RES,
AND OFFICES

Housework, when carefully compared with work performed by women in
factories, stores, and offices, shows to a remarkable degree how many
old fashioned ways of conducting her household still cling to the modern
housewife. The methods that made housekeeping a success in the time of
our ancestors are not adapted to the present needs of a society in which
women who earn their own living are occupying so much more important
positions than formerly. Large stores and factories, requiring the
cooperation of many employees, have done more to open new avenues of
work for women than could have been dreamed of in former times, when it
was the custom for each family to produce at home as much as possible,
if not all, that was necessary for its own consumption.

Women, as a rule, are not taught self reliance, and many who hesitate
to leave their homes to earn a livelihood, find that by doing work in
stores, factories, or offices, they are not utterly separated from their
families. The work may be harder than they anticipated and the pay
small, but there is always the hope of promotion and of a corresponding
increase of wages. Business hours are frequently long, but they are
limited, and after the day's work is over, the remainder of the
twenty-four hours is at the disposal of the employees, who can still
enjoy the happiness and freedom associated with the life of their own
social circle. Besides they have one day out of seven as a day of rest,
and many legal holidays come annually to relieve the overstrain.

With housework it is very different. The woman who accepts the position
of a household employee in a private home must usually make up her mind
to leave her family, to detach herself from all home ties, and to take
up her abode in her employer's house. It is only occasionally, about
once a week for a few hours at a time, that she is allowed to make her
escape. It is a recognized fact that a change of environment has a
beneficial effect upon every one, but a domestic employee must forego
this daily renewal of thought and atmosphere. Even if she does not know
that she needs it in order to keep her mental activities alive, the
result is inevitable: to one who does nothing but the same work from
early morning until late at night and who never comes in contact with
the outside world except four times a month, the work soon sinks to mere
drudgery.

As to promotion in housework it seems to be almost unknown. Consid