Trouble With Women in the Workplace? This 1950s Film Is Here to Help. From the era the conservatives wants to return to.
Trouble With Women in the Workplace? This 1950s Film Is Here to Help
OCT 18 2012, 12:03 PM ET
“I can remember the good old days, when there were all men in my department, and we didn’t have these problems!” a male manager complains to his boss. “You didn’t have the production output you’ve got now either!” the boss counters. Through this anecdote, the McGraw-Hill instructional film below sets out to teach male managers how to “cope” with female employees.
Long before anyone was slinging binders full of women, men were forced to accept female coworkers out of sheer need. Women joining the workforce during World War II seems to have spawned a cottage industry in educational material about gender and work. Don’t miss this 1944 gem, Supervising Women Workers, or this manual of management tips.
“Look Brad, you’ve got a new bearings inspector who happens to be a woman. You need someone, and there isn’t a man available. It seems to me that whether the gal ads up to trouble or not is pretty much up to you,” the boss explains at the end of the film. Brad is in for an attitude adjustment. He arches an eyebrow but says nothing.
