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UNITED STATES- DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
'W . N , DOAK, Secretary
C H I L D R E N BUREAU
G RAC E ABBOTT, Chief
.
H f l i
D
|*
CHILDREN
OF WORKING MOTHERS
IN PHILADELPHIA
Part
1. THE WORKING MOTHERS
By
CLARA MORTENSON BEYER
Bureau Publication No. 204
S l e 2 .,J
IL 5 9 ci f f z bAr
U NITED STATES
GOVERNM ENT PR IN TIN G OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1931
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CONTENTS
Page
Letter of tran sm itta l--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In tr o d u c tio n .. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Purpose and m ethod of s tu d y --------------------------------- ------------------------------------D istricts selected for s tu d y __________________________________________________
Part 1.— T h e working m others--------------- -------------------------------------------------------------E x te n t of em ploym ent of m others------------ . . ----------------------------------------------R ace and nation ality of m o th ers--------------------------------------------------------A g e ________________________________________________________________________
N u m b er of years m a rried . -------------M arital sta tu s_______________________________________________________________
N u m ber and age of children---------------------------------------------------------------------N atu re of em p loym en t of m others in six m onths preceding in q u iry . _
M oth e r’s status as breadwinner and m arital sta tu s-----------------------D u ration and regularity of w ork ------------------------------------------E m p lo ym e n t a t hom e or aw ay from h o m e -------------------------------------------O ccupations______________________________________________________________
N a tio n ality and race_________________________________________________
R egularity of em p lo ym e n t----------------------------------------------------------------M oth e r’s status as breadw inner--------------------------------------C onclusions_________________________________________________________ 7 -------------A ppendix A .— E m p lo y m e n t of m others in th e different districts--------A ppendix B .— T ab les showing em p loym en t of m others in the different
districts-------------------------------------------------------------------
m
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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
U n it e d S t a t e s D
of L abo r ,
C h il d r e n ’s B u r e a u ,
epartm ent
Washington, January 10, 1931.
This report on working mothers in Philadelphia is the first
part of a study of the relationship between child welfare and the
employment of mothers undertaken at the request of the Child Health
Society of Philadelphia. The second part will contain the findings
about the children of these working mothers.
This study was made under the general supervision of Ellen Nathalie
Matthews, director of the industrial division of the Children’s Bureau.
Mary Skinner was in charge of the field work, and the report was
written by Clara M. Beyer.
The social agencies and school officials of Philadelphia gave the
Children’s Bureau valuable assistance in obtaining the material for
the report.
Respectfully submitted.
G r a c e A b b o t t , Chief.
H o n . W. N. D o a k ,
Secretary of Labor.
Sir :
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CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS
IN PHILADELPHIA
INTRODUCTION
PURPOSE AND METHOD OF STUDY
The employment of married women has increased greatly since
1890. The number of married women employed in industries, other
than agriculture, increased 50 per cent between 1890 and 1900, 121
per cent between 1900 and 1910, and 29 per cent between 1910 and
1920.1 In 1890 approximately 1 in 30 married women 16 years of
age and over was gainfully employed in nonagricultural occupations;
in 1920, 1 in 14 was so employed.
Of late years the growing recognition of the importance of home life
and of adequate care and supervision in the rearing of children has
aroused interest in the relation between the employment of mothers
and child welfare. The desire for facts as to this relation has given
rise to this study in Philadelphia, which was undertaken by the Chil
dren’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor at the request
of the Child Health Society of Philadelphia.
The principal object of the inquiry was to ascertain the relationship
between the employment of mothers and the welfare of their children.
At the same time it was hoped that the information obtained would
throw light upon the extent to which mothers of young children in a
modern industrial community are gainfully employed, either at home
or away from home, the trends and causes of such employment, and
the relation between the mother’s employment and the father’s
occupation, earnings, and contribution to the family support.
The field survey was made between January and September, 1928.
It consisted first of a house-to-house canvass of all families living in
11 selected districts. The number of families visited totaled 20,366.
Twenty-one families were away for the summer at the time their homes
were visited, and 21 others were unwilling to furnish representatives
of the bureau the desired information. In 7,976 families there was
either no mother or no children under 16 living in the home, and in
121 families there were foster children only. In the remaining 12,227
families the mother was living at home with one or more of her own
children or stepchildren under 16 years of age. For these families
information was sought as to employment of the mothers after mar
riage, the number of years they had been employed, their race and
nationality, age, number of years married, marital status at the time
of interview, and the number and ages of their children. If the
mothers had worked in the six months preceding the inquiry, infor
mation was sought also as to the regularity of their work in that
period, the nature of their occupations, and related facts.
