The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-01-04
ALL OF WOMAN'S WORK
SHOULD DEVELOP THE WOMAN POWER
Mrs. Lynden Evans of Chicago Suggests This the Test of All
CaIIngs in Life Which Women Seek to Enter.

girls entering the wage earning world?"
Mrs. Evans said:
Surely close study of influences surround
ing young womanhood is called for to-day
Surely it is true that, having studied condi-
tiCns we must fearlessly ask two questions
Is it we'll with our girls and how far are we
responsible? Surely, It is time that we fear
essly face the answer and take up whatever
part of the problem belongs to US Is it not
the duty of organized womanhood to look
after it's If take care for the girls,
the girls may be trusted to take care for the
young men,
In analysing the influence of different occu-
pations upon the worker, two factors are con-
sdered-the employer and the work to be
performed We may accept true two gen
eral propositions: In regard to the work, I'M
less it be syst5matiZed and Intelligent it
must be degrading: in regard to the employer,
| unlas he understands the work required, only
the least intelligent can work under him. and
then with bad results only. If we consider
the whole subject from the premise that life
is for character building then the question
| in regard to each calling is, what it does for
character Again, unless we want to erase the
words, and would not if we could, male
and female created He them, we must ask
the further question, Does the work develop
| the woman character, or benumb it? And
| her.. lit seems to me. is the pith of the ques-
| ton 1t is not whether should support
! ourselves Or nOt-but rather cannot the work
| of women Re so directed to develop the
wcmans side of community life to its highest
point?
| New Avenues Opening Up.
| Professional life is largely increasing as
| new avenues are opening all the time. 1t
| offers the widest field for creative work and
is therefore, highly respected Just as soon
as II particular line of work is lifted from the
| chaos and ignorance into, the invgorating at
mesphere Of education and science, it attains
q more respected position, no matter what
| trivial or mental dute accompany it; witness
! the profession of nursing. The professions in
! which women shine are those requiring a
! feminine type of mind and, to a woman devel-
| oDed in any Of these. it is an easy step from
the profession to the home. The conditions
of employment in all professions are higher
thar in places of fixed household routine du-
ties-the work calls for more appreciation on
the part of the employer, and the worker is
! given greater consideration. The teacher to-
day must be carefully trained and should be
in careful corporation with the parents.
| In literary work more women are continu-
ally adding '.the eternal feminine to our lit
erature--putting upon record the woman S
view and thought, and in this profession she
is most successful who is true to her own
nature and interprets life courageously as a
! woman sees it. She, too, may exert the in
f1uence Of woman by adding that element to
our reading life. To those who lead the shell
. tered life of the home, the exposure and re-
quirements of the life Of the press woman
j seem almost overwhelming, but we find de-
yelopment of independence, an ability to read
life as it is that is seldom found in the woman
at home.
The heroic woman who first braved the