United States. Women's Bureau and Byrne, Harriet A. (Harriet Anne), 1892-. The Age Factor as it Relates to Women in Business and the Professions : Women's Bureau Bulletin, No. 117 , Washington: Govt. Print. Off., 1934, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/5415, accessed on May 4, 2025.

Title: The Age Factor as it Relates to Women in Business and the Professions : Women's Bureau Bulletin, No. 117

Authors: United States. Women's Bureau, Byrne, Harriet A. (Harriet Anne)
Date: 1934
Page 16
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image-container-14 had 2 and the remainder had 3 or more, 42 having as many as 5 de pendents. . . More than two thirds of the 857 women who had the entire responsi bility for some dependents and shared it in the case of others had only one for whom they were entirely responsible. About equal parts of the women who shared responsibility had 2 or more and only 1. Expressed differently, approximately 3,400 women had the entire responsibility for about 5,200 dependents; about 6,500 women had the partial responsibility for about 12,500 other persons. PERSONAL INFORMATION 9 Women reporting family responsibility Number of dependents Total reporting Entire responsi bility Some en tire, other shared Shared Total with dependents: Number____ 9,118 100.0 2,565 873 5,680 Percent 28. 1 9.6 62.3 Reporting number of dependents------------------------- - 9,005 2, 554 857 5. 594 Percent distribution-------- ------------------------ 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 1 _____________________________________ 55.2 63.4 68.8 49.3 2 ________________ 27.5 24.7 21.7 29.7 3 . ___ ____ 9.0 7.0 6.5 10.3 4 ____ _. _ 4.4 3.3 2. 1 5.2 5 or more ----------- ------------------------------------------------- 4.0 1.6 .8 5.5 Of the women reporting age and family responsibility, well over • three fifths had some dependents. The proportions in the various age groups who had dependents were more than one half of those 20 and under 30 years of age, almost two thirds of those 30 and under 40, and seven tenths of those 40 and under 50. From this on, the proportions with dependents were again less, about three fifths of those 50 and under 60 and less than one half of those 60 years of age and over. Table 1.—Family responsibility, by age [Percents not computed where base is less than 50] Age Total Women reporting on family responsibility Not re porting on family responsi bility Total re porting With dependents With no dependents Number Number Percent of total reporting Number Percent of total reporting Number Total Total reporting 20,168 14,346 9,118 63.6 5,228 36.4 5,822 19, 793 14,122 8.969 63.5 5,153 36.5 5,671 54 4, 249 5,872 5,437 3,231 950 375 27 2, 489 4, 335 4, 218 2, 396 657 224 6 1,340 2,854 2,963 1,488 318 149 21 1,149 1,481 1,255 908 339 75 27 1, 760 1,537 1,219 835 293 151 20 and under 30 years_________ 30 and under 40 years-------------- 40 and under 50 years 50 and under 60 years 60 years and over — Not reporting age_____ 53.8 65.8 70.2 62. 1 48.4 66.5 46.2 34.2 29.8 37.9 51.6 33.5
image-container-15 10 AGE FACTOR IN BUSINESS AND THE PROFESSIONS Among the 9,096 women reporting marital status and dependency, almost one half of those with entire responsibility were single, not far from one fifth were married, and practically one third were widowed separated, or divorced. The proportions of the single and married women who had the entire responsibility for some dependents were less than for the total, 22.7 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively. In contrast to these, one half of the widowed, separated, or divorced women had the entire responsibility for persons other than them selves. The proportions with the entire responsibility for some dependents and part of it for others were 7 percent of the single women, 12 3 per cent of the married, and 14.9 percent of those widowed, separated or divorced. Seven tenths of the single women, almost two thirds of those married, and more than one third of the widowed and separated women only shared the responsibility for dependents. Marital status Total reporting with family responsi bility (number) Percent of w omen reporting family responsibility Entire responsi bility Some en tire, other shared Shared Total reporting marital status and dependents... Single......... . ... 9,09G 28.1 9.6 62.3 5,456 1,957 1,683 22.7 24.4 50. 1 7.0 12.3 14.9 70.4 63.3 34.9 Married.. _ ___ Widowed, separated, or divorced- -------------------------------------------------------------.—_ Discrimination against married women Of the 6,117 women who were or had been married and who re ported as to whether they had been discriminated against because ot marriage, about one fifth (1,133 women) reported such discrimination borne ol these married women reported discrimination against them m the teaching profession, in clerical pursuits, in nursing, in trade and m other lines. Several stated that they had received unfavorable treatment due to marriage in more than one pursuit. A few examples of teachers who had been discriminated against because of marriage follow here: A woman of a little more than 30, a resident of a Middle Atlantic btate, separated from her husband and with a 6-year-old son to support, felt ‘emphatically” that she had been discriminated against because of marriage in teaching, for which her training had prepaied her. She had taught for only one school year since her marriage in 1921. A woman of around 30 years, with 1 child and 2 adults dependent upon her, and living in a West North Central State, had taught school for 9 years before marriage. She had a bachelor’s degree in education, but since her marriage she had been able to secure onlv substitute teaching. A married woman about 35, living in the West, had held several teaching positions before 1928. At the time of filling in the question naire she was in an entirely different line of work. In office work many women reported discrimination because of marriage. Such statements as these were noted on the questionnaires
image-container-16 PERSONAL INFORMATION in reply to the inquiry as to the field in which discrimination had occurred: Stenographic positions for private concerns. Clerical—bank. Secretarial work or office work—large corporations do not employ married women. Telephone company will not employ married women living with husbands. Kailway office. Bookkeeping. Stenographic. Clerical work. City civil service and teaching. Of the women who had received unfavorable treatment because they were married, 935 reported as to family responsibility. Though more than one fourth (26.3 percent) had no dependents, as many as 689 women had one or more. Almost one third (30.8 percent) had the entire responsibility for other members of their families, well over one half (55.6 percent) shared the responsibility with others, and about 1 in 8 (13.6 percent) were entirely responsible for some and only partly responsible for others. Health A large proportion of the women in the study had excellent health, but more than one fourth (27.3 percent) of the almost 20,000 reporting had had serious illnesses or operations since they began work. When age was correlated with health during the period of their work his tories, it was found that serious illnesses increased considerably with advancing age up to 50 and under 60 years. Only about 1 in 6 (16.5 percent) of the women under 30 had suffered any serious illness, in contrast to more than one third (34.4 percent) of those 50 and under 60. The same proportion of those 60 or older as of those 50 and under 60 reported severe illness. Taken from another angle, of the 5,274 women who had had a serious illness or operation, less than 14 percent were under 30 years; 29.4 percent and 31.2 percent were, respectively, 30 and under 40 and 40 and under 50 years; 20.3 percent were 50 and under 60; and only 5.8 percent were 60 years and over. Women 40 years of age and over formed only 48.6 percent of all women reporting age, but they were 57.3 percent of the women reporting serious illnesses or operations. Just over one fourth (26.7 percent) of the 19,555 women who reported as to whether they had worked under conditions that affected their health replied in the affirmative, but less than 1 percent stated that their health had been affected seriously. As might be expected, the practice of osteopathy and of medicine and the occupation of nursing were the only groups with proportions worth noting of women whose health had been affected seriously, and even here the highest percentage was 2.7. Living arrangements As many as 19,667 women reported on their living arrangements. Almost two fifths (37.8 percent) maintained their own homes, more than two fifths (44.5 percent) lived with parents, relatives, or friends, 11 34014°—34-----3
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Date: 1934
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publisher: Govt. Print. Off.
place: Washington
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