Cricket Witness No 4 - Women at the WIcket

88 Workplace and Working-Class Women’s Cricket pioneered by American Frederick Taylor, and these concepts were applied to munitionettes in the war. Sedentary or monotonous work for girls was recognised as detrimental to their health and that of the business. Reformers recommended welfare officers counteract this by allowing ‘ten minutes spent in full activity in the factory garden or yard’ which promised to ‘refresh and quicken up’ workers and ‘increase output in the next hour.’ 42 Cadbury’s acknowledged the benefits of such activity as early as 1908, initiating dinner hour cricket and netball matches for girls to alleviate weariness and refocus their physical and mental attention. Other physical activities like gymnastics and swimming were compulsory elements of Cadbury’s educational programme for girls up to the age of 18, but while they were largely seen as a method of boosting employee health, cricket and team games had the added effect of boosting morale. It was hoped friendly sporting competition between subdivisions and firms would nurture a healthy business rivalry and boost output. Not only was a happy workforce more productive, but cricket could combat the harmful effects of low satisfaction, such as high labour turnover, helping retain skilled workers and reduce the money needed for recruiting and training new employees. When Cadbury’s female staff were asked in 1927 why they remained at the firm, the welfare and recreational opportunities was a key reason. 43 Loyalty through industrial welfarism often translated into dependency, as labourers’ pensions, insurance, healthcare, housing and recreation were all bound to their employment. Firms recognised the benefits a good public image could have on the business, and used the appearance of a happy, active and healthy workforce in their advertising. The portrait of an idyllic Garden Village, with smiling female workers and an active sporting workforce was used to sell Cadbury’s products. Although women’s cricket was not selected for marketing, due to its controversial nature, other companies like Huntley and Palmer’s heavily employed their mock-Tudor cricket pavilion in recruitment material. Businesses regularly reported on women’s cricket in their staff periodicals, and Rowntree’s even proudly displayed players on the front of the Cocoa Works Magazine in July 1937. 44 As women and girls became increasingly important to confectioners and other light manufacturers, the status of women’s cricket was also raised. Political concerns similarly motivated companies to finance and support workplace sport. Managers were aware physical recreation could not only improve morale, it could bind workers closer to the company and its management. Britain experienced relatively low levels of political violence in the interwar years compared with continental Europe, but the rise of Bolshevism, the emergence of the Labour Party and the rapid unionisation of the working class – peaking in 1920 at over 45% of the overall labour force – nonetheless threatened businesses and the existing economic system. The zenith of this threat was the General Strike of 1926, which saw 1.55 million workers down tools between 3 and 12 May in solidarity with striking coalminers. 45 It is no coincidence, therefore, that in 1926 Cadbury’s produced a pamphlet