Woman in Industry.
1.--Development and Extension of Female Labor.
The endeavor of women to earn their own living and to attain personal
independence is, to some extent at least, regarded as a just one by
bourgeois society. The bourgeoisie requires an unhampered release
of male and female labor power in order that industry may attain
its highest degree of development. The perfection of machinery and
the division of labor, whereby each single function in the process
of production requires less strength and mechanical training than
formerly, and the growing competition, not only between individual
manufacturers, but also between entire manufacturing regions, states
and countries--causes the labor power of woman to be sought more
and more.
The special causes which lead to an increased employment of female
labor in a growing number of trades have been set forth in a
previous chapter. One reason why employers resort more and more to
the employment of women beside men, or instead of men, is, that
women are accustomed to require less than men. Owing to their
nature as sex beings, women are obliged to offer their labor power
cheaper than men. They are, as a rule, more subjected to physical
derangements that cause an interruption of their work, and owing to
the complication and organization of modern industry, this may lead
to an interruption in the whole process of production. Pregnancy and
child-birth lengthen such periods of interruption.[125] The employer
makes the most of this fact and finds ~ample indemnification for
these occasional interruptions by the payment of considerably lower
wages~. Moreover the woman is tied to her particular abode or its
immediate environment. She cannot change her abode as men are enabled
to do in most cases. Female labor, especially the labor of married
women workers appears particularly desirable to employers in still
another way, as may be seen from the quotation from “Capital,” by
Karl Marx on page 129. As a worker the married woman is “far more
attentive and docile” than the unmarried one. Consideration for her
children compels her to exert her strength to the utmost in order to
earn what is needful for their livelihood, and she therefore quietly
submits to much that the unmarried working woman would not submit to,
far less so the working man. As a rule working women rarely combine
with their fellow workers to obtain better working conditions. That
also enhances their value in the eyes of the employers; sometimes
they even are a good means to subdue rebellious male workers. Women
moreover are more patient, they possess greater nimbleness and a
more developed taste, qualities that make them better suited to many
kinds of work than men.
These womanly virtues the virtuous capitalist appreciates fully; and
so, with the development of industry, the field of woman’s work is
extended each year, but--and this is the decisive factor--~without
materially improving her social condition~. Where female labor
power is employed, it frequently releases male labor power. But
the displaced male workers must earn their living; so they offer
their labor power at lower wages, and this offer again depresses
the wages of the female workers. The depression of wages becomes a
screw set in motion by the constantly revolving process of developing
industry, and as this process of revolution by labor-saving devices
also releases female workers, the supply of “hands” is increased
still more. New branches of industry counteract this constant
production of surplus labor power, but not sufficiently to create
better conditions of labor. In the new branches of industry also,
as for instance in the electrical, male workers are being displaced
by female workers. In the motor factory of the General Electric
Company most of the machines are tended by girls. Every increase in
wages above a certain standard causes the employer to seek further
improvement of his machinery, and to put the automatic machine in
the place of human hands and human brains. In the beginning of the
capitalistic era only male workers competed with one another on the
labor market. Now sex is arrayed against sex, and age against age.
Women displace men, and women in turn are displaced by young people
and children. That is the “moral regime” of modern industry.
This state of affairs would eventually become unbearable if the
workers, by organization in their trade unions, would not counteract
it with all their might. To the working woman, too, it is becoming
a sheer necessity to join these industrial organizations, for as
an individual she has still far less power of resistance than the
working man. Working women are beginning to recognize this necessity.
In Germany the following numbers were organized: in 1892, 4,355; in
1899, 19,280; in 1900, 22,884; in 1905, 74,411; in 1907, 136,929;
in 1908, 138,443. In 1892 women constituted only 1.8 per cent. of
all members of trade unions; in 1908 they constituted 7.6 per cent.
According to the fifth international report of the trade union movement
the numbers of female members were in Great Britain, 201,709; in
France, 88,906; in Austria, 46,401.
The endeavors of employers to lengthen the work day in order to extract
larger profits from their workers is met with little resistance
by women workers. That explains why in the textile industry, for
instance, in which more than half of the workers are women the
work day is ~longest~. It was necessary therefore that government
protection by limiting the hours of work should begin with this
industry. Women being accustomed to an endless work day by their
domestic activity, submit to the increased demands upon their labor
power without offering resistance.
PERSONS EMPLOYED IN GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS.
