[1] This work was physically demanding, provided poor wages, and limited workers' freedom and leisure time, and was also not well respected.
[1] During World War II, Ernest Bevin set up a Ministry of Labour enquiry into domestic service chaired by Violet Markham and Florence Hancock.
[1] The wartime impact of lack of domestic workers on farming families, doctors and hospitals, and the elderly was also of particular concern to the committee.
[1] The National Institute of Houseworkers was formally incorporated as a non-profit organisation in June 1946 to raise the status of domestic work and attract more workers.
[2] The Institute established a diploma course, created training centres, and stipulated minimum wages and work hours and conditions for its workers.
[3] The board of the Institute hoped that providing high-quality training would raise the status of the profession as had happened with the professionalisation of nursing.