THE ENERGETIC AMERICAN GIRL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9036, 17 September 1907, Page 2

THE ENERGETIC AMERICAN GIRL.

0 HER OCCUPATION. Of the twenty-three and a half million women over sixteen years of age in the United States, one out of every five is a worker and breadwinner. Of 303 occupations in the United States only nine are held solely by males. These remarkable facts are gathered from the recent census, which. is as interesting as one of Mr Gladstone's Budget speeches. Nothing could more strikingly show the nature and extent of woman's competition in the field of labour. The vast army of female workers is divided into 294 occupations, of which there are 125 occupations employing more than 1000 women. .The following table will show the order of their numerical importance : —

These ten classes do not include many of the familiar occupations of women, there being no reference to shorthand writers and typists, factory workers, printers, etc. The occupations in which women are doing the work of men may be classified as follows: —

No women are reported as _ United States soldiers, sailors, or marines, as membpre of city fire departments, as telesraph or telephone linemen, as apprentices or helpieTs to roofers and 6laters, or as helpers to steam boiler-mrt^-prs. or t<> brass workers. White native women form the majority of the workers. Most of them are young women, 68.4 ocr cent of them being under thirty-five years of age, and 44.2 per cnt under twentyfive. The male workers, on the other hand, number only 24.7 T>er cent under twenty-fire. This no doubt indicates that a Tare© number of women workers enter the state of matrimony and cease to be breadwinners. More than half the divorced women were snoportinqr themselves by their own earnings. Tt has been suggested that tiie increase of divorce is partly attributable to the more independent economic position of women, a-s a .result of which, wives are better abl° to provide for themselves and less dependent upon their husbands. The figures compiled by the census appear to be consistent with this theory, although, they cannot bo said to prove it. \

Street railway moterrmen . . 2 Ocean ar.d river pilots ... 5 Bas:?a°remen .... 10 Brakemen 31 Locomotive engineers and firemen 45 Switchmen and flagmen . . 26 Hack drivers^ 43 Shin carpenters .... 6 Roofers and slatets ... 2 B l ack<»mitlis .... 185 Machinists 608 Bvlermakers 8 Charcoal and coke burners . . 31 "Well borers '. . 11

Domestic servants . , . 1,124.383 Farm labourers . « . 456.405 Dressmakers „ » , 838,144 Laundresses , , « . 328,935 Teachers .... 327206 Farmers .... 807.708 Textile mill operatives . . 231,458 Housekeepers . . . 146 929 Saleswomen .... 142,265 Seamstresses 133,724