Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-11-15
THE HASKIN LETTER
TEACH WOMEN TO WORK

WASHINGTON. d. c.. Nov. H.
Whether you like It or not. more wo-
men are going to work every year.
And whether they like II or not,
more women have TO 90 to work ev-
cry year.
A good living earned in office or
factory looks better to many of them
than cooking on gas stove In a lit
| tie flat for whatever a man chooses
to give them. They are finding also
that IL Is possible to have q Job and
a husband both. And lots of them
have to take the Job because they
can't find a husband who Is able to
support them.
SO many a girl Is Just as much on
her own in life as her brother. Isn't
IL right and fair then to give her just
as good a training for the struggle
she Is up against! The woman OF
brains may write for the newspapers
or be a lawyer or doctor. The one
seeking a trade 10 almost always
forced into stenography, millinery
or dressmaking. And. worst of all,
comparatively few OF them are en-
couraged to learn any trade or pro-
fession at all. While the boy is
coached and encouraged and inspir-
ed, the girl is left alone on the old
| fashioned assumption that some man
will come along and take care OF
her. And it this assumption proves
false, as II now so often seems TO
do, she starts out in her working
life with only a few occupations op-
en- TO her and very likely with no
training for any of these.
Is it fair? The question is raised
and ably canvassed by the Woman's
81 "a II . n =
which has made a survey to find out
what sort OF work women are doing
in the trades. and what training they
are offered in the schools.
Where Women Displacc Men
Women have in the past three
years entered factories and shops TO
do work previously delegated to men
only. Women had for years been en-
ployed in the textile and clothing
trades. and at such work as making
paper boxes and artificial flowers.
Recently they have entered foun-
dries, machine shops. and factories
making furniture. optical goods. In
struments. gas masks, and airplanes.
In a few of their new jobs, chiefly
where the work was heavy, women
were found inadequate, but in the
tory skill in running machines and
handling tools.
AS industry gets back to peace
basis. there is a slight reduction in
the number OF women employed in
lumber industries. and q falling
back to their pre-war status in chem
ical and miscellaneous industries. In
the metal trades, women are retain
ing their wartime hold.
According to the Woman's Bu-
reau, the chances are that women
will be used in increasing proper
tions in industry rs time goes on.
For one thing, the proportion OF
women immigrants as compared to
men is increasing. The Woman's
Bureau regards it as highly signif-
icant that there were more women
coming into this industry than leav.
ing it in 1919. although in that year
our total emigration exceeded our
immigration.
With this condition in mind, and
also the fact that women are in de-
mand in some states in the so-caiied
mems industries. the bureau set out
to discover what chances a woman
has to take q vocational training
course for technical work.
What Schools Offer
From statistics obtained, the bu-
reau found that high schools and
trade schools apparently still as
sumo that girls are interested in do
mestic science, dressmaking, and
millinery. but not in automobile me-
chanics, wood working, or blueprint
reading. While boys are encouraged
TO take up such trades. girls are
either not admitted to the classes, or
| IL there Is no ruling against their ad-
mission. no attempt is made to in
terest them by explaining the course
and the opportunities in that line OF
work.
OF 10t schools in which women
were enrolled in industrial. training
courses last term, there were only
three schools where women were
repair. In two schools women had
| machine shop training; in two they
were taught wood-wo orking; in eight
Matchmaking and jewelry trades;
and in two glove making.
Most OF the courses in which wo-
men and girls were enrolled were the
| traditional ones. Sixty-five schools
taught the clothing trades, AZ millin =
cry. and II gave instruction in BRAN
ches of the textile trade.
| 1t would be too much to expect
that large number Of girls should
clamor for courses in. say, automo-
bile mechanics. if they merely knew
that they would not be excluded II
they should reply. When the trade
schools we're new. boys had to be in
terested in thom, The Womaa's Bu-
reau maintains that q large proper
ton of girls could be interested In
industrial training.
! The old contention that gir'
looks upon a job merely as q dull
interlude between school and a hus-
band is failing. There are thousands
of women in factories who have de-
pendents at home, and there are
other thousands who add their earn
ings to those of their husbands. 1t is
believed-though there are no fig,
ures available-thst it is more com
mon for girl workers to turn in all
OF their wages to their families than
for their brothers to do so. Most oi
these women are eager for advance
ment and take real interest in the
work they do
Where Women Excel
Women have made good in work
requiring attention to fine detail, ir
inspecting products, in assembling
and finishing furniture. and grind,
ing and polishing optical lenses
They are not. as a class, very desir.
| ahlo n, foupdrias and ral1i,~ ,,,;yl