KEY
(C) COUNTRIES
(Y) Year of Census
Ger: German Empire
Aus: Austria
Hun: Hungary
Rus: Russia
Ita: Italy
Swi: Switzerland
Fra: France
Bel: Belgium
Net: Netherlands
Den: Denmark
Swe: Sweden
Nor: Norway
EnW: England and Wales
Sco: Scotland
Ire: Ireland
GBI: Great Britain and Ireland
USA: United States of America[126]
==========+====================================
| Entire Population
+------------------------------------
(C) (Y) | Male Female Both
----------+------------------------------------
Ger 1907 | 30,461,100 31,259,429 61,720,529
Aus 1900 | 12,852,693 13,298,015 26,150,708
Hun 1900 | 9,582,152 9,672,407 19,254,559
Rus 1897 | 62,477,348 63,162,673 125,640,021
Ita 1901 | 16,155,130 16,320,123 32,475,253
Swi 1900 | 1,627,025 1,688,418 3,315,433
Fra 1901 | 18,916,889 19,533,899 38,450,788
Bel 1900 | 3,324,834 3,368,714 6,693,548
Net 1899 | 2,520,603 2,583,535 5,104,138
Den 1901 | 1,193,448 1,256,092 2,449,540
Swe 1900 | 2,506,436 2,630,005 5,136,441
Nor 1900 | 1,066,693 1,154,784 2,221,477
EnW 1901 | 15,728,613 16,799,230 32,527,843
Sco 1901 | 2,173,755 2,298,348 4,472,103
Ire 1901 | 2,200,040 2,258,735 4,458,775
GBI 1901 | 20,102,408 21,356,313 41,458,721
USA 1900 | 39,059,242 37,244,145 76,303,387
----------+------------------------------------
==========+===================================+===================
| | Persons gainfully
| | employed in
| Gainfully employed | percentage of
| | population
+-----------------------------------+-------------------
(C) (Y) | Male Female Both | Male Female Both
----------+-----------------------------------+-------------------
Ger 1907 | 18,599,236 9,429,881 28,092,117 | 61.1 30.4 45.5
Aus 1900 | 8,257,294 5,850,158 14,107,452 | 64.2 44.0 53.9
Hun 1900 | 6,162,298 2,668,697 8,830,995 | 64.3 27.6 45.9
Rus 1897 | 25,995,237 5,276,112 31,271,349 | 41.6 8.4 24.9
Ita 1901 | 10,998,462 5,284,064 16,272,526 | 68.0 32.4 50.1
Swi 1900 | 1,057,187 498,760 1,556,577 | 65.0 29.5 46.9
Fra 1901 | 12,910,565 6,804,510 19,715,075 | 68.2 34.8 51.3
Bel 1900 | 2,123,072 948,229 3,071,301 | 63.8 28.1 45.9
Net 1899 | 1,497,159 433,548 1,930,707 | 59.4 16.8 37.8
Den 1901 | 752,559 353,980 1,106,539 | 63.1 28.2 45.2
Swe 1900 | 1,422,979 551,021 1,974,000 | 56.8 21.0 38.4
Nor 1900 | 599,057 277,613 876,670 | 56.1 24.0 39.5
EnW 1901 | 10,156,976 4,171,751 14,328,727 | 64.6 24.8 44.1
Sco 1901 | 1,391,188 591,624 1,982,812 | 64.0 25.8 44.3
Ire 1901 | 1,413,943 549,874 1,963,817 | 64.3 24.3 44.0
GBI 1901 | 12,962,107 5,313,249 18,275,356 | 64.5 24.9 44.1
USA 1900 | 23,956,115 5,329,807 29,285,922 | 61.3 14.3 38.4
----------+-----------------------------------+-------------------
[126] These figures include 91,219 persons of the army and navy who
were absent from the country while the census was taken.
In other trades, such as millinery, manufacture of artificial
flowers, etc.,[127] they reduce their own wages and lengthen their
own work day by taking home extra work. They frequently do not even
notice that thereby they become their own competitors and do not
earn more in a sixteen hour day than they might in a well regulated
ten-hour day.
The table on page 212 shows to what extent female labor has grown
among various civilized nations, both in relation to the other sex
and in relation to the entire population.[128] Our table shows that
the number of women employed in gainful occupations constitutes a
considerable percentage of the entire population. The percentage
is largest in Austria, France and Italy. This may be partly due to
the manner of census-taking, as not only those female persons are
counted, whose principal occupation is a gainful employment, but
also those who perform incidental work for wages. The percentage is
lowest in the United States. It is also important to compare the
growth of the laboring population with former periods. Let us begin
with Germany:
==========+========================+======================
Years | | Persons gainfully
in which | Entire Population | employed
census +------------------------+----------------------
was taken | Male Female | Male Female
----------+------------------------+----------------------
1882 | 22,150,749 23,071,364 | 13,415,415 5,541,517
1895 | 25,409,161 26,361,123 | 15,531,841 6,578,350
1907 | 30,461,100 31,159,429 | 18,599,236 9,492,881
----------+------------------------+----------------------
==========+========================+===================
| Persons gainfully |
Years | employed in percentage | Of 100 persons
in which | of population | gainfully employed
census +------------------------+-------------------
was taken | Male Female | Male Female
----------+------------------------+-------------------
1882 | 60.57 24.02 | 71.24 28.76
1895 | 61.13 24.96 | 70.25 29.75
1907 | 61.06 30.37 | 66.21 33.79
----------+------------------------+-------------------
This table shows firstly, that the number of persons gainfully
employed increases more rapidly than the population; secondly, that
the growth of female labor still exceeds this increase; thirdly, that
the male laboring population is relatively stationary, while the
female laboring population shows a relative and absolute growth,
and lastly, that female labor at an increasing rate displaces male
labor. The number of persons gainfully employed has increased from
1882 to 1895 by 16.6 per cent.; the number of men, by 15.8 per cent.
and 19.35 per cent.; the number of women by 18.7 per cent. from 1882
to 1895, and by ~44.44~ per cent. from 1895 to 1907. The increase of
the population from 1882 to 1895 was only 19.8 per cent., and from
1895 to 1907 only 19.34 per cent. So the entire number of persons
gainfully employed has increased; but as the growth of the number of
men gainfully employed has approximately kept pace with the growth
of the population, the number of women gainfully employed has grown
mostly. This shows that the struggle for existence requires greater
efforts than formerly.
