WOMEN AND WORK

Colonist, Issue 3, 30 October 1857, Page 4

WOMEN AND WORK

(From the Leader.) Among the inmates of Bethlehem Hospital, from 1846 to 1855, were a hundred and ten governesses, and a hundred and eightynine dress makers. Dr. Hood, in his decennial report —an able and interesting document—remarks:—"Among the female patients, the only point which seems to require notice is the large number of governesses and dressmakers, including miliners and sempstresses. It is no wonder that an elegant, accomplished, and otherwise delicately nurtured lady should pass from unhappiness to misery, and from misery to insanity, in a position which too often is not half so desirable as that of a domestic servant; and'upon the causes which operate upon thousands of the class of dressmakers, who are driven mad by penury, trouble, and perhaps remorse, it is unnecessary to speak." We are inclined to beleive that the causes which reduce a lady to the governess's'parlour, in which her position ' is not half so desirable as that of a domestic servant, or to the dressmakers and miliners' workshops, or sempstresses' attics, frequently operate in producing insanity; but there can be no doubt that Bethlehem receives a vast proportion of its female inmates direct from the dwellings of those who treat the tutors of their children as menials, and of those who treat the practical creatorstof their opulence as slaves. Mr. Lilwall, and the association, which he so ably and disinterestedly serves, are engaged in carrying out some of the necessary reforms. The Home at 44, Great Ormondstreet, has been established for day workers; the Clifford-street Society undertakes to deal with the ladies who insist.upon superb dresses being completed at twelve hours notice; but it is a singular proof of the neglect to which women are exposed in England, that the Registrar-General has invariably omitted from his weekly returns an account of the occupations of females I who die in London. '• I wrote to him," states Dr, Lankester, " and he said in reply that, unfortunately, that department of their system had not yet been carried out." To say the truth, women have not yet assumed their right position in society. It is an anomally incompatible with civilization that a woman, if neither married nor independent, should not be able to pursue a career in the world, and maintain a position by her own efforts. So she can, you say. She may become an artist—if she has the faculty. She may become a governess—perhaps to be treated worse than a domestic servant. She may turn dressmaker. So can the son of a clergyman turn journeyman tailor. She may make watches, suggests Mr. Bennett; but suppose she does not belong to the class which makes watches, or does slopwork, or elaborates Lucy's mantle, or builds *up the tower of frame and flounce, in which is lost all that was classic in the shape of Arabella. Forty-three women out of a hundred are unmarried. Therefore, not being wives or mothers, it is mere irony to talk of their domestic duties; a large proportion of them, at least, have no home or other establishments to administer. And is the unprovided widow, whatever her former station, to become a teacher, or a flower-maker, or a hat liner, or a map-colorer, or an embroideress, or a button-coverer, such being the principal occupations to open herjsex ? " At present the language practically held by modern society to destitute women may be resolved into Marry—Stitch—Die—or do worse," says the Times. They cannot all marry; it would be disgraceful to compel them all to stitch; 'die' can scarcely be entered among the injunctions of political economy; but do worse' is our eleventh commandment. , , What else can they do ? Miss Barbara Smith has prepared a reply well worth consideration:-— Apprentice 10,000 to watchmakers; train 10,000 for teachers for the young; make 10,000 good accountants ; put 10,000 more to be nurses under deaconnesses trained by Florence Nightengale; put some thousands in the electric telegraph offices over all the country; educate 1000 lecturers for mechanic's institutions; 1000 readers to read the best books to the working people; train up 10,000 to manage washing-machines, sewing-machines, &c. You may smile at the notions of a female accountant; but is a distressed needlewoman better? Compare the type of a decayed gentlewoman with that of a lady lecturer— why should a woman not cultivate eloquence as well as tragedy? For ourselves, we i have a weak conviction that it is more womanly to occupy an independent position .in the public view than to be shown into a

heavily furnished dining room, in which some citizen's lady intimates that four children , are to be instructed and walked out morning or evening' five miles into the country for half-a-crown a day. The young people must be hardened against all sorts of weather, so that no delicate persons n^ed apply. A few happy instances there are in i which a woman of high spirit and rare aceomphshments can maintain an independent position, even as a governess; but the reverse is the rule. We shall be satisfied to^ hear the orthodox language about feminin" timidity shrinking from the gaze of the world, and separate spheres, when all this has been remedied. It seems at least as repulsive to womanly modesty to live among vulgar strangers, who speak of her ! as a ' young pei'son,' and to tend a flock of children daily in the parks, as to follow out Mrs. views, and develope a higher set of qualities than are essential in an ordinary governess. ■ This is an old question, and has frequently been discussed; yet it is peculiarly a topic; of to-day. Society has been confessing its sins, and pitying the miserable among women. There are, however, gradations in misery, and it would be well to ar- J rest the process before it has reached its last stage, when little remains but remorse, penitence, and death.