UNEMPLOYED WOMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 133, 7 June 1932, Page 10

UNEMPLOYED WOMEN.

The problem of the unemployed woman is one of the direst now confronting the Dominion. Men out of employment are being sent into camps, where at least they are sure of their food and somewhere to sleep, but what of the women, who cannot get domestic work, or who are unfitted for it? Ihe w6men on the register grow tired of calling and finding nothing to do, and, besides, it costs money to travel from the suburbs. The women become dispirited. In Wellington there has been a 6hop opened which sells anything that the unemployed women can make, less 4 per cent, which pays for the shop. The manufacture of saleable articles provides occupation, and the public have responded generously and bought freely. While this made an outlet for girls who were able to make things, it made no effort for the women too old to struggle with necessity in this manner, so the committee opened a workroom and asked for materials from orphanages and public institutions. Hospital and other institutions sent material which was made up for nothing, and the women were paid 12/0 for two and a half days' work, and the girls 10/. The idea was to help those who needed assistance with their rent. Figures published in Wellington show that 1200 women and girls arc on the books. The committee has renewed its appeal, and begun to put into its workrooms unemployed tailoresses, and last week they had 300 trench coats to repair. Old clothes are remodelled, remade and distributed to societies concerned in relief work.