The six essays brought together in this small volume, in the order in
which they were written, leave many questions, still warmly debated
with regard to working women, almost untouched. The point of view
of the writer is circumscribed by the conditions set forth in the
first two chapters, which, true in 1891, may have a narrower or a
wider application as time goes on. The position of women in the small
section of the community known as the middle classes is there shown
to be exceptional. The great majority of women belong to the working
classes and spend their youth as wage-earners, in many cases under
conditions injurious to mind and body, although the real work of their
lives is eventually to be found in their own homes. With middle-class
women the position is reversed. To those who have once realised what
a large number of them may have to be self-supporting, the constant
problem henceforth is to discover how the lives of educated women may
be made of more value to themselves and others. The cost and reward
of efficiency are therefore the two factors which in this little book
are treated as being of primary, although not necessarily of greatest,
importance.
The author begs to express her thanks to the Editors of the _Nineteenth
Century_, _Economic Journal_, _Contemporary Review_, and _Charity
Organization Review_, for permission to republish the articles which
appeared in their magazines.