FRENCHWOMEN AND COMMERCE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 869, 16 July 1910, Page 11

FRENCHWOMEN AND COMMERCE.

'In a very interesting article'in the "Englishwoman's Review," Miss Constance Barnicoat deals with tho. French womanof business, and draws attention to the leading position which many Frenchwomen occupy in commerce.' Miss Barnicoat. has had access to the French Gov-: eminent returns for lirOS, and finds from these that nearly two millions of women, married, unmarried, widowed, and. divorced, are returned as chefs d'etablisscment in all trades and industries. She adds: "No figures, unfortunately, are obtainable for the number of businesses entirely managed by women. Harried women, however, the wives of chefs d'etablissemcnt, are reckoned as chefs only when they lake activo part in the management of tho business." In addition to theso.aro many women' working on their own account by themselves. Apart from the drapery and provision •businesses,- there are sumo considerable enterprises conducted by women, notably one of a carrier on a large scale. Mme. Boucicaut, tho lato head of the Bon Marche, might be deemed an exceptional ivoman, as, indeed, she was; but Miss Barnicoat mentions also a very plucky

woman who had.helped' her husband to build up a great business from nothing, and when he died, ifrom overwork, resolved, after brief hesitation, to take it into her own charge, ■ Another woman, who has recently died, was tho head of i great glove-making business! at Orc/lobln. At Nantes a capable widow controls some large drainage works! and yet another is a manufacturer of stained glass. It is by no' means uncommon to see the name of-a woman figure upon bottles of good French vintages. The chief example in the past 'was Mme. Pommery, "who was for Rheims very much what Mme. Boucicaut was for I'aris," and gradually developed her business till it assumed great dimensions. "We are told that when sho died she had under her control 500 workpeople and assistants of one -kind and another." It is sometimes said in this country that women would be harsh employers, that It is not likely mt-ii would take orders from a woman, etc., but in France there does not seem to be much confirmatory evidence of these statements. Strikes in businesses managed by women are infrequent. Miss Barnicoat finds the cause •>f this state of things in thejemaTkable concentration of French women upon their business. They do not concern themselves about anything which they regard a.3 outside ■ their immediate affairs, whether it be political questions or social ambitions.