The Washington herald., 1911-08-15
WORKING WOMEN
TAKE CARE OF men
Household Duties Before and
After Downtown Labors.
By FRANCES L. GARsIpE.

In the country at large about one-third
of the single women between the ages
of fifteen and twenty-five are engaged
in occupations outside their homes and
in the cities about so per cent, so that
the country are at work.
Between the ages of twenty-five and
thirty-five about one-fifth of the number
are so engaged. ..
To the credit of this army of young
women who leave home every morning
to work downtown 1t should be remem-
bered that their work downtown is not
all they do Unlike their brothers, they
do not sit down to a meal that is pre-
pared for them, and then eat and run.
Unlike their brothers, they do not add to
the family laundry and housework with
out any thought Of also adding their
help. The girl who works downtown
also works at home. She sews at night
when her brother rests and helps with
breakfast before he is out Of bed in the
morning. She helps with the laundry
work before and after her Office hours,
and If she has an occasional Sunday for
an outing 1t means that she was UP be-
fore daylight and did several hours
work before she felt free to take 1t.
Work without Credit.
1t is the double life that thousands of
good working girls lead; a double life
for which they do not receive full credit.
Women are now engaged in all but
two of the 3O3 gainful occupations of
the men in this country. and have reach
ed that height OF Independence within
the past sixty-four years, and every wo-
man who sets type, or keeps books or
Is q doctor, a dentist. or a lawyer, or a
more humble salesgirl, is leading the
double life of the humblest working girl;
she is working for wages outside her
home and holding up her end of her
duties at home.
II among the millions of men In the
world one gets breakfast, or holds the
baby at night while his wife gets din
ner, the world wears out its gloves In
applause. But it takes as a matter of
course the girl who stands on her feet
in a store six days in the week and helps
with the housework on Sunday.
The women are doing something no
man can do, for If any man ever worked
around home he didn't keep 1t up a mo:
ment longer than 1t required to start
public applause.
Women Caring for Men.
With all this independence they are
and II there is q man who isn't better
cared for, now that his daugh-
ters, and sometimes his wife, work for
moeny. where can he be found? He
is better groomed and better fed than
he was sixty-four. years ago, when the
male prophets predicted that IL a wo-
man engaged in a gainful occupation II
would mean the wreckage Of that wo-
mans home.
Some of these male prophets are in
control to-day. AS, their ancestors fought
the employment OF women in gainful oc-
cupations. SO are they fighting the de-
sire of the women for the ballot. They
belong to the yesterday Of their near
sighted forefathers, and can't see that
II a woman can earn her living and keep
her house at the same time, which mill
lions are doing. she can stop on her way
to work to cast her ballot without i'm
periling the sacredness of her home, a
sacredness which men treat lightly them
selves, and regard with reverence only
when they can use 1t as a club on US in
painting artistic designs.