The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1895-09-28
THE NEW WOMAN.
She Has Not as Yet Invaded the
Little Island Of Japan.
However, the 0entler Sex There Il Ad-
mittsd 20 IN Equality with Man
When It Comes to Hard
Work.

Although the women OF Japan nave
not taken to bloomers and the bike, do
not attend political conventions or vote,
nor aspire to such honors, still they ex-
ercise certain amount of influence on
the domestic economy OF their island
home, and bear their share OF the re-
sponsibilities and hardships OF life. w.
e. Curtis, correspondent OF the Chi
cago Record, says that whatever may
be the position of the gentler sex N the
household, although she is not allowed
to hold property. or share in the re-
sponsibilities that are usually divided
between husbands and wives in Amer
lea. she is at least admitted to an equal
itv with man when there is any hard
work to be done. Wherever You go, in
the cities or villages, or the farming
communities, you find the wife and
mother working side by side with the
husband and sons blowing, planting
and reaping, and at sunset taking home
a large portion of the harvest in big
basket on her back. Whenever you see
a man between a pair OF tiny shafts
tugging to haul heavily loaded cart
up hill there is always woman push
ing from behind, bareheaded, bare
footed, except for a pair of straw san
dals, and wearing pair of blue cotton
leggings like tights from her waist to
her ankles. Sometimes the baby is
playing with a few rude toys on top OF
the load. Sometimes he is strapped to
her shoulders, and his head drops from
one side to the other with every motion
Of her body until you fear it may fall
of.
There is very little difference be-
tween the dress of the sexes in the agri-
cultural districts, and as you go farther
into the interior it becomes less, until
you find the farmer and his wife and
their sons and daughters wearing ex-
actly similar apparel, and very little OF
it, so that you can scarcely distinguish
them except by their hair.
Silk and tea, the two chief exports OF
Japan, are raised almost entirely by
the labor of woman, and in the me-
chanical arts she appears to participate
equally in the labor, although she gets
little or none of the credit. Her deft
fingers fashion many of the choicest
pieces of cloisonne and the ceramics,
and in the decoration of lacquer that
which comes from her hands is equal
and often superior to the work Of man.
She weaves mats and other articles OF
straw, she braids bamboo baskets and
the thousand and one other articles
that are made from that useful tree.
She goes out with her husband in fish
ing boats and dries and salts the
product that he brings home; she as
sists in house-building and cabinet
making, aud in various other occupa-
tions which in the western countries
are not considered suitable to her sex,
and does most everything that man
can do quite as well and as rapidly, al
though her wages in every employ
ment are only little more than half OF
his. She is always present in the shops
and stores, usually as bookkeeper and
cashier. Some of the largest stores
are managed by women and few are
owned by them. And, although the
laws and social regulations of the coun-
try prohibit it. sometimes you find a
woman whose force of character defies
both courts and customs and directs
the financial affairs and the business
of her family as we'll as the ma tiers
that pertain to the household.