METHOD OF INQUIRY
The following questions, with a short letter, were sent to about 600 members who were, or had been, officials of the Women’s Co-operative Guild, of whose family histories nothing was previously known. The letter asked these members to bring out in their replies what they “have felt about the difficulty of taking care, the ignorance that has prevailed on the conditions of pregnancy, and how these conditions result in lack of health and energy, meaning that a woman cannot do justice to herself or give her best to her husband and children.”
The questions asked were:
1. How many children have you had?
2. How soon after each other were they born?
3. Did any die under five years old, and if so, at what ages and from what causes?
4. Were any still-born, and if so how many?
5. Have you had any miscarriages, and if so how many?
Replies were received from 386 Guild members, covering 400 cases, a few of which were not those of members of the Guild.
A second letter was sent later, asking for particulars of wages and the occupation of the husband. The wages given at the end of the letters represent as far as possible the actual amount received, not the rate of wages.
Of these letters, 160 are published. The remainder describe similar conditions.
Out of the total number of the cases, at least two-thirds indicate conditions of maternity which are not normal and healthy.