Birmingham age-herald., 1895-06-23
THE TECHNICAL EDUCATION OF WOMEN
By Julia S. Tutwiler ofAlabama.

July, 1892. It is, we believe, the first pa
 per ever written by a woman by request
 for an educational meeting in Alabama.
 The article afterwards appeared in the
 November number of the monthly jour
 nal, Education, published in Boston. In
 a letter received May, 1895, MT. W. F.
 Sheldon, the wen-known writer on edu-
 cation, says: "So far as I know this was
 the first and one of the most important
 contributions ever made in this country
 urging industrial education for girls
 The true profession of every woman is
 that of queen For this she was created
 to rule wisely and well over "A Womans s
 Kingdom" a well-ordered home. A wise
 Providence makes provisions for carry
 ing out this design of womans creation
 by causing the number of births of males
 and females to be nearly equal in every
 land with a small excess of male births
 to allow of the more frequent deaths among men, owing to their more exposed
 lives.
 But an artificial civilization often over
 rules the laws of nature, and there is
 tendency in the men of all civilized coun-
 tries to seek newer lands, less thickly
 populated than their own. Women, not
 having the same liberty of action nor
 the same capacity of bearing hardships,
 leave the older lands in smaller numbers,
 and, consequently among those left be-
 hind the majority are generally women.
 This migratory instinct plays valuable
 part in filling with inha abitants the deSo-
 late regions of the earth, and it will
 doubtless continue to act until all parts
 of the world are equally settled and
 equally fruitful As such a, state of
 things will hardly take place until the
 millennium, we may for all practical pur-
 poses consider the present condition of civilized lands as their normal one and
 discuss the question, What Is to Be Done About It?" For this disproportion
 between the male and female population
 not only exists in all the older civiliza- tions but is constantly increasing. The
 United States formed, in earlier times, an
 exception to this rule, and this country
 was consequently considered as the par adise of women; but at present in all the states except those in the extreme west, the women outnumber the men. In
 Massachusetts the band of "40,000 anx- ious and aimless women," mentioned in the address of a former governor, has be- come a by-word Even in so new state as Alabama there are said to bee 100000
 more women than men.
 Now these women must be either con- sumers or producers for every inch of shelter used, every grain of food eaten, every thread of clothing worn represent labor expended somewhere and somehow, either our own or that of another. Most of these women desire to be pro- ducers; they would prefer to feel that they are not mere drones in the social
 hive, living upon the honey gathered by their more fortunate comrades, but use ful and necessary members or the com
 munity, adding to it's material and inn material wealth. This condition must be the happiest, since one of the blessings tcl,l eat the labor of thy hands," not that of another's hands. Just here let me say that the wife who manages her hus- bands household, and the daughter who takes charge of that of lonely father are as truly producers, self-supporting members of society as the teacher or mill liner We are speaking now of those women upon whom no such sweet and sacred duties devolve.
 To be Self-Supporting is not merely the preference of many women, but stern necessity laid upon them. While few women may be found in other depart ments, there are practically but two vo- cations really open to women in the
 south, teaching and sewing; consequent ly both of these are miSerably oyercrowd- ed and wretchedly paid The want of other avenues of occupation for our wo- men is an urgent one. How l envy you the consciousness of leading a useful
 
 refinement to me the other day. "I can find nothing to do," she went on, "which will prevent my being burden to others. I was not educated with the thorough- ness required of teachers nowadays, and
 while l can sew as well as most ladies, the colored girl in the cabin across the road can do this so much better and more rapidly than I that I cannot com pete with her, even in this ill-paid occu- patton. I would give all that I was taught in my school days in excchange for the knowledge of some one thing by which I could feel that I was self-sup- porting-useful to myself and others. Sad enough words to come from one woman's lips, but when these are the un- voiced utteranceS of groups of unem- ployed girls in thousands of families who are whitening away like clusters of sis ter flowers on one stem, all the high pos abilities which might have gladdened and enriched the world, unused and un- develop within them-how unutterably sad Even for these two occupations, of which public opinion has tacitly allowed | her the freedom, there are no full oppor- tunities for proper preparation. The nor mai schools profess to supply this pre- paration for teachers, but their number | is deplorably insufficient, and their work | often that of a mere high school or col l lege, instead of being strictly technical. | To obtain preparation for all other oc- | equations individuals must use their own | private efforts
 What is the remedy for this state of | things? In what way shall we make | available the vast unused capital of wo- | manly intellect and energy that now, in | defiance Of all the precepts of political | economy, is going to waste among us? I | answer, by the technical education of | our surplus women: that is, by teaching | them thoroughly and well such arts and | handcrafts as shall make them not only | self-supporting. but contributors to the | general wealth of the community. Let | our girls who have no means be able to | begin life as cheerfully and hopefully as | their brothers, feeling that avenues of | honorable labor are open to them | in many directions, that there is 1 suitable place and well re- | warder work for each of them | in the big world. How shall this techni- | cal education be provided for our girls | In other countries this has been done for l the most part by voluntary associations | and private benevolence. Three meth | ods are in use: The first and oldest is that of apprenticeship-the young girl is | placed for a certain term of years in an | establishment where the handicraft | taI. ell, icla fa .J