The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-11-13
WOMEN USE RAzORS
ONE BARBER SHOP IN BUTTE
WHERE LADIES WORK.
ARE MEMBERS OF UNION HERE
Refusal of Tonsorial Artists Organ
ization in Spokane to Admit Miss
Clagett Causes Some
Local Gossip s.

True to the characteristics OF otner
Butte trades. the BARRIERS here DO not
bar women from the ranks OF their union,
and at present there are two VINO are
paying dues in the organization
AS might be naturally supposed, these
women who are paying dues are working
at their trade. If any one has doubts
about the existence of female BARRIERS
in Butte it will take but short walk
down East Park street to dispel such
notion.
The shop where the two women work
at the chairs is not deliberately decorat-
ed nor extensively finished, but 1t Is
neat shop, like most places of which
| women have charge, and 1t is we'll pat.
| ronized. The place is conducted by Mrs.
Emma G.. Gauvin, who has been in
Butte nearly three years. ---
Recent reports from Spokane an
nouncing that the BARRIERS union there
had denied admission to Miss Mary
Clagett, a daughter of the late Judge
Clagett, have given rise to some gos-
sip as to whether women would be ad-
mitted to the union in this city.
The statements of Mrs. Gauvin and
her assistant indicate that they have
no such trouble here as confronts Miss
Clagett in the Washington city.
| came to Butte" said Mrs. Gauvin,
Women are admitted here the same
| as men. I have noticed something In
! the papers about the trouble Miss Gag
| EFT is having over in Spokane.
| "She could join the union If she were
| here, assuming, of course, that she is
a competent barber.
II am the only woman barber in Butte;
that is, I conduct the only shop that Is
run by a woman. I have an assistant
working with me who is also woman.
| II have nice trade here and have
no fault to find with the way business
is going. Where did I learn my trade?
In Minnesota. 1 worked at barbering
for about four years before I really held
myself out as a competent barber to do
| all kinds of work.
II worked at my trade for long time
| before I worked as a full-fedged bar
ber." declared Mrs. Gauvin's assistant,
as she Tipped her razor over strop.
II learned my trade in Denver. think
that some Of the girls who attend bar
ber colleges in the Eastern cities make
mistake by attempting to take posi-
tions in shops too soon. No one can
| learn our trade and learn it right in a
| few weeks"
| Mrs. Gauvin and her assistant both
had relatives who were in the barbering
business and learned their trade with
| them.
II will never forget the first time I
went into woman's barber shop to be
shaved" said Butte man, who former
| ly lived in the East. you know about
five or tsix years ago these women
barber shops became a sort of a fad in
some of the Eastern cities
"The barber schools were just getting
in their work in good shape about that
time and girls were graduating from
them and applying for positions in large
| shops.
II had heard considerable about wom-
en- BARRIERS, but had never seen one,
when l walked into a shop where !
was usually shaved, and found girls
standing at all the chairs. knew the
| man who ran the place, and he was still
in the shop.
II hardly knew what to make of 1t
when l saw what change had taken
place in the help. The proprietor in
formed me that he was getting in on
the fad idea of women BARRIERS and had
let all his men go.
Il thought I would not back out after
getting into the shop, but the idea 81
being shaved by woman struck me
as being an odd one. I came out all
right and later noticed that there were
number of shops that employed women
II don't see why a woman Is not all
right fAr that trade II she takes time
enough to learn the business thoroughly