Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 55.djvu/559

Rh proper status of woman much good has been evolved; it is no longer considered degrading to earn one's living, and the woman worker in every field is winning her way to the respect and recognition which she deserves.

What can be done to raise the standard of woman's work, to give more thorough training in vocations for which women are best fitted, to dignify important occupations which suffer from the lack of skilled service and which are not overcrowded because of mistaken ideas, and, above all, to make women ashamed to receive compensation which they do not fully earn?

The employment bureaus connected with the various o rganizations of women are endeavoring to answer these questions. Their object, as outlined, is to advise and adopt such methods as shall best assist women in their chosen vocations; to also provide a bureau of registration where applications can be received and information given.

A committee of practical women supervises the work and endeavors not only to secure temporary positions, but to confer permanent benefits on those who seek their aid. The applicants usually include stenographers, typewriters, copyists, clerks, governesses, matrons, nurses, housekeepers, seamstresses, laundresses, cooks, and housemaids. It is the rule, and not the exception, to find a girl or woman specially fitted for the position she seeks. The majority are not fitted even to do one thing well, and the ignorance and assumption shown are appalling.

To discover latent ability, to stimulate the desire to excel, to explain the rights of the employer and employee, and the moral obligations of both, is a part of the privilege of the women who give time and thought to the employment problem.

The Boston Women's Educational and Industrial Union has been able to render excellent service by the distribution of circulars cautioning women against advertisements which offer large returns for work done at home. Its list of fraudulent firms, obtained by thorough investigation, has been sent to other associations, and has already proved of inestimable value to many women who would otherwise have been tempted to send money, allured by the attractive advertisements.

The list compiled gives the names of one hundred firms which are a "delusion and a snare," and which, on account of some trifling technicality, the law seems unable to touch.

To exalt the home and raise the standard of domestic service is another important object—perhaps the most important of all. From the ordinary intelligence office to the employment bureau under the guidance of educated women is a long step for progress.