From 1882 to 1895 and from 1895 to 1907 we find the following
increase (+) and decrease (−) among the population of Germany:
From 1882 to 1895 From 1895 to 1907
Female persons gainfully employed
+ 1,005,290 = 23.60 per cent + 2,979,105 = 56.59 per cent
Male persons gainfully employed
+ 2,133,577 = 15.95 per cent + 3,077,382 = 19.85 per cent
Female servants
+ 31,543 = 2.46 per cent − 64,574 = 4.91 per cent
Male servants
− 17,151 = 40.35 per cent − 9,987 = 39.38 per cent
The following table shows the number of persons gainfully employed
in various trades:
KEY
Agr: Agriculture, Forestry
Ind: Industry and Mining
Com: Commerce and Traffic
Lab: Various kinds of wage labor
Ser: Public service and learned professions
Arm: Army and Navy
====+======================+======================+=====================
| 1882 | 1895 | 1907
+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------
| Male Female | Male Female | Male Female
----+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------
Agr | 5,701,587 2,534,909 | 5,539,538 2,753,154 | 5,284,271 4,598,986
Ind | 5,269,489 1,126,976 | 6,760,102 1,521,118 | 9,152,330 2,103,924
Com | 1,272,208 298,110 | 1,758,903 579,608 | 2,546,253 931,373
Lab | 213,746 183,836 | 198,626 233,685 | 150,791 320,904
Ser | 373,593 115,272 | 618,335 176,648 | 799,025 288,311
Arm | 542,282 -- | 630,978 -- | 651,194 --
----+----------------------+----------------------+---------------------
The following table shows the increase and decrease in various trades:
KEY
Agr: Agriculture, Forestry
Ind: Industry and Mining
Com: Commerce and Traffic
Lab: Various kinds of wage labor
Ser: Public service and learned professions
Arm: Army and Navy
Tot: Total
====+==================================+=================================
| From 1882 to 1895 | From 1895 to 1907
+----------------------------------+---------------------------------
| Female % Male % | Female % Male %
----+----------------------------------+---------------------------------
Agr |+ 218,245 8.60 − 162,049 2.80 |+1,845,832 67.04 − 255,267 4.61
Ind |+ 394,142 35.00 +1,490,613 28.30 |+ 582,806 38.31 +2,392,228 35.39
Com |+ 281,498 98.40 + 486,695 38.30 |+ 351,765 60.69 + 787,350 44.76
Lab |+ 50,029 27.20 − 15,120 7.10 |+ 87,039 37.22 − 47,835 24.08
Ser |+ 61,376 53.25 + 154,285 33.25 |+ 111,663 -- + 180,690 --
Arm | -- -- + 179,153 39.65 | -- -- + 20,216 --
----+----------------------------------+---------------------------------
Tot |+1,005,290 23.60 +2,133,577 15.90 |+2,979,105 -- +3,077,382 --
----+----------------------------------+---------------------------------
Among the persons gainfully employed there were:
KEY
Ind: Independent
Emp: Employees
Lab: Laborers, etc., excl. servants
Tot: Total
===+==================================+==================================
| 1895 | 1907
+----------------------------------+----------------------------------
| Female % Male % | Female % Male %
---+----------------------------------+----------------------------------
Ind|1,069,007 22.1 4,405,039 31.3|1,052,165 -- 4,438,123 --
Emp| 39,418 0.81 582,407 4.1| 159,889 -- 1,130,839 --
Lab|3,745,455 77.09 9,071,097 64.6|6,422,229 -- 11,413,892 --
---+----------------------------------+----------------------------------
Tot|4,853,880=100.00 14,058,543=100.00|7,634,283=100.00 16,982,854=100.00
---+----------------------------------+----------------------------------
The following shows the increase and decrease of women holding
~independent~ positions from 1895 to 1907:
[1907] [1895] [%]
Industry (domestic industry) 477,290 519,492 − 42,202 = 8.10
Commerce and traffic 246,641 202,616 + 44,025 = 21.77
Agriculture 328,237 346,896 − 18,659 = 9.04
The greatest number of female persons were employed in the following
trades:
1907. 1895.
Agriculture 4,585,749 2,745,840
Clothing and cleaning 883,184 713,021
Commercial lines 545,177 299,829
Textile industry 528,235 427,961
Restaurants and cafés 339,555 261,450
Articles of food and luxury 248,962 140,333
Metal works 73,039 36,210
Stone and pottery 72,270 39,555
Paper industry 67,322 39,222
Wood and carving industry 48,028 30,346
The following are the trades in which more women than men are employed
in Germany:
Women. Men.
Agriculture 4,217,132 2,737,768
Textile industry 466,210 390,312
Clothing trades 403,879 303,264
Cleaning trades 85,684 58,035
Restaurants and cafés 266,930 139,002
Domestic service 279,208 36,791
Nursing 129,197 78,520
These figures clearly show us the prevailing state of affairs in
Germany. Although the number of persons gainfully employed has
increased more rapidly than the population, the growth of female
labor still exceeds this increase. The employment of women is rapidly
growing in all lines of industry. While the male laboring population
is relatively stationary, the female laboring population shows a
relative and absolute growth. In fact the increase in female labor
constitutes the chief portion of the general increase of persons
gainfully employed in the entire population. The number of female
members of families supported by men rank from 70.81 per cent. in
1895 to 63.90 per cent. in 1907. Woman has become such a powerful
factor in industry that the Philistine saying, the woman’s place
is in the home, seems utterly void and ridiculous. In England the
following numbers of persons were industrially employed:
For every 100 persons
gainfully employed
Total Male Female Male Fem.
1871 11,593,466 8,270,186 3,323,280 -- --
1881 11,187,564 7,783,646 3,403,918 69.59 30.41
1891 12,751,995 8,883,254 4,016,230 68.09 31.91
1901 14,328,727 10,156,976 4,171,751 70.09 29.91
Within thirty years the number of men gainfully employed increased
by 1,886,790 persons = 22.8 per cent.; the number of women gainfully
employed increased by 848,471 = 25.5 per cent. It is especially
noteworthy that during 1881, the year of a crisis, the number of men
emparent one, since most of the wives and daughters of number of
women employed increased by 80,638. The relative decrease of female
labor in 1901 is only an apparent one, since most of the wives
and daughters of farmers are now counted as having no profession.
Besides, during the last twenty years those industries have grown
mostly in which male labor is chiefly employed, while the textile
industry has relatively, and since 1891, positively declined.
Percentage Female
of workers
1881 [1901] increase among these
Stone and pottery industry 582,474 805,185 53 5,006
Metal works and
manufacture of machinery 812,915 1,228,504 52 61,233
Building trades 764,911 1,128,680 47 2,485
Textile trades 1,094,636 1,155,397 5 663,222
Nevertheless female labor has again increased at the expense of male
labor. Only the share in increase of female labor that was 12.6 per
cent. from 1851 to 1861 and 7.6 per cent. from 1871 to 1881 was
reduced to 1.8 per cent. from 1891 to 1901. In the year 1907 the
following numbers were counted in the textile industry: 407,360 men
= 36.6 per cent. and 679,863 women = 63.4 per cent. In the clothing
trades and in commerce female labor has increased much more. But it
is furthermore seen that older women are displaced by younger ones,
and as women under 25 are mostly unmarried and the older ones are
mostly married, or widowed, it is seen that women are displaced by
girls.
