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    6 THE OPINIONS OF JOHN STUART MILL.

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    , , Whe There Ther Is It No Be Name At O...

    to take systematically tlie lion ' s share of whatever belongs to both . But the principal question relates to the peculiar employments of

    women . The remuneration of these is always , I believe , greatly below that of employments of equal skill and equal

    disagreeableness carried on by men . In some of these cases the explanation is evidently that already given : as in the case of domestic servants

    whose wages , speaking generally , are not determined by competition , , but are greatly in excess of the market value of the laborand in

    this excess , as in almost all things which are regulated by , custom , the male sex obtains by far the largest share . "

    Again , referring to the preceding sentence about the effect of custom in determining the wages of certain classes of women , we

    must not forget that custom is simply the aggregate of individual opinion for which we are each of us responsible . It is literally the

    self-respect of workers which in . the long run keeps up their price in the labor market;—prevents them from contracting marriages on

    insufficient means , makes them seek new trades rather than try to undersell old onespromotes emigrationand necessitates a more or

    less equitable division , of the profits of cap , ital . And this self-respect , being intimately connected with the standard of public opinion among

    women , should be a matter of moment to each one—each should remember that on this point she contributes a quota to the influences

    which bear on the female working population . " In the occupations in which employers take full advantage of

    competition , the"low wages of women , as compared with the ordinary earnings of menare a proof that the employments are overstocked : that

    , although so much smaller a number of women than of men support themselves by wagesthe occupations which law and usage make

    acces-, sible to them are comparatively so few , that the field of their employment is still more over-crowded . It must be observed , that as matters

    now stand , a sufficient degree of over-crowding may depress the wages of women to a much lower minimum than those of men . The wages ,

    at least of single women , must be equal to their support ; but need not be more than equal for it ; the minimumin their caseis the

    pittance absolutely requisite for the sustenance , of one human , being . Now the lowest point to which the most superabundant competition

    can permanently depress the wages of a man , is always somewhat more than this . Where the wife of a laboring man does not by

    general custom contribute to his earnings , the man ' s wages must be at least -sufficient to support himselfa wifeand a number of

    children adequate to keep up the population , ; , since , if it were less , the population would not be kept up . And even if the wife earns

    something , their joint wages must be sufficient to support , not only themultra selves ' , of but low ( at wage least s for therefore some years ( except ) their during children some also transitory . The vie crisis plus

    or in some decaying , employment ) , can hardly occur in any occupa- , tion which the person employed has to live by , except the

    occupations of women . "

    6 The Opinions Of John Stuart Mill.

    6 THE OPINIONS OF JOHN STUART MILL .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091860/page/6/