Prisoners of Poverty: Women Wage-Workers, Their Trades and Their LivesCampbell, Helen
History
Prisoners of Poverty: Women Wage-Workers, Their Trades and Their Lives
Campbell, Helen
Women -- Employment; Women -- Employment -- United States
Here then stands the arraignment of domestic service under its present
conditions, given point by point as it has formulated itself to those
who urged to turn to it. The mistresses' side defines itself as sharply;
but when all is said the two are one, the demand one and the same for
both. Men who work for wages work a specified number of hours, and if
they shirk or half fulfil their contract, find work taken from them.
Were the same arrangement understood as equally binding in domestic
service, thousands of self-respecting women would not hesitate to enter
it. Family life cannot always move in fixed lines, and hours must often
vary; but conscientious tally could be kept, and over-hours receive the
pay they have earned. A conscience on both sides would be the first
necessity; and it is quite certain that the master of the house would
require education as decidedly as the mistress, woman's work within home
walls being regarded as something continuous, indefinable, and not worth
formal estimate.
In spite of the enormous increase of wealth, the mass are happily what,
for want of a better word, must be called middle class. But one servant
or helper can usually be kept, and most often she is one who has used
our kitchens as kindergartens, adding fragments of training as she
passed from one to the other, ending often as fairly serviceable and
competent. Sure of her place she becomes tyrant, and nothing can alter
this relation but the appearance upon the scene of organized trained
labor, making a demand for absolute fairness of treatment and giving it
in return. Once certain that the reign of incompetence was over, the
present order of servers would make haste to seek training-schools, or
accept the low wages which would include personal training from the
mistress, promotion being conditioned upon faithful obedience to the new
order.
What are the stipulations which every self-respecting girl or woman has
the right to make? They are short and simple. They are absolutely
reasonable, and their adoption would be an education to every household
which accepted them:--
1. A definition of what a day's work means, and payment for all
over-time required, or certain hours of absolute freedom guaranteed,
especially where the position is that of child's nurse.
2. A comfortably warmed and decently furnished room, with separate beds
if two occupy it, and both decent place and appointments for meals.
3. The heaviest work, such as carrying coal, scrubbing pavements,
washing, etc., to be arranged for if this is asked, with a consequent
deduction in the wages.
4. No livery if there is feeling against it.
5. The privilege of seeing friends in a better part of the house than
the kitchen, and security from any espionage during such time, whether
the visitors are male or female. This to be accompanied by reasonable
restrictions as to hours, and with the condition that work is not to be
neglected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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