Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-06
WOMEN IN WORLD ACTIVITIES
Civilization OlamOs for Skilled Hands, Not
for Brutal Hands
HENCE THE VAST OPENING FOR WOMEN
ProErers Toward the Industrial
Equality of the Two sexes in
the United state--SuperiOr
Equipment of Ome

I only ten years ago the women numpereu
less than one-hfth OF all the wage and
salary earners in tn United States. When
these figures we're published there was a
great cutlery Of wonder and alarm-wonder
At the changed conditions, alarm lest those
changed conditions might be permanent
and the old fashioned woman Ct the hreside
and the stoveside and the cradleside might
be passing away. Today nearly one-third
OF all the women in the United states earn
their own living outside their own homes,
and these independent women constitute no
less than one-third Of all the persons in the
United States engaged in gainful oecupa-
tlons.
II Is evident thai the changed conditions
are not passing but permanent; that the
new woman" is the woman Of the future.
Yet we stiIl have the old order talked Of. as
u 1t were not a departing order. and the
new order criticised as II It we're the Gre
alton OF a Few freak" women.
The theory still is that man bears the
bruDt Of the battle for food. clothing and
shelter. while woman is sheltered and is
comparatively at her ease. This theory
never was sound. From time lmmemortal
among the masses Of the people every
where the men and the women have worked
equally for the support Of the family both
at home and away from home But lat
terly. under the pressure Of modern condi-
lions which are forcing all into the general
service OF society, the women have been
drawn from the obscure toll Of occupations
within and around the household. and also
into the ranks OF women toilers have gone
hundreds Of thousands OF women from the
classes which, until recently, did try to
keep their women at home. We may pres
emily see practically all the capable mem
bers Of our society self-supportins and the
home fundamentally reorganized TO meet
the changed conditions.
Some Modern Occupations of Women.
Today the women vote in four states
and hold public ONCE in all the states and
under the national government. There are
women policemen and hremen. women loco
motive engineers, women masons and
plasters and gunsmiths. women street car
drivers and conductors. women black
smiths and coopers and steel and iron work
ers. and even women sailors-to take only
a few occupations which on the face would
seem to exclude women. In fact. there is
not in this country a single department
Of skilled or unskilled labor, except only
soldier and man-o-war's man. which has
not its women workers in swiftly i~ncreas-
ing numbers. In the professions there
I II Lu0uoaA4S VI AVnAEA A1[A1AHH aWGEA
authors, professors. musicians. artists.
decorators, journalists. public speakers.
and more than a hundred thousand women
teachers. In the trades there are thou
sands Of women hotel and restaurant keep
ers. insurance and real estate agents. book
keepers, clerks, merchants. officers anG
corporations. s~aleswomen. photographers,
telegraph and telephone operators. In
manufactures the women operatives almost
equal the men in numbers. There are
thousands on thousands OF women mill
and factory hands. and many thousands OF
women are in respectable positions in the
management of manufacturing corporations
All these occupations. with the exception
Of such occupations as nursing and teach
ing school and music. were once exclusively
in the hands OF men.
The cause Of the change is the same as
that which has revolutioniIed every part Of
modern society-the amazing discoveries Of
science, creating an enormous number OF
new occupations and radically changing the
method Of all the old occupations. from
Housekeeping to carrying on a national gov.
eminent.
Responsibility for the Change.
War was the department Of human en-
deavor which not only excluded women
| from lSelL, Out dlSO kept ueE last duGuuINN
at home. Until the second quarter Of the
last century war was the chief thought
the chief pursuit Of the human animal
He was either just going to war or just
coming home from war. or engaged In
war or preparing for an imminent war
Obviously. go long as war occupied thii
position In human affairs. woman was in
, evitably in the background, in the secondary
places. a household drudge or a plaything
But war is no longer the principal bust
ness OF the race. with peace tolerated az
a breathing spell now and then. Peace
and its arts are now the serious business
Of civilization. with war as a dreadful
? nightmare. Civilization has been forced
upon a peace basis by discovery and in,
vention. It clamors for skilled hands. no
= for brutal hands. Hence the vast opening
for woman and the vast thrush OF women
, This country was remote from othel
great nations and. therefore. from the eVel
present threat or actually OF war. 1t wa.
aIso-perhaps through its freedom from wal
. and war alarms-eagerest in seizing upoI
, and using the mighty Industrial maehinerl
. which science gave to the race. Thus 4
has come to pass that with Us the progress.
toward the Industrial equality Of the twS
sexes has been most rapid.
Where European societies had a verl
complex organization our society had from
the beginning simplicity as its chief char
aeteristie. We were really all totleTs-
! until recently lmost all toilers at oceupa
tions close to manual labor. The wOmeE
{ and the men were. throughout. on that equa
basis which In Europe was, and 10 a greal
extent is yet. found only among the peas
: ant and the shop keeping classes. Ans
? as the new era-the era OF steam ans
Neutrality-suspicious. with US. our wOmeI
! and our men naturally remained side b!
side.
Why Women Were Backward.
Our government was founded in war
E Its founders assumed. from the history o
all other nations, that onense and defens'
: were to be its main functions. That ex
plains the tagging Of the political rights o
women behind their Industrial and civil
: rights-OT. rather. Industrial and civil ne
. eessities; for no right ever has been. o
Z probably ever will be. recognized until
n Il becomes a necessity. The development
. with u Of q class OF women who YER
ho~usekeepeFs only and we're. for the mos
Of the time, idle or half idle, is a develop
ment unnatural 10 the spirit OF our demo
cratic republic
II VAS due in the main 10 three causes
First, the survival OF the old world, oil