for a whole generation the public has been hearing a great deal of woman’s rights. already, however, woman has secured one of the greatest rights in the world. she has the right to labor in any capacity in which men hitherto have been employed.
some close observers have dignified this change by calling it the liberation of woman. but closer observers realize that it is also the liberation of man. woman is doing a great deal of work which man used to do and which it was supposed only man was competent to do, but woman has stepped in and done it just as well as man ever did, and men, sometimes with thanks and occasionally with curses, have retired to other kinds of labor more fit for strong arms.
the opinion of men on this subject would probably receive no consideration from the gentler sex, but a journal recently started specially to advance the interests of women, declares that at the present time there are over three hundred occupations in the united states, aside from{518} housekeeping, in which women find abundant and remunerative employment. what woman has said, man would be a brute to unsay.
there has been a decided gain to the world by this change, but the greatest gain has been to the sex to which the world has been, if not cruel, certainly indifferent. woman has been the slave, the plaything, the toy of man so long that it is hard to get out of the public mind the idea that woman is simply an appendage to the ruder being, and that whatever she is or is to have depends upon the generosity of man. the generosity of man is no more to be depended upon by the gentler sex than it is by men themselves. all men are generous when they are not likely to lose anything by it. all men also are selfish, and woman would not now have her present chance in the united states were it not that men saw a gain for themselves in the change.
woman may not be getting as much money for some kinds of work as man would were he doing the same work himself. but the beginning counts for a great deal in this world. everybody knows the old saying that the first step is half the battle, and woman has taken the first step. according to the authority above quoted she has taken over three hundred of them, which is more than man can say for himself during the same period.
no matter what may be said by the men who{519} have been displaced by women in the various departments of business; no matter what may be said by unpardonable gossips about women stepping aside from the family circle to do work which has no appearance of domesticity about it, the truth is that the appearance of women in the business world has been of immense service to the gentler sex, and indirectly of great benefit to the lords of creation. it is absolutely necessary to the civilization of the world that the great mass of mankind should realize that woman is something better than a mere dependent on man, and there is no quicker way of teaching this lesson than that of demonstrating that woman is quite competent to take care of herself if she has a fair chance.
a fair chance has been offered. it has been embraced, and some hundreds of thousands of women in the united states are doing for themselves far better than they would have been done for by the men into whose power they would have fallen under the old custom of making a woman’s maintenance and existence entirely dependent upon the male members of her own family.
a large department of industry in which women are employed, outside of household duties, is that of work at the government offices at washington. irresponsible newspaper paragraphers used to write a great many ugly things about treasury clerks and pension office clerks{520} and other feminine employés of the government. but that sort of writing has gone entirely out of practice. seeing is believing, and the hundreds of thousands of american citizens who have yearly visited the national capital are satisfied from their own observation and still more by their personal acquaintance with attachés of the different departments that woman not only knows how to work, but can prolong her efforts and maintain regular hours quite as well as any man; and, to put it mildly, that she is quite as respectable as man.
still more important, woman has not yet found it necessary to go out to drink. it is a severer joke and comment upon the stronger sex than any man yet has been willing to admit that, while clerks in all departments of the government service at the national capital may be found who deem it necessary to stimulate themselves during business hours, women work the customary hours prescribed, do their work well, and find no need of artificial stimulation.
does this mean that for sixty centuries the world has been mistaken as to which of the two sexes is the stronger? this is a good conundrum to think over when you have some spare time on your hands.
it has also been reported by the aforesaid irresponsible paragrapher that women clerks at washington have very little to do, and that the{521} work with which they are charged could be attended to by men with equal celerity and accuracy; but the fact seems to be, according to cabinet officers of half a dozen successive administrations, that the men work neither so fast nor so well, and cost a great deal more money.
more money probably will come in time. no slave can shake off all his chains at a single blow. old samson himself, when he had broken the manacles that bound him, was still blind and had to be led about by the hand. and woman, perhaps, may yet need some instruction and friendly counsel, but where in a single city a great many thousands of the gentler sex are performing arduous labor and living up to exacting restrictions, it is far too late to say anything whatever about the incapacity of woman for persistent labor.
