Hiring Women For the Workforce in 1943, Would You Pass the Test?

This list has got us doubled over in laughter.

If you're like me, you're a woman. You're also employed. At a job. Where men work too. For some of us, you were hired by a man. Now maybe you felt belittled because you are a woman or maybe you felt that you were given a lower salary because you are a woman.

The gender gap is real.

But when you look back to 1943, you know, during World War II, you'll see that we have it pretty darn good these days. In honor of National Business Women's Day, I thought I would share this excerpt from Transportation Magazine that offers up a how-to when it comes to hiring women. Is today's working world perfect? Far from it, but at least we don't have to go through most of this list.

Oh, and it's also been checked out by Snopes, so you know it's legitimate.

1. If you can get them, pick young married women. Mostly because married women are less likely to by flirtatious and if they're applying then they obviously need the work due to a "sick husband or one who's in the army." 

2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Because no one wants someone who has been cooped up in the house their entire life and has no social skills.

3. ..."husky" girls ... are likely to be more even-tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters. I can't even with this one.

4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special physical examination — one covering female conditions. We're just so darn complicated that we need a "special" exam, primarily to point out our weaknesses that would make us unfit for the job. Most women turned down for "nervous disorders."

5. ...stress at the outset the importance of time. It would seem that being able to put a four-dish meal on the table at the same time and at the exact minute the husband walked in from work was lost upon these employers.

6. Give the female employe in garage or office a definite day-long schedule of duties so that she'll keep busy without bothering the management for instructions every few minutes. This one went on to say that we lack initiative to find work for ourselves. Pshh. 

7. Whenever possible, let the inside employe change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be nervous and they're happier with change. Have you met a woman?

8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. Rest periods are good for the feminine psychology... Or you know, for the human race. If you read more into this one it's because a woman is more efficient when she "can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day."

9. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way that men do. Yes ladies, even back in the 1940s men secretly understood that we could take them down in a fit of rage at the drop of a hat. 

10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously, she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this. I had to post the entire listing of this one because it just makes no sense. 

11. Get enough size variety in operator uniforms that each girl can have a proper fit. This is done solely to keep women happy. Not because it's common sense. 

So, now that you've seen what advice was given to employers in the 1940s, do you think you would have been hired? Or better yet, would you have even wanted to work for anyone who used this as their hiring bible?

Read the clipping in it's entirety here.