The new enterprise. (Madison, Fla.) 1901-1908, 1907-08-08

nearly SUI pages, plepalSu GAuSi 'hS
supervision of DR.. Joseph A. Hill,
and based upon unpublished informa-
ton derived from the schedules of
the Twelfth Census. Women at work
are here classified not only by age,
race, nativity, marital status and &C.
cupation. but also by their relation
ship to the families in which they
live and the number of other bread
winners, or persons at work. in those
families. The latter classifcations
are a new feature in the treatment
of the occupation data compiled by
the census. For the most part. the
family unit has heretofore been ig-
Rored in the census statistics of &C.
equations and the breadwinner or
worker has been treated as an indie
pendent individual. Yet from an eco
nomic point of view the family group
is a unit of great significance. The
earnings of the breadwinner. wheth-
or man, woman or child, usually form
either the whole or a part of family
income, which limits the family en-
penditures and affects the economic
welfare of each member Of the fam
fly
The term women" as used in this
report generally includes all females
sixteen years of age and over, but in
some instances, in order to make
comparisons with the census of 1890,
the age limit is lowered TO fifteen
years
In the United States the number
Of women at work, rs returned by
the census of 1900, was almost five
million. In continental United
States-by which is meant the United
States exclusive of Alaska, Hawaii
and all outlying territories or pos
Eesions-the exact number was A.
$4,000.
Most of the women at work were
young women: 6S4 per cent. of them
were under thirty-five years of age,
44.2 per cent. were under twenty
FIVE, and 25.6 per cent. had not
reached the age of twenty-one. These
figures are in marked contrast with
those of the male sex. OF the men
sixteen years of age and over report
ed as workers or breadwinners, only
24.7 per cent. were under the age of
twenty-five. and only l27 per cent.
were under twenty-one. The contrast
Is indicative OF the fact that large
numbers of women who support
themselves and others in early life
cease TO be breadwinners upon as
Stunning the responsibilities of mar
riaGe and child bearing.
Divorced Women at Work.
The number OF divorced women re-
turned by the census is probably de-
ficient because OF the fact of divorce
is not always admitted. But il is
significant that of the number report
ed as divorced at the time of the
Twelfth Census. 55.3 per cent, or
more than one-half. were supporting
themselves wholly or in part by their
own earnings. This is a higher per-
oentage of breadwinners than was
shown for women in any other mari
tai class. II has been suggested that
the increase of divorce is partly at
tributable to the more independent
economic position of women, as re-
suit of which wives are better able
TO provide for themselves and less
dependent upon their husbands. The
figures compiled by the census APP
pear TO be consistent with this the
CRY. although they cannot be said TO
prove 1t.
Increased Employment of Women.
The extent to which women are en-
gagged in breadwinning pursuits is in
creasing. In the census of 1850 the |
number Of women sixteen years OF
age and over reported as having a
gainful occupation was 2,S53,9SS; in |
1900 it was 4,S33,630, an increase
of 2,479, 642, or 1868 per cent In
other words. the number of women at |
work more than doubled in this in
terval of twenty years. OF course |
the increase was in part the result |
of the growth of population. But
this accounts for not much more tNan |
one-half of the total increase, and ii |
is probable that there were over a
million women engaged in gainful &C.
equations in 1900 who would not |
have taken up such occupations |
If conditions and tendencies had |
remained the same as they |
were twenty years before. The in
creasing participation of women in
industrial pursuits is indicated by the
increase shown in the percentages.
OF the women sixteen years of age
and over sixteen per cent. were at