Men and women sought work at the factory during the Summer fishing season. Men worked inside the factory loading coal into ovens, operating machinery, and loading meal bags onto transport vehicles.Pétursson 2017 Women worked long hours outdoors near the dock, often in adverse weather conditions. They removed the heads and bones, packed the herring in salt, and placed them in large wooden barrels.Jónsson & Holloway p. 10 While men were paid for the time they worked, women were paid for each barrel they filled. Although they earned significantly less than the men in the factory, many women sought this work because they earned more than they could doing clerical and domestic work in Reykjavik.Jóhannesson, p. 92
