"PROMOTED" TO HOUSEWORK.

Otago Witness, Issue 3280, 24 January 1917, Page 63

"PROMOTED" TO HOUSEWORK.

«>. • TnE ABOLITION OF " DOMESTIC SERVICE." By E. M. Story. " What a pity it is," I said to a bright young friend as we walked-by the waves of the .seashore one lovely day in the early part of the year 1917—" what a pity it is that girls when they leave school invariably turn their faces towards every occupation but housework." "I don't dislike housework itself," she answered; "but, of course, I should never dream of making a livelihood by doing it." "Why 'of course'?" I questioned. '• How can you ask?" she said, reproachfully. "But surely," I began. " I know what you are going to say; but please don't say it," she protested. " What was I going to say?" " Oh, just the horrid, stale old argument !" " That . . .?" " That I should consider for a moment ■what is meant by running a house —that it's far easier to " run a mill or manufactory where the subdivision of labour has reduced everything to the cut-and-dried." " Well," I said, "isn't it true?" " I daresay. That's not the whole story: in fact, it's not even the chief part of it." "Oh! Show me the soul of the story? I asked. She sighed. " You'd probably refuse to see it," she murmured. " Trv me. I can assure you lam really wishful for anv enlightenment that may help to solve-the domestic servant problem." " Well, if you can keep an open mind I'll.try to show you what appears to me the crux of the eternal question." " Give me a moment," I said. " There now, I've expunged old partialities, and have quite a blank to offer you." " Good. First and foremost," she said, " I would raise domestic work to a profession. It should be regarded as just as honourable to manage and keep a household going as it is to tend the human body in sickness and prescribe for it. 1 would create a degree in Domestic Science, and just as we have a B.A. degree and an M.D. degree, so I would have a B.D.S. degree, the graduate being entitled to cap and gown. Don't you see that by raising domestic work to an honourable and recognised profession you would attract into it the educated girls from good middle-class homes. If domestic work were tlfus classed as a science it would at once make it possible for thoughtful, well-educated women to take it up as a worthy profession." She paused, almost out of breath. / "What a splendid idea!" I exclaimed. " Yon really think so?" She looked me in the face critically. "I think it absolutely the best idea I have ever heard advanced in this connection; it is positively brilliant!" " I am so glad you like it." " But ... 'go on," I urged. " 1 am convinced that woman does not dislike housework. What she does dislike, and rightly, is the low level in society to which she must descend if she elects' to earn her bread and butter by such work. You see, even, if a woman is a genius, should she be engaged in domestic work in any house but her own she is regarded as the least person of the household—on a par with the pots and the pans of her ' quarters.' She is sometimes spoken of as the 'slavey,' and always regarded as the 'servant,' that word" standing for all that free, self-rer-pecting human nature detests!" She stopped again, as though awaiting my concurrence with what she had said. "Go on, go on," I said eagerly. "It's true, quite true; you've . . . hit the nail." . " Well, it follows that no girl who respects herself cares to take up an occupation that others look down on! Every girl has more or less ambition, and starts out with the idea that she will achieve something. How, then, can she be reasonably expected to voluntarily occupy herself with work that is tacitly, and often openly, regarded as something derogatory?" " You think that education would not interfere . . ?" " Not in the slightest. To the contrary. It is a big mistake to assume that a woman of education is unlikely to prove efficient in housework and house-manage-ment. It is she who will bring her trained mind and her intelligence to bear on the daily work, and will by her method, knowledge, and powers of application obtain results far surpassing any that the untrained could hope to achieve. It is one thing to ' muddle through ' ; it is quite another to introduce system." " If this could be done," I said, "quite a different class would be drawn into the work." " Quite. Parents arc always worrying as to what it would be best for their daughters to-do. and they dislike the idea of office work, and would so much rather know them to be working in households, but. of course, shrink from the idea of domestic service as it exists to-day. All this would be overcome if their girls could train in college just as do candidates fur the teaching profession." "Yes," 1 said, ''nurses, artists, writers, doctors, are all properly trained, and their work is in each case recognised as that of an honourable profession." " Why, even clerks, bookkeepers, stenographers, and typists can pass examinations and obtain certificates." " Well there are the technical schools, and Domestic Science is a subject taught, you know." I said. " That is not at nil the fame thing," the answered. "It is the degree that is necessary. The actual residence at college, and the daily training for a recognised profession

" What would you teach in such a college as you suggest?'' 1 asked. " Everything requisite to run a home well; and, more than that, I would make the syllabus to cover a knowledge of dietetics. Half, possibly three-quarters, of the money spent on food is thrown away, owing to the ignorance of the properties of various foodstuffs. By a thorough knowledge of dietetics, nourishing foods would be supplied, and they would be cooked in such a way as to preserve the nutriment." " Then it seems that your lady graduate of domestic science might small work for the nurse and the doctor?" " She would certainly raise the health standard." " But, after all, would these ladies ca/e to drudge?" " Certainly not. There would be no drudgery. There would be order, method, and a 'knowing how ' brought into housework that would make it quite delightful. What is more, educated women, with alert minds, would soon introduce all sorts of helpful labour-saving devices, and would turn their thoughts to the invention of labour-saving appliances." " It would give additional work for the Patent Office," I said. " Yes, and to the manufacturer, too." " Well, I certainly think there's room for improvement. ..." " I should just think there is! Think of the ' washing up' alone. All this should be done by machinery. The water heated, the plates, dishes, and saucepans washed, dried, and delivered ready for putting into their places by the same machine. Can't you see it in operation? I can. . . "By Jove!" I exclaimed. "I believe you've solved the problem." "But the degree?" she said. "What could move the University Board to common sense? The members are men, you know. . . . That's where we shall be blocked," and she sighed. " Write me down your ideas," I said, " and I'll send them on to the . editor of . She laughed, but I pressed her to do so. She at last assented; but added, "No editor will take the trouble . . ." "Tut!" I said, "leave that to me and the editor."