Page:University Education for Women.djvu/14

 equally regard themselves, and be regarded by their parents, as bound to do the best work which their talents, tastes and opportunities fit them for. It follows that the question of going to a University or not, for all who can afford it, should chiefly depend on what that work is to be and whether study at a University is the way to prepare for it.

At this point some of my hearers may wish to raise the question whether in selecting her work a woman of independent means is justified in taking paid work. We do not hear of doubts on this point in the case of men, but they are often expressed in the case of women. There is an assumption that the amount to be earned by women in the aggregate is limited, and that this should be divided not among those who can do the work best, but among those most in need of the money. This is treating women's work as of the nature of relief work. Any portion given to a woman who could live without it is assumed to be taken from those who need it for their daily bread. There is surely confusion here between the problems of production and distribution. If we look at the matter in a broad way we see that all useful work done adds to the wealth of the world. Those who do not work are in effect supported by the rest, and the larger number of idle people there are the less new wealth is there to go round. This is only obscured in the case of persons of so-called independent means by the fact that they are living on the accumulations of previous generations.

No doubt the number of workers needed in some particular field may be limited, and when workers are increasing there may be difficulty for some in finding work till new fields are opened. If, for example, the demand for teachers were to cease expanding, the profession might become overstocked. But teaching is highly skilled work and work requiring for its highest development special talents. It is for the world's advantage that those best fitted for the work should enter the profession and this cannot be determined by a poverty qualification. It