reference has been made quite freely in this screed to the feminine employés of the government at the national capital, but only because this is the most prominent instance and illustration of the capacity of women to work. any observer, however, can satisfy himself, if he will, on the subject by looking through prominent business houses in any large city. where once every desk had a man behind it and all the sales-counters were lined with masculine salesmen, the word now in new york and some other cities is that no man shall be employed at any work for{522} which a woman can be found. woman has some qualities especially attractive to the management of a large business. she never gets drunk, she seldom goes into speculation, and still less frequently does she look around for something else to do. male clerks and salesmen are continually on the lookout for something better. they are likely to put their savings into wall street or some other gambling den. they expect to make a great career in business somewhere, somehow, some time; but woman has the superior quality, or so it seems to her employer, of being satisfied to do well what work she has in hand, and look for nothing else. consequently, marriage is almost the only influence that can ever remove her from whatever may be her chosen sphere of duty.
but woman no longer is satisfied to work for poor wages. there are in the united states thousands of feminine physicians. there are a few female lawyers, and indeed two or three pulpits have been satisfactorily filled for a number of years by women. other women can be found as principals of large business enterprises. everybody in wall street knows mrs. hetty green, one of the sharpest and most successful speculators in railroad securities that wall street ever has known. if she has made any losses nobody knows of them. on the other side her gains may be counted by millions by any broker on the street. she and her husband were mutually interested{523} in a large railroad enterprise. her husband has dropped out of sight. the wife remains, and no broker or operator who is not very new at the business ever attempts to get the better of mrs. green. her fortune has been rolling up steadily until it is estimated almost as high as that of any but the three most prominent men in wall street, and it continues to roll up. if she has any outside advisers, nobody has ever been able to discover who they are. her methods are so quiet and straightforward that she mystifies the very elect among railroad men.
the business of editing a newspaper is supposed to call for at least as high a combination of intellectual qualities as that of being president of the united states, and there are men who imagine that the first-class editor would let himself down were he to accept the presidency. yet several prominent newspapers in the united states are not only edited, but managed in their business departments by women. they are not those most talked about; nevertheless their stock is not in the market, and it seldom changes hands.
woman is said to be of quicker sensibilities than man. no one will doubt it who has seen a woman count currency at the treasury department at washington, or handle a type-writing machine in an office in a large city. recently there have been some exciting contests between{524} type-writers, and most of the winners have been women. in the city of cincinnati, which contains more artistic furniture probably than the city of london or paris, the work has been done almost entirely by the eyes and hands of women.
a few years ago hood’s “song of the shirt” was quoted as frequently in america as it once was in england, but nowadays only the stupidest of women, or those caught most suddenly in embarrassments and without any preparation for the battle of life, give themselves to the needle. men do that sort of work now. reduced gentlewomen who support themselves by sewing still exist, but they are not easy to find. instead of making shirts or other cheap clothing at starvation wages, the woman out of employment nowadays turns herself to some specialty of needlework if she knows no other tool or method, and there are “exchanges” at which her work may be displayed and at which orders are given according to the samples shown and at prices which would astonish the old-time slaves of the needle. women are in all the telegraph offices. they are clerks in thousands of business houses. they are mechanics, artisans and artists all over the country. it has become so much the fashion for women to work that nowadays there are signs in london, paris and new york of common business enterprises presided over by women with titles. the princess de sagan, one of the brilliant{525} lights of the court of the last napoleon, manages a dress-making establishment in paris and new york. other ladies, equally illustrious, are well known in trade circles in london and on the continent.
all this looks strongly like the emancipation of women, but it does not at first sight convey its full meaning to the observer or reader. the most important result of it all is that woman is thus made independent of man. a woman of brains no longer needs to marry in order to have a home. it would be difficult to suggest the proportion of unhappy marriages which have been due to the fact that admirable women have been utterly unable to care for themselves in the world, and consequently have attached themselves for prudential reasons, although by a revered form and sacrament, to some man. but no longer is this necessary. there are all kinds of women as well as all kinds of men in business, but it is far safer in society to attempt a romantic flirtation with a woman than to make similar attempts in any business circles where women are employed. there are a great many handsome and spirited women in the departments at washington, but no sentimental young man is fool enough to lounge about these places with the hope of getting up a flirtation. the woman who knows how to support herself is not going to be in haste to marry. when she marries she is going to have a husband,{526} in fact as well as in name, as well as a home. she can afford to wait. she has entire control of her own destiny and she cannot be taken at a disadvantage. instead of marrying for a home, the tables have been so turned that nowadays a large number of men are on the lookout for women who can give them a home. plenty of men can be found who are desirous of marrying in order to be supported, instead of marrying for the purpose of supporting somebody else.
