Training Girls to Make Shirts

From the Aberdeen Journal, 20th February 1915.

TRAINING UNDER THE QUEEN'S “WORK FOR WOMEN” FUND.

One of the most practical of the schemes carried on under the Queen's “Work for Women” Fund is the workroom for the training of shirt machinists, which was opened last month at 11 Spoutmouth, Glasgow.  Skilled shirt machinists are always in demand, and never more so than at the present time, when employers are too busy with large contracts to afford the necessary time or machines for the training of workers.  As this line of work, therefore, seemed to offer an exceptionally favourable opportunity for unemployed women and girls, with the prospect of quickly rendering them self-supporting again, a training workroom was organised through the efforts of the Glasgow Sub-Committee on Women's Employment, the scheme being approved by the Scottish Committee on Women's Employment, and financed by a grant from the Queen's “Work for Women” Fund.  Twenty-eight girls are now occupied in shirt machining and also in making shirts, the material used consisting for the most part of bale-ends of shirting presented by local manufacturers.  The girls who are being trained have come from all kinds of previous occupations.  A few girls are receiving training in cooking, marketing, and domestic economy.  The fact that after only a month’s training a number of girls have found good situations with shirtmaking firms shows the practical utility of the machinists’ training scheme in meeting an existing demand.