New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-09-16
WORK FOR WOMAN.

self-sustaining. This is a question that we
shall have to meet sooner or later for no ciyili-
zation is perfect until the opportunities OF the
sexes are equal. The tendency of dense popu-
| laton is to make the female sex preponderate,
and we must find something to do with the sur
plus of women. If we look at foreign countries,
we see that under tho age OF 10 the males
exceed the females; but that beyond ID the
female prepOndcratcs, and 80 on until W. III
sixteen foreign nations, this holds good. In En-
gland the ratio of females 10 males is as three to
| two while in France, where the people are
| longer-ycd than any other European
nation, it is even greater. when
we get up to the ray-haired era Of life, we find
/ in France between 30 and GO a female excess OF
II 500, between 90 and 20 it becomes l-6,Il
between 20 and 20, g., 295, and over 20, 32,Ool.
OF course these figures do not apply to the
United States. In Massachusetts,, the women
are nearly twenty thousand in excess, while III
Connecticut il Is STA. and the same ratio runs
through w-Hampshire and Rhode Island. In
Vermont and Maine, the men are in surplus;
I Nulit New DIN SHOWS D,Zof UlOEt NOnltu iHSh
men, to be accounted for by the crowded con-
diton of New-York City, which alone shows
nearly twenty thousand in excess. While the
open countries have preponderance of
men, in some territories 0s much as twenty to
one. il is shown that the tendency Of the female
sex is 10 outnumbcr the other. As we grow in
civilization, we must therefore expect this to
take place; and il is proper that we should meet
| the problem now, and so decide it that we may
have no trouble in the future.
! \ writer in "A Washington paper suggests the
necessity of some regulation, By recommending
that the women employed il the Departments
be discharged, as the experience Of the heads OF
Bureaus, he says, is 10 show % that The employ
meut Of women is failure" We do not pay
much attention To this opinion, as We imagine
the author TO be some poor wretch OF an Office
seeker who wants a job. But let us take Wash
ington rs an illustration, and see what oppor-
tunty is open to woman The District of Col
umbia contains over seyenty-hyc thousand IN
habitants, of which about sixty thousand are
/ White. of this nhmLcr, there are about fifteen
thousand male adults and about sixteen thou
sand adult females. II We imagine the marriage
relation 10 exist with all, we find a thousand
| females, who must live by their own cxertlons.
/ How are they to livel The occupations Of the
| inhabitants are divided into "a classes. In
Washington, there are, therefore, two hundred
and thirty-four ways of living. The four largest
classes are Laborers, Servants, Clerks and
Laundresses:
| Servants .........3,G72 Clorks.-...- ....l,JG9
! Laborers. ......-..3i 2j LnandTesscs 2cI
The authority from which We quote includes
the colored population. OF the servants agd
laundresses, a majority are eolored, and perhaps
good portion of them laborers. The only easy
occupation requiring tact aud education, there
! fore, open to Washingtonians, is that OF clerk.
| About one able-bodicd man III ten is a clerk or
| in some way connected with the Government.
| Since the War, this proportion has increased;
and it would not be amiss to say that one-third
or one-half of the adult males live off the Gov
eminent We find the men, therefore, pre-
| ferring this occupation, although there are over
200 others open to them. On the other hand,
there are about 40 occupations only in which
women can engage; and of this list
there are not above Ii in which they do
engage as follows: basket-makers, boarding.
house-keepers, clerks, glovers, hair-workers,
! laundresses, mantua-makcrs, matrons," mid
wives, milliners, music-teachers, nurses, seam-
stresses, servants, sisters Of charity, and tailor
esses. Sixteen thousand women, therefore, in
Washington City, who may at any time be
called upon to live by their own labor, have
only 16 ways of doing it, while 1000 men have
2ls ways. If we look at the list, we sec bat
five that any of US would care to see any woman
in whose fortunes we felt an interest engage
boarding house keepers, clerks milliners, tailor
esses, and music-tcachers. We omit the sisters
of charity, as that life can hardly be called an
occupation"
How should this be corrected The demand
for labor IN Washington requires that one per-
son in ten should be clerk. The labor market
must have more clerks than any other occupa-
ton not demanding physical labor. inc duties
of clerk in Washington are peculiarly htleu
for women. The labor is easy. tho responS'piu'