The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-11-26

and mother, often to the disaster of
the children (she presents the greater
problem); then there is the woman
working outside her home not by
choice, but by sheer force of poverty
either through widowhood, desertion,
or illness Of the male member of the
family. That woman's home and
children remain sadly neglected, and
although nominally self supporting,
she is often forced to resort to charit-
yable institutions FIR the care of her
young, which at best are hunilia-
ton to her, and thus her work and
enforced absence from home, a
/ tragedy.
Individual Revolt.
And now comes the new, and by
no means new (the exceptional and
the highly individual woman has al
ways existed, the so-called modern
woman in revolt but seemingly not
in revolt based on a general principle
against the ornamental, the sex bar
ter, the house drudgery and industri-
ally exploited positions of woman
rather it is revolt against her own
particular environment. And what
does she do about it? Fighting her
battles single handed and emancipat-
ing herself through sheer force of
circumstances? That cannot carry
her far.
Content with her political fran
chise? Freedom to vote as yet spells
no freedom any more for woman as
it does for man; denying herself the
love life and functions of mother
hood =? Man does not have to sacrifice
that part of his life. Imitating man
and competing with him in the vari-
GUS fields of endeavcr, that only in
creases his antagonism and drives
back the hope for joyful unity and
harmony of existence that can only
come through cooperation and under
standing.
Not Imitation Fut Equality.
We here, in asserting our right to
equality, make no attempt to compete
with or initiate man, we only demand
our right to thoroughly and COM
pletely be ourselves as we can and
wish to be and not as we were
through the ages patterned to be.
That is what the revolution gave US.
We are called upon to stand shoulder
to shoulder with man in the recon-
struction of our country and take our
place where we can fit in best. But
since the nature of our sex in it's
normal function frequently involves
the complications of maternity if we
are interested, as we rightly should
/ be, in the continuation of the race,
conditions then must be so created as
to meet those problems accordingly.
The Care of Children.
| find in one of the articles you
/ sent me, in which the writer, while
strongly defending the necessity for
the mother in the home. suggests,
however, that if the mother is really
ambitious, she may return to her job
when the child is two or three years
old and can be placed in the kinder
! garten. Well, if we admit that a
child can be safe in kindergarten
away from it's mother during her
working hours, why not assume that
it can be equally We'll cared for in
its earlier periods in well appointed
nurseries?
And this is just what we are doing
In all industrial, commercial and pro-
fessional centers where women are
employed, Yaslis (nurseries) are
established under trained medical
staff to care for infants from two
months to three years. From the
first stages of pregnancy the woman
is in frequent touch with the consult
ing stations, receiving prenatal care.
After the seventh month she is re-
leased from work for four months on
full maintenance. Two months after
childbirth if mother and infant are
doing well, the former is required to
return to her work. If not, further
care is extended to either or both
until the mother is able to resume her
duties. She then returns to work en-
trusting her baby to the yasli, time
being allowed her for the periodic
nursing hours.
After work the mother takes her
child home with her, but if for some
reason, the mother is unable to take
the child home, she can leave it in
the yasli, where provision is made for
its continued care until the age of
three. During that period the mother
is in daily contact with the trained
staff of the yasli, receiving from them
instructions as to the proper diet for
herself and child, general care and
health habits and an understanding
of the child's behavior problems.
AT the age of three it's needs are