The following are trades in which more women than men are employed
in England:
Women Men
Domestic service 1,690,686 124,263
Clothing trades 711,786 414,637
Textile trades 663,222 492,175
Among these cotton 328,793 193,830
wool and yarn 153,311 106,598
hemp and jute 104,587 45,732
silk 22,589 8,966
embroidery 28,962 9,587
In almost all the branches women receive considerable less pay than
men ~for the same amount of work~. A recent inquiry showed that
the average weekly wage in the textile industry was 28 shillings
1 penny for men, and only 15 shillings 5 pence for women.[129] In
the bicycle industry where female labor has rapidly increased as a
result of the introduction of machinery, women receive only from 12 to
18 shillings per week, where men received from 30 to 40 shillings.[130]
The same conditions are met with in the manufacture of paper goods
and shoes and in binderies. Women are paid especially low wages for
the manufacture of underwear; 10 shillings per week is considered
a good wage. “As a rule a woman earns half or one-third of a man’s
wage.”[131] A similar difference in remuneration between men and
women is met with in the postal service and in teaching. Only in the
cotton industry in Lancashire both sexes working an equal length of
time earned almost equal wages.
In the United States we find the following development of female
labor:
1880 1890 1900
Agriculture 594,510 678,884 977,336
Learned professions 177,255 311,687 430,597
Domestic and
personal service 1,181,300 1,667,651 2,095,449
Commerce and
transportation 63,058 228,421 503,347
Manufacture 631,034 1,027,928 1,312,668
------------------------------------------------------
% % %
Total, women 2,647,157 14.7 3,914,571 17.4 5,319,397 18.8
“ men 14,774,942 85.3 18,821,090 82.6 23,753,836 81.2
------------------------------------------------------
17,422,099 100 22,735,661 100 29,073,233 100
Here we see that the number of women gainfully employed has grown
from 3,914,571 in 1890 to 5,319,397 in 1900. It has increased more
rapidly than the population which increased from 62,622,250 persons
in 1890 to 76,303,387 in 1900; only by 21 per cent. In the same
inexorable way the number of employed men is decreasing, since they
are being displaced by women. Now for 100 persons gainfully employed
there are 18.8 women, while in 1880 there were not more than 14.7 per
cent. Of 312 occupations there are only 9 in which no women are
employed. According to the census of 1900, we even find among them 5
pilots, 45 engineers and firemen, 185 blacksmiths, 508 machinists,
11 well-borers, 8 boilermakers. “Of course these figures are not of
great sociological importance, but they show that there are very
few occupations from which women are absolutely excluded, either by
their natural capacity or by law.”[132] Women are especially numerous
in the following occupations: Servants and waitresses, 1,213,828;
dressmaking, 338,144; farm labor, 497,886; laundresses, 332,665;
teachers, 327,905; independent farmers, 307,788; textile workers,
231,458; housekeepers, 147,103; salesladies, 146,265; seamstresses,
138,724; nurses and midwives, 108,691; unqualified trades, 106,916. In
these 12 occupations 3,583,333 = 74.1 per cent. of all bread-earning
women have been counted. Besides there are 85,086 stenographers;
82,936 milliners; 81,000 clerks; 72,896 bookkeepers, etc., together
19 occupations, comprising over 50,000 women = 88.8 per cent. of
all women breadwinners. Women predominate in the following trades:
For every 100 persons employed.
Manufacture of underwear Women 99.4 Men 0.6
Millinery “ 98.0 “ 2.0
Dressmaking “ 96.8 “ 3.2
Manufacture of collars “ 77.6 “ 22.4
Weaving “ 72.8 “ 27.2
Manufacture of gloves “ 62.6 “ 37.4
Bookbinding “ 50.5 “ 49.5
Textile trades “ 50.0 “ 50.0
Housekeeping “ 94.7 “ 5.3
Nursing “ 89.9 “ 10.1
Laundry work “ 86.8 “ 13.2
Domestic service “ 81.9 “ 18.1
Boarding “ 83.4 “ 16.6
Stenographers “ 76.7 “ 23.3
Teachers “ 73.4 “ 26.6
Music teachers “ 56.9 “ 43.1
Of 4,833,630 women employed in gainful occupations aged 16 years
and more, 3,143,712 were single, 769,477 were married, 857,005 were
widowed, 63,436 were divorced. The American report says: “The increase
in the percentage of persons gainfully employed was greatest for
the married women, since it was by one-fourth greater in 1900 than
in 1890. In 1890 there was only one married working woman among 22;
in 1900 there was one among 18.” The number of widowed and divorced
women is very great, both relatively and actually. In 1900 among
2,721,438 widowed women 857,005 = 31.5 were earning their living, and
among divorced women the percentage was still greater. Of 114,935,
these 49 per cent. were earning their own living in 1890 and 55.3 per
cent. in 1900. Thus more women became self-supporting each year.
Among the 303 occupations in which women are employed there are:
79 with less than 100 women
59 “ “ “ 100 to 500 “
31 “ “ “ 500 to 1000 “
125 “ more “ 1000 “
63 “ “ “ 5000 “
Among 100 persons from 16 years up we find the following wage-scale:
Men Women
Less than 7 dollars 18 Less than 7 dollars ~66.3~
7 to 9 dollars 15.4 7 to 9 dollars 19.6
9 to 20 dollars ~60.6~ 9 to 15 dollars 13.2
20 to 25 dollars 4.8 15 to 20 dollars 0.8
More than 25 dollars 2 20 to 25 dollars 0.1
------ ------
Average weekly wage $11.16 $6.17
We see that 60.6 per cent. of the men earn more than $9, while
only 13.2 per cent. of the women earn more than $9, and more than
two-thirds (66.3 per cent.) earn less than $7.[133] The average
weekly wage for men is $11.16; the average weekly wage for women
$6.17, almost half of the man’s wages. Among government employes
the difference is equally great. Among 185,874 persons engaged in
civil service there were 172,053 men = 92.6 per cent., and 13,821
women--7.4 per cent. In the District of Columbia, the seat of the
national administration, the percentage of female labor amounts to
29 per cent. And yet 47.2 per cent. of the women earn less than $720,
while only 16.7 per cent. of the men earn less than $720.[134]
In France, according to the census of 1901, the laboring population
amounted to 19,715,075 persons, 12,910,565 men and 6,804,510 women.
