Gold laying for cloth binding has, within the last quarter of a century, become the work of women who have taken the place of old "finishers" in some bookbinding firms,[34] and at Dunstable women are reported as doing binding throughout. Women are employed as compositors much more frequently in the provinces than in London. In Edinburgh and Aberdeen, for instance, women are reported as being engaged in every process, except making-up and the heavy work of carrying type, in which men alone are employed. Type-setting and distribution of type are often done by women in Scotland. In some of the Edinburgh printing establishments women do practically the same work as men. The extensive employment of women during the compositors' strike in Edinburgh in 1872 to secure a fifty-one hours' working week[35] was the result of the determination of the employers to defeat the Typographical Association, and at least one firm in London tried the same policy during the bookbinders' strike for an eight-hours' day in 1902 though apparently with no success. The enthusiasts for the introduction of women into the printing trades had for some time been trying to get a hold upon Edinburgh printing offices, but had failed until the strike of 1872. An enterprising employer then trained some girls from the Merchant Company's Schools--a better class of girls whom we find described sometimes as "stickit teachers"--to compose. The results were satisfactory, and the example was speedily followed. The strike failed and the displacement of men continued.
[Footnote 34: Reporting to their members in May, 1903, the Wages Committee of the London Society of Journeymen Bookbinders (Third Report) state regarding the award just given on certain points of dispute between the Unions and the Employers: "The right of employment of women in laying-on of gold has also been awarded against us, notwithstanding that no part of the proceedings evoked more strenuous opposition from your representatives. The hands of your delegates were weakened by the fact that the practice already existed: in some cases had crept in, and in others been extended unawares; yet they strove to preserve the right of the workman, whilst willing and anxious that the supercession of the workwoman, where she had been introduced, should be gradual and considerate.--The argument for the employers is that the employment of women on the class of gold laying-on indicated, will enable them fairly to compete in other fields, and will tend to increase men's work instead of to reduce it. This view, the arbitrator adopted."]