Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-03

petition in trades and professions,
and on equal pay for equal work. The
logic that dolcs out n third less money
for woman who has sat side by size
with man all day end done the same
laborious tasks, on the assumption thnt
he is supporting family. is hard 10
fathom. Personal lives never yet have
Influenced EMPLOYERS, whose business
demands certain work for certain fixed
sums. The girl may be supporting nv"
invalid, relatives or children, anC IN"
man may be q bachelor; one knows not.
The money is paid for the services rem
dered Else would all married men
with large families be receiving the
enormous salaries of corporation mag
mates, and the bachelors gettlng|a mere
living wage! t
There is only one line of law favor
ing women on account of thelr sex
and that is the legislation that pro-
tects prospective mothers doing heaVV
factory work. insisting that they STOP
work so many weeks before tn" blrth "t
baby, and so many ntt"rWaru; NH
tho health of the world depends on
such protection, we have all too little
of II in the swcatshops and slums and
crowded occupations, and most OF such
laws. although so evidently humane,
were forced on unwillingly male politi-
clans by women reformers.
Apart from such among the more
miserable OF the female workers in
modern history, women in business
demand no special privilege. square
deal is sufficient.
II laws in few instances seem to
favor wife against husband, in
financial battles over matrimonial en-
tnnglcmcnts and separations. 1t IS be-
cause Of the time -hOnored custom of a
woman's giving mp all earning capacity
(and often turning over an inherited
fortune to her husband) when she mar
ried. and thus relinqulshing her even
chance in the financial game for many
years. Alimony is never approved OF
by feminists, except on the ground that
q wife has given up twenty years, per-
hans. in the race for gold. because So
cial custom has decreed that she keep
house for the man and devote every
moment to him, even IL she has no
children. In n sudden breaking up OF
the household. therefore. due usually
to his having tired of marriage, she is
literally thrown out into a new eco
nomiC sea to sink or swim. She is
not equipped with business experience
and u tested earning capacity, and so
the law Compensates her for the years
she has spent in home making, MS n
government pensions soldiers who have
returned handicapped and are not able
to compete equally with those who
stayed on the job.
Feminists themselves are in two
groups. as it were; the one led by
Charlotte Perkins Gilman. the clear
sighted. sane, sensible economist. ac-
ccntuates the right and duty of every
woman to earn her own living. This
does not except the married woman,
for modern inventions have lghtenPd
her load and domesticity is an easy bit
in modern city living. Every adult
woman should lift the burden of her
maintenance from all male relatives.
they say. and no woman can be trul?
self respecting who is obliged to cater
to the caprice of a man in order 10
wrest from him any support.
The other branch. agreeing in fun
damentalS. aCccntuateS woman'S 5 right to
love. The Scandinavian writer. Ellen
Key. has sounded the note of fcmt-
nine right to motherhood and the right
| OF the child to be we'll born and reared
with intelligence and affection by
woman not social or economic slave.
Motherhood. in itself. apart from law
/ and prejudice. is divine. they say who
! feel that this question is the all vital
. one And why should 50 many women
| be dPfraudcd of love? Why old maids
and fOrlorn spinsters. who have been
passed by because of conventions and
stupid prOprieties and a generally in =
efficient and ignorant social adjustment
| Women must take their place in the
| sun. say all these feminists. Are you
] one,