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LOCAL SOCIETIES. 225
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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Transcript
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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.
Northumberland And Durham Branch Of The ...
earnings may "be roughly stated at from 4 s . to 12 s . per week . Except in a few special casesthese women are superintended by men .
, One employer writes , " I find they do better under the direction of one of themselves , with general instructions from the foreman , than
under the superintendence of a man . " Another states that , in his manufactory , the work is given out by foremen , but done under the
direction of forewomen . Probably the masters generally would be willing to employ female overseers if they couldbut as it is " not
, the custom " to apprentice girls , there are no women competent to overlook .
It is a matter of astonishment to many , that girls should be found willing to work for Is . a daywhile good servants are so much in
, request . But the reason is not far to seek . The same difficulty meets _lis here as elsewhere—that of apprenticeship—for it need
scarcely be pointed out that to make a good servant , a thorough apprenticeship is as much required as for any other business .
Every one at all acquainted with the working classes knows how eagerly any subordinate situation in " a gentleman ' s family" is
caught up , or indeed any situation in any family where there are good opportunities of learning . But few " gentlemen ' s families "
require the services of young girls , and in smaller establishments the servant is expected to know her business before she comes .
The mistresses , often unable to teach , content themselves with idly complaining that they cannot find good servants , ready made to
their hands . This great difficulty at starting , no doubt , preventsmany girls from becoming servants . It should also be remembered
, that supposing factory girls were fit for domestic service , and inclined to enter it , the number of servants would be so enormously
increased that it would be impossible to find places for them . - It has been commonly supposed that the difficulty experienced by
women in finding remunerative occupation is caused by the excess of femalesand that if by female emigration we could _eqiialize
the proportions , of the sexes , this troublesome problem would be got rid of . Our experience in this locality does not confirm this
impression . In the towns of Newcastle and Gateshead , the disparity of the sexes is so slight as scarcely to affect the question . ( In :
Newcastle the proportion is thirty-nine males to forty females ; in the adjoining town of Gateshead there is a slight excess of males . ) No
doubt , if women could be induced to emigrate in considerable numbersthe pressure would be in some degree lessenedbut hereagain ,
the apprenticeshi , p difficulty presents itself . Untrained , women , are as unfit for the colonies as they are for liome life . It is , indeed , no
wonder that people _wlio have not learnt to do anything cannot find anything to do . A man in a similar position would perhaps
find himself even more helpless than a woman . The real _caiise of the difficultlies in the unaccountable thoughtlessness of parents
who seem to y take a certain pride in keeping their daughters idle , ,
and in the general dislike to innovations . While parents show them-
Local Societies. 225
LOCAL SOCIETIES . 225
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1861, page 225, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121861/page/9/
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