Women in America.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue VII, 16 February 1901, Page 325

Women in America.

Somebody with a statistical habit has been tabulating a lot of information about women and their work. Th» results are more interesting than the general run of statistics, and may contain some surprises for all but the most accurately informed. Here, for instance, are some of the things that have been discovered. Sixty years ago ten men worked for wages to every one woman; to-day the ratio is four to one, and rapidly diminishing. Thirty years ago two-thirds of the self-supporting women in New York State were maid servants. At present the proportion has been reduced to one-third.

By far the greater number of selfsupporting women are of American birth and nationality. Next in numbers and enterprise come the Hebrew women.

Women have developed scores of new industries and made them successful. Among these are doctoring canaries, breeding high-class cats, making boots for dolls, designing backs of playing cards, repairing old laces, and growing violets, mushrooms, sweet peas, trout, frogs, quail, etc. The half-million self-supporting women in New York State have been pretty accurately classified. Of these there are more than thirty thousand teachers — which does not include the musicians and music teachers. 4.(M)0 in number, or the trained nurses and kindergartners, who are about 2,000 strong. Dressmakers hold their own with 35,000, seamstresses with 18.000, milliners with <.OOO, board-ing-house keepers with 4.000, and shopkeepers with 3,500 Women employed in farm and dairy number 30,000. In tailoring the sexes are practically on a par, and are estimated to number 10,000 each. In the personnel of stores there are 8,000 clerks, 7,000 saleswomen, 4,000 bookkeepers, and some 3,000 labourers, scrubwomen and janitors. The mills and factories give employment to a small army. There are 16.000 factory hands, 5.000 mill hands. 4.000 operators in wool, felt, silk and eotton mills; 2.000 in hosiery, glove and under-wear works; 3,000 in boot and shoe factories, and 5,000 in the cigarette, cigar and tobacco works. If to these figures be added the clerical force, the scrubwomen, and others employed, the total will reach some 40,000.