It is not always the man who comes alone to this country. Often the
girl comes in advance of the others and sends money back to bring over
her parents and younger brothers and sisters. Attention has been
called again and again to the hazards for the girl thrown on her own
resources in a strange country among people she does not know, whose
language she does not understand.[4]
She has, in fact, the same problem to solve as the man who has come
alone, but she is further hampered both by economic and social
handicaps. She is probably from a country where the life of a woman
has been protected and circumscribed, and to find herself in a country
where the conditions and status of women are freer, makes both for
confusion and complications. A false step is of more serious
consequence to her than to a man, and without guidance and assistance
she may sometimes take this in ignorance or thoughtlessness.
Equally changed are her living conditions here. She has the same ways
of living open to her that are open to the man--boarding or lodging
with a family group or setting up a co-operative household with a
group of girls. The girl living in the latter way does not have as
many difficulties as the man in the same situation, for women are used
to doing housework. Yet if men find it too difficult to be both wage
earners and housekeepers, it is surely too hard for girls.
If, on the other hand, the girl finds lodging with a family group,
life is not much easier, for she is expected to help with the
household tasks, even though she is charged as much as the man
lodger, who usually is exempt from any household responsibility. The
inevitable assumption that any extra tasks of housework or sewing
should fall to the women may make for a disproportionately long and
tedious day for the woman lodger. The compensation of having the
protection and sociability of a family group may thus be outweighed by
the burden of overwork. Added to this, the prevalent necessity of
overcrowding the households with boarders, puts a hardship upon women
that often is not felt by men.
The need of providing adequate and safe lodging for the girl away from
home has been felt in many places and by numerous organizations. Too
often facilities have appealed only to the native born or thoroughly
initiated immigrant girl. The International Institute of the Young
Women's Christian Association has helped immigrants to find suitable
homes. This has local branches in more than thirty cities, many of
which are helping to meet the housing problems of the immigrant girls.
The government, in its housing projects, provided accommodations for
the single girls similar to those provided for single men. They built
boarding houses for from seventy-five to a hundred and fifty girls,
with separate rooms and adequate toilet and bathing facilities. Each
floor had a matron's office, so placed as to overlook the entrance
and access to the sleeping quarters, and there was either a reception
parlor or alcove for every twenty women, or a large parlor with
furniture arranged for privacy in conversation. An assembly hall was
provided with movable partitions and set stage. Kitchenette, sitting
room, and sewing room were provided on at least alternate floors, and
the building contained an infirmary and laundry for the use of the
girls.[5]
Information is not at hand as to whether any of these houses were used
by groups of immigrant girls. Similar houses could, however, easily be
made useful for them if care were taken to put them in charge of some
one who understood the problems of the foreign-born girl. More
desirable still are projects undertaken by groups of foreign-born
women themselves.[6] In this way the problems and tastes of the
different nationality groups are taken into consideration, confidence
and co-operation on the part of the girls more easily won, and an
independent and ultimately self-directed plan will be realized.
[Illustration: ALMOST AT THE END OF THE JOURNEY]