Women in Papermaking: An Historical Perspective.
Pauleena M. MacDougall and Amy L. Stevens

They are jealous of any intrusion of women into their special kinds of work, and as a rule will not allow their own wives to go out to work at all. In machine-made paper mills, the paper is made on large engines, and the work is mechanics’ work, such as no woman ever does, or could do. It thus falls out that the work done by women in paper mills is merely complementary to the main process of the manufacture itself, which is exclusively men’s work.— B.L. Hutchins, "The employment of Women in Paper Mills," The Economic Journal, Vol. 14, No. 54. (Jun., 1904) p. 235

omen have been employed in the paper industry throughout history, but until the latter part of the twentieth century they were segregated into specific areas considered "female work". Some of the first jobs women performed were things like "engine picking," a method of picking out dirt from pulp by hand. At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, women were employed as rag cutters and sorters, in sizing, rolling and cutting the paper, in sorting up and making the finished goods, and in the office.

Rag sorters went through discarded clothing, removing buttons, seams and hems. The work was dirty and tiring, as they stood throughout their twelve-hour work days (sometimes thirteen or fourteen hours) in one place as they sorted the rags. Women worked in separate areas of the mill from the men, although they had some male supervisors.

One woman rag sorter reported on the details of her work:
"We receive one dollar per day during eight months in the year. In November, December, January and February, we work only nine hours a day, and get only eighty cents. In those months, the days are too short to work till five o’clock without a light, and as no light except daylight is allowed in the rag-room we are dismissed at four o’clock P.M. All do not board in the company’s boarding house; some have homes of their own, others board with their relatives; they can board where they choose. In the boarding house we have a chance to do our own washing and ironing. The company supply coal, wash-tubs and wash-boards, and we do our washing and ironing in the evening. The company also furnishes all the wood and kerosene we use in the boarding house. They also intend to furnish us with a sort of duster and cap to wear over our clothes while at work. Our tables are numbered and the suits will have the same number. As we are obliged to wear some sort of covering on our heads on account of the dust, I think it is a very good idea. There are two overseers in our department; I have no reason to find fault with either of them. There are a number in one section of the room who are obliged to work for ninety cents a day when they sort linens. If they wish to make a full day’s pay they must sort what they call six baskets, two hundred pounds in each basket, at fifteen cents per basket. They work on that stock about one-fourth of the time. In the winter they do five baskets and get sixteen cents per basket or eighty cents per day." "Rag Sorter in Paper Mill"- Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1888, p. 108. In 1872, author B. L. Hutchins compiled a table based on the number of men, women and children working in several mills in England. It showed the number of men under 18 to be 361 in 1868, women, 197. In 1872, after England passed labor laws restricting the hours women and children could work, those numbers dropped to 86 and 52 respectively. For women over 18 the number was 3641 and for men 3620. However, the ratio of male to females changed by 1872 such that there were 3620 females and 3829 males.

The situation was similar here in Maine:

An 1887 chart entitled "Rates of Wages derived from special returns obtained from 20 towns in different sections of the State. Miscellaneous Occupations – Averages" states that in paper mills, "Machine men" made $3.00 per day; "Girls" made $0.85; and "Other workmen" made between $1.50 to $2.75 per day, depending on their job. - First Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1887, p. 78. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1888).

In 1887, only one Maine paper mill (unknown) reported its returns to the State Bureau of Industry and Labor. According to this return, the mill’s workforce was comprised of 160 men over 15 years old, and 30 women over 15 years old. Men made between $6.90 and $21.00 per week; women, between $4.20 and $6.90 per week. Thus, even the highest paid women were making only as much as the lowest paid men. Interestingly, though this return does not say how many boys and girls under age fifteen were employed, it does list their weekly wages: boys received $5.00, and girls $6.00. It seems that on average, young girls working in the mill made $1.00 per week more than boys. The wage paid must relate to the type of work assigned to each gender, but there doesn’t appear to be any information on what jobs they did. - First Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1887 pp. 124-125. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1888).

