CHAPTER XIV
Women's Problems of Work—Continued
I—TO-DAY
Clubs may begin this study with the problems of the woman in the tenement. There is the home itself. She is hampered by a small, crowded space in which to bring up the family; there is insufficient light and air, it is too cold in winter and too hot in summer; there are few conveniences for washing or cooking; beds are generally uncomfortable, the walls are cumbered with clothing, there is no space for the children to play and no privacy.
The first paper may describe the home in detail and be followed with a reading from "How the Other Half Lives," by Jacob Riis.
The next paper may take up certain difficulties of management the woman in the tenement must contend with. If she takes in work, tailoring, or flower making, or anything of the kind, space is even less than before. If she goes out to work, the care of the house falls on the children, who are overworked and neglected. She seldom knows how to buy economically, or cook appetizingly, or make clothing for her family. If the husband loses work, she must feel the stress of need. All the tenement life tends to send the children to the streets for amusement and air, the husband to the saloon for entertainment. The boys are apt to grow up without the instincts of home, and the girls often become immoral.
The third paper may present some solutions of her various problems. There are laws requiring space and air in tenements, and landlords who neglect their buildings may be made to better them; the work of the Legal Aid Association in these and other respects is to be studied.
Then women of the tenements should be brought into touch with Friendly Visitors and settlements, taught to clean up, to sew, to buy, to cook, to make home attractive. The children must be put into day nurseries if the mother goes out; the school teacher must come in to advise about the growing children; the music settlement may possibly give a hand; certainly the classes for boys and girls in the settlements, and the libraries, and evenings of recreation there may help them. The Little Mothers' Aid Association, and the fresh air work, the recreation piers, the small parks, and many other helps may be drawn upon. All these and others should be described.
Read from the report of the "Housing Reform," published by the Charities Publication Committee at 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York; also from the pamphlet on "Remedial Loans," National Federation of Remedial Loan Associations, 31 Union Square, New York, and the report of the Little Mothers' Aid Association, 236 Second Avenue, New York, and from material from the National Federation of Settlements, 20 Union Park, Boston.