Delegate. You think not. Listen. I've just come down from Paris. Who gave me my railway ticket? A woman. Who did I find behind the counter at the Post Office? A woman. Who was at the end of the telephone wire? A woman. I had to get some money; it was a woman who gave it to me at the bank. I don't even speak of the women doctors and lawyers. And in industry, like everywhere else, women want to supplant us. There are women now even in the metal-working shops. Everyone has the right to defend himself against competition. The workmen are going to defend themselves.
Thérèse. Without troubling about the consequences. To take away a woman's right to work is to condemn her to starvation or prostitution. You're not competitors, you're enemies.
Delegate. You're mistaken. We're so little the enemies of the women that in asking you to do away with your Union we're speaking in your own interest.
Thérèse. Bah!
Delegate. We don't want women to take lower wages than ours.
Thérèse. I know the phrase. "Equal wages for equal work."
Delegate. That's absolutely just.
Thérèse. The masters won't give those equal wages.
Delegate. The women have a means of forcing them to; they can strike.
Thérèse. We don't wish to employ those means.