New-York tribune., 1922-03-12
Working Girls
Feel Pinch of
Rent Cougging
g8ec, of Housing Condi-
lions Upon Welfare Of
Employed Women Told
in Social Hygiene Report
need Same Pay as Men
y,erease of Dwellers in the
Non.Commercial Homes
Fails TO Care for All

n ,,rsideration thsn - st present given
3.ais the effect of present conditions
i s,,n the welfare of employed women
4 ma at least, is the conclusion reached
I !, the Bureau Of Social Hygiene in a
I sudv Of the relation between rents
4 II wages of the employed women Of
I y.nbattan, which the bureau has just
i ompleted.
,,eration with committee interested
n the question. pr. Katherine Bement
l nsyis general secretary of the bureau,
eapdrcted the investigation. aided b
" Wss Hester Donaldson jenkins, Ph.D.
The members of the cooperating COM
rn;,tee we're Mrs Francis Mcneil Bacon,
Mrs August Belmont, Mrs. Walter
pouslss Mrs. William Henry Hays
1 Mrs. Alfred +. Hess and Miss Nellie
Swarts. The investigation covers the
neriod from January, 1920. to April,
/ iS9l.
Strain Of High Rents
There is no difference of opinion as
1 so the effect of extreme overcrowding
wsulting from al insufficiency of
4 dwelling houses in the lowering or all
4 standards the introduction to the re-
port says "The high rents consequent
81 upon these conditions undoubtedly i'm
pose a strain upon unattached em-
& slowed women at the subsistence level
a Of wages. There Is no occasion to en-
= large upon the seriousness of the hous-
ing situation in Greater New York. and
PARTICULARLY in the Borough of Manhat-
,sh For those who work in the latter
barough and must live elsewhere the
problem of transportation is involved" :"
Tie information which is presented
IN the report was obtained through
questionnaire issued to the women
themselves, to which 9,460 replied;
through survey of fifty eight organi-
Sed homes offering accommodation to
1 business girls and from Rooms Regis
tries which supplied data regarding
1850 women who had applied for rooms
bstween January /, 1920, and April,
| ls2l- The report deals with conditions
| ID Manhattan only.
The report shows that there are fifty
ssA non-commercial organized homes
hAanhattan affording accommodation
w+,4l7 employed women. There has
ksn an increase of 20 per cent since
1870 in the number of women cared
for, but this the report says has not
kept pace with the demand. and all the
homes have long waiting lists. The
lack Of accommodation of this nature
Is shown through the replies to the
QUESTIONABLE. Out OF 1856 replies to
the question regarding present housing
only per cent came from women now
living in organized homes-but 10 per
cent Of 6,966 women replying to this
question stated that they would prefer
to live in such homes.
Rates of Room Rent
Living in rooms which are provided
through the rooms registries main
talned by the Young Women's Chris
tisn Association, the Young Women's
ssorew Association and the Bureau of
bcarding Houses costs less on an aver
Qs than the rates paid by the women
vn replied Independently to the ques-
nnnaire The average paid by busi-
nus and professional women, women
and trade schools, as shown by the
gusstonnaire, is S1O.63 per week, while
the average paid by applicants to the
wv. c. 4. rooms registry was s7.s5
and by applicants to the Y. w. H. A.
The degree to which transportation
costs enter into the problem may be
judged from the fact that while all the
women studied we're employed in Man
hattan, so per cent of them live out
side that borough. OF the outside To-
cations, Brooklyn holds the majority,
With Bronx, New Jersey, Long Island,
nsstchester, queens and Staten Island
following in the order named.
Another significant factor which is
uncovered by this survey is that SO per
cent of the women studied are support
ing dependents, either parents or other
dependent relatives or children Of their
own. This, the report says, indicates
that the argument is mistaken which
IS sometimes advanced that a woman
should receive lower rate of paw than
man because she has nc family re-
sponsibilties.
Majority Live With Families
me report shows, however, that in
spte OF the modern tendency toward
complete economic independence for
women, majority of the employed
women I've with their families. In some
saSes TINS provision is insisted. upon as
condition of employment. Sixty-nine
per cent Of the total of women re-
Peorleo e, SAID that they lived with their
seo,nnaailes' sona and the percentage of the
100 women who work in department
10 7o0les ana live with their families is
20 per cent in the fifteen department
''uieS subjected to the survey.
taere is very wide range of wages
s ss.u' 1Wo women reported that they
ssao ~Sineo SIS week, and there were six
sn "mo earned less than S6 weekly. The
s,s s'age weekly wage, including work
w., .S III oihces, stores, factories and
s;a s;aae schools and excluding profess
.lioaal women, is S1994 week, while
TSa 1Ie sum most generally paid is s19.
t t.e average for Office workers is S211O,
~. .or store workers $19.15 and for fac
Wy workers SlS.62, One girl reported
week week y salary of 81. She worked in
apartment store.
,, while the majority of the girls re-
sua'ea sm's, personal preference for a
shoa ssha.an apartment of their own, in which
roS. ny could DO light housekeeping, this
oos ,s0as Of living is apparently beyond
the ol the average girl worker, and
tSs secondary choice seems to be for
hosae os ME which is provided by organized
ieS' i,sd The ordinary plan for organ
f.;sl,. MONIES, the report says, is one
be-, b''s large building containing num-
srs oi either single or double rooms
s;t.;s occasionally dormitory, as we'll as
wing VIM rooms, where light laundry
t;ma. i'm may be done, baths and some
tbasss tss a roof garden. IN most homes
easat. s. Is either a dining room or a
"a Ezra ssei, open TO the public as we'll as
ns.]n siices for rooms and board 1.-TWO
nnnS, s day and three on Sunday
Drss.; saseo IN 1921 from 81 to SIT week.
ersI erIItiLcaily every home is full and sew