The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-01-21
EARNINGS OF WOMEN.
Good Reasons Set Forth to
Show Why They Get
Less Than Men,
THEY ARE NOT WORTH so MUCH.
Advantages That Men Have Over
Their Weaker Co. Workers
Physical Strength Their
Strong Point.

The reason why most women-workers
are not paid go much as most mcn-worl.
ers is because they are not worth 50
much. Here is heresy of heresies. and
from a woman, tool! Well, at least, it is
from a woman who believes h she
says, who believed so ten years ago, and
whose belief has only deepened with
every working year that has passed over
her head. Women are not paid as much
as men because they do not really earn as
much as men. That is a g~eneralized
statement. Let us qualify it as follows
A few women are paid more than some
men. That is because they are doing
something that n man amt do as we'll as
a woman can. They are paid for the ad-
vantage Of sex. Some VIC men get just as
much tor their work as a man would get.
That is because the work is one in which
there is no advantage or disadvantage OF
sex either way. Most women are paid
less than most men because men have
the advantage of their sex, What is the
advantage of their sex? Strengths;
strength of body and of muscles; units
of horse power.
Bear in mind that what both men and
women are paid for is work. and that
work is a matter of body as we'll as OF
brains. The reason why things get so
obscured when people begin to talk about
this matter is that they insist upon treat
ing it as il ability were purely q mattefo OF
brains, as if the CONCESSION that Il wom-
ans work isn't worth 80 much as a mans
in the money market (bear i'll mind that
we are talking about mouey-worth alone,
not about the higher worth) is because
she hasn't as much brains as u man. Non
----t nr- ra-r Fnnt that y0Vnn hnIn
their own against men as they do in this
competitive period, with less physical
strength prove that they have more
brains than men, If it proves anything at
all.
hlSome women, to be sure, are as strong
as men. But the mass of women are not.
And the law of political economy which
has set the wage mark tor men and
women deals with the rule and not with
the exception, Take those branches OF
work in which both men and women en-
gage, and you will find i'll tn, great ma
iority of them that a man can do all a
woman can do, and more. This is true,
even in cases on which at first glance it
seems to have no bearing. Take, for ex-
ample the question of teaching. The
success of women rs teachers is
and yet a man in that profession Is al
ways paid more than a woman for what
| seems like the same work. But there is
II IGSGINo III u h1a 49,
| not in the woman-a something which
he NAV never be called Upon to do, but
| which he could do IL it were necessary.
She can teach as well as he; sometimes
| she teaches better, because she IS more
| likely to have that tact of the soul and
that happy inspiration which will rouse
| the young mind into glad learning. But
| she can't enforce her own authority be-
| youd a certain limit, and q man can. he
can thrash an unrulv boy into obedience.
and she can't. And, although that
| method of controlling is not to be eX-
tolled, yet 1t must be confessed tnao 1nere
is an irresistible responsiveness about 1T.
| His advantage is in his muscles, hot his
brains, but it is there.
The same principle applies in other
| fields of work. A man clerk may not be
| able to sell more yards of lace or OF cloth
in Il day than a woman clerk. u ne can
handle bales of cloth and bigger bundles
than she can. He eau do the heavy work
of a porter if necessity came. True, ne
may never do it, and that very potential
ity makes him worth more.
In nearly all the kinds of work In which
both men and women are engaged, the
same potentiality in physical strength
plays a part-in the greater endurance OF
long hours or greater rush. In these
branches into which it does not enter,
women are paid as much AS men. A
woman physician gets rs much as q man.
A woman writer gets as DlUcn IOr ner
novel, if it is as good; a woman artist
gets as much for a picture If it is worth
it.
u But in the greater part of the work o:
the world, physical strength does play Il
great part, therefore it is tnat the wage-
mark of mel will always be higher than
That of ONE And it should be SO. The
truth is that womeu's work was moi
meant to be measured by comparison
with mems and by dollar standards
alcne. Women were not put into the
world 10 compete with men,. but to COM
plement them. Not TO show that they
are capable of doing what a mau can do
but to show that they can do what a man
can't do.
And the rewards of her work are the
re wards of the kingdom of heaven quite
as much as they are of the kingdom OF
this world.
There must be other rewards certainly,
so long as the world stands as 1t does
and men and women work side by side
for money. But the fact cannot be al
tered that this is not the way in which
men and women were meant to work
The fact also cannot be altered that men
must do the hard physical work in the
world-that is the law of adaptation
The last fact is that, since work Is quite
as much a matter of body as OF brains
the mass of men will always be palc
more thar the mast of women. This i
political economy.-HcleR Wdtterson ~
Philadelphia Inquirer.