had been at the factory most of their lives) was an aspect both of coming to terms with work in the factory and with the development of increased self-confidence as a woman. Lillian, who had initially felt lost working with older married women, remembered,
“I was getting more broad-minded than what I was before. So, I thought, I would stand up for myself and be cheeky, talking back to other people.”
The increased confidence gained at work could be carried on into a woman’s home life, as she felt more able to talk back to her family. However, being “mouthy” still retained the stigma of being a ‘factory girl,’ a stereotype most women rejected.
Words: Emma Robertson
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