Question

What was the percentage of women factory labour force in Russia by 1914?
1. 28 percent
2. 31 percent
3. 38 percent
4. 35 percent

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 2 : 31 percent

• At the beginning of the twentieth century, the vast majority of Russia's people were agriculturists.
• About 85 per cent of the Russian empire's population earned their living from agriculture. This proportion was higher than in most European countries.
• In the empire, cultivators produced for the market as well as for their own needs and Russia was a major exporter of grain. The industry was found in pockets.
• Prominent industrial areas were St Petersburg and Moscow. Craftsmen undertook much of the production, but large factories existed alongside craft workshops.
• Many factories were set up in the 1890s when Russia's railway network was extended, and foreign investment in industry increased. Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled.
• By the 1900s, in some areas factory workers and craftsmen were almost equal in number. Most industries were the private property of industrialists. The government-supervised large factories to ensure minimum wages and limited hours of work.
• But factory inspectors could not prevent rules from being broken. In craft units and small workshops, the working day was sometimes 15 hours, compared with 10 or 12 hours in factories. Accommodation varied from rooms to dormitories.
• Workers were a divided social group. Some had strong links with the villages from which they came. Others had settled in cities permanently. Workers were divided by skill. 
• Women made up 31 per cent of the factory labour force by 1914, but they were paid less than men (between half and three-quarters of a man's wage).
• Divisions among workers showed themselves in dress and manners too. Some workers formed associations to help members in times of unemployment or financial hardship but such associations were few.