The Industrial Emancipation of Women.

White Ribbon, Volume 7, Issue 84, 1 May 1902, Page 1

The Industrial Emancipation of Women.

(Extracts from an address given by Hon. Carroll D. Wright, head of the National Bureau of Labour, IT.S.A.) Woman’s emancipation socially and intellectually is an established fact which claims the enthusiastic recognition of men ; and whether we approve or disapprove, if industrial equality is assured, political equality will surely follow. Looking the field over carefully, I am inclined to the idea that industrial and political equality will he coordinate results, the latter, however, depending upon the former rather than the reverse. So the industrial status of woman and what it means attracts me primarily, and claims more immediate consideration than her political status. The entrance of woman into the industrial field was assured when the factory system of labour displaced tne domestic or hand-labour system. The birth of the factory was between 1760 and 1770, and was the legitimate outgrow th, first, of invention, second, of industrial necessities, third, of tlie influences of great moral waves passing over England. With the institution of the factor) system the attention of legislators w*as called to the apparent ignorance of factory labourers, and many concluded that the factory was responsible for the

ignorance. It was, however, only responsible for the congregation of ignoraiU persons, and the congregation of ignorance very naturally attracted attention, where the diffused individual ignorance did not attract attention. This aggregated ignorance led to legislation respecting the schooling of the

President of the Dunedin W C.T.I

ycung (I am speaking now of England), and the schooling of the young led to a more active interest in all educational matters. In this country, the common education of the masses was not particularly influenced by the establishment of the factory system of labour; but in England the activity induced by

the system in educational work brought the interest of women to higher forms of employment Back of iB6O or thereabouts, industrial fields were very limited. Harriet Martineau, after her visit to America in 1840, related that she found hut seven employments open to women—teaching, needlework, keeping hoarders, working in cotton mills, typesetting, work in book-binderies, and houshold service. To day it would he impossible to name the number ot openings in every phase of remunerative employment which women can enter. In whatever direction I have turned my studies relative to the moral character of women engaged in industry the result has been the same, whether those studies have been conducted in this country, in Great Britain, or upon the continent of Europe. 1 used to think that industrial pursuits engaged in by woman might cause her sotm degradation, or at least bring to her a loss of respect, which is always disastrous in a social sense, for with the loss of respect for woman there begins not only a loss of tone in society, but an apparent, and subsequently a real, disintegration of the family. I have become convinced, however, that tins loss of respect does not occur through coemployment of the sexes, and the fact that the coeducation of the sexes in so many colleges and institutions of higher instruction has been carried on with so

great advantage and without any of the evil consequences which were anticipated is strong collateral evidence that the mingling of the sexes, either in industry or education, does not work harm to society, hut on the contrary brings great good, and secures that re spt-ct which is essential to honourable social and family life. There are potent and logical reasons why women art; employed at so low a rate, which cannot *>€ overcome by any present considerations, either social, or etooomic, or legislative. These considerations are interesting, and to my tnind quite conclusively account for the present status of affairs relative to woman's wages. The reasons largely hinge upon what I have said relative to the cause or causes of her subjection in the past, the resulting reasons being :

lil t. I h.it stepping o' nit of indus tiial subjection, she came into the industrial system of the present as an entirely new' economic factor. If there were no other reasous, this alone would t>e suffi cient to make her wages low and to pi event their very rapid increase. This reason, of course, lies at the liottom of custom and public opinion. Se< ond. Woman occupies a lower standard, which is caused tA some extent by a lower standard of life, Inith in physical features and in mental demands. She is also the victim of the inHuence of the assistance which she receives in a large proportion of cases from her family and friends. This lowers her economic standard in a great degree.

Third. By insufficient equipment tor life work. Insufficient equipment is not the result of incapacity of mind or lack of skill, but is due largely to hope that the pennant nee of woik will be inteirupted by matrimony. Inferior work is often the direct result of this hope, as is interior equipment : the one is the sure complement of the other. The lack of technical training, from which training she has shrunk, has led to her occupying an inferior position, or, rather, to her remaining m such position. She does not feel warranted in spending vears, if required, in equipping herself for the liest service, and this is true to some exleiit iu the higher grades of employment now sought by woman.

Fourth. Woman has lacked so far the inHuence which conies fron combination and association. She works in an individual capacity, and v ith the weakness of individual effort. She has

not learned the pow’er of combining her fo r ces, nor the powerful inHuence which comes from combined forces, as men ha 'e. I refer now to trade organisations. Furthermore, she has not l>een a political factor in society. She has had no inHuence except as lilt inHuence of man has helped her, and this inHuence has often l>e*m too to lie of any practical l»enefit to her I believe that the industrial fteedom of woman will tend temporarily to a decrease in the rnarrutge rate and an increase in t lie divorce rate; but lam pe fectly free to assert that this does not frighten me in the least. As woman has the power given her to support herself, she will l>e less inclined to seek marriage relations simply for the purpose ot securing what m»y seem to !>e a home and protection. The necessity under which many young women live, of looking to marriage a-, a freedom from the Ixmd.ige of some kinds of laliour, tends, in my mind, to th- worst form of piostitution that exists. I cannot see much difference, except in degree, l**tw r < en u woman who sells her whole freedom and her soul to a man for life lx cause he furnishes her with certain conveniences, and one who sells her temporary freedom and her soul for a temporary remuneration.

To my own nnnd, one of the greatest Ixions, and one of the surest prophecies which 1 can offer as the result of the industrial emancipation of woman, will tie the frank admission on the part of the true and cliivalric man that she is the

sole rightful owner of her own iieingin every respect, and that whatever companionship may exist lietween her and man shall be as thoroughly honourable to her as to him.