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Rules
“You had to obey the rules” (Amy)
On
starting work at Rowntrees, women were given a copy of
the Works Rules and Regulations. Rules were important
in maintaining an environment suitable for the production
of food. However, they also aimed to enforce what was
seen as appropriate behaviour for women workers and to
encourage maximum production.
Women on the shopfloor had to wear an overall and cap
(or turban) to work. It was not until 1953 that the
same rules were applied to men. Most women accepted
the need for wearing a uniform and for high standards
of cleanliness. They remembered having to make sure
they didn’t have any pins in their clothes, in
case these fell into the chocolates. However, women
could also bend the rules. Photographs from the Cocoa
Works Magazine show how women (particularly young
girls) continued to follow the fashions of the day with
beehive hairstyles scarcely covered by the regulation
headscarves.
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