CHAPTER XII

THE GIRL'S WORK (Continued)--VOCATIONS AS AFFECTING HOMEMAKING

Choice of vocation is far from being a simple matter for either boy or
girl; but for the girl who recognizes homemaking as woman's work,
double possibilities complicate her problem more than that of the boy.
_The girl must prepare for life work in the home, or life work outside
the home, or a period of either followed by the other, or perhaps a
combination of both during some part or even all of her mature life_.

It is the part of wisdom for us to study vocations in their relation
to homemaking. Will the girl who works in the factory, for instance,
or who becomes a teacher or a lawyer or a physician, be as good a
homemaker as she would have been had she chosen some other occupation?
Will she perhaps be a better homemaker for her vocational experience?
Or will her life in the industrial world unfit her for life in the
home or turn her inclination away from the homemaker's work?

These questions have somehow fallen into the background in the steady
increase of girls as industrial workers. "Good money" has usually come
first, and after that other considerations of social advantage,
working conditions, or local demand. Marriage and motherhood are still
recognized as normal conditions for most women, but we let their
industrial life step in between their homemaking preparation in home
and school, with the result that many lose physical fitness or mental
aptitude or inclination for the home life. We treat marriage as an
incident, even though it occurs often enough to be for most women the
rule rather than the exception. At some time in their lives, 93.8 per
cent of all women marry.

The first broad classification of vocations in their relation to
homemaking is: (1) those which are favorable to homemaking, (2) those
which are unfavorable, (3) those which are neutral.

It must, however, be recognized at the outset that few hard-and-fast
lines between these groups can be drawn, and that "the personal
equation" is as important a factor here as in most personal questions.
It is true, nevertheless, that helpful deductions may be drawn from
facts which it is possible to gather concerning the physical, mental,
and moral results of pursuing certain occupations as a prelude to
marriage and the making of a home.

In a general way, economic independence, that is, the earning of her
own living by a girl for several years before marriage, tends to