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222 luOCAlu SOCIETIES.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
A Paper Head At The Meeting Op The Assoc...
if necessary , any energetic woman who might attempt to enter on a new occupationandat all eventsits members should afford her the
, , , valuable moral support of approbation . There are probably few towns in which two or three hearts are
mot interested in the condition of women , but being so few they think they can do no good , and are unwilling to come forward and
form plans for its amelioration . But I would beg these friends to the cause not to be discouraged . Let them remember that the
sufferings of women from the overcrowding of their narrow labormarket is no imaginary grievance , but a sad reality , which none
but the thoughtless can overlook . "When , therefore , attention is called to the subject many who were indifferent will become interested ;
and even some of those who at first may oppose the movement will be led to look into the facts of the case more closely , and , perceiving
the truth of the hardships complained of , will perhaps be induced to join it at last .
We must not despise the day of small things . If only half-adozen persons , or fewer , agree on this subject , let them form
themselves into a committee , and if the funds are only large enough to apprentice one girl to a new trade , let a suitable young person be
sought out and apprenticed ; for if she gives satisfaction to her employer she will pave the way for others to follow . If only three
or four young women wish to be taught arithmetic and book-keeping -they should be formed into a class , for if the teaching is good others
will certainly soon j oin them . "Whenever it is possible , a practical beginning , however small ,
should be made , trusting that the real goodness of the undertaking and the usefulness of the work done will gradually gain support
_aaid enable the operations to be extended . There is a point to which I am anxious to call the attention of
all who are interested in this cause , for I think that a new and very _formidable danger to it has arisen . It has been proposedto put
an end to strikes and to the disputes that are so frequentl , y occurring between employers and workmen , to establish boards of
arbitration composed half of employers and half of delegates elected _Tby the workmenwhich board shall have the power to decide any
, differences arising between the two parties . This seems a very sensible plan , but in trades and manufactures in which both men
and women are employed , it is also proposed to exclude women : £ rom all share in the election of the delegates . At first sight this
appears a trifle—more perhaps an affront than an injury—but it should be remembered that when men and women are employed
together , it is the almost invariable desire of the men , either to turn the women out of work altogether , or else to restrict them to
only the least remunerative branches of tlie business . Thus women are altogether excluded from the printing and watchmaking trades
by combinations among the workmen . In the potteries they are
confined to the coarser parts of the china painting . In Coventry
222 Luocalu Societies.
222 luOCAlu SOCIETIES .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1861, page 222, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121861/page/6/
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