Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1907-10-05
Cnste IN Moments Work

Caste IN Women's Work.
"Womens Work and Wages" oy
Edward Chadbury, NJ. Cecile Mathe-
son and George Sham, is an English
book reprinted FOR American circula-
ton by the University of Chicago
Press, but much OF 1t applies to
American conditions quite as we'll as
to English ones, for the problem of
exhibits as the preface points out,
many identical features wherever it
developes.
One feature of the British situation
which appears to be very similar to
conditions often noted by American
social workers is the existence Of
rigid class distinctions among man
ual workers.
"These distinctions are familiar to
most social workers." say the writer's.
but those who speak generally of
the working classes or The poor can
have no conception of their influence
or their extent. Even financial pros
poets have less Importance in the eyes
of the more refined girls than This
great question of caste. Generally
speaking, one soon learns that most
kinds of work are performed by dis
tinct classes of girls, and We must
not imagine that this is always due
to the refining influence of the better
kinds of work 1t is, of course, bet
ter for girl to do work requiring
skill and attention than to feed
power driven machine or to handle
dainty material than to mend socks;
but in most cases a girls class is fixed
before she starts work, and this is
the determining influence in her
choice of a trade. But sometimes a
girl whose ambition has been aroused
through the refining influence of her
evening club or Sunday class raises
herself to a higher social level by
changing her situation, either leaving
heavy or dirty work for lighter duties
of tho same kind or giving up ordi-
nary factory work for a place in a
warehouse or small shop or, more
rarely, domestic service. Because one
trade is more respectable or more
fashionable than another, there will
be great competition to enter it, and
consequently a depressing effect on
the wages given. OF course, there
are many exceptions, but, to take an
example, it is probable that ware
house girls would have better pros
poets were not that occupation the
general refuge of the poorer girls
who make some determined attempt
at refinement, just as clerkships are
sought by girls and boys alike who
want to rise into the ranks Of bust
ness as distinguished from manual
work"
The prejudice against domestic
service seems to be quite as great in
England as in America. Sometimes
factory girl can be persuaded to
take q carefully chosen domestic stu
alton, but such cases are rare. One
girl thus states why she prefers fac
tory work to domestic service: BE
Gauge there is a fixed time for meals,
and you do know when you are done.
You are not engaged all hours of the
day, and you have only got one to
|
clasSes as you like in a week. You
have got Saturday and Sunday to
yourself, and you can see a bit of
life, and we are not shut up all day.
We have only got one to serve, and
we have only got one amount Of work
to do in a day. AMI you can dress
how you like in factory, and 1 pre-
fer to work in a factory"
The inquiry into wages shows an
almost complete division of labor be-
tween men and women, in accordance
with which men do not only the
heavier but also the more interesting
and better paid work, while to
women are assigned the monotonous,
uninteresting and poorly remuner-
ated tasks. The great exception is
that of the Lancashire weavers
where the men and women work un-
der the same conditions, at the same
work. for the same rate of wages
This is explained by the fact that the
men and women are in one union
and both sexes would consider their
wages to be at stake in any attempted
reduction of the wages of either. II
the union were to break down, as has
already happened in other parts OF
the country, the men would leave the
trade entirely, and the women would
soon be reduced to the customary
| wage of the district