The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-11-11
STATUS OF WOMEN: 1900
THEIR GENERALLY IMPROVED con-
DITIoN AT END OF THE CENTURY.
Review Of Their Progress I'm Educa-
tional and Industrial Fields
women's Organizations.

Perhaps there is no better record or the
true progress of any century than that
which may be found in the progress OF its
women Equally true is it that there is no
better indication of woman's progress than
is revealed by the progress OF her time.
Most inadequate. therefore, would be any
study OF the status of nations that does
not include the status OF woman
In our own country the best evidence OF
woman's rapid growth and exalted position
lies I'm the fact that we have already ceased
TO consider her as a separate factor in our
social economy. and recognize her not as
ar individual only. but in her relations to
humanity and life. Thus it has come to
pass that. while the one woman still holds
for each OF us the charm that belongs to
the best beloved. IL Is womanhood as
whole that challenges our thought and
study.
That the world should have placed
woman on its list OF topics worthy the
trouble of investigation is a significant
fact. During the nineteenth century no
other material force has so challenged and
stimulated curiosity as has the mysterious
power Of electricity. In the intangible
world curiosity has been beguiled or baf-
fed or rewarded by the mysteries Of
womanhood. Indeed the woman nature
might be termed an electric element, re-
vealing itself only by its effects, an ON
nipotent, vital, subtle force. dazzling with
a smile. Staying with touch, beneficent or
destructive according TO the skill with
which IL Is handled, factor impossible to
eliminate. and, except by experts, not al
ways easy TO control.
A CHANGE OF IDEAS.
In knowledge Of this element the country
has made great progress. Even in its first
decade il 1oosened it's grip upon the fallacy
that men knew all about women that was
TO be known, and every succeeding decade
has held its feeble fallacies concerning
women less tenaciously, until some of them
have been abandoned altogether. Thus have
slipped away the old fictions about her
proper sphere, in which she was supposed
TO revolve placidly around some masculine
object OF loyalty and devotion. Thus has
sunk out of sight the old pIummet, by
means of which was sounded the depth OF
her capacity. Thus has snapped the line
that measured her possibilities and changed
the judgment that OWNED her limitations.
There Is something in a dear, old-fash
tened book about the work in her hands
praising her. Prov. XXI, 81. Certainly in the
earlier centuries. IL she was praised for
anything, 1t was for the work of her hands.
and while we notice great progress along
educational, social and political lines. her
growth in economic value is most in evil
dence I'm her changed industrial life. From
the United States Bureau of Statistics, and
various other sources, we learn that in 1886
there were only seven occupations open to
women. She could get employment
teacher of a low grade, seamstress,
tailor, milliner. a dressmaker. a servant
or a factory operative. Up to the time of
the civil war. aside from factory employees.
women's work. both North and South, was
carried on chiefly in the home. AT the
close OF the war, a great many of unframed
workers were thrown upon the labor mar
ket, depressing wages to the lowest degree.
SIGNIFICANT STATISTICS.
Meantime the avenues of womens labor
Mad increased. In 1850, out of ten million
wage-earners. $4,000 were women. These
were employed almost wholly in New Eng
laad in the clothing factories, cotton mills.
shoe binders, etc. In 1880 wage-earners had
increased from ten to twenty-five millions.
and the half million women had grown
At this time the seven trades had increased
TO 100 Ten years later there were over 200.
and In 1897 women were employed in over
100 money-making occupations.
According to the census. the gain CT the
women In the trades in 1850 over the enum-
Grafton Of 1870 was 81 per cent, and the
total percentage of women workers for the
whole country was 40 per cent. The next
-
percentage, and many more open avenues
for toll.
In 1884 the investigation Of the United
States commissioner among the poorer
classes of the population showed. in the
four principal cities of the United States.
that out OF every 100 women workers an
average of forty-eight were earning less
than s. a week. The testimony with refer
ence to their use Of money says that, in
the savings institutions women deposit
nearly double the amount thus saved by
men. that of the dependents on charity.
men are largely in the majority. and the
labor statistics assert that more than three
fourths of the wage-earning women of the
country not only support themselves, but
are the mainstay OF others. who are de-
pendent upon them. The popular notion
that man Is invariably the bread-winner
does not seem to be borne out by the facts
The statement of one expert is that in the
quarters inhabited by the very poor it is
the women who are the bread-winners as a
rule. and that there are more men who live
on the labor OF women and children, than
women and children who subsist alone on
the labor of men.
EDUCATION OF WOMEN.
Our space Will permit only a momentary
glance at the facts concerning women who
have been forced into fields OF labor out
side the home. But these facts Will suffice
20 show that the changed industrial condi-
tions mean progress for the country and
progress for the individual woman.
Marked as the century has been for the
training OF the hand, II stands supreme
among all centuries for the higher training
OF the brain. The longing for better educa-
ton on the part OF women began. nobody
knows when. but long before the opening
OF this century. 1t made itself actively
felt near the close OF its first fifty years
AS an Illustration or her statement that
fifty years ago women were without a
recognized individuality in any department
-