Back when many newly married women automatically quit their jobs

  

This is the original workforce for Mountain Fuel Supply in Layton, in 1949, an era when women were still discouraged from working. 

  ONE of the most significant societal changes World War II produced was getting more American married women into the work force. That was previously a rarity – working married women.

Before the war, the majority of married women did not work outside the home.

A 1936 government survey had revealed that 80 percent of the population believed wives should not work if their husbands had jobs.

In fact, according to Bureau of Labor statistics, only 15.5 of married women worked in 1940. Federal law restricting married women from working was talked about, but never proposed. Still, before World War II, a husband and wife could not both have federal government jobs.

Some private companies were just as restrictive.

“Only single women need apply” is a subhead on page 76 in the on-line history of Questar Gas company,

http://www.questar.com/PDF/1OurCompany/HistoryBook/Chapter%205.pdf

Formerly, Mountain Fuel Supply, this company history recounts how until World War II, the company didn’t employ married women. It was simply a traditional rule that once married, a woman then had her husband as a breadwinner. Thus, she was expected to quit her job after marriage.

If a married woman was still working, then that woman was believed to be keeping some married man out there from having a job.

“Of course, you couldn’t be fired if the company didn’t know you were married,” the Questar history states.

However, by the end of the war, most companies had abandoned that concept and as a result, married women enjoyed more independence and security in working outside the home (even though it was almost always for less money than for men, working the same job).

By the end of World War II, one in four married women were working. That was the first time ever that married women outnumbered single women in the workforce.

More historical tidbits:

-“First woman juror” was a Dec. 17, 1915 headline in the Standard-Examiner.

Just less than a century ago, Ella M. Hall of Tremonton was reported as being selected as the first woman juror ever for Box Elder County. The story also suggested that she has to be one of Utah’s first-ever woman jurors too.

-In another historical note, “Ogden couple wed in coffin room” was a Nov. 13, 1911 headline in the Standard-Examiner.

The story reported how the marriage ceremony of Mary Ludwig and Karl Friedland took place in E. W. Hall’s mortuary chapel at 167 South West Temple Street, Salt Lake City.

The bride was not excited by this strange marriage location and had to be coaxed by her husband-to-be that it would be OK.

After a minister had performed the marriage, the bride stated, “Till death do us part. Let’s get out of here. There’s a ghost tickling me on the shoulder.”

Then, the story stated that a door at the other end of the mortuary loudly slammed shut and then a nearby chair fell over.

“Let’s get out of here,” The bridegroom then proclaimed. “Some of these ghosts might get too fresh!”

The couple then went to a wedding supper at Hotel Utah.

(-Originally published on-line and in print in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Jan. 29-30, 2015, by Lynn Arave.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net  

When the Speed Limit was Only 35 Everywhere...

THE next time you feel confined or restrained by a 45 mph speed limit, you should be aware that more than 60 years ago the maximum speed limit anywhere in Utah was only 35 mph.

On Oct. 28, 1942, a "Patriotic Speed Limit" of 35 mph was announced in an attempt to conserve gasoline and save on tires during World War II, according to the official history of the Utah Highway Patrol.

Enforcement began on Nov. 10, 1942. Many cars were operating with unsafe tires because people were unable to buy new ones.

The speed regulation resulted from a report following an engineering study of vehicle tires by the National Safety Council with the cooperation of the UHP and at the request of the Utah Highway Traffic Advisory Committee to the War Department.

The study showed 46 percent of cars driven by war workers had at least one tire with the tread worn smooth; 23 percent with at least two tires worn smooth; and 11 percent with at least three.

The study also indicated at least 40 percent of all the cars on Utah streets and highways had at least one smooth tire.

Because of the low speed limit, patrolman Russ Cederlund was featured on the cover of the November 1942 issue of the national magazine Public Safety. Cederlund and Matt Haslam of the state road shop were shown in a photograph replacing a 50 mph sign with a 35 mph sign.

Because all of Utah's 40 mph, 50 mph and 60 mph signs were reflectorized, all of them had to be replaced. The old signs were stored in anticipation that the speed limit would be raised following the war — and it was.

The low speed limit also did more than just save in gasoline and tires -- it also helped ease traffic problems. In Layton, for example, that city experienced significant population growth and thus more vehicles on the road -- thanks to so many military personnel in the area and their families. Layton City's history notes that the 35 mph limit made the roads safer there, though slower.

Also, despite a 5 percent increase in motor vehicles from 1941 to 1943, Utah had a significant decrease in accidents, injuries and fatalities — a testament to lower speeds increasing safety.

Auto accidents in Utah decreased 35 percent from 1941 to 1943, while fatalities dropped by almost 50 percent.

However, the 35 mph speed limit was a hindrance to long trips through the state. Whereas a drive from Salt Lake City to St. George took about 5¼ hours (non-stop) at 60 mph, the 35 mph speed required nearly nine hours.

It should also be noted that the U.S. had a national maximum speed limit of 55 mph from 1973 to 1987 to conserve gasoline. That was a decrease from a maximum of 70 mph.

Today, the Isle of Man in the United Kingdom and the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh are the only places in the world without posted speed limits. Montana also experimented with some "no speed limit" freeways in the 1990s, but led to more severe freeway accidents than before. Just more than half of Germany's autobahn lacks posted speed limits.

The highest posted speed limits in the world are 80 mph or 130 kph, and Utah has some 80 mph speed zones currently on I-15 in Southern Utah.

(-Updated and originally published in the Deseret News by Lynn Arave on Feb. 17, 2009.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net