They are distributed among various trades as follows:
Men. Per Cent. Women. Per Cent.
Agriculture 5,517,617 72 2,658,952 28
Commerce 1,132,621 65 689,999 35
Dom’tic service 223,861 23 791,176 77
Learned prof. 226,561 67 173,278 33
Industry 3,695,213 63.5 2,124,642 36.5
“The female laboring population amounts to one-half of the male
laboring population.”[135] As in all other countries, fewest women
are employed at those occupations that require greatest physical
strength (In mining 2.03 women for 100 men; in quarries 1.65; in
metallurgy, 1.06). The greatest number of women are employed in
the textile trades, 116 women for 100 men--in the clothing trades,
in laundries, 1,247 women for 100 men, and in the manufacture of
underwear 3,286 women for 100 men.[136] It generally holds true,
as Mme. C. Milhand states, that the greatest number of women are
employed in those industries where the hours of work are particularly
long and wages particularly low. “It is a sad fact that while the
industries, where the hours of labor are short, only employ a few
thousand women, those where the hours of work are long, employs
hundreds of thousands of them.”[137] In regard to the wage scale
E. Levasseur says that a woman’s wage rarely amounts to two-thirds
of a man’s wage and more frequently only to one-half.[138]
[125] A number of lists from sick-benefit funds, compiled by the
factory inspector Schuler, showed that female members were ill
7.17 days annually, while male members were ill only 4.78 days
annually. The duration of each illness was 24.8 for female members
and 21.2 for male members. O. Schwartz, The results of the employment
of married women in factories from the standpoint of public
hygiene.--German quarterly gazette for public hygiene.
[127] “This is especially the case in the clothing trade, but also
in other industries such as the manufacture of toys, underwear,
cigarettes, paper goods etc.” R. Wilbrandt--Protection of working
women and domestic industry.--Jena 1906.
[128] Encyclopedia of Social Sciences.--H. Zahn, Statistics of
professions and trades.
[129] Textile Trades in 1906. London, 1909.
[130] E. Cadbury, C. Matheson and C. Shaun--Women’s work and wages.
London, 1906.
[131] E. Cadbury and F. Shaun--Sweating. London. 1907.
[132] Statistics of women at work. Washington, 1908.
[133] Earnings of wage-earners. Bulletin 93, page 11. Washington,
1908.
[134] Executive civil service of the United States. Washington, 1908.
[135] C. Milhand--L’ouvrière en France. Paris, 1907.
[136] E. Levasseur--Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France
sous la troisième république. Paris, 1907.
[137] C. Milhand--L’ouvrière en France. Paris, 1907.
[138] E. Levasseur--Questions ouvrières et industrielles en France
sous la troisième république. Paris, 1907.
2.--Factory Work of Married Women.--Sweatshop Labor and Dangerous
Occupations.
Married women form a large percentage of working women and their
number is steadily increasing, which means a serious problem in regard
to the family life of the working class. In 1899, German factory
inspectors were instructed to investigate the work of married women and
to inquire into the causes which lead them to seek employment.[139]
This investigation showed that 229,334 married women were employed
in factories. Besides 1,063 married women were employed in mining
above the ground, as was shown by the report of the Prussian mining
authorities. In Baden the number of married working women increased
from 10,878 in 1894 to 15,046 in 1899, which is 31.27 per cent. of
all adult female workers. The following table shows the distribution
of married women factory laborers among the various trades:
Textile industry 111,194
Articles of food and luxury 39,080
Stone and pottery industry 19,475
Clothing and cleaning trades 13,156
Paper industry 11,049
Metal works 10,739
Wood and carving industry 5,635
Polygraphic trades 4,770
Manufacture of machinery 4,493
Chemical industry 4,380
Various 5,363
-------
Total 229,334
Besides the textile industry, the manufacture of articles of food
and luxury, especially the manufacture of tobacco, gives many
married women employment. Then comes the paper industry, especially
employment in work shops for the assorting of rags, and employment
in brick yards. “Married women are mainly employed in difficult
occupations (quarries, brick yards, dyeing establishments, manufacture
of chemicals, sugar refineries, etc.), implying hard and dirty
work, while young working girls under twenty-one find employment in
porcelain factories, spinning and weaving mills, paper mills, cigar
factories, and in the clothing trade. The worst kinds of work, shunned
by others, are taken up by the elder working women, especially the
married ones.”[140]
Of the many replies in regard to the causes which lead married women to
seek work only a few need to be mentioned. In the district of Potsdam
the main reason given for the factory labor of married women was,
that the earnings of the men were insufficient. In Berlin according
to the reports of two inspectors 53.62 per cent. of the women who
helped to support their families stated, that the earnings of their
husbands were insufficient to support them. Similar information
was given by the factory inspectors for the districts of western
Prussia, Frankfort on the Oder, Franconia, Wurtemberg, Elsatia, etc.
The inspector for Magdeburg gives the same cause for the majority of
married working women, but also states that some married women must
work because their husbands are dissolute and spend all their earnings
on themselves. Others again, it was reported, worked as a matter
of habit and because they had not been trained to be housekeepers.
It may be true that these causes hold good in a minority of cases;
but the great majority of these women work because they must. The
factory inspector for Alsace states as the main cause for gainful
employment of married women in modern industry, ~the demand for cheap
labor~, created by the means of transportation and by unrestricted
competition. He furthermore states that manufacturers like to
employ married women because they are ~more reliable and steady~.
