THE WOMAN WORKER

New Zealand Tablet, 1 April 1920, Page 9

THE WOMAN WORKER

(By Joseph Husslein, S.J., in America.)

Side by side with man, woman is pictured walking with uplifted head towards the dawn of economic independence. To some this is an inspiring sight. To others, not so. Naturally, Catholics turn to the Church to find her attitude towards this important subject. No one has been so consistently devoted to the unfolding of woman’s powers and the promotion of her temporal and spiritual welfare as the Catholic Church. We need but point to the brilliant galaxy of learned women who flourished in the cloisters of the Middle Ages or to the marvellous activities displayed by such great Catholic heroines as St.' Catherine of Siena, Blessed Joan of Arc, or St. Teresa, to whom even the, non-Catholic world turns for inspiration and encouragement. The Church is no less interested in the women of our day, and particularly in the millions whom economic circumstances have driven from the home into the open mart, the busy shop and factory. That woman, no less than man, should be devoted to a useful occupation is a first principle of Christianity.Even in the literature of the Jewish Talmud there is a wise saying that if a. woman has a hundred servants, it should not dispense her from personal work. Idleness is the mother of vice, and the proverb holds as true of woman as of man. There is no reason and no excuse for an existence of mere leisure and social functions. The woman who lives but to be served, whose time is given to pleasure and ‘'society,” whose sole ambition is to be a thing of useless preciousness, envied or admired, is a human parasite who thrives upon the toil and blood of others. How dignified and noble by the side of this scented creature, whose only worth is in her silks and satins, her lap dogs and her limousines, is the true Christian working girl! In her Christ lives again. Her soul is pure from the taint of sin. Beneath her drawn and tired features, wearied after the long day’s toil, is hidden, though not all concealed, the presence of the Living God who tabernacles in her breast. Who that has learned to know her does not honor and respect her? Yet what power has been able thus to uphold her dignity and preserve her purity amid the world’s allurements but that of the Catholic Church which is her colnfort, her glory, and her joy; within whose sanctuary she can find her truest rest, and at whose altar she partakes of the Bread of Life? But if the Church acknowledges the need of woman’s work, both within and without the home, and has no blame to cast upon the Christian woman worker, whom she ever fosters and protects, it does not therefore follow that she approves of the condition of society in which millions of women, married and unmarried, are driven forth into the field of the world’s industrial competition. Much less does the Church consider this an ideal state. Such indeed is the fallacy of that typical Socialist philosophy which would constrain all alike, irrespective of sex, to take their place at the wheel of industry or in the booth of commerce. It is in a measure likewise the error of that modern feminism which demands for every woman complete economic independence, while denying to man the Divinely-assigned headship of the family. Both these systems are equally repugnant to Christianity and to the Catholic Church which will safeguard, at every cost, the right and dignity of womankind.

The Church has not failed to understand the economic exigencies of our time, both as they apply to the legions of women who must earn their livelihood in industry or commerce, and to the commonwealth which may stand in special need of their service in times of national crisis. Yet neither docs she ever lose sight of woman’s normal purpose in life. Spiritually it is the same as that of man, but in the material order it differs from his in many respects, even as in structure, function, character, and aptitude woman was created different from man ; “For woman is not undeveloped man, but diverse.” Neither training nor education can ever make her the same as man, nor ever should strive to do so. There is an ideal of womanliness and an ideal of manliness, and both are perfect in their way; but there is no sadder spectacle for angels and for men in this sublunary world than the womanlike man or the manlike woman.

“Male and female He created them,” the Scripture tolls us. This difference is again brought home to us in the consequences of the Fall. To man God said: “Cursed is the earth in thy work; with labor and toil shaft thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.” But to woman He said; “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth thy children.” Here, therefore, are clearly defined the normal occupations of both sexes for which the. Almighty has especially fitted them. The hard and burdensome toil of the outer

