Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1898-06-22
Women i'm Business and Profess
SiOnaI Life.

SIOndl Lie.
twenty-five years ago very few
women, in this country were engaged
in business or professional pursuits,
and there was at that time a we'll
defined line distinguishing masculine
from feminine employments. Women
who undertook any business or labor
generally performed by men were then
frequently called unwomanly and were
said to be out of their sphere.
An enthusiastic American at a
Fourth of July banquet in Paris, a few
years ago, proposed the following toast
to his country: Here's to the United
States, bounded on the north by the
Aurora Borealis, on the south by the
procession of the equinoxes, on the
east by primeval chaos, and on the
west by the Day of Judgment!n In
what more appropriate language could
one describe the woman's sphere
of the last decade of the nineteenth
century? Women preachers, lawyers,
doctors and editors are common;
women at the head of large manufact-
uring and mercantile establishments
are not rare; while as clerks, cashiers
and book-keepers, also stenographers
and typewriters in factories, stores
and offices, their name is legion. In
large cities there are even lady bar
bers,-they are probably called "bar-
beriennes."
The change in the occupations
and employments of women has been
SO rapid and pronounced as to be
truly startling. do not mean to
say the percentage Of women en-
gagged in masculine occupations is
greater here than elsewhere. On the
contrary, it is decidedly less. In Eng
land twenty women out of every
one hundred are engaged in such pur-
suits; in France, twenty eight; in Aus
tria, thirty-nine, and in Italy, forty;
while in the United States in 1890 only
thirteen out of every hundred were
engaged in such occupations. Un
doubtedly the percentage here now
is somewhat greater.
1t is not, however, the number
but the vast range of their employ
ments which commands our attention.
Among savage tribes women do
substantially all the manual labor;
in England they work in factories;
in France and Italy in the vine
yards; in Germany and Switzerland
in the fields. In all of these countries
the distinction between male and
female occupations is arbitrary and
frequently absurd, as the hardest and
heaviest work is often assigned to the
women. Innearly all countries except
our own there is a line of demarka-
ton more or less distinct, between
masculine and feminine emplOyments.
With US, however. the barriers have
been gradually broken down, and in
a general way it may be said that up
on a substantial equality, side by side,
men and women in this country are
engaged in business and professional
occupations for the avowed purpose
of money getting.
That this is to influence our civiliza-
ton and produce social changes of an
important character, no one can doubt.
It's most direct and obvious effect is
the injury it does to the woman her
self, in the subordinatiOn of home and
it's, interests, to the interests of mere
business. Whence comes this move
ment? Has it anything to do with
the higher education of women? The
fact that within recent period, many
of our oldest and best universities
have opened their doors to women,
and many others of a high grade have
been established solely for the benefit
of women, suggests the thought that
the relation of cause and effect may
exist between female education and
occupation. Except in a modified
degree, [ think this is not the case
Long before Matthew Vassar conceived
the idea of female college; long be-
fore his father started the brewery
which furnished the money to build
it; long before Elihu Yale was born
or Ann ArbOr was christened, there
were highly educated women in the
world, and they dressed like women.
They were neither lawyers, preachers,
nor doctors, but adorned society with
their requirements, and did not scorn
to yield a goodly share of their time
and talent to the demands Of home and
family.
In looking over the ranks of women
engaged in business and professional
pursuits we fail to find many college
graduates. The last few years educa-
tional institutions have greatly in
creased the number of educated wo-
men, and we thank them for it. AS
a rule they are womanly women, the
best of wives, mothers and home
makers. Undoubtedly there are wo-
men so situated that it is not only
proper, but necessary, for them to en-
gage in money-earning occupations.
They should select such avocations as
their mental capacity best fits them
for, and should receive the same
compensation as is paid to men for the
same work. Women SO situated
may very properly engage in bust
ness and professional pursuits, and no
mon who has q cnorlz of man Oo1 II,