The factory inspector for Baden, Dr. Woerishoffer, says: “The low
wages paid to women workers is the main cause why employers resort
to female labor wherever it can be made use of. Ample proof of this
assertion can be found in the fact, that wages are lowest in those
industries in which the greatest number of women are employed. As
female labor can be employed to a great extent in these industries,
it becomes a necessity to the working class families that the women
should seek employment.” The factory inspector for Coblentz says:
“Women usually are more industrious and reliable than young girls.
Young working girls generally have an aversion against disagreeable
and dirty work, which is accordingly left to the more unassuming
married workers. Thus, for instance, dealers in rags frequently
employ married women.”
That the wages of working women are lower everywhere than those of
workingmen, even for equal work, is a well known fact. In this respect
the private employer does not differ from the state or community.
Women employed in the railroad and postal service receive less than
men for the same kind of work. In every community women teachers
receive a lower salary than men teachers. This may be explained by
the following causes: Women have fewer needs and are, above all,
more helpless; their earnings are in many cases only additional
to the incomes of fathers or husbands, the main supporters of the
families; the character of female labor is amateurish, temporary
and accidental; there is an immense reserve force of female workers
which increases their helplessness; there is much competition from
middle class women in dressmaking, millinery, flower and paper
goods manufactory, etc.; women are usually tied to their place of
residence. All these causes make the hours of work longest for women
unless they are protected by legislation.
In a report on the wages of factory laborers in Mannheim in 1893 the
late Dr. Woerishoffer divides the weekly wages into three classes.[141]
The lowest class comprises weekly wages up to 15 marks ($3.75), the
middle class from 15 to 24 marks ($3.75 to $6), and the high class
above 24 marks ($6). These wages were distributed among the workers
as follows:
Low class Middle class High class
All the workers 29.8 per cent 49.8 per cent 20.4 per cent
Male “ 20.9 “ ~56.2~ “ 22.9 “
Female “ ~99.2~ “ 0.7 “ 0.1 “
The majority of the working women were paid starvation wages, as
the following table shows:
A weekly
wage of less than 5 marks ($1.25) was paid to 4.62 per cent
“ from 5 to 6 “ ($1.25 to $1.50) “ “ “ 5.47 “ “
“ “ 6 “ 8 “ ($1.50 “ $2.00) “ “ “ 43.96 “ “
“ “ 8 “ 10 “ ($2.00 “ $2.50) “ “ “ 27.45 “ “
“ “ 10 “ 12 “ ($2.50 “ $3.00) “ “ “ 12.38 “ “
“ “ 12 “ 15 “ ($3.00 “ $3.50) “ “ “ 5.30 “ “
“ more than 15 “ ($3.75) “ “ “ 0.74 “ “
An inquiry by the department of factory inspection of Berlin showed
that the average weekly wages of working women was 11.36 marks
($2.82); 4.3 per cent. received less than 6 marks; 7.8 per cent.
6 to 8 marks; 27.6 per cent. 12 to 15 marks; 11.1 per cent. 15 to
20 marks, and 1.1 per cent. 20 to 30 marks. The majority (75.7 per
cent) earn from 8 to 15 marks. In Karlsruhe the average weekly wages
of all working women amounts to 10.02 marks.[142]
Wages are lowest in the domestic industries for both men and women,
but especially for women, and the hours of work are unlimited. Also
domestic industry frequently implies the so-called sweating system.
A sub-contractor distributes the work among the workers and receives
for his remuneration a considerable amount of the wages paid by the
employer. How wretchedly female labor is paid in these sweated trades,
may be seen from the following reports on conditions in Berlin.
For men’s colored shirts, manufacturers paid from 2 to 2½ marks in
1889. In 1893 they obtained them for 1.20 mark. A seamstress of
medium ability must toil from dawn to darkness to finish from 6 to
8 shirts daily; her weekly wages amounts to from 4 to 5 marks. An
apronmaker earns 2½ to 5 marks weekly, a tiemaker 5 to 6 marks,
a ~skillful~ shirt-waist maker 6 marks, a ~very skilled~ worker
on boys’ suits 8 to 9 marks, a worker on coats 5 to 6 marks. An
experienced seamstress on fine men’s shirts can earn 12 marks per
week if the season is good, and if she works from 5 o’clock in the
morning until 10 o’clock at night. Milliners who can copy models
independently earn 30 marks ~monthly~; experienced trimmers who have
been working at their trade for years earn 50 to 60 marks per month
during the season. The season lasts five months. An umbrellamaker
earns 6 to 7 marks weekly with a twelve-hour day. Such starvation
wages drive working girls to prostitution, for even with the most
modest requirements no working girl can live in Berlin for less than
9 to 10 marks per week.
All these facts show that the modern development of industry draws
away women more and more from the family and the home. Marriage and
the family are being disrupted, and so from the standpoint of these
facts also it becomes absurd to relegate woman to the home and the
family. Only they can resort to this argument who go through life
blindly and fail to see the trend of development, or do not wish to
see it. In many branches of industry, women are employed exclusively;
in a great many they constitute the majority of workers, and in
most of the remaining branches women find more or less employment.
The number of working women is steadily growing and new lines of
activity are constantly being opened to them.
By the enactment of the German factory laws of 1891 the work day of
adult women workers in factories was limited to eleven hours, but a
number of exceptions were permitted. Night work for women was also
prohibited, but here too exceptions were made for factories that
run day and night, and for manufactures limited to certain seasons.