world is, so far > as possible, to be the„ portion of man, while the gentler, but even more heroic sacrifices of home and motherhood fall to the part'of woman. Hence in his great Encyclical on “The Condition of . Labor’’;s Pope T. Leo XIII. has this to say of woman, .which briefly sums up the entire doctrine of the Church on the important question of woman labor: “Women are not suited for certain occupations;? a woman is by Nature fitted for home-work, and it is that which is best adapted to preserve’her modesty and to promote the good-> upbringing of children and the well-being of the family.” .- . : - r ..-;r;..-a . - ? Yet of the women who are • engaged in wage-earning occupations outside of the home, many have not made the choice of-their own heart. Others have freely chosen the state of virginity to preserve their purity for God alone, and are working out their salvation in the world rather than within convent walls. Both classes may be doing God s will according to their best lights, and both classes must .seek to earn their livelihood as best they can. . A. E. Mahuteaux in the Liverpool Catholic Times thus summarises the problem : —“Many women fortunately will always find their happiness in receiving shelter and comfort from a father’s or a husband’s love. No one wants to change that. It is both the normal and the ideal. But what must happen to the large number of women who have neither father nor husband? From whose kindness and solicitude will - they receive the necessary means of _ subsistence ? And if in honor a woman may not receive them from any other, how can she procure them except by her own skill and effort? And how, in the present . state of our social economy, can that skill and effort be exercised except in competition with her fellowbeings, men and women alike?” Woman s place, therefore, as the writer observes, is wherever Providence has given her duties to perform; for no woman’s hands may be idle, whether she labors for herself or fox' others. Some have their duties iii their own home - or in the home of others, and some have their duties in hospital, workshop, school, or office. There ax certain classes of work which should bo restricted to men, and there are ethers which women can perform as well or perhaps far better. The domestic sphere is hers by nature. F or the rest it matters not what we do, provided we do well what God’s Providence assigns us. It is the love of. Him that gives to every act its highest value and it is this alone that can raise to a fine white flame of devotion these little lives of ours, whether they burn in cloister, home, or workshop. Nothing of all this with the Holy Father’s teaching, that woman is by Nature fitted for home-work and that it is this which is best adapted to preserve her modesty and prepare her for her normal duty as wife and mother. It is in the latter function that she can render to society her greatest service, unless indeed she choose for her sole Spouse Christ the Lord, that she may become the spiritual mother of souls. Clearly, then, it is the duty of the State to provide, so far as possible, that woman shall be enabled to follow her primal vocation of motherhood. If already a mother she must be given the opportunity to devote to her children all that attention and care which’ make industrial occupations in shop or factory impossible. Her place is now in the home, with her little ones. This, as we cannot too frequently repeat, is one of the most urgent reasons obliging the State to secure an adequate family wage for every adult male laborer. Thus wall he be able, in the early years of his manhood, to offer a home to * the woman of his choice where she can happily perform 7 the duties of a Christian mother, undisturbed by the struggle for existence whose weight should rightly fall upon the husband s shoulders. Hex' own duties, if conscientiously performed, may far more than balance this burden, while the claims of charity will leave no moments idle on her hands. # .V Both statistics and experience show conclusively that, in general, married women will gladly withdraw from industrial and commercial life if a suitable family wage is paid their husbands. ■ Their withdrawal, like the prevention of child labor, will in turn- react favorably upon the labor situation, will lessen unemployment and tend to raise -the wages of the men. ; But there is a duty likewise imposed upon the individual man and woman. It is the duty of thrift and moderation, and unless this is better observed by all classes there can be no solution of our problem. We are living in an age of extravagant expenditure. The rich by the neglect of their stewardship, using their, surplus 'wealth as if it stood at their free disposal and were not intended for the common good, are setting an example of lavish living which the poor are imitating in their own degree. The spendthrift young man cannot hope to " support -a wife, even though an adequate wage be secured for him, while the earnest and .ambitious, worker, will ...wisely fear

to marry . a girl whose extravagance of dress and amusement forebodes disaster to his limited earnings. “I will not be hard to | keep,” was the assuring remark made ; by a simply yet faultlessly dressed American girl to the happy young man whose heart and hand she had accepted. There was no thought of narrow parsimony, but of that wisdom which builds a successful home and that motherliness which provides for the little ones who are to be the‘ joy of the parents’ youthful days and the glory of their declining years. , . - ••. , , . , Until, therefore, every . man is assured a family wage and rich and poor alike return to the simplicity of Christian life, it will be futile to hope for a satisfactory solution of this particular phase of the problem of the woman worker. The wage-labor of countless women is to a great extent unnatural, because unnecessarily enforced upon them through capitalistic greed, through inadequate legislation, and through personal habit of thriftlessness and excess. The luxury of the rich is even far more culpable in the example that it sets. At present we must not base our judgment upon the abnormal conditions existing in time of war, but prepare for a future reconstruction in which woman will be given ampler opportunities to promote both her own happiness and that of the race. •