1 Women in Gainful Occupations 1870 to 1920, pp. 76-77. U. S. Bureau of the Census Monograph 9.
Washington, 1929.
1
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CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
Second, for approximately 1,000 families visited in the house-tohouse canvass in which the mothers had been employed for at least
three days a week for five of the preceding six months detailed infor
mation was obtained relating to the economic status of the family,
the nature and duration of the mother’s work, the reasons for her
employment, her household activities, and the health, education,
conduct, and general welfare of her children. To have comparative
material as to the general standards of child care in families of the
same economic status and of the same nationalities in which the
mothers had not been employed after marriage, this information was
also obtained for an equal number of nonworking mothers living in
the same neighborhoods. In addition to interviewing the mother,
representatives of the bureau consulted social-agency records, court
records, and, for children of school age, school records for children of
both working and nonworking mothers.
To study the effect upon the children of the employment of the
mother within as well as outside the home, similar detailed informa
tion was obtained for approximately 500 mothers who had been doing
industrial work in their homes regularly for at least 15 hours a week
in five of the six months preceding the study and for an equal number
of the neighbors of these women who had not been so employed.
These mothers lived both in the districts in which the study of women
employed outside the home was made and in other parts of the city
in which industrial home work was common.
Part 1 of this report consists of an analysis of the information
obtained through the canvass for the 12,227 families in which the
mother was living at home and had one or more children under 16
living with her.
Part 2, to be published later, will contain a discussion of the more
extensive information obtained for approximately 1,500 families in
which the mother had worked steadily in the six months preceding
the study and for an equal number of families in which the mother
had not been employed since marriage who were included in the study
as a control group. In this section of the report special attention
will be given to the relation of the mothers’ employment to the wel
fare of their children.
DISTRICTS SELECTED FOR STUDY
Eleven districts in different parts of Philadelphia were selected for
study as samples of the various types of wage-earning neighborhoods
of the city. The districts were chosen to represent families of differ
ent races and nationalities and of different economic levels. Resi
dential districts of varying degrees of prosperity were selected. One
was essentially an industrial district, and others had an occasional
factory and frequent neighborhood stores. An attempt was also
made to select districts in which women were employed in different
kinds of industries. Such social resources of the districts as the
facilities offered for the care of children while the mother was working
were also considered in the selection of the districts.
In Philadelphia, as in other large cities, people of the same race and
nationality tend to settle in the same sections of the city. Nine of
the districts were predominantly white and two predominantly
negro. In four of the white districts native-born families predomi
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INTRODUCTION
3
nated, and in the other five foreign-born families were in the majority.
In three of the five districts in which the population was mainly
foreign born Poles predominated; in one, Russians and Jews; in one,
Italians. In three of the four districts in which the great majority
were native born, English-speaking immigrants were the largest
element among the foreign born— the English, Scotch, and Welsh in
one, the Irish in two ; in the other, Italians and Poles were more largely
represented. The native-born mothers in these districts were in
many instances of the second generation of the nationality that
predominated among the foreign born.
A comparison of the race and nativity of the mothers interviewed in
the 11 districts with those of the city as a whole indicates that they
were fairly representative, in these respects, of the city’s wage-earning
population. The proportions of negro women and foreign-born white
women were somewhat greater than those for the city as a whole at
the census of 1920.2 Eighty-four per cent of the mothers were white
and 16 per cent were negro. Of the white mothers almost equal
proportions were of native and foreign birth— 53 per cent as compared
with 47 per cent. The principal nationalities and racial groups repre
sented among the foreign-born women were those that are most
important among Philadelphia’s adult foreign-born population—
Poles, Russians, and other Slavs, Italians, Irish, Germans, English,
Scotch, and Welsh.3
For detailed descriptions of the districts surveyed see Appendix A,
pages 30 to 35.
s Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, vol. 3, Population, p. 867. United States Bureau of the
Census. Washington, 1922.
8 Ibid., p. $53.
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PART 1 — THE WORKING MOTHERS
EXTENT OF EMPLOYMENT OF MOTHERS
Among wage earners in the districts visited in Philadelphia the
employment of the wife after marriage was not exceptional. In the
12,227 families visited in the house-to-house canvass in which the
mother was at home and had at least one child under 16 years of age,
6,070 mothers (50 per cent) had been employed after marriage; 1,999
(16 per cent) had been employed at least 10 months in the year before
the study; and 2,711 (22 per cent) at least six months, not always the
six months immediately before the interview.