Only after the international convention at Bern on September 26,
1906, determined on a night’s rest of eleven hours for factory
workers, and after Socialists for many years energetically demanded
the prohibition of night work for women and the establishment of an
eight-hour day, the government and the bourgeois parties are yielding
at last. The law of December 28, 1908, limits the hours of work for
women to ten hours daily in all factories where no less than ten
workers are employed. On Saturdays and on days preceding holidays
the limit is eight hours. Women may not be employed for eight weeks
prior to and after their confinement. Their readmission depends upon
a medical certificate stating that at least six weeks have elapsed
since their confinement. Women may not be employed in the manufacture
of coke, nor for the carrying of building materials. In spite of
the energetic opposition of Socialists, an amendment was accepted
that the controlling officials may permit overtime work for 50 days
annually. Especially noteworthy is the clause which constitutes a
first interference with the exploitation by domestic industry. This
clause determines that women and minors may not be given work to take
home on days when their hours of work in the factory have been as
long as the law permits. Regardless of its imperfections the new law
certainly means progress compared to the present state of affairs.
But women are not only employed in growing numbers in those
occupations that are suited to their inferior physical strength, they
are employed wherever the exploiters can obtain higher profits by
their labor. Among such occupations are difficult and disagreeable
as well as dangerous ones. These facts glaringly contradict that
fantastic conception of woman as a weak and tender creature, as
described by poets and writers of novels. Facts are stubborn things,
and we are dealing with facts only, since they prevent us from
drawing false conclusions and indulging in sentimental talk. But
these facts teach us, as has been previously stated, that women are
employed in the following industries: The textile trades, chemical
trades, metallurgy, paper industry, machine manufacture, wood work,
manufacture of articles of food and luxury, and mining above the
ground. In Belgium women over 21 are employed in mining underground
also. They are furthermore employed in the wide field of agriculture,
horticulture, cattle-breeding, and the numerous trades connected
with these occupations, and in those various trades which have long
since been their specific realm--dressmaking, millinery, manufacture
of underwear, and as salesladies, clerks, teachers, kindergarten
teachers, writers, artists of all kinds, etc. Tens of thousands of
women of the poorer middle class are employed in stores and in other
commercial positions, and are thereby almost entirely withdrawn from
housekeeping and from the care of their children. Lastly, young, and
especially pretty women, find more and more employment as waitresses
in restaurants and cafés as chorus girls, dancers, etc., to the
greatest detriment to their morals. They are used as bait to attract
pleasure-seeking men. Horrible conditions exist in these occupations
from which the white slave traders draw many of their victims.
Among the above-named occupations there are many ~dangerous ones~.
Thus danger from the effects of alkaline and sulphuric fumes exists
to a great degree in the manufacture and cleaning of straw hats.
Bleaching is dangerous owing to the inhalation of chloral fumes.
There is danger of poisoning in the manufacture of colored paper, the
coloring of artificial flowers, the manufacture of metachromatypes,
chemicals and poisons, the coloring of tin soldiers and other tin
toys, etc. Silvering of mirrors means death to the unborn children
of pregnant workers. In Prussia about 22 per cent. of all infants
die during their first year of life; but among the babies of working
women employed in certain dangerous occupations we find, as stated
by Dr. Hirt, the following appalling death-rate: mirror makers,
65 per cent.; glass cutters, 55 per cent.; workers in lead, 40 per
cent. In 1890 it was reported that among 78 pregnant women who had
been employed in the type founderies of the government district of
Wiesbaden, only 37 had normal confinements. Dr. Hirt asserts that
the following trades become especially dangerous to women during the
second half of their pregnancy: the manufacture of colored paper and
flowers, the finishing of Brussels laces with white lead, the making
of metachromatypes (transfer pictures), the silvering of mirrors, the
rubber industry, and all manufactures in which the workers inhale
poisonous gases, such as carbonic acid, carbonic oxide, sulphide of
hydrogen, etc. The manufacture of shoddy and phosphoric matches are
also dangerous occupations. The report of the factory inspector for
Baden shows, that the average annual number of premature births
among working women increased from 1039 during the years 1882 to
1886 to 1,244 during the years 1887 to 1891. The number of births
that had to be preceded by an operation were on an average 1,118
from 1882 to 1886, and 1,385 from 1887 to 1891. More serious facts
of this sort would be revealed if similar investigations were made
throughout Germany. But generally the factory inspectors in framing
their reports content themselves with the remark: “Particular
injuries to women by their employment in factories have not been
observed.” How could they observe them during their short visits
and without consulting medical opinion? That furthermore there is
great danger to life and limb, especially in the textile trades,
the manufacture of explosives and work at agricultural machinery
has been shown. Moreover a number of enumerated trades are among
the most difficult and strenuous, even for men; that can be seen by
a glance at the very incomplete list. It is very easy to say that
this or that occupation is unsuited to a woman. But what can she do
if no other more suitable occupation is open to her? Dr. Hirt[143]
gives the following list of occupations in which young girls ought
not to be employed at all on account of the danger to their health:
Manufacture of bronze colors, manufacture of emery paper, making
of straw hats, glass cutting, lithographing, combing flax, picking
horse hair, plucking fustian, manufacture of tin plate, manufacture
of shoddy and work at flax mills.
In the following trades young girls should be employed only if
proper protection (sufficient ventilation, etc.) has been provided:
Manufacture of wall paper, porcelain, lead pencils, lead shot,
volatile oils, alum, prussiate of potash, bromide, quinine, soda,
paraffine and ultramarine (poisonous), colored paper (poisonous)
colored wafers, metachromatypes, phosphoric matches,[144] Paris green
and artificial flowers. Further occupations on the list are the
cutting and assorting of rags, the assorting and cutting of tobacco
leaves, assorting of hair for brushes, cleaning (with sulphur) of
straw hats, sulphurizing of India-rubber, reeling wool and silk,
cleaning bed-feathers, coloring and printing of goods, coloring of tin
soldiers, packing of tobacco leaves, silvering mirrors, and cutting
steel pins and pens. It is certainly no pleasant sight to behold
women, even pregnant women, working at the construction of railways,
together with men and drawing heavily loaded carts, or helping with
the building of a house, mixing lime and serving as hod-carriers.
Such occupations strip a woman of all womanliness, just as, on the
other hand, many modern occupations deprive men of their manliness.
Such are the results of social exploitation and social warfare. Our
corrupted social conditions turn the natural order upside down.