1892 quotes from "Rag Sorter[s]": "It is hard work to clothe a body and be a decent woman, but the work is healthy. Not many of us have any education, but we live and die about the same as better folks." "I keep my children at the school but I can’t live well. House is poor, and my clothes worse. Rum has cursed my life and that of my children." - Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1892, p. 154. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1893).

In the following article, "Women Wage Earners" the author critiques the role of women in industry and blames them for the low wages earned by men. He also states that women are only seeking "temporary" income, thus ignoring the fact that many women (like the one quoted above), were the primary wage earners for their families.

"Much interest is manifested, in many quarters, regarding the relations and general conditions of female workers in the industrial life of the State. Women themselves, are, apparently, the most apathetic on the subject, whilst the reformer, the philanthropist, the employers of labor, and a majority of male wage-earners, are deeply interested in the many phases of the labor question involved in the recent employment of women in a very large proportion of the employments heretofore open only to men. The encroachments of women in the fields of labor formerly occupied by men, undoubtedly, has had a tendency to keep wages down. The lack of organization among female wage-earners, the large number of workers added to the general work force, and the readiness of women to accept almost any kind of work at wages offered, without question, have a natural tendency to keep all wages at a lower standard.

Only a few years since, woman was supposed to be fitted by nature only for the duties of home and household work. Wifehood and maternity were considered the natural "spheres" of the female sex, and public opinion frowned upon the disposition of women, whenever manifested, to enter the fields of labor considered as the special domain of the male sex. Housework, dress-making, millinery, and clothing making, were almost the only employments in which women could engage. How rapidly all this has changed, until the field of women’s work has become nearly as wide as that of men, can be seen by reference to the tables of industries in Maine into which women have entered.

The question of wages in many lines of work now common to both sexes, is a difficult problem. In some lines where physical strength is required, and, in others where experience and skill are demanded, and the fact that men enter upon a trade and employment as a life work, while women engage in it only as a temporary means of gaining a livelihood, are natural causes for a difference of work performed and of wages earned, which can never be overcome. In many occupations requiring mental and nervous activity, women are superior to men. The just rule of wages is, that work should be paid for, not according to sex, but according to amount accomplished. A man’s work done by a woman, should receive a man’s pay. That this rule does not always prevail is evident from the reports herewith tabulated, and from interviews with individual female workers, who, while earning a man’s wages, receive from a third to a half the pay. In very few instances were women found in responsible positions who are paid adequate wages. The highest wages reported, twenty dollars per week, were to a woman in command of an established trade whose customers would surely come to her in any dry goods establishment, and the lowest, ninety cents to $1.20 per week, to an old woman at work as a rag sorter." - Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1892, pp. 9-10. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1893).

In the following report, the author praises the skills of rag sorters:

"Females are quicker to learn and are better adapted in many ways, besides being much cheaper than male males for rag sorting. It is work at which they sit all day, and exert themselves but little, simply to sort for colors by sense of sight and by touch for the texture. These girls become so expert that they can detect cotton in a suit of clothes by sight, and at quite a distance…The standard of these women is certainly much below the average of almost any equal number at any other work…The poorest rags of wool go into roofing paper, but nearly all wool rags are put into the various grades of shoddy, or so-called wool substitutes…Cotton rags are fitted only for paper mills, and total value of half a million pounds is only $10,000 or two cents per pound. Rag graders keep large stock always on hand, and pay cash for their stock, but sell on time to mills. There are many other things handled by these firms as junk dealers, but females are employed only in sorting rags…" - "Junk Shops at Rag Grading," Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1892, pp. 42-. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1893).

About this time, the state began to reform the working conditions of women and children. The 1895 Maine’s Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics Inspector’s Report begins with the following Introduction: "This department was created by an act of the legislature, entitled "An Act to regulate the Hours of Labor and the employment of Women and Children in manufacturing and mechanical establishments," approved March 17, 1887, and to take effect July 1, 1887." - Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1895, p. 203. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1896).

According to the Inspector’s Report of 1895, as a general rule, Maine’s pulp and paper mills paid "fortnightly," and averaged eleven hours’ work per day.