On the whole the mothers had been employed during recent years.
Of those who had terminated their employment or were tempo
rarily out of work at the time of the inquiry, 60 per cent had worked
at some time since January 1, 1925.
Most of the mothers who had worked after marriage had been
employed prior to, as well as during, the year of the survey. Many
had worked for a considerable part of their married lives. More than
two-fifths of those reporting employment after marriage had worked
at least 30 per cent and one-fourth at least 50 per cent of the time.
(See Table 2.) A small proportion had worked almost all of their
married lives. The survey revealed no evidence that the depression
in the textile and other industries resulting in unemployment among
the men wage workers in Philadelphia in the year of the survey had
resulted in a great increase in the number of women workers.
Fairly comparable data are available with reference to the em
ployment of white mothers a decade earlier. In a study made by
Gwendolyn S. Hughes in 1918—19 information was obtained as to the
employment status of 7,359 white mothers with husbands and one or
more children 16 years of age or under living at home in six industrial
sections of Philadelphia.1 The neighborhoods included in this survey
were of much the same character as those canvassed in the Children’s
Bureau study.
At the close of the war, during which many married women went
into industry for the first time, the Hughes study showed that 14 per
cent of the married women with children 16 years of age or under in
the six districts had worked within the year preceding the inter
view.2 Nine or ten years later 21 per cent of a corresponding group
of mothers included in the Children’s Bureau study had been em
ployed during the year. In other words, where 1 in 7 of the married
women with husbands and 1 or more young children at home were
employed in the period immediately following the war, less than a
decade later under peace conditions more than 1 in 5 were employed,
an increase of approximately 7 per cent.
1Hughes, Gwendolyn S.: Mothers in Industry, p. 25. New Republic (Inc.), New York, 1925. The
Children’s Bureau canvassed only families in which there were 1 or more children under 16 years of age.
Doctor Hughes’s study included a few mothers with a 16-year-old child, but probably not enough of these
were included to affect the findings materially.
» Ibid., p. 25.
5
1 8 9 2 3 °— 31------ 2
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CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
The discussion that follows shows race and nationality, age, number
of years married, marital status, and number and age of children for
the total number of mothers employed after marriage and for those
employed in the six months preceding the interview. Additional
information for the latter group is contained in the section on the
nature of the employment of mothers in the six months preceding the
interview (see p. 18).
R A C E A N D N A T I O N A L IT Y O F M O T H E R S
Of the 6,070 employed mothers, 4,486 (74 per cent) were white and
1,569 (26 per cent) were negro. (Table 1.) Two thousand three
hundred and eighty-four (23 per cent) of the white and 1,115 (57 per
cent) of the negro mothers had been employed in the six months pre
ceding the inquiry. Employment was more usual among the negro
than among the white mothers. Of the 12,227 families included in
the study, 1,960 (19 per cent) of all the white and 861 (44 per cent) of
all the negro mothers were employed when visited. The white
mothers had been employed for considerably shorter periods than
the negro; one-fifth of the employed white mothers, compared with
nearly one-half of the employed negro mothers, had been employed
at least 50 per cent of their married fife. A somewhat smaller pro
portion of the white than of the negro mothers (54 per cent com
pared with 78 per cent) who were not employed at the time of the
interview had worked at some time since January 1, 1925.
Differences in nationality carrying with them different standards
of living and different attitudes and customs also markedly affected
the extent of employment among mothers. Among the native-born
white mothers 41 per cent, and among the foreign-born white mothers
47 per cent, had been employed after marriage. The proportion
varied from 31 per cent of the Irish and 35 per cent of the Italian to
60 per cent of the Polish, Russian (other than Jewish), and Lithu
anian mothers included in the inquiry.
Current employment among the foreign born showed a similar
variation. Less than a fifth of all the Irish and Italian mothers can
vassed had worked within the six months preceding the interview, as
compared with about one-third of the Poles and more than one-third
of the Russians (other than Jews) and Lithuanians. Of the foreignborn group as a whole 27 per cent had been working in the six months
before they were interviewed.
The percentage of time employed after marriage was slightly less
for the native-born white mothers than for the foreign-born mothers,
18 per cent of the former compared with 21 per cent of the latter
having worked 50 per cent or more of the time since their marriage.
