On this page
-
Text (2)
-
liOCAL SOCIETIES. 223
-
NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM BRANCH OF THE ...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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...
and Its neighborhood , during the war with France _, wlien the ribbon ;' trade was flourishing and the workmen could dictate terras to the
manufacturers , they were restricted to only one kind of weaving , which was peculiarly ill-paid . In Birmingham , only a few weeks
ago , the whipmakers struck because a part of the masters had employed women in some of the well-paid departments of the
manufacture . These examples show that nothing is to be expected from the generosity or good feeling of their fellow-workmen . If the women
now employed in the numerous kinds of manufacture in which both _, sexes work together are prevented from voting for the delegates '
to boards of arbitration , they will be thereby rendered totally defenceless , and placed in a far worse position than before boards of
arbitration came into existence ; and it is much to "be feared that before long they would find themselves turned out of every trade
altogether , or confined to the least remunerative portions of it . These boards of arbitration are likely to become important elements in the
government of the manufacturing districts . It was , I believe , proposed in Parliament to give them legal authority ; and though the
measure was rejected , they can hardly fail to obtain immense moral weight and influence . It is therefore of the utmost importance that
they should be fairly and justly constituted , and rendered incapable of becoming instruments in the hands of the oppressor . But perhaps
it may be said , that if women had votes , the men would not allow them to use them ; and this would doubtless be the case if they
voted together , but an arrangement to prevent any interference might be made . Tne proportion of women to men _eng-aged in the
manufacture could be ascertained from the masters , and consequently the number of delegates to which they would be entitled .
These they might elect away from the men , and under the protection of the police , no men except candidates for election being allowed to
go among them , lest they should use violence . By this means the women would be represented at the board , and it would become a
matter of impossibility to oppress them to any considerable extent . I beg to lay this suggestion before the consideration , of any local
society that may arise in a manufacturing district , in hopes that by their calling the attention of the influential gentlemen of the
neighborhood to this point the threatened evil may be averted . It is no easy task to abolish an old-established abuse or injusticebut it
, ought not to be difficult in these days to _jDrevent the erection of a
new one . Jessie _Bottci-ierett .
Liocal Societies. 223
_liOCAL SOCIETIES . 223
Northumberland And Durham Branch Of The ...
_NORTHUMBERLAND AND DURHAM BRANCH OF THE SOCIETY TOR PROMOTING THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN .
On the 24 th of October , 1860 , a meeting was held at the house of the Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyneat which the following reso- '
, lution was proposed and carried : —
" That a committee be formed in aid of the Society for Promoting _>
-
-
Citation
-
English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1861, page 223, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121861/page/7/
-