Cricket Witness No 4 - Women at the WIcket

84 Workplace and Working-Class Women’s Cricket common for the sons of business owners to captain these teams and offer employees direction and leadership. Howard Palmer captained the Huntley and Palmer’s cricket team in the 1880s and 1890s, while Walter Crittall had captained the Crittall Manufacturing Company’s football team in Braintree, Essex in the 1920s. 29 Industrial paternalism for women was embraced by some companies prior to the First World War, but sporting provisions were broadened after 1918. At Bournville, Cadbury’s had established an athletics club for girls in 1899 and was playing cricket by 1902, while Rowntree’s formed its first girls’ cricket club in May 1912. 30 However, female labourers were often at a double disadvantage as they were expected to complete the bulk of domestic duties at home, and earned significantly less money when performing similar jobs to men. Although Cadbury’s and Rowntree’s were considered enlightened employers, they still endorsed major injustices that were widespread in the interwar years. Both companies openly supported inequality by committing themselves to a marriage bar on work and paying unequal wages. The owners believed women’s primary purpose was in the home and not what Benjamin Rowntree called the ‘national evil’ of female breadwinners. 31 Nevertheless, substantial efforts were made to promote women’s sport, for example through advertisements in workplace magazines, ability-specific nets and impromptu matches every Saturday afternoon. By 1925 Cadbury’s had 4 cricket, 26 hockey, 36 netball and 2 water polo girls’ teams, and all 1227 members of the Girls’ Club were offered a chance to play cricket. Meanwhile, Rowntree’s had 5 girls’ cricket teams by 1921. Subscriptions were deliberately kept affordable: it cost only half a shilling to affiliate to the Rowntree’s Girls Cricket Club in 1927, and only a little more for the Bournville Athletics Club in 1925, which also offered access to this broad range of sports and leisure facilities. 32 Like men’s sports teams, these companies also tightly controlled the direction of their sports clubs. A member of the Cadbury’s family was president of the girl’s club for most of its initial 50-year history, and at one point included four family members as vice presidents. Physical training mistresses employed by the company reminded girls that they played ‘for the honour of the club and the works’ and selfish acts on the field would not be looked on favourably. Many employers bought, maintained and funded large company playing fields exclusively for their workforce. Huntley and Palmer’s owned 26 acres of recreational land, Peek Frean 20 acres, and the Civil Service, alongside multiple sports grounds nationwide, opened its 30-acre Chiswick Ground in London in February 1926, incorporating six cricket pitches. 33 Employer subsidies were less important for women in more affluent jobs, but many companies supported women on higher incomes nonetheless. As white-collar clerical and administrative opportunities swelled for women they also benefited from industrial welfare policies, but were normally prevented from rising to higher positions. Clerks, typists, welfare officers and lower management jobs were typically better paid. Qualified clerical