Household Administration, Its Place in the Higher Education of Women
General
Household Administration, Its Place in the Higher Education of Women
Home economics; Women -- Education
In the first place, we may note the advantages of domestic service. It
is, as has been already observed, well paid. Some investigations carried
out by a group of my students last year led to the conclusion that the
ordinary cook, housemaid, or general servant in middle-class households
costs her employer in wages, food, house-room, heating, lighting, and
insurance about £50 a year.[78] I have been informed by a lady
accustomed to deal with servants in a wealthy household, that board
wages are usually 14s. 6d. for men servants, and 12s. 6d. and 10s. 6d.
for women servants. When we remember that in the ranks from which
servants are drawn,[79] a workman is comparatively well off if he is
earning 35s. a week for the support of himself and his family, and that
a woman who makes £1 a week is a rarity,[80] we should expect to find
domestic service one of the industries in which the supply outruns the
demand. Again, there is no period of apprenticeship or training
necessary. The servant earns from the first day she enters service, and
is often carefully trained by a mistress in cooking or waiting at table,
only to leave that mistress for a better situation the moment she
thoroughly understands her duties. Again, in many households the maids
share in the family holidays. They spend a month at the seaside or in
the country, having all their travelling expenses paid as a matter of
course. Their allowance of personal holidays may not be large, but at
all events their wages run on without interruption. These advantages
are the more remarkable, when it is considered that they have been
attained without the aid of any trade organisations at all. Trade unions
for domestic workers have been formed from time to time, but their life
has been ephemeral and their membership of the smallest. High wages,
practically continuous employment, food and lodging usually of a
standard much above that in the servant's own home--all these are to be
found in domestic work. Why, then, does it remain unpopular?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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