Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06
The Place of Women i'm Industry
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

Whenever the problem Of unemploy-
ment Is brought to public attention
by the press it has faculty Of looming
large and all sorts Of aspects are eX-
amined which in times when every one
Is busy are ignored. Unemployment
actually Is not so serious on national
scale as it has been on earlier occa-
sions of this decade, and not nearly so
serious as 1t Is in Great Britain today.
coubt, and to the man out of a job
1t is, Of necessity, the biggest problem
Of the day.
The existing situation has brought
under discussion the question of the
woman worker When women first
entered business and industry on a
considerable scale there was a great
outcry from the labor unions, the men
declaring that women were taking their
work away from them. That did not
last very long. The women soon took
their places beside the man workers,
themselves become stanch members of
unions and fighting strenuouSly for the
rights Of labor.
Now 1t Is a fresh aspect Of the work
performed by women which is evoking
a protest not from the man, but from
the woman workers. It Is the case Of
the pin-money worker. Briefly, the
protest Is based on the theory that
there are many women, married and
with comfortable homes, who, in order
to make pin money--that Is, a little
extra with which to buy luXuries and
play brtdge-are doing part-time work.
No one Of them holds down q real job,
but three or four Of them, taken
together, are doing work equal to that
Of full-time job. This, it Is claimed,
has the effect of depr1ving q woman
in actual need Of work Of such q job.
Some outstanding leaders in fem
mist circles have taken sides on the
question, both in England and in the
United States. Miss Mary Anderson,
director Of the Women's Bureau, De-
partment Of Labor, Is champion Of
the pin-money worker. Miss Anderson
points out that work is work, no mat
ter where, or by whom it is performed.
and that, generally speaking, no one is
doing any very real work unless spurred
to 1t by some need. With this view
Viscountess Rhondda, one Of the leaders
OF the British fenintstS and herself an
employer on large scale, is in agree
ment. She regards the tasks performed
by these intermittent workers as clear
economic gain. The nation benefits on
the one hand by getting the work
done, while, on the other. the indi-
viduals position is improved by having
more money. Trade Is helped because
of the additional purchasing power
provided.
Pin Money Workers.
Yet Miss Frances Perkins, commits
sioner of labor of New York State
where there are more working girls
than in any other State in the Union,
adopts q view precisely opposite. She
says, in effect. that any woman with a
home should be ashamed Of herself to
take up any work In competition with
the working-girl class until every girl OF
the latter class has job at minimum
Of $40 a week wages. Miss Perkins
asserts that the pin-money workers are
guilty Of unfair competition. They live
sheltered lives and usually are better
educated. They do not need. ful-time
Jobs and do not want them; they mere
" want to nibble around the corners,
some merely for fun. Yet they pit
their personal charm and education
against the girl of the working class
and perform Incidental work, which. in