Employment of women in England.
In the English factories, where a larger proportion of women are employed than in the factories abroad, it has recently been proposed that the number of hours of labour should be limited by law. The proposal is supported by Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, on the ground that, by exciting a spirit of rivalry between them, women can be goaded on to over-exert themselves in a manner, which would not be observed among men. A woman, we are told, who can mind four looms without an assistant has a certain position, and becomes an object of attention. ‘Hoo’s a four-loomer; hoo’s like to be wed,’ will be commonly remarked of such an one.
The Association of Employers, though differing on almost every other subject from Messrs. Bridges and Holmes, suggest that women should be excluded from factories for three months after their confinement. Great evils have been found, by experience, to ensue from the too early return of the mothers to factory labour. Let us venture to hope that another Session of Parliament will not be allowed to pass by, without placing on the Statute Book a legal prohibition against a practice, which is universally condemned by those most competent to form an opinion.