Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-16T22:51:51.354Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Appendix 8 - The Female Inspectors and Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2024

Beatrice Moring
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Get access

Summary

Report in the local newspaper Silkeborg Dagblad, 6 June 1910:

At the meeting of the women's organisation Dansk Kvindesamfund in Silkeborg 1910.

The factory inspector Ragna Schou tabled a resolution to back the proposal by the social democratic party about support for widows and orphans. The resolution found wide support. When the law about pensions for widows and orphans, constituting a civic right not part of the poor relief system, was passed in parliament in 1913, it was hailed with joy together with the new factory law, in the journal Kvinden og samfundet.

Silkeborg Dagblad Arkiv Silkeborg Arkiv Dansk Kvindesamfund (/soeg?searchString=Dansk%20Kvindesamfund&ValgteArkiverIds=328) (Elisa Petersen, ‘Enkeloven og Fabrikloven vedtaget!, Kvinden og samfundet 15.5 1913, pp. 130–1)

Betzy Kjelsberg and contact with workers

Betzy Kjelsberg often gave talks at unions and worker's clubs. This was a way of establishing contacts with those best aware of existing problems. After the intervention to incorporate advice from workers in connection with the installation of new paper machines, her reputation as genuinely interested increased. After having approached the health authorities and local inspectors with no result, the workers association representing loggers turned to Kjelsberg. While she was aware that this was not part of the remit of a factory inspector, she still decided to make a visit.

Together with representatives of the workers I was rowing the flat boat along the river, watched the floating of the logs, the sorting etc. On land we went to numerous places to see the huts for eating and resting … It is unbelievable that the officers have watched the dirt and mess year in and year out and done nothing.

She personally turned to one of the company directors and wrote to the overseer and begged them to remedy the worst problems instantly and later deal with the others. She was soon told by the workers that many of the problems had been rectified and received a heartfelt thank you for her visit (Magnhild Folkvord, Betzy Kjelsberg: feminist og brubyggjar (Oslo, 2016), pp. 126–7).

Type
Chapter
Information
Women in the Factory, 1880-1930
Class and Gender
, pp. 264 - 269
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×