It is not surprising that workingmen do not relish this tremendous
increase of female labor in all branches of industry. It is certain
that the extension of the employment of women in industry disrupts the
family life of the working class, that the breaking up of marriage
and the home are a natural result, and that it leads to a terrible
increase of immorality, degeneration, all kinds of disease and infant
mortality. According to the statistics of the German Empire, infant
mortality has greatly increased in those cities that have become
centers of industry. As a result infant mortality is also heightened
in the rural districts owing to the greater scarcity and increased
cost of milk. In Germany, infant mortality is greatest in Upper
Palatine, Upper Bavaria and Lower Bavaria, in some localities of the
government districts of Liegnitz and Breslau and in Chemnitz. In
1907 of every 100 infants the following percentage died during the
first year of life: Stadtamhof (Upper Palatinate) 40.14 per cent.;
Parsberg (Upper Palatinate) 40.06; Friedberg (Upper Bavaria) 39.28;
Kelheim (Lower Bavaria) 37.71; Munich 37.63; Glauchau (Saxony) 33.48;
Waldenburg (Silesia) 32.49; Chemnitz, 32.49; Reichenbach (Silesia),
32.18; Annaberg, 31.41, etc. In the majority of large manufacturing
villages conditions were still worse, some of which had an infant
mortality of from 40 to 50 per cent.
And yet this social development which is accompanied by such deplorable
results means ~progress~. It means progress just as freedom of trade,
liberty of choosing one’s domicile, freedom of marriage, etc., meant
progress, whereby capitalism was favored, but the middle class was
doomed. The workingmen are not inclined to support small trades
people and mechanics in their attempts again to limit freedom of
trade and the liberty of choosing one’s domicile and to reinstate
the limitations of the guild system in order to maintain industry on
a small scale. Past conditions cannot be revived; that is equally
true of the altered methods of manufacture and the altered position
of women. But that does not preclude the necessity of protective
legislation to prevent an unlimited exploitation of female labor and
the employment in industry of children of school age. In this respect
the interests of the working class coincide with the interests of
the state and the general humane interests of an advanced stage of
civilization. That all parties are interested in such protective
measures has frequently been shown during the last decades, for
instance, in Germany in 1893, when an increase of the army made it
necessary to reduce the required standard, because our industrial
system had greatly increased the number of young men who were unfit
for military service.[145] Our final aim must be to remove the
disadvantages that have been caused by the introduction of machinery,
the improvement in the means of production and the modern methods
of production, and so to organize human labor that the ~tremendous
advantages~ machinery gave to humanity and will continue to give
may be enjoyed by all members of society. It is preposterous and a
crying evil that human achievements which are the product of social
labor, should only benefit those who can acquire them by means of
their power of wealth, while thousands of industrious workingmen
and women are stricken by terror and grief when they learn of a new
labor saving device, which may mean to them that they have become
superfluous and will be cast out.[146] What should be joyfully
welcomed by all thereby becomes an object of hatred to some, that
in former decades frequently led workingmen to storm factories and
demolish the machinery. A similar hostile sentiment prevails to
some extent at present between working men and working women. This
sentiment is unnatural. We must therefore seek to bring about a
state of society in which all will enjoy equal rights regardless of
sex. That will be possible when the means of production become the
property of society, when labor has attained its highest degree of
fruitfulness by employing all scientific and technical improvements
and advantages, and when all who are able to work shall be obliged
to perform a certain amount of socially necessary labor, for which
society in return will provide all with the necessary means for the
development of their abilities and the enjoyment of life.
Woman shall become a useful member of human society enjoying full
equality with man. She shall be given the same opportunity to develop
her physical and mental abilities, and by performing duties she
shall be entitled to rights. Being man’s free and equal companion
no unworthy demands will be made upon her. The present development
of society is tending in this direction, and the numerous and grave
evils incidental to this development necessitate the introduction
of a new social order.
[139] Employment of married women in factories. Compiled from the
annual reports of factory inspectors, for the year 1899 in the Home
Department. Berlin, 1901.
[140] “In the centers of the weaving industry the percentage of
married women among factory workers rises far above the average
26 per cent; for instance, in Saxony-Altenburg to 56 per cent, and
in Reuss to 58 per cent.”--R. Wilbrandt, The weavers at the present
time. Jena, 1906.
[141] Woerishoffer--The social status of factory workers in Mannheim.
[142] Mary Baum--Three classes of women wage-earners in industry
and commerce of the city Karlsruhe. 1906.
[143] Industrial activity of women.
[144] By an international agreement between Denmark, Germany, France,
Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland on Sept. 26, 1906, the use
of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches will be forbidden
from January 1, 1911. In Germany the manufacture of these goods has
been prohibited since Jan. 1, 1907, and since Jan. 1, 1908, they
may neither be sold nor otherwise distributed. In England a similar
law was enacted in 1909.
[145] The following percentage of men examined were found fit for
military service: 1902, 58.5; 1903, 57.1; 1904, 56.4; 1905, 56.3;
1906, 55.9; and 1907, 54.9. The following percentage had to be
discharged owing to disability after they had been enrolled: from
1881 to 1885, 2.07 per cent; from 1891 to 1895, 2.30 per cent; from
1901 to 1905, 2.47 per cent. W. Claassen--The decrease of military
efficiency in the German Empire.
[146] In December 1871, factory inspector A. Redgrave delivered a
lecture at Bradford in which he said among other things: “My attention
has recently been called to the changed appearance in the wool mills.
Formerly they were full of women and children; now the machines
seem to do all the work. Upon my inquiry a manufacturer gave me the
following information: ‘under the old system I employed 63 persons;
after the introduction of improved machinery I reduced my hands to
33; and recently, as a result of further great improvements, I was
able to reduce them from 33 to 13’.” Within a few years then the
number of workers was reduced by almost 80 per cent while the same
amount of goods were produced.--Further interesting information on
this subject may be found in Capital by Karl Marx.