(Table 2.) However, the amount of time that the mothers of the
different nationalities had worked varied greatly. The English,
Scotch, and Welsh and Italian mothers had been employed about the
same proportions of their married fives as the native-born white
mothers. Among the other mothers the percentage who had been
employed at least half the time after marriage ranged from 45 per
cent of the Jewish to 14 per cent of the Irish. Forty-six per cent of
the negro mothers had been employed at least half the time.
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T a b l e 1.— Race, nationality, and em ploym ent history o f mothers having children under 16 years o f age in 11 districts of Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
Employed since marriage
Race and nationality of mother
Total
since
Not employed in 6 Not report Not employed
marriage
months immedi ed whether
ately preceding employed
date of interview in 6 months
immediate
ly preceding
date of in
Number Per cent1 Number Per cent1 Number Per cent1 terview
Number Percent1
Employed in 6
months immedi
ately preceding
date of interview
Total
12,227
6,070
50
3,509
29
2,555
21
6
6,157
50
12,212
6,058
50
3,501
29
2,551
21
6
6,154
50
White............................ ..........................................................................
10,243
4,486
44
2,384
23
2,098
20
4
5,757
56
Native......................... ............... 1................................................„
Foreign born__________ ______ ______________________________
Polish_______________________ _______________ ____ ______
Italian____________________________ ____ ___________ ____
Irish......... .............. ............... ...................................................
5,427
4,801
1,190
704
682
881
426
455
2,209
2,270
716
246
210
444
169
275
41
47
60
35
31
50
40
60
1,082
1,300
376
131
123
299
129
170
20
27
32
19
18
34
30
37
1,125
968
339
115
88
145
40
105
20
20
28
16
13
16
9
23
2
2
1
1
1
3,218
2,531
474
458
472
437
257
180
59
53
40
65
69
50
60
40
English, Scotch, and Welsh_____________________________
German............................ .............................. .........................
Lithuanian__________________________ __________________
Other__________ ____ ___________ _____ ______ ___________
Nationality not reported________________________ ______ _
Jewish*._____ T_______________________________ _______
Other______________ ________________ _____ __________
284
284
187
351
238
136
102
134
143
113
157
107
52
55
47
50
60
45
45
38
54
68
78
67
78
80
38
42
24
27
36
22
34
28
41
66
65
46
79
27
14
13
23
23
25
23
11
10
13
150
141
74
194
131
84
47
53
50
40
55
55
62
46
80
1,115
2
57
452
1
Nativity not reported_______________________________________
15
7
Negro......................................................................................................
Chinese.................................................................... ..............................
1,966
3
1,569
3
Race not reported_____________________________ _____ ______________
15
12
1Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
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8
5
4
8
23
2
397
3
20
THE WORKING MOTHERS
Total............................................................... ........................... ........
Race reported...................... ..........................................................................
T a b l e 2 .— Race, nationality, and ■percentage o f time employed since marriage o f employed mothers having children under 16 years of age in
11 districts o f Philadelphia
00
Mothers employed since marriage
Less than 10
Total
Total
reported
Number
10, less than 30
Per
cent1 Number
30, less than 50
Per
cent1 Number
50, less than 70
Per
cent1 Number
70 or more
Per
cent1 Number
Per
cent1
Not re
ported
Total................................................................... -
6,070
4,817
1,250
26
1,519
32
840
17
542
11
666
14
1,253
Race reported............................ ...............................
6,058
4,813
1,250
26
1,517
32
838
17
542
11
666
14
1,245
White......................................................................
4,486
3,811
1,105
29
1,289
34
669
18
367
10
381
10
675
N ative......................................... . ..................
Foreign born....................................................
Polish_________________________ ______
Russian______________________________
Jewish___________________________
O th er.................................................
2,209
2,270
716
444
169
275
1,862
1,945
639
376
136
240
632
471
140
75
21
54
34
24
22
20
15
23
599
689
290
104
27
77
32
35
45
28
20
32
299
370
113
76
26
50
16
19
18
20
19
21
186
180
49
41
13
28
10
9
8
11
10
12
146
235
47
80
49
31
8
12
7
21
36
13
347
325
77
68
33
35
Italian_______________________________
Irish_______________ ____ ____________
German_______________________ ______
English, Scotch, and Welsh____________
Lithuanian........... ...................................
O th er.............. .........................................
