During
the past hundred years there has been a complete revolution in industrial and
social conditions. Votes for Women a Practical Necessity, ca. 1912
From The Revolution in women's work makes votes for women a practical necessity. New York: National American Woman Suffrage Association, 1912.
THE REVOLUTION IN WOMEN'S WORK
MAKES
VOTES FOR WOMEN
A PRACTICAL NECESSITY
During
the past hundred years there has been a complete revolution in industrial and
social conditions.
In
consequence of this, the position of women and their conditions of work have
undergone a change nothing short of revolutionary.
A
hundred years ago women in their own homes spun the cloth, made the clothes for
the family, cured the meat, preserved and canned the fruits and vegetables,
baked the bread, made the butter, made the soap and candles, had charge of the
entire education of girls and the early education of boys, and took care of all
the sick. Women then could protect their children from evil influences, their
daughters from unhealthy and demoralizing conditions and their homes from
infectious clothing and impure food.
To-day
industrial conditions have completely changed. The cloth is now spun not in the
home but in the factory. The clothes are made not in the home but in the sweat
shop. The meat is cured not in the home but by the beef trust. The fruits and
vegetables are canned not in the home but in the factory. The bread is baked not
in the home but in the bake shop. The butter is made not in the home but in the
creamery. The soap, candles, etc., are made not in the home but in the factory.
The girls and boys are educated not in the home but in the public school. The
sick are cared for not in the home but in the hospital.
As
woman's work has gone out of the home into the factory many women have been
forced to follow their work into the factory, and there are to-day nearly eight
million women in the United States working outside the home. The hours of labor
of these women and their conditions of work, both moral and sanitary, depend
upon the laws, and yet the women have no voice in the making or enforcing of the
laws.
The
women who are left in the home are trying to bring up their children and to keep
their homes free from evil influences, both physical and moral. Under present
day conditions, the homemakers are directly dependent upon the outside world for
all the things which are necessary for the very life of their families, and yet
women have no voice in the making or enforcing of the laws which regulate the
conditions under which these things are produced.
Women
in their work as homemakers and mothers are even more intimately touched by the
influences which reach their children from the outside world. The playgrounds,
the school, the saloon, public amusements, etc., all influence their powers to
make their homes what they should be, and yet women have no voice in making the
laws which for good or for evil so vitally affect their work.
A
hundred years ago the government of this country was primarily concerned with
establishing its independence from other nations.
To-day
the government of this country is primarily concerned with social and industrial
problems, which vitally affect the lives of women and children.
History
proved that governments pay attention to the demands of the people who keep them
in power and not to the demands of a disfranchised class.
For this reason Votes for Women is a natural and necessary result of present day conditions.
Women need Votes now in order to do the work which Women have always done.
Working conditions of 8,000,000 women
2,000,000 little children at work
Sweat shops
Adulterated and impure food
Unsanitary tenements
Demoralizing living conditions
The White Slave Traffic
DEMAND
VOTES FOR WOMEN