UNEMPLOYED WOMEN

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 120, 24 May 1933, Page 7

UNEMPLOYED WOMEN

I COMMUNITY PROBLEM

WORK OF THE Y.W.C.A.

An address on. "Problems of Women's Unemployment" was given by Miss Jean Stevenson, national gcnei al secretary of the Y.W.C.A./at' tlje .Rotary, Club luncheon yesterday.1 ; -~, Everybody read along economic lines . now, said Miss Stevenson, and our education was proceeding fast, ib.wt in faster than it should, for thcro'was no doubt that we had "been stuck-iila rut for «a long time. We had travelled far in our education on matters of personal'and public health. We laugh<?d at the ideas (or lack of them) of the early Victorians on the subjects 'pi food, ventilation, and the treatment of disease. In natural science wa thought we had,left them far behind. Yet it would appear that in economjis matters we had stuck fast at 1774 and refused to move. > The truth of tho commonplace -remark,- that we had' through machina production found tho way to satisfy human needs much more quickly than we could create them, was slowly boring its way into our consciousness,' Miss > Stevenson continued. Progress was in the direction of eliminating human labour, and we were very slow to adjust ourselves to that fact. It might be that when unemployment had been distributed in the form'of leisure and a way had been found of distributing tho abundance of the-fruits of th» oarth and the product of men's labour freely and fully, sufficient employment would be found for all, both men an.l women, to entitle them to/>he essentials of a full and complete life, "but,' Miss Stevenson remarked, "I imagmu . that it is going to take a considerable, time before we lift ourselves sufficiently out of our accustouTed ways of thinking and doing td'liccomplish this. Thciefore I'se'c in the necessary liberation of men from labour,a pressure that i» going to drive more and more women out of paid employment." IK BUSINESS AND FACTORY. Women had been weaving and spinnine and making clothes since tho beeimiing of civilisation. When the- industrial revolution camo they simply, shifted their, work from the Lome to the factory and received wages to buy, the necessaries of life instead of receiving them direct. Women- had always had to do with the preparing of food, but much' of that had gone out f 10m the home,- and today bread, butter, cheese, and sausages were only a few items in which, men's labour preponderated.' The woman in business lite was more recent, and it would seem an if, haying gone in there last, she- went out first. ' ' , ' ' '"tfot only do we sec tho boy baeit on the typewriter and in the.routine job at the bank—but here is an even more significant thing," said Miss Stevenson. " Recently, in going through a Bilk hosiery factory, I found all the machines for fashioned hose- manned by young men. Some years ago I was talking to the managing director of one of the biggest emporiums in the Southern Hemisphere. -He told w», how he had reorganised tho staff by, replacing the men by-girls. 'Why,' he. said, 'when I came here men were selling ladies' vests. But I have changed nil that.' I venture to surmise that he. is changing a- good deal of it back. The economic side of girls'.employment was part of-the .whole economic problem. It might be that, freed from the. competition of the woman, wages would,. rise; obviously the wages'of father and brother must be made adequate it k ; they were to maintain a larger number;of unemployed women in the home.;But the problem of girls*-unemploy-. inent was by. no means wholly an, econo-, mic problem. Atthe present fime citizens found no difficulty in coping with the unemployed girl go-"*ar as food and shelter were concerned. A very eincerei tribute must be paid to tho Mayoress of Wellington and her committee for, the way in which they were doing that work. needs were adequately supplied, but «harity,never solved,-, any! problem of human life—rather ife 1 created problems. INFLUENCE, OF iWOBK^ '♦Consider what a job means to * young person," Miss Stevenson went on "It means companionship, disew pline, stimulus to effort, enlarging ideas,' ■incentive to.growth: not only independence from a money point of view (man*' girls are working for wages which d» not make them independent), but expression of herself as an individual, an outlet for her powers and gifts. Wm» cannot solve this problem. The -Horn* is no longer'a centre of varied Indus-' tries as in the 17th century'; auutf--homes are not a full-time job for ona woman, let alone several. "Whatever part the job has played in the best development of women must still be provided, and here are a few suggestions that I would make:—(l) A 1 revival in skills of all kinds; (2) necessity for club and group life; and (3)' necessity for stimulating ideas an* absorbing interests. This involves • change in our educational outlook whicfc must ultimately come. At present I se# it as a challenge to this great commune ity women's movement which I reprtr sent. I believe that it is possible foj? us to point a way, and in this transit tion time to help in the adjustment of young women so that this shall not bo a period of deterioration, but a period of progress. But if the Y.W.C.A. is to make an adequate contribution to solving the problem it must be adequately1, equipped. At present in Wellington wo have a building, but it is only partially) ours, and the necessity of paying in* terest on it largely starves the work that ought to be done. Much is being done now to provido the companionship, the stimulating interests, the outlet for powers for many girls, but much more' could be done if tho interest'of th« community in its .girls were expressed, in adequate provision, of money and equipment and service." "