"The manufacture of pulp and paper has become within the past few years one of the leading industries in our State. While perfection in the construction of these mills seems to be the point aimed at, the percentage of accidents is unduly large. But we must take into consideration the carelessness of the operatives as well as the character of the machinery used, for there is no class of workmen, so far as your inspector has been able to observe, who are so unmindful of the dangers from machinery as those working in these mills, the reason for which is not easily explained. The sanitary condition is of the best. Particularly in the paper mills where many women are at work, neat and conventional toilet rooms as well as comfortable work rooms are provided, and the general surroundings for health, comfort and convenience will average better than the business houses in our cities. The provisions for protection from fire seem almost perfect." - Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1895, pp. 204-205, 221. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1896).

In spite of his declaration of safety, concerns about the health of paper workers arose and seemingly contradicted his earlier statements:

"Rag sorting is an industry of considerable importance in our State, but the business depression of the last two years has rendered it unprofitable, and where, in former years, quite a large number of women and girls found employment, only small crews are at work at the present time. Not only are domestic rags handled in our Maine shops but the foreign article as well. Bales of rags from foreign countries, often coming from localities where contagious diseases prevail, are dumped into the shops to be assorted without any restrictions whatever, not even an attempt at fumigation, and in years past, small-pox and other infectious diseases have been communicated by them, which have run a fatal course in some sections of the State. The sanitary condition of these shops is decidedly poor, being as a general rule, poorly ventilated, cold and dusty. It would seem that the occupation of a rag sorter, working in a cold room, amid polluted air, and constantly inhaling the dust, must be an unhealthy one, yet many of these women and girls seem to be contented with their surroundings and ply their vocation cheerfully, without any thought, apparently, of the unhealthy condition of the work room. What is urgently needed in these shops is better ventilation more warmth and a thorough disinfection of imported rags."

- Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1895, pp. 221-222. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1896).

The photos of rag sorters at Eastern Manufacturing reinforces the description above. Women wore aprons and hats to protect them from the dust, while bits of rags can be seen on the floor surrounding them. Large windows provided light, no doubt these would be open when weather permitted.

A Table of Manufacturer’s Returns from 1896 indicates the sex ratio of employees in two paper mills. The first employed 125 men and 27 women; the second, 95 men and 5 women. [Two other mills, with 71 and 120 employees, listed no women workers.] In 1895, Mill A [125/27] paid its men an average weekly wage of $8.70. By 1896, this had increased to $9.60. Women were paid $5.10 per week during both years. Mill B [95/5] paid its men $12.00 per week in 1895 and 1896, and its women $6.00. - Tenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1896, pp. 20-21. (Augusta: Burleigh & Flynt, 1896).

In a detailed report of Maine’s pulp and paper industry, published in 1900, statistics were gathered for all of Maine’s mills. Of 58 total mills (pulp and paper were counted separately, even if combination mills), only 9 reported the number of women employees. One of these was Eastern Manufacturing Company (paper mill only), which reported 8 women out of a total 193 workers. - Thirteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics For the State of Maine 1899, pp. 33-42 . (Augusta: Kennebec Journal Print, 1900).

Eventually, health concerns led the legislature to pass a law requiring vaccination of paper mill employees who handled rags:

"Section 83. No owner, agent, or superintendent of any paper mill where domestic or foreign rags are used in the manufacturing of paper shall hire or admit any person to work in or about said mill who has not been successfully vaccinated or re-vaccinated within two years, or to the satisfaction of the local board of health.
"Sec. 84. No person shall work in or about any paper mill where rags are used, who has not been successfully vaccinated or re-vaccinated within two years, or to the satisfaction of the local board of health.
"Sec. 85 The owner, agent and superintendent in every paper mill where rags are used shall every year, in the months of February and September, make out and deliver to the local board of health, a list containing the names, ages, kind of work, and places of residence of all persons employed in or about said mill.
"Sec. 86 In the months of March and October, annually, each and every person who is employed in a paper mill, shall be examined by the local board of health as to whether he or she is successfully and sufficiently protected by vaccination, and the local board of health shall in all cases be the judges of the sufficiency of the protection by vaccination.
"Sec. 87 Whoever violates any provision of the four preceding sections shall be punished by a fine of not more than fifty dollars." - From "Revised Statutes of 1903. Chapter 18 – Vaccination of Employees in Paper Mills" Twenty-First Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics for the State of Maine 1907, pp 462-463. (Augusta: Kennebec Journal Print, 1907).

