THE HOME EMPLOYMENTS
The more thoroughly women and girls understand paid work outside of the
home, the more clearly they recognize that work in the home is of high
standing, intellectually, artistically and spiritually. The most able women
in outside work are constantly looking back to the home, hoping that they
may be able to introduce into home life and management much that they have
learned in other pursuits.
One of these women whose name is associated with a famous business success,
in writing of her own work recently said: "I believe that work which is
most commonly thought drudgery can be made attractive and beautiful if it
is approached in the right spirit, and I feel more than that--that until
all women are awake to this, and really enjoy their work--whether it is
running a home and bringing up their children, or being out in the world
in business--they will never be as efficient as men are in their field."
We should be careful then to know how a girl should equip herself for the
home employments. If she will look back to chapter five, "What Every Girl
Needs to Know," she will find that in order to develop into a young woman
able to meet the problems, work, responsibilities and joys of life, she
should know how to keep herself and other people well. To keep herself
well, she should understand the values of food and how to prepare food;
she should know how to dress, which includes knowing how to make and mend
clothes; and she should know how to rest. In order to keep other people
well, she must know what food should be given to babies, to people at work,
both men and women, and to old people. She should also be able to judge
whether they are properly clothed and cared for. If possible, every girl
should have some knowledge of nursing. She may not be a trained nurse,
but she should have some of the knowledge and skill of the trained nurse.
One of the finest of the home employments is this great work of caring for
people and keeping them well. One of the functions of a home is to preserve
the health of its inmates.
Fortunately, any girl who wants to learn the art and science of home making
may learn at home or in school, or she may go to special classes where all
these domestic subjects are taught. There is hardly any study which is more
delightful, because one has the pleasure of working with one's hands as
well as studying. A girl who is a good cook, and knows how to cut out
clothes and sew them, has a good part of the knowledge of the home-maker.
What else does the girl need to know before she can feel that she is
properly trained to have charge of a home? The girl should be prepared
to find that home-making requires a varied and very interesting training.
The best home-maker needs a thorough knowledge of household accounting.
The business girl understands that the factory, the store and the office
can not be managed successfully unless the manager understands all about
the bookkeeping of his business, for the books of the business should
show the exact condition of the enterprise. The home is not a business
and yet it requires some knowledge of business.
Much of her own happiness and usefulness and the happiness and usefulness
of others will depend on her knowledge and ability to handle an income.
She should read the best books and magazines on household management.
If the girl has no books of her own she should ask for advice and help
at the public library.
The home maker has many interests and an endless variety of duties.
She needs to study--and if need be to take some action to try to
control--the sources of food supply for her household. She must decide
what manufacturing work should be done in the house. Are bread and cake
to be baked at home? What preserving and canning are to be undertaken?
How much clothing is to be made in the house, either with or without help?
In every case the decision has to be made according to individual
requirements. It may pay one home maker to bake her own bread; in the case
of another, her time and strength may be needed in other ways. The problems
of mending, and of taking proper care of household furnishings, are part of
the duty of the home maker. She should also be an expert buyer, and should
be able to judge of the quality and price of fabrics and of their
suitability. If she employs a houseworker, she must be able to plan the
work of her helper. It is important that the home maker should be fair to
everyone whom she employs. Wages, hours, food and shelter, treatment and
standing, should all be of the best character that she can give. The very
nature of a home is based on right human relations. Nothing that is
unjust or unkind should be tolerated in the management of the home or
its relationships. The home is not managed for profit, but for human
well-being. This fact alone places the work of the home maker among the
first and best employments.
By far the most important function of the home is the care and training of
children. No girl or woman can have too great a talent, or too careful a
training, or too fine a personality, to devote all she has to the care of
little children. It is a very wrong thing for anyone to undertake
ignorantly, or to fail to be interested in, the best care of the health
and feeding of infants and their early training. All girls who have had
anything to do with the care of babies know how very delightful babies are,
and how worth while it is to take care of them and to win their affection.
The twentieth century girl has to deal with two aspects of home-making,
one of which is an old aspect revived, while the other is a principle new
in its application to the work of the home. We have been taught by the
stern necessity of the Great War the importance of the food supply of the
world and the household. Every woman who is a home maker should have, if
possible, a small garden in which to grow vegetables. Even if she lives in
an apartment, she may arrange to have a garden allotment in co-operation
with others. Gardening is one of the oldest of the home maker's
employments.
The principle which is new in its application to the work of the home
is co-operation. So far home makers have carried on their affairs
independently, each woman very largely by herself. Suppose a group of ten
women, practical, experienced home makers, with sufficient business sense
to recognize fair business dealing, were to decide to arrange for some of
their home making work in partnership. A great deal of the household
buying of coal, bread, flour, canned goods (when buying canned goods is
advisable), sugar, and other groceries, meat, poultry, butter, eggs, etc.,
might be carried on to great advantage in partnership. Canning, preserving
and baking might be undertaken by one or two of the members of the group,
or a professional worker might be engaged to do this work for the ten
members. The actual expenses should be shared fairly and a considerable
saving would be effected when the output was distributed amongst the
members. In the same way, the co-operative group might arrange for
household help. One skilled houseworker might assist with the work of
three or four households. Washing, ironing, cleaning, dusting, mending,
dressmaking, sewing, shopping, and the care of the telephone, could be
carried on either partly or wholly by members of the group in return for
other service, or by paid helpers who in every case should be reliable
experts.
The principle on which successful co-operative work is based is the forming
of a small group of well-known and trusted individuals to carry on work
either in production, or buying and selling, or in both, with the sharing
of expenses and the elimination of commission and secondary profits.
Co-operation is admirably adapted to the work of home-making. The girls of
the twentieth century, with courage, cleverness and enterprise, may bring
a new blessing to the work of the home through the use of co-operation.
While the home-maker recognizes that her first interest is the work
and the life of the home, she must also be interested in the affairs
of the day. The home is the heart and kernel of the affairs of the world.
It is a mistake to try to get rid of the work of the home; the right way is
to enjoy it; just as a doctor, an actor, a writer, a manufacturer or a
merchant enjoys his or her work. The affairs both of the home and the world
belong to the woman home-maker. We should take pattern by English and
French women, for the English woman is keenly interested in political
affairs and is able to discuss them with understanding, and the French
woman is admired by all because she is her husband's business partner and
can continue the business in his absence. A partner with responsibility is
better and happier than a worker without responsibility, and of infinitely
more value to the community than an idler without an intelligent interest
in life.
No true home can exist without the recognition and love of spiritual
interests. Home life is intended to promote the growth of kindness and
mercy. The woman of the home must also help in providing recreation for her
family and herself. Thus home becomes the best and happiest placein the
world and is worth all we can give in time, energy and love to make it so.