Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-10
THE DRAFT AND WOMEN'S WORK

MOT until the new man-power law is m
full operation will the women of the
United States begin to realize the extent
of the responsibilities which the war
brings to their doors. The Federal Labor
Board, the War Department, the men who
made the new law and those who will ad-
minister it have proceeded upon the as
sumption that women in this country will
assume a much larger part in the indus
trial life of the nation and accept duties
and burdens in almost every field Of effort
heretofore occupied exclusively by men.
In England much of the work is now
done by women and girls In America
women now provide per cent of the
energy required in the fields of commerce
and industry. To say that American
women will respond adequately to such
demands as are made upon their strength
and courage-and these demands will
never be so great as those made upon the
women of England and Francois to say
the obvious. For the present therefore, it
is more interesting to look at the remote
aspect of the matter and to consider the
ultimate effects of the impending economic
change on the future life of the country.
The experience of Europe has shown
that the most important result of the sud
den expansion of feminine effort and in.
fluence has not been an economic one. The
most momentous reactions have occurred
in the spirit of Englands womanhood The
service of IInglishwomen in the war has
been of an epic character. And yet observ-
ers who have been the first to applaud
are uneasy. Women, no longer economi-
cally dependent upon husbands. fathers
and brothers, have been frankly disposed
to make their freedom permanent. They
have, moreover, manifested distinct re-
pugnance to many Of the familiar domes-
tic responsibilities. In many cases they
have refused longer to be the central and
essential factor in a humble family. And
the reaction is not from established Gus
toms or conventions, but from the code
which formerly assigned them to Sec
ondary place in the home, to it's drudgery
and to most of its anxeties They have
tasted q new freedom. They will not re.
turn easily to the old order. And no one
in England knows just what is to happen
in the end, when the soldiers return seek
ing new places in society. Some sign Of
the outcome, however is visible in the ac-
tive part which the women workers Of
England are now taking in the affairs of
the British Labor party with a view to
establishing firmly their rights as voting
citizens upon an equal footing with men.
Though the women of France have
served valiantly in every industry asso-
ciated with the war, the French have no
such problem that which confronts
English economists. French women are
temperamentally different from their Eng
lish sisters. They are more given to the
conventional order Of life, more at ease in
a second place, less restless of spirit and,
in material ways, less ambitious. The Eng.
Iish and American characters run parallel
in most instances. And it is natural TO
wonder at this moment whether, If women
are to do all that the Government expects
| of them, we shall have problem similar
! to England's to trouble our souls, and
whether there will be in Washington and
! in the national philosophy means to meet
| wisely.