Evening star., 1924-02-10
The Working Woman's Problem
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

Working women often have two
full-time jobs. while working men
usually have but one. That is the
plain fact Of the matter and it con-
stitutes the greatest problem Of the
working women.
So says Miss Mary Anderson, di-
rector of the women's bureau Of the
Department of Labor, for eighteen
years of her life shoe factory work
er, for seven years a leader and or
ganizer Of women in industry, and
low head of a staff of expert investi-
gators for the government, whose
duty it is to report facts as to condi-
tions surrounding the working wom-
en- of the United States and to formu-
late standards for the betterment of
those conditions.
Housework and child care are as
exhausting as any factory work or
office work a woman can do. Modern
industry and the drive of business
competition have their effects upon
the nerves and physique of men and
women both, but the prevailing prob
lem for women in this day and age
for women in the levels of life where
earnings and incomes are small-is
how not to work double time.
Married Women Who Work.
at is easiest to illustrate the prob
lem" says Miss Anderson, "if we con-
slider first the married women who
work. But we must not forget that
even the young girls have home re-
sponsibilities and are expected to help
mother with the housework and the
children, although very seldom is this
expected of the boys of the family.
The girls more often turn in their pay
envelopes unopened than the boys.
However, the married women are the
most obvious case in point.
Statistics thus far compiled show
that there are nearly 100000 wage
earning women in the United States
who are married. The very fact that
they are working shows they have
need of their earnin and are not
able to employ help to do their house,
work, such as cooking, sweeping.
scrubbing, dusting, dishwashing, bed
other tasks to make full days work.
If they have children, as most OF
these women have, their home duties
are multiplied. So the married rae
tory worker or office worker must do
these things and her factory or oftice
tasks also. She does them in the
early morning before she goes to
the factory or Office and In the eve
ming after she gets home. She could
stand either one of these jobs, no
doubt, if it were her only job, but
she has them both, and she cannot
stand that very long. 1t tells on her
health and her children's health and
on the happiness Of the whole family,
because she is human and not ma
chine.
Women As Wives and Mothers.
Much has been heard recently to
the effect that the conditions OF mod
ern industry and business life are
uniting women for wifehood and
motherhood, and Miss Anderson was
asked whether her Investigations in
dicated that such is the case.
"Can anybody demonstrate that
women are being unified for wife
hood and motherhood" countered
the director of the woman's bureau.
81 do not think they are in any
other sense than you would say their
health and happiness in every respect
are endangered by the double strain
they are under.
"a person who thinks that mod
ern women are becoming untitled for
wifehood and motherhood is prob
ably thinking of domestic life as it
was in the days of the spinning
wheel and hand loom. We must
change the focus to the modern
background and realize that either
the home of the working woman must
make fewer demands upon her or the
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