Evening star., 1938-06-06
Business Women Blamed
For Economic Ills of u. S.

70 the Editor Of Ths Star:
II Ii most incomprehensihle to me and
to Thousands Of other Americans who
have no possible means Of voicing their
opinions to the world at large, why moth
ing has been done about the true cause
Of Unemployment and the consequent de-
pression.
Reference Is made directly to the most
unfortunate emancipation of women. A
man need not be q misogynist to appre-
ciate the fact that the liberation Of
women from the ties Of home, and the
opening to them Of millions Of office
doors has brought about change in the
standard OF living Of this whole country.
This emancipation Of the female has
destroyed about one-half the home life
Of this generation. These young business
women are living IN rooMing houses, eat
ing in boarding houses or restaurants, In
variahly attempting cooperative apart
ment renting and finding they can't
stand their own cooking and can't stand
each other. But they accustom them
selves to this mode OF living and the un-
fortunate but inevitable result is that
they continue thus on into their sos, by
which time they have become so sallow
of face and broad Of hip that their op-
portunities for ever claiming their birth
right-a home and children--are gone!---
and they drift on through life wondering
why they once thought job was so inl-
portant.
Every woman who holds responsible
position Of any sort Is destroying not only
her own chances for ultimate happiness.
but she is also destroying the same
chances for some man. She is prevent
ing him from making the early start in
life so necessary to sound future and a
secure old age. She is keeping some man
out Of a job that would give him the
necessary money to buy insurance, es-
tablish himself in business and in his
community, to buy home and do the
myriad other things that must be done
with money to make place for him in
the society Of the race.
Even though a woman may expect
some day to marry. about 90 per cent OF
her surplus income is spent on clothes.
She seldom buys car or insurance.
Never does she buy home. She and all
her sisters are diverting vast sum OF
money annually into just two channels,
clothing and cosmetics, whereas the in-
come Of married man is divided hun
dred ways. Does this not explain. in a
large part, the lag of business and in
dustry?
The life of the average working girl is
pathetic thing. 1t consists OF SELF
centered cycle of working, eating sleep
ing, buying clothes and having an oc-
casional date. But what is she now to
expect If she marries9 Her husband may
be an intelligent, industrious. conscien-
tious individual who has been spending
his five years since college looking for
something better than the filling station
job he holds. He can't get really good
Job because the women have them. And
the women have them because they will
work for far less than men, And they
work for less than men because they
have nothing to spend their money for
but clothes. And she and her husband
will live from hand to mouth because, be-
fore she ever met her husband she was
actually spending half of his income on
clothes for herself.
There is only one answer-and IL Is
not the G. G. c. and p. w. A. and w. P. A.
and charity and food baskets. The an
swer is to take the females out of business
and make them women in the homes of
TINS country. ROBERT e. HOWE.