In spite of the long hours, hard work, and dangers, women continued to seek the good wages paid by the paper industry. From an analysis of employment opportunities by towns - "Brewer": "The pulp and paper mill gives employment to many hands but jobs are not always open…Some girls find work in the paper mill where they earn from $6.00 to $8.00 per week." - Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics for the State of Maine 1908, p. 206. (Waterville: Sentinel Publishing Company, 1908).

The following is an excellent description of women’s work in a Maine paper mill, c. 1909. From a report by Miss Eva L. Shorey (special agent) on "Industrial Conditions Surrounding Women Wage Workers in Westbrook [Maine] – S. D. Warren and Company [Paper Mill]":

"…This company, which manufactures a high grade of magazine and book paper, employs about 1,025 men and women in its mill at Westbrook , and 14 in the office force. Of this number, 118 women are employed in the manufacturing department, 10 in the business offices…[the women work ] 53 hours a week, or 9 hours for 5 days, and 8 hours on Saturdays; from 7 A.M. to 5 P.M., with an hour at noon, and until 4 o’clock on Saturdays. During the summer season there is evening work for 3 hours on Fridays, thus enabling the women’s department to close at 12 noon on Saturdays… Formerly the women worked eleven hours, from 12 noon until 12 at night, but that was many years ago.
"Wages – In some departments women are paid 93 1-3 cents a day; in others the same amount and all over they can make. Wages thus vary on account of conditions of paper, etc., and expertness. They range from $5.60 to $8.50 [per week], the greatest averaging about $6.65; while in the offices the women employes receive from $8.30 to $11.25 a week.
"Work of Women – This is performed in four rooms. Eight women are employed in sorting rags used in the manufacture of paper; 32 in tending machines which cut the paper into sheets; 62 in sorting, and in some cases the sorters also count with the aid of machines; and 6 in the finishing department. Ten women are in the offices, as book keepers, stenographers, clerks, and at the telephone exchange which connects all parts of the works.
"Rags Sorted – In the room where rags are sorted, 8 women are now employed. Formerly there were 78 in this department. Through the generosity of Miss Cornelia Warren, these workers are provided with caps and long, thin coats to protect their clothing while at work, although the rags are cleansed before being brought to them. These women stand before a table where the rags are placed and remove anything which would clog the machinery, a large knife being fastened at the side of the working table for this purpose. They also sort the rags for different grades of paper.
"Tending Cutting Machines, Sorting and Counting – Those who tend the cutting machines keep the sheets of paper in proper position with long rulers. They sit or stand as they wish. The sorters and counters sit at large tables where they inspect the paper. Those who count, also inspect, and as they put the paper on a pile, strike a machine which registers the number of sheets. This work necessitates constant motion of the hands and arms and the careful scrutiny of each sheet of paper, which is trying to the eyes.
"Finishing – The women in the finishing room count the paper which is piled on trucks. They have attained a remarkable degree of efficiency and count very rapidly, holding the edges of the sheets in a fan-shaped manner, which their fingers slide down as if they were playing the scale on a piano. Sometimes they sit and sometimes stand, but when the paper is at a certain height, they are obliged to bend over in a way which is very tiresome to the back. Formerly the paper was placed on tables when finally counted, but since partial piece-work payment was adopted, it was decided that more paper could be counted when placed on trucks. "We don’t like it as well," said one, "but we can earn more."
"General Conditions as to Work – There is no lifting about the work, that being done by men. Occasionally there are times when it is necessary to wait for a new supply of paper and the women then get a short period of rest. Some years ago, extra girls were employed in the different rooms in order to give each woman twenty minutes rest in the forenoon and also in the afternoon, which was a great help as the work becomes monotonous. This practice has been discontinued, however. Formerly the girls in the cutting department cleaned their machines. This is now done by men…An opportunity is given, as occasion arises, for those desiring it to work into office positions, several now in that department having been in different parts of manufacturing work."

