Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/754

 WOMAN'S WORK The Opportunities for Women Workers in the East — Salaries — Climate and other Drawbacks — Shanghai and Hong-Kong As the term Far East is to most people a '^ somewhat vague one it is advisable to explain at once that it is generally under- stood to refer to countries east of India. For the purposes of this article it will only include English Colonies, as the Straits Settlements, Singapore, and Penang, which are governed municipally ; the Crown Colonies, Hong-Kong, Wei-hai-wei ; and the larger treaty ports, Shanghai, Tientsin, Amoy, and Foo-chau. These latter, having English settlements, are for practical pur- poses equivalent to English Colonies. In the East there are opportunities for women to do typewriting or school teaching, act as children's nurses, shop-girls, hospital nurses, or undertake millinery and dress- making, especially the making of evening dresses. And they may be stenographers at ;^i5o to £i9>o a year, but it must be understood that openings are hard to find, and they must be found in England. Openings for Stenographers If it be remembered that natives are not to be relied on for keeping professional and business secrets, it will not be wondered at that the Government offices, lawyers, and large trading firms prefer to entrust the typewriting of documents to safe hands. In many large firms male stenographers are kept, but as a rule Englishmen brought o^jt to the East for this purpose do not care to remain in this iX)sition, as there is little prospect of future advancement. The salary expected is also too high for the value of the work done, some of the large American firms paying as much as ;^40o a year to the chief stenographer. On the other hand, many firms employ Eurasian men and women, or Portuguese, as they call themselves. The Eurasian is a half-caste, one parent white and the other coloured, and is supposed to have all the vices of both nations and the virtues of neither. The smaller firms employ Eurasian girls entirely. The Eurasian girl has usually a shm, willowy figure of medium height, dark yellow, brown, or slightly tinted skin, large brilliant dark eyes, thick black hair and she dresses in European fashion. She is often exceedingly pretty and* much admired by newcomers to the East. She however, is by no means dependable, but she is smart and clever, and the rapidity with which she works is almost equal to that of her European sister. There are at the present time (191 1) a few Englishwomen holding good posts in the larger ports, and there is room for many more. The salaries are large, in Hong-Kong for example, vary- ing from 150-200 Mexican dollars a month. The value of the dollar fluctuates from time to time, but recently has maintained a steady average of about one shilling and ninepence. A salary of 150 dollars would then at the present moment be equal to £1^ 2s. 6d. a month, and 200 dollars be equal to £ij los. a month, very much larger salaries than are paid to stenographers of average abilities at home. The Almighty Dollar This fluctuating value of the dollar has in the past often been a great hardship in cases where the salary is paid on the gold basis. Thus, for example, a salar}^ of ;^io a month would, if the dollar were one shilling and ninepence, yield 125 dollars ; but if the dollar was to rise to two shillings would only yield 100 dollars. But as the price of food and other commodities is arranged to cover such variations and fluctuates very slightly, if at all, it follows that the spending value of /lo a month would be much less when the dollar is high than when it is low. For small salaries, it is advisable to arrange to be paid in dollars, for the spending value of the dollar remains very much the same, and the risk is great of the dollar rising in value to such an extent that all possibility of saving might be at an end. Of course, on the other hand, the benefit of a fall in the value of the dollar would also be lost, and those who have the gambling instinct developed are all in favour of salaries paid on a gold basis. No doubt there is much to be said on both sides of the question, for if money is to be sent home then, if the salary received be paid in gold, it will always have the same value in England, which to some people is more satisfactory. The Climate In the Straits Settlements the value of the dollar is fixed at two shillings and fourpence, but in Shanghai it also fluctuates, although not necessarily identically with the fluctua- tions in South China. So far as Englishwomen are concerned, the climate in the Straits Settlements, Singapore,