Part 17 (2/2)

Carpet factories 29 ” 15 ”

Weaving 26 ” 16 ”

Shoemaking 29 ” 15 ”

Dyeing 25-29 ” 12-13 ”

Similar differences in wages for men and women are found in the Post Office service, in school teaching, etc. Only in the cotton industry in Lancas.h.i.+re did both s.e.xes earn equal wages for equal hours of work in the tending of power looms.

In the United States, according to the census of 1890, there were 2,652,157 women, of the age of ten years and over engaged in productive occupations:--594,510 in agriculture, 631,988 in manufacture, 59,364 in trade and transportation, and 1,366,235 in personal service, of whom 938,910 were servants. Besides that, there were 46,800 female farmers and planters, 5,135 Government employes, 155,000 school teachers, 13,182 teachers of music, 2,061 artists.[125] In the city of New York, 10,961 working-women partic.i.p.ated in strikes during the year 1890, a sign that working-women in the United States, like their European fellow-female wage slaves, understand the cla.s.s distinctions that exist between Capital and Labor. In what measure women are displacing the men in a number of industries in the United States also, is indicated by the following item from the ”Levest. Journ.” in 1893:

”One of the _features_ of the factory towns of Maine is a cla.s.s of men that may be termed 'housekeepers.' In almost every town, where much factory work is done, these men are to be found in large numbers.

Whoever calls shortly before noon will find them, with ap.r.o.ns tied in front, was.h.i.+ng dishes. At other hours of the day they can be seen scrubbing, making the beds, was.h.i.+ng the children, tidying up the place, or cooking. Whether any of them attend to the sewing and mending of the family we are not quite sure. These men attend to the household for the simple reason that _their wives can earn more in the factory than they_, and it means a saving of money if the wife goes to work.”[126]

The closing sentence should read: ”Because the women work for wages that the men can no longer work for, and the employer therefore prefers women,”--which happens in Germany also. The towns here described are the so-called ”she-towns,” already more fully referred to.

In France, there were, in 1893, not less than 15,958 women engaged in the railroad service (in the offices and as ticket agents); in the provincial Post Office there were 5,383 women employed; as telegraphers and telephonists, 9,805; and in the State Savings Banks 425. Altogether the number of women in France engaged in gainful occupations, inclusive of agriculture and personal service, was, in 1893, in round figures 4,415,000. Of 3,858 decisions, rendered by the trades courts of Paris, not less than 1,674 concerned women.

To what extent female labor was applied in the industries of Switzerland as early as 1886, is told by the following figures of the ”Bund”:

Industries. Males. Females.

Silk industry 11,771 51,352 Cotton industry 18,320 23,846 Linen and half-linen industry 5,553 5,232 Embroidery 15,724 21,000

Altogether, there were then in the textile industries, 103,452 women engaged, besides 52,838 men; and the ”Bund” expressly declares that there is hardly an occupation in Switzerland in which women are not found.

In Germany, according to the census of occupations of 1882, of the 7,340,789 persons engaged in gainful occupations, 1,506,743 were women; or 20.6 per cent. The proportions were, among others, these:--

Per Industries. Males. Females. Cent.

Commercial occupations 536,221 181,286 25.2 Service and restaurants 172,841 141,407 45.0 Messengers and day laborers 9,212 3,265 26.2 Spinning 69,272 100,459 60.0 Weaving 336,400 155,396 32.0 Embroidery 42,819 31,010 42.0 Lace and crochet work 5,676 30,204 84.0 Lace manufacture 13,526 17,478 56.4 Bookbinding and paste-board box-making 31,312 10,409 25.0 Paper manufacture 37,685 20,847 35.6 Tobacco working 64,477 48,919 43.1 Clothes-making, etc. 279,978 440,870 61.2

To these must be added 2,248,909 women engaged in agriculture, 1,282,400 female servants, also school teachers, artists, Government office-holders, etc.

According to the census of occupations for 1875-1882, the following was the result. There were employed in industrial occupations in the German Empire:--

Total Total Persons Employed.

Persons Employed. In the Small Trades. In the Large Trades.

Year. Males. Females. Males. Females. Males. Females.

1875 5,463,856 1,116,095 3,453,357 705,874 2,010,499 410,221 1882 5,815,039 1,506,743 3,487,073 989,422 2,327,966 514,321 --------- --------- --------- ------- --------- ------- Increase in 1882 351,183 390,648 33,716 283,548 317,966 107,100 or 6.4 or 35 or 1 or 40.2 or 15.8 or 26.1 per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.

According to these figures, not only did female labor increase by 35 per cent. during the period of 1875-1882, while male labor increased only by 6.4 per cent., but the great increase of female labor, especially in small industries, tells the tale that _only by dint of a strong application of female labor, with its correspondingly low wages, can small production keep itself afloat, for a while_.

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