The Paper Industry also gradually increased and improved the benefits it provide employees. In 1918 Eastern Manufacturing made an important Christmas announcement:

Employee death and permanent disability insurance policies would be "provided at the expense of the Eastern Manufacturing Company" according to length of employee service - $1,000 maximum; does not take place of/interfere with workmen’s compensation. Outline of plans to form an Eastern Mutual Benefit Association, through which accident and sickness insurance will be handled by Eastern employees themselves.

During this era, concerns about the war and the influenza epidemic were high. Many men spent time in Europe, and some women filled in for them.

In 1929 one researcher reported wages in the pulp and paper industry in New York were $29.19 and $15.18 per week for men and women respectively. Women could be paid less because their hours were restricted by law and because their work was considered less important to the papermaking process than men’s work.

The paper companies provided numerous social activities for mill workers. Some of them took place in the reading room of the mill:

"The reading room is a very popular place during Sunday afternoons. It has been noticed that the last three Sundays the rooms have been crowded. Everybody enjoying themselves, apparently. On Sunday afternoon, Jan. 5th, a few of our former members who have been overseas, were entertaining a number by telling them some of their experiences. There is not better place in town for one to meet his friends and enjoy a few hours, either Sunday afternoon or evenings, than the reading and pool rooms." "Owing to the fact that most of our boxers are in service, the boxing game has been quiet so far, but that sport is now starting and there are at last three men who are commencing training" "The Mill," Jan. 11, 1919.

The mill management put on a banquet for the employees in the cafeteria and gave them a speech on how much management was doing for the workers. The company would plow, furrow and fertilize gardens for their employees, reimbursed workers for 50% of the costs of courses employees took through the International Correspondence School, and provided banking services in the mill.

In the first half of the twentieth century women at Eastern Manufacturing Co. worked in the Cloth department (sorting rags), the Cutter room (cutting paper), the payroll office, the Sorting room (sorting paper), the Calender room (where paper was smoothed by large calendering rolls), the Finish room and the Service department. During this time, there were "Girls’ Clubs" all male clubs and "Ladies night" celebrations.

Occasionally women would find items of interest in the rags they were sorting in the Cloth department:

"We are living in sort of a Dutch element these days - working on rags that came from Holland. They are a never-ending curiosity - the way the clothes are made and the material so different from anything we have here. Occasionally we find foreign money. One day last week we found a wooden shoe, such as are worn by both men and women there. It had been worn by someone, for the soil of Holland was on the sole." "The Mill" (Feb. 19, 1921).

Even though women were segregated from the production lines of work during the first part of the twentieth century, there were still hazards that effected them. Accidents and injuries were frequently reported throughout the mill, and management expected employees to be responsible for safety.

A table listing "Injuries to Females" in various Maine industries lists the following:

• Paper manufacturing…Sheet calendar girl…Hand jammed…Machine…25 [age]
• Paper manufacturing…Cutter girl…Hand lacerated…Machine…16
• Paper manufacturing…Cutter girl…Finger amputated…Machine…33"

"Whenever an accident occurs there is a more or less complete demoralization of the working force in the immediate vicinity of the victim. Other employees leave their work to render aid, to offer suggestions or to look on. It furnishes a common and all absorbing topic of conversation for some time afterwards and when men are talking they are not working. The horror which the sight of blood inspires in most men and women completely unnerves many, especially women." - Twenty-Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics for the State of Maine 1910 p. 229. (Augusta: Kennebec Journal Print, 1910)

A table listing "Injuries to Females" in various Maine industries lists the following:

• "Paper manufacturing…Cutter girl…Infection…[no mechanical cause listed]…19"

It was believed at that time that wood pulp making work was too heavy for women. But women gradually moved into production processes, lab work, and running heavy machinery like fork lifts, during the latter part of the twentieth century.

Many of the women we interviewed were pioneers in breaking through the gender barriers in the paper industry. Lois Andrews and Phyllis Beauliex were the first women to work in the testing lab; Dola Hinckley was the first to work in production at Eastern. Other women pioneered in other paper mills. Gradually women were accepted into all of the jobs in the paper industry during the last three decades of the twentieth century. However, even women in management faced continuing difficulties in gaining equal pay and opportunities for advancement within the industry.

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