WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 110, 5 November 1926, Page 12

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

DIVERGENCE OF VIEWS

MATTER OF INDIVIDUALITY

NO BAR TO SUCCESS.

(From Our Own Correspondent)

LONDON, 22nd September. Mrs. Gereth, a dealer in antiques, gave an address, as business woman, to the Soroptimist Club, remarking:— "The grsatest tragedy of business is that we should have to do it at all. The most advanced woman and also the youngest and most eager will be horrified at this statement. They talk about the beauty and value of work to character, but that has not been my experience. I am suffering from a surfeit of business worries that tempts me to bo less considerate of others. Women were not meant to spent their lives in fighting for money. Though mentally fit, they are not physically fit. Men can work all day and play all night, but a woman, after a hard day's work, must have a good night's sleep. Such a life is nothing but work. "A woman has no prospect of ultimate success unless she has plenty of capital behind her, because she cannot compete with businesses worked by men. On the other hand, it is difficult to get money for a business worked by a woman. It means continual worry for a woman in business, and thero is only <-i pittance to be got out of it at the end. Another tragedy is ignorance. A woman sets out with the idea it is fun to keep a shop, thinking, for example, that if she has a taste for colour and arrangement she has everything that is needed in order to be a successful house decorator. Experience will soon disillusion her." In a subsequent interview, Mrs. Gcrcth explained that she was not speaking of the woman who was part of a big company, but of the woman who was running a business. She described the periods of anxiety through which she had gone many years ago when governing director of a firm of decorators. Although' it had a turnover of £20,000 it was started with a capital of only £3000. 1 SOME OP THE PITFALLS. "Business is my greatest pleasure. I look on it as a pastime," declared Miss Kerr-Sander, a well-known member of the London Chamber of Commerce. "I started business about nine years ago with a present of £20 and a loan of three typewriters. Tar from experiencing difficulty in getting capital, I met men who were anxixous to put money into my business. Business women have not got as much optimism as men. They won't take the risk. They are over-anxious. Any wideawake young woman with energy, ambition, and push can get on as well as a man. So many business women are lacking in practical common-sense. Those without capital should avoid the high-class clientele, which expects credit, and go to the many parts of Lon-' don where they can sell for cash." An official of the Women's Freedom League defended the business woman. "I know several women," she observed, "who have, been the brains of their husband's business. Undoubtedly many capable women would enter some trade if they were not hampered by lack of funds." "Women have got their/fingers in nearly everything, and are doing their work well," said an official of the London Chamber of Commerce. "In a few months our women members have increased in number from 50 to 100. They are engaged in trades ranging from leather and motoring concerns to dressmaking and merchandise. They are manufacturing . chemists, business managers, and works directors. Obtaining capital is not a question of sex, but of whether the business and prospects are really good." DANGER OF GENERALISING. Mr. James Douglas, editor of the "Sunday Express" remarks: — n Nearly all generalisations are half-truths or three-quarter truths, not whole truths. Generalisations about men in general and women in general seldom contain any truth at all.' Therefore we should not tar all women with the same brush, for women are as various in their characters and in their capacity as men. Brain power is not distributed according to the accident of sex. The business brain is not bestowed on every man, and it is not withheld from every woman. The truth is that more men are trained for business, and therefore there are more business men than business women. Many women with business ability never go into business at all. They manage their household affairs, and often they give sound advice to their "Business men know the value of the business woman. They employ them as confidential secietaries. They would not do so if they had not discovered in the brain of a woman qualities of the highest order. As a rule, a woman is endowed with a marvellous memory for details, and this is extremely useful in affairs. Woman is amazing in her capacity for recalling accurately the minutest facts. Her memory is pictorial. Often it is almost photographic. Another valuable feminine trait is orderliness. The brain of a clever woman is like a card-index. . . "There are business women who can dance a business man off his legs. Consider the actress, for instance, who can rehearse for hours without fatigue. On the whole, men need more sleep than women. What man could perform the miracles of endurance wrought by a night nurse in the charge of a desperate case? "Business success is based on character as well as intellect, and it is certain that in character there is no feminine inferiority. Women are at least as honest as men, and they are not less loyal or trustworthy. It may be that in the higher regions of business men are unequalled in vision, in courage, and in breadth of view. But the leaders of business are the pick of the male multitude. There are not enough business women to produce super-business women." NO SEX IN BUSINESS. Mrs. A. J. Wilson, of the firm of A. J. Wilson and Co., Ltd., advertisement contractors, designers, engineers, and printers, has achieved the rare distinction of being appointed managing director after thirty years of continuous service. She joined the firm thirty years ago as typist, and after being successively private secretary, company secretary, and director, has now become managing director, her husband being I chairman of the company. She has control of a staff which averages some 200 employees. She married Mr. Wilson in 1921, when she had already been on the directorate for several yearsMrs. Wilson believes it is rare for a lady to be appointed managing director of a concern of that size. She is also a "Freeman" of the City of London, which was at least unusual, and has been for ten years a borough councillor of Holborn. .She made the matter of education one of the chief concerns of her municipal activities. "A lady recently declared that women were physically unfit to engago in business," said Mrs. Wilson. "That is sheer nonsense. There is no sex in business, and no reason why a woman should not be as successful in business as a man. As to physical disability, I bavo not had thirty days' absence from business throngh sickness in thirty years, and it has been pretty strenuous at times, I assure you. My normal day is from 9.30 in the morning till about seven in the evening, and I smile when I read of workers clamouring for an eight-hour day, a seven-hour day, and even a six-hour day." i