The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-06-30
Women at Work

l iN4eH-s movement urge upon the 6r-lfsE
public the desirability and justice OF admit
ting women TO a legal and social equality
with men. they are frequently met by the
retort: Men are the worlds workers. and
| shoh therefore hold the re,ns OF power; or,
wonan's function is marriage and mother
hood. and wonan's place the home. Very
pretty sentiments If they were true. But
unfortunately. the majority OF women are
| denied marriage, and the larger proper
| ton Of those who do marry have to work
for livelihood. Marriage, therefore.
though desirable for all who are suitable
| IS impossible 10 most, and motherhood can
| only be accepted under bany degrading cir
cumstances and social sacrifices. For the
| majority, also, there Is no home besides
that shifty one provided by their own exer-
tons. And to crown all. IT is the easiest
| thing in the world 10 prove thar women
90 a large proportion of the bulk OF the
worlds work, Notwithstanding almost all
Is Claimed by the men. On this occasion.
however, and not to be too discursive, We
snau conilne our argument 10 the British
Islands, and shall rely for our proofs main
~ upon government statistics.
III We take associated labor in textile and
clothing manufactures. comprising upwards
OF one hundred kinds of occupation, up TO
1S7l, We find that in England and Wales
the female workers numbered 1.13s. i35
against soS,4i9 males In Scotland they
were 16s.i79 against 129 0s7 males In Ire
land the number Of women factory hands
nearly doubled that OF the men, having
been 22l.65S against 1l2,6ls. So that out OF
total of 2,6S4. 764 Of both sexes engaged in
various factory work. the women exceeded
the men by nearly four hundred and twenty
thousand. The factory returns for 1874
showed an immense increase in the num-
Der Of textile workers, chiefly consisting of
women and children. And from 1850 to
1875. the number of female workers above
Is years Of age had nearly double. while
the males had only slightly increased.
In the food industries, the census Of 1871
gave total for the British Islands of g.
6ls.164 of whom the women only numbered
5e1, 49, The disparity here is more SEEM
ing and real. and Is no doubt caused by
the imperfect returnSespecially for Ire
land. where women are by far more numer-
Gus workers in the fields than the men. but,
as their labor is less regular, they do not
appear 10 have been entered. 1t is singu.
lar fact. that while the British Islands con-
tanned 62.456 female farmers and graziers,
80 female ''nurserymen," and lass female
gardeners. the census did not give single
sheperdess. Thus il attests that the pas
troal age Of the poets Is here absolutely
dead, and not single British Amaryllis or
Phyllis remains TO be wooed by the amorous
sheperds as of old.
Those who catered for the public IN inns
and hotels numbered 152. 20; and Of these 81,
491 Were women.
The total number returned in 1871 for all
IN
was nine million seven hundred and sixty
four thousand males and four millions sew
en- hundred and twenty thousand females
But no account Is taken Of the great num-
Der Of single women who assist at home IN
domestic work, nor of the married women
who either conduct their household, or. as
IN the lower ranks of life. do the whole or
most Of the druggery connect with them.
1t cannot be said that the control OF a
family is less onerous than that of an Of
fee, or the duties of working wife less
iaborious than her husbands Taking only
the wives and widows into account, we
shall add them TO the former numbers after
having first subtracted the number of wo-
men already given as engaged in paid oc-
equations. This would afford an increase
of about three millions more to the women
workers, bringing them up to 10000 But
IL we also add those over Is unmarried the
number would rise to nine millions and the
men do not exceed this. So that by the
most generous computation as regards the
latter. for every ten males there are nine
female workers. As the population con-
tains a million more women than men this
leaves a very small margin for that class
OF women whose lives are altogether use
less or simply ornamental, and does not in
clude host of spinsters who give occas-
ional assistance in nursing and other domes
tic concerns.
We cheerfuly concede that many male
occupations require an amount of muscular
strength not possessed by the ordinary Brit
tsh workwoman. Nevertheless, many avo-
cations of women, such as laundry work
require great physical exertion, and the
wear and tear of others with their long
hours and incessant strain would produce
physical exhaustion even in strong men.
Nor must II be forgotten that while men
complain that women are invading their
employments nj various directions they
were the first to trench upon those OF wo-
men. and still in their thousands fill employ
ments which would be more suitable for the
weaker sex. For all kinds of labor reQuir-
ing extreme patience or delicacy of manipu-
lation women are most eninently fitted
just as men are for others demanding
greater physical strength. The field. there
fore, is wide enough for both and ii III be-
comes either sex 10 oppose the exertions or
enterprise of the other, or to resort 20
selfish system OF boycotting.
So far we have only dealt with the re-
turns UP 20 1871. In future paper, how
ever. We will endeavor to consider the
ha4u -
and TO show how multifar.ous are the oc-
equations and business qualifications OF our
sex, how they increase. and how meanly
they are remunerated in contrast with those
of men even when women do similar work,
equal both in skill and quantity.
II we are correct, II must follow that al
the assertions as 20 home being womaas
proper sphere are so many idle speculstions
and the mems claim TO the worlds work a
ridiculous rhodomontade. For II Is many
chances TO one that the garments we wear
were woven by women. that the bedding
which warns us was their han6iwork. that
the watch we consult was made by their
def fgners, and that the food which rouT-
lshes US was largely grown by them was
prepared By them for the market and al
most exclusively cooked by them vhs.
entered our homes. They most probably
upholstered the chairs and couches OF
which we sit. lacaue-ed the iron bes5stsds
on which We lie. and had finger in produo
Ing almost every article % luxury or neces-
si;y. Butter. cheese, Jam. tea. coHee. snt
a Thousand other everyday articles Of con-
sumption. are mainly their work Gem
mon :h.rgs. as pins and nails. and r,ade-u2
garments, are cheap because women are
cheap. because their iabo. can Be pC-caas-
e3 q. starvation prices. Ara When we Lear
OF woman making troopers coats for four
pence hals-penny. and poiiceners' suits for
fs.seroence to include Their employer pro