Nationality not reported______________
246
210
143
134
113
157
107
52
55
204
181
122
105
101
137
80
42
38
72
57
29
38
12
35
13
6
7
35
31
24
36
12
26
16
68
62
32
31
38
48
16
9
7
33
34
26
30
38
35
20
31
37
20
17
31
25
20
9
11
15
20
16
16
31
18
25
19
14
14
10
8
12
12
6
6
9
8
12
10
8
9
15
14
11
26
9
12
17
19
12
7
7
6
21
9
12
12
24
42
29
21
29
12
20
27
10
17
7
4
2
N e g ro .................................................................. .
1,569
3
1,001
1
145
14
227
1
23
169
17
175
17
285
28
568
2
12
4
1 Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
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1
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CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
Percentage of time employed
Pace and nationality of mother
THE WORKING MOTHERS
9
AGE
As a group the mothers included in the study were young. Almost
a third were under 30 years of age, and three-fourths were under 40.
(Table 3.) The negro mothers were the youngest, the native-born
white mothers were a little more mature, and the foreign born were
considerably older. Forty-nine per cent of the negro mothers were
under 30 years of age, compared with 38 per cent of the native-born
white mothers and 17 per cent of the foreign-born mothers, whereas
15 per cent of the negro, compared with 21 per cent of the nativeborn white and 35 per cent of the foreign-born, were over 40 years
of age.
The marked difference in age between the native and foreign born
white mothers is undoubtedly attributable to the cutting down of
immigration in recent years. The immigrant group was made up
largely of the women who came to this country as adults before the
war and the daughters they brought with them who have since grown
up and married. The negro population of Philadelphia has a much
larger proportion of persons in the age period 15 to 45 years than the
white population. In this Philadelphia is similar to most Northern
cities.3 Migration from the South appeals to the younger and more
venturesome negroes; they move northward, leaving the children and
the older members of the family behind.4 The result has been, as is
usually the case among newer immigrant groups, a disproportionate
number of persons in the intermediate age groups.
Among the native white mothers included in the preliminary
survey who had not been employed, the age variation was about
the same as in the group of working mothers; 37 per cent of the
former and 38 per cent of the latter were under 30 years of age. Of
the foreign-born mothers who had worked after marriage, however,
14 per cent were under 38 years of age, as compared with 21 per cent
of those who had never been gainfully employed during their married
lives. More than two-thirds of the negro mothers who had not
worked after marriage were under 30 years of age, but less than half
of those who had been at work were in this younger group. Probably
one reason so many of the young negro mothers did not work is
because most of them— relatively more than of the white mothers—
had young children. (See p. 14.)
N U M B E R O F Y E A R S M A R R IE D
The majority of the mothers included in the study had been mar
ried 10 years or more. No doubt on account of the fact that they
were older (see above) the white mothers had been married longer
than the negro mothers, 68 per cent of the white and 54 per cent of the
negro having been married 10 years or more and 23 per cent of the
white and 15 per cent of the negro 20 years or more. The foreignborn mothers had been married somewhat longer than the nativeborn white mothers. (Table 4.)
3 Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, voi. 2, Population, pp. 170-183,301, U. S. Bureau of the
Census, Washington, 1922.
x
Qmal Depopulation in Certain Tidewater and Piedmont Areas of Virginia, by Wilson Gee and
•“ JJ
P P i » 67-68 (Institute of Research in the Social Sciences, University of Virginia,
1929) and The Recent Northward Migration of Negroes, by Joseph A. Hill, pp. 34-46, in Publications of
the American Sociological Society, voi. 18.
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T able 3.— Race, nativity, age, and em ploym ent history o f mothers having children under 16 years o f age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
O
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
Employment history and age of mother
Foreign bom
Native
Total
Per cent
Nativity
re Number distribu
Number distribu
Per cent not
Per cent
Per cent
tion
ported
tion
Number distribu Number distribu Number distribu
tion
tion
tion
Age reported...................................................
Under 25 years
_____________________
30 years', under 35_____________ ________
35 years, under 40_____________________
40 years, under 45_____________________
45 years and over_____________________
11,795
100
9,962
100
5,286
100
4,663
1,427
2,316
2,701
2,350
1,486
1,515
432
12
20
23
20
13
13
1,034
1,814
2,324
2,059
1,342
1,389
281
10
18
23
21
13
14
829
1,201
1,272
896
542
546
141
16
23
24
17
10
10
203
611
1,049
1,160
799
841
138
Employed since marriage.------ ----------Age reported.............................................. >—
5,779
100
4,330
Under 25 years...........................................
