WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 50, Issue 196, 2 June 1930, Page 8

WOMEN IN INDUSTRY.

“PIN” MONEY WORKERS. “The pin-money worker is all clear gain in our economic* life,” declares Viscountess Rhondda, prominent British feminist and coalmine owner. “1 cannot agree,” objects Miss Frances Perkins, New York State Commissioner of Labour, who insists, says the New York “Literary Digest,” that “the woman ‘pin-money worker’ who competes with the necessity worker is a menace to society, a selfish, short-sight-ed creature who ought to be ashamed of herself.” This problem, arising from the increased employment of women in industry, has stirred a lively discussion in the United States Press, which finds Miss Perkins very quotable. For, speaking at the New York National Republican Club Forum, she says:— “Until we have every woman in this community earning a living wage—and by that I mean not less than 20 dollars (£4) a week for the City of New York—until we have a firmly established habit of short working hours and some kind of old-age security, I am not willing to encourage those who are under no economic necessities to compete with their charm and education, their superior advantages, against the working girl who has only her two hands. “There are so many fields where their talents can bear rich fruit without hurting less fortunate women workers. Architecture, painting, music, and. other fields of artistic endeavour which require special training are legitimate for the ‘pin-money worker.’ Politics and charitable work, law, medicine, and teaching also would be desirable outlets. “Idleness is a curse, of course, but if these rich women must have employment, let them go into agriculture, which needs workers, or devote themselves to motherhood and the home.”