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    EMPLOYMENT OF WOMElSf. 365

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    ^ ¦ <» The Fact Revealed In Tlie Census ...

    OBnt a rule which , is perfectly right applied to one class , becomes ¦ injudicious - ¦ . ' . "We ¦ dwell , and on even this point cruel , because when extende we fe d ar to the all . anxiety to employ

    women is now so great , that benevolent men will give them occupation under the impression that persons who have received the

    ordinary education of a governess , and are considered qualified to teach , will be capable of any other employment which requires intelligence .

    The experiment thus tried is sure to fail : then the reaction will comeand we shall be told that attempts have been made to employ

    them , , but that they proved unequal to their duties , and that , in fact , the female mind is so volatile , or so obtuse , or so something or

    other , as to be totally incapable of performing ordinary business transactions : and thus the very impression we seek to diminish will

    be strengthened tenfold . There certainly now exist a small number of women who are

    capable of transacting business , a few have been fortunate enough to receive by some accident a boy ' s education , and some women of

    ability have taught themselves a considerable amount of practical knowledge ; and if an employer be lucky enough to light on one of

    these , she will be sure to give satisfaction . But the great mass of women are not of this description ; and ifby mistakeemployment

    should be given to one who has received , only the ordinary , amount of education bestowed on governesses , let her employer on

    dismissing her say to himself , not that she has failed because she is a womanbut that unpractically educated people are incapable of

    practical , work . If we would lessen the numbers now pressing into the already overcrowded profession of teaching , and enable women

    of the middle ranks to engage in other spheres of remunerative employmentour first step must be to provide them with a more

    , practical education . If we seek to discover the best means of so doing , we cannot do

    better than observe the method pursued to afford their brothers the means of earning their livelihoodand follow the same plan . There

    is scarcely a considerable town in , England which does not possess its endowed school , where the sons of little tradespeople are

    provided with an excellent education at a rate considerably below cost price < l the . princi In one les which of the is Christian about to be reli bui gion lt , day reading scholars , writing will , be arithme taught

    tic , book-ke p eping , geography , history , Eng , lish literature and composition , the Latin , Greek , and French languages , the principles of

    natural philosophy , mathematics and algebra , and also such other trustees arts and / 7 sciences for four as pounds may seem a year from and time boarders to time from expedient a distance to will the

    be received for twenty pounds ; , and the whole country is full of other institutions of a similar description . These schools have a

    double effect ; not only are the boys taught in them well educated , but they tend to raise the tone of education generally . The master

    of a private school must be able to offer yet greater Advantages if

    Employment Of Womelsf. 365

    EMPLOYMENT OF _WOMElSf . 365

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1860, page 365, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021860/page/5/