Of the many replies in regard to the causes which lead married women to seek work only a few need to be mentioned. In the district of Potsdam the main reason given for the factory labor of married women was, that the earnings of the men were insufficient. In Berlin according to the reports of two inspectors 53.62 per cent. of the women who helped to support their families stated, that the earnings of their husbands were insufficient to support them. Similar information was given by the factory inspectors for the districts of western Prussia, Frankfort on the Oder, Franconia, Wurtemberg, Elsatia, etc. The inspector for Magdeburg gives the same cause for the majority of married working women, but also states that some married women must work because their husbands are dissolute and spend all their earnings on themselves. Others again, it was reported, worked as a matter of habit and because they had not been trained to be housekeepers. It may be true that these causes hold good in a minority of cases; but the great majority of these women work because they must. The factory inspector for Alsace states as the main cause for gainful employment of married women in modern industry, the demand for cheap labor, created by the means of transportation and by unrestricted competition. He furthermore states that manufacturers like to employ married women because they are more reliable and steady. The factory inspector for Baden, Dr. Woerishoffer, says: “The low wages paid to women workers is the main cause why employers resort to female labor wherever it can be made use of. Ample proof of this assertion can be found in the fact, that wages are lowest in those industries in which the greatest number of women are employed. As female labor can be employed to a great extent in these industries, it becomes a necessity to the working class families that the women should seek employment.” The factory inspector for Coblentz says: “Women usually are more industrious and reliable than young girls. Young working girls generally have an aversion against disagreeable and dirty work, which is accordingly left to the more unassuming married workers. Thus, for instance, dealers in rags frequently employ married women.”
That the wages of working women are lower everywhere than those of workingmen, even for equal work, is a well known fact. In this respect the private employer does not differ from the state or community. Women employed in the railroad and postal service receive less than men for the same kind of work. In every community women teachers receive a lower salary than men teachers. This may be explained by the following causes: Women have fewer needs and are, above all, more helpless; their earnings are in many cases only additional to the incomes of fathers or husbands, the main supporters of the families; the character of female labor is amateurish, temporary and accidental; there is an immense reserve force of female workers which increases their helplessness; there is much competition from middle class women in dressmaking, millinery, flower and paper goods manufactory, etc.; women are usually tied to their place of residence. All these causes make the hours of work longest for women unless they are protected by legislation.
In a report on the wages of factory laborers in Mannheim in 1893 the late Dr. Woerishoffer divides the weekly wages into three classes.[141] The lowest class comprises weekly wages up to 15 marks ($3.75), the middle class from 15 to 24 marks ($3.75 to $6), and the high class above 24 marks ($6). These wages were distributed among the workers as follows:
| Low class | Middle class | High class | |
|---|---|---|---|
| All the workers | 29.8 per cent | 49.8 per cent | 20.4 per cent |
| Male “ | 20.9 “ | 56.2 “ | 22.9 “ |
| Female “ | 99.2 “ | 0.7 “ | 0.1 “ |
The majority of the working women were paid starvation wages, as the following table shows:
| A weekly wage of | less than | 5 | marks | ($1.25) | was paid to | 4.62 | per cent | ||||
| “ | from | 5 | to | 6 | “ | ($1.25 | to | $1.50) | “ | 5.47 | “ |
| “ | “ | 6 | “ | 8 | “ | ($1.50 | “ | $2.00) | “ | 43.96 | “ |
| “ | “ | 8 | “ | 10 | “ | ($2.00 | “ | $2.50) | “ | 27.45 | “ |
| “ | “ | 10 | “ | 12 | “ | ($2.50 | “ | $3.00) | “ | 12.38 | “ |
| “ | “ | 12 | “ | 15 | “ | ($3.00 | “ | $3.50) | “ | 5.30 | “ |
| “ | more than | 15 | “ | ($3.75) | “ | 0.74 | “ | ||||
An inquiry by the department of factory inspection of Berlin showed that the average weekly wages of working women was 11.36 marks ($2.82); 4.3 per cent. received less than 6 marks; 7.8 per cent. 6 to 8 marks; 27.6 per cent. 12 to 15 marks; 11.1 per cent. 15 to 20 marks, and 1.1 per cent. 20 to 30 marks. The majority (75.7 per cent) earn from 8 to 15 marks. In Karlsruhe the average weekly wages of all working women amounts to 10.02 marks.[142]
Wages are lowest in the domestic industries for both men and women, but especially for women, and the hours of work are unlimited. Also domestic industry frequently implies the so-called sweating system. A sub-contractor distributes the work among the workers and receives for his remuneration a considerable amount of the wages paid by the employer. How wretchedly female labor is paid in these sweated trades, may be seen from the following reports on conditions in Berlin. For men’s colored shirts, manufacturers paid from 2 to 2½ marks in 1889. In 1893 they obtained them for 1.20 mark. A seamstress of medium ability must toil from dawn to darkness to finish from 6 to 8 shirts daily; her weekly wages amounts to from 4 to 5 marks. An apronmaker earns 2½ to 5 marks weekly, a tiemaker 5 to 6 marks, a skillful shirt-waist maker 6 marks, a very skilled worker on boys’ suits 8 to 9 marks, a worker on coats 5 to 6 marks. An experienced seamstress on fine men’s shirts can earn 12 marks per week if the season is good, and if she works from 5 o’clock in the morning until 10 o’clock at night. Milliners who can copy models independently earn 30 marks monthly; experienced trimmers who have been working at their trade for years earn 50 to 60 marks per month during the season. The season lasts five months. An umbrellamaker earns 6 to 7 marks weekly with a twelve-hour day. Such starvation wages drive working girls to prostitution, for even with the most modest requirements no working girl can live in Berlin for less than 9 to 10 marks per week.
All these facts show that the modern development of industry draws away women more and more from the family and the home. Marriage and the family are being disrupted, and so from the standpoint of these facts also it becomes absurd to relegate woman to the home and the family. Only they can resort to this argument who go through life blindly and fail to see the trend of development, or do not wish to see it. In many branches of industry, women are employed exclusively; in a great many they constitute the majority of workers, and in most of the remaining branches women find more or less employment. The number of working women is steadily growing and new lines of activity are constantly being opened to them.
By the enactment of the German factory laws of 1891 the work day of adult women workers in factories was limited to eleven hours, but a number of exceptions were permitted. Night work for women was also prohibited, but here too exceptions were made for factories that run day and night, and for manufactures limited to certain seasons. Only after the international convention at Bern on September 26, 1906, determined on a night’s rest of eleven hours for factory workers, and after Socialists for many years energetically demanded the prohibition of night work for women and the establishment of an eight-hour day, the government and the bourgeois parties are yielding at last. The law of December 28, 1908, limits the hours of work for women to ten hours daily in all factories where no less than ten workers are employed. On Saturdays and on days preceding holidays the limit is eight hours. Women may not be employed for eight weeks prior to and after their confinement. Their readmission depends upon a medical certificate stating that at least six weeks have elapsed since their confinement. Women may not be employed in the manufacture of coke, nor for the carrying of building materials. In spite of the energetic opposition of Socialists, an amendment was accepted that the controlling officials may permit overtime work for 50 days annually. Especially noteworthy is the clause which constitutes a first interference with the exploitation by domestic industry. This clause determines that women and minors may not be given work to take home on days when their hours of work in the factory have been as long as the law permits. Regardless of its imperfections the new law certainly means progress compared to the present state of affairs.