The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-02-21
Written for "7he Enquirer.
WOMEN AND WORK.
BY LADY COOK nee TENNESSEE c. CLAFLIN

BY LADY COOK nee TENNESSEE C. CLAFLIN.
| Whenever the advocates of "Wo-
mems Rights" movemnt urge upon
the British public the desrability and
justice of admitting women TO legal
and social equality with men, they are
frequently met by the retort: Men arc
the worlds workers, and should there
fore hold the reins of power; or, wo-
mans function is marriage and mother
hood, and womans place the home.
Very pretty sentiments if they were
true. But unfortunately, the majority
of women are denied marriage, and the
large proportion of those who do mar
ry have to work for livelihood. Mar
riage, therefore, though desirable for
all who are suitable, is impossible, to
most, and motherhood can only be ac-
cepted under many degrading circum-
stances and social sacrifices. For the
majority, also, there is no home be-
sides that shifty one provided by their
own exertions. And to crown all, it is
the easiest thing in the world to prove
that women do large proportion OF
the bulk of the worlds work, notwith
standing almost all is claimed hy the
men. On this occasion, however, and
not to be too discursive, we shall con-
fine our argument to the British Isl.
ands, and shall rely for our proofs
mainly upon Government statistics.
II We take associated labor in textile
and clothing manufactures, compris-
ing upwards of one hundred kinds of
occupation up to 1871, We find that in
Eng land and Wales the female work
ers numbered 1:lS6,435 against $685.
449 males. In Scotland there were
l6S,479 against l29,067 males. In
Ireland the number of women factory
hands nearly doubled that of the men,
having been 22l ,656 against 1858.
So that out of total of 2,634,764 of
both sexes engaged in various factory
work, the women exceeded the men by
nearly four hundred and twenty thous-
and. The Factory Returns for 1874
showed an immense increase in the
number of textile workers, chiefly con-
sisting of women and children. And,
from 1850 to 1875, the number of fe
male workers above l3 years of age
had nearly doubled, while the males
had only slightly increased.
In the food industries, the Census of
1871 gave total for the British ISL
ands of 8 3,6lS,764, of whom the women
only numbered 597 ,439. The dispari-
ty here is more seeming than real, and
is no doubt caused by the imperfect
returns-especially for Ireland, where
women are by far more numerous
workers in the fields than the men, but,
as their labor is less regular, they do
not appear to have been entered. 1t
is singular fact, that while the Brit
ish Islands contained 62,546 female
farmers and graziers, $50 female "nur-
serymen." and 2,4SS female gardeners,
the Census did not give single shep-
herd IS. Thus it attests that the pas
toral age of the poets is here absolute
ly dead, and not single British Am
aryllis or Phyllis remains to be wooed
by the amorous shepherds as Of old.
Those who catered for the public in
inns and hotels numbered l52 ,22O; and
of these 57,94l were women.
The total number returned in 1871
for all regular occupations in the Unit
ed Kingdom was nine millions nine
hundred and sixty four thousand males,
and four millions seven hundred and
twenty housand females. But no ac-
count is taken of the great number Of
single women who assist at home in
domestic work, nor of the married wo-
men who either conduct their house.
holds, or, as in the lower ranks of life,
do the whole or most Of the drudgery
connected with them. 1t cannot be
said that the control of family is less
onerous than that of an office, or the
duties of working wife less laborlous
than her husbands. Taking only the
wives and widows into account, we
shall add them to the former numbers
after having first subtracted the num-
ber of women already given as engag-
ed in paid occupation. This would af-
ford an increase of about three millions
more TO the women workers, bringing
them up to 100000. But if we also
add those over Is unmarried, the mum
Der would rise to nine millions, and the
men do not much exceed this. So that
by the most genererous computation
as regards the latter, for every ten
male there are nine female workers.
As the population contains a million
more women than men this leaves a
very wide margin for that class of wo-
men whose lives are altogether useless
or simply ornamental, and does not in
clude host of spinsters who give oc-
casional assistance in nursing and other
domestic concerns.
We cheerfully concede that many
male occupations require an amount OF
muscular strength not possessed by
the ordinary British workwoman. New
ertLeless, many avocations Of women,
such rs laundry work REQUIRE great