the gain to woman in this change of affairs is simply inestimable. it is unnecessary to call any one’s attention to the comparative greatness of risk which woman sustains in entering the marriage relation now, and the helplessness in which she found herself under the old rule, when man was the only wage-earner. women are working for themselves, even married women, all over the united states. in many of the new england manufacturing towns there are hundreds, and in some of them thousands, of women, already married, working at the same trades as their husbands, but keeping their own separate bank accounts at the savings banks. a man can no longer afford to abuse a woman because she is dependent upon him, and dare not complain, for fear of losing her source of maintenance. a woman of any brains in any industry can care for herself quite as well as any husband is likely{527} to care for her. the consequence is that divorces are very infrequent in new england manufacturing towns. if either member of a married couple is given to lounging and bad habits, it is likely to be the man. it is only fair to say in man’s favor that the temptations are principally on the masculine side. women have not yet to any extent taken to drink, billiards and politics. they do not bet on horse-races or buy pools on sparring matches or go on excursions to neighboring towns for the sake of indulging habits which are unsafe to make public at home; so the woman of the house is far less likely to be out of work or to be away from her post than her husband.
what the effect of this change in the industrial outlook may be upon children is yet unknown. but it is a fair question, whether the woman whose daily hours are employed at mechanical or clerical occupations is likely to bring up her children worse than the woman whose leisure moments are consumed in small talk and social dissipation. no child can be less cared for than that of the society queen. the commonest washer-woman, who leaves her home at early dawn and does not return until dark, can give her offspring more attention than can be expected by the children of many ladies whose names appear in the fashionable columns of newspapers which give considerable space to that{528} sort of thing. whether each family should not contain one member whose duties and interests are entirely confined to the home circle, is also a question upon which a great deal can be said upon both sides. but the fact to be brought into prominence at the present time is that woman has already acquired the right to earn her own living and is doing it, to the extent of some hundreds of thousands of women, most admirably. women are presidents of large colleges in the united states; colleges, it is true, intended solely for the education of members of their own sex; nevertheless the course of study and the subsequent social and literary standing of the graduates shows that the work done in these institutions is well done. the best proof of this is in the better colleges for girls in the united states. the demand for scholarships far exceeds the supply, and there are millionaires in this country who have not yet been able to put their daughters in any one of the three or four best feminine colleges in the land.
in literature woman has made her way to an extent which every one knows, if he reads at all. our most popular novels are all written by women. women write a great deal of our poetry. it is impossible to find a first-class magazine which does not contain a number of contributions by women, and those contributions are quite as much talked about and quite as frequently read as anything written by the most prominent masculine minds in the land. as a novelist, the young woman is immeasurably the superior of the young man. no young man ever wrote a novel as famous as “charles auchester” at as early an age (seventeen years) as that of the young lady who is the author of this still much-read book; and our publishers are flooding the market with other novels by women who have not yet reached their majority. if quick perception, facility of expression, and piquant comment are sufficient to make the novelist, our future novels must be written principally by young women. that they make some dreadful blunders is very true. some of the most abominable books that have been inflicted upon a much-suffering public during the past year have been from the pens of young women who ought to have known better, if they had known anything at all. nevertheless, it is a great deal easier in literature to tone down than to tone up, and somehow the necessity for toning down has not been apparent to any great extent in fiction and poetry written by young men.
the “restraining force,” to which social philosophers attribute the sudden rise of some family, nation and tribe, may account for the sudden prominence and brilliancy of women in many departments of life. there may be such a thing as inheritance by sex, and a sex long suppressed,{530} as woman certainly has been, in all but the domestic virtues, may have a great deal to give the world and then suddenly fade out of prominence. but at present all odds are in favor of woman. she has made her way so rapidly, though unobtrusively, and so pleasantly, that every man who has the proper manly heart within him will be glad to see her go a great deal further, and believe that she is quite competent to do it.