25 years, under 30.............................. — .
628
1,108
1,375
1,264
717
687
291
11
19
24
22
12
12
382
721
1,065
1,007
584
571
156
Not employed since marriage________
Age reported........... .........................................
Under 25 years...........................................
30 years! under 35_____________________
35 years, under 40......................................
40 years, under. 45_____________________
45 years and over_____________________
Not reported_____________________________
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6,157
6,016
799
1,208
1,326
1,086
769
828
141
100
13
20
22
18
13
14
5,757
5,632
652
1,093
1,259
1,052
758
818
125
100
2,138
100
2,187
1Ö
22
24
19
10
10
65
17
25
23
13
13
316
474
522
401
212
213
71
100
12
19
22
19
13
15
3,218
3,148
513
727
750
495
330
333
70
100
13
22
25
18
2,270
2,209
4,486
6,070
35 years) under 40__________________ __
40 years, under 45_____________________
45 years and over......................................
4,801
5,427
10,243
12,227
1_
100
16
23
24
16
10
11
542
605
371
357
83
2,531
2,476
138
364
507
555
428
55
100
11
25
28
17
16
15
1,966
3
15
13~
1,825
100
1
7
393
499
22
27
21
16
------
3
3
1
2
143
125
143
7
1,569
5
1,442
246
384
310
1
2
100
8
g
15
20
2
17
not
Chinese Pace
reported
115
127
397
383
147
115
100
1
2
8
3
12
1
6
17
27
21
18 ------- 1
2
3
6
3
1
100
38
30
17
1
34
11
10
14
2
1
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
Negro
White
Total
T a b l e 4 — Race, nativity, number o f years married, and employment history 1 o / mothers having children under 16 years o f age in 11 districts
o f Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
Total
Employment history and number of years
married
White
Total
Native
Race not
Per cent
Nativity
Per cent Chinese reported
Number distribu
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent not re Number distribu
Number distribu Number distribu Number distribu ported
tion
tion
tion
tion
tion
12,227
11,802
1,362
2,666
%946
2,246
1,434
1,148
375
50
6,070
5,771
607
1,171
L 575
1,242
732
544
258
41
Not employed since marriage..
Number of years married reported _.
Less than 5____ ______________ ___ ____
5, less than 10.............................................
10, less than 15_______ __
15, less than 20 . _
20, less than 25 .
___
25 or more.. . .
.........
Not reported.................................. .................
Never married
_ ___
6,157
6,031
855
1,495
li 371
1,004
702
604
117
9
100
12
23
25
19
12
10
100
9
20
27
22
13
9
100
14
25
23
17
12
10
10,243
10,004
1,079
2,130
2,524
li 964
1,300
1,007
229
10
4,486
4,353
355
774
1,218
'983
609
414
• 126
7
5,757
5,651
724
1,356
li 306
981
691
593
103
3
100
11
21
25
20
13
10
100
8
18
28
23
14
10
100
13
24
23
17
12
10
5,427
5,288
773
1,380
li 319
'876
524
416
131
8
2,209
2,137
267
514
563
407
220
166
66
6
• 3,218
3,151
506
858
756
469
304
250
65
2
1 For mothers never married the employment history is for the period since birth of first child.
100
15
26
25
17
10
8
12
24
26
19
10
8
100
16
24
15
10
8
4,801
4,704
303
747
1,203
1,086
776
580
96
1
2,270
2,211
87
260
655
574
389
246
58
1
2,531
2,493
216
548
512
387
343
38
100
6
16
23
16
13
100
4
30
26
18
15
12
3
1,966
1,791
283
100
3
1
2
280
16
1
15
6
8
7
5
1
1,569
1,412
152
100
11
2
257
18
3
1
12
5
1
1
9
h
2
100
9
22
21
16
14
8
7
2
397
379
3
1
1
2
23
11
i
100
6
THE WORKING MOTHERS
Total______________________________
...........
Number of years married reported
Less than 5____ __________________
5, less than 10_______________
10, less than IS_____ ____ ________
15, less than 20________________
20, less than 25___________________
25 or more___________________
Not reported_____________________
Never married 1................... ...................
Emuloved since marriage______
Number of vears married reported
Loss Ilian
5, less than 10______________
10, less than 15___________________
15, less than 20..
20, less than 25__________________
25 or more_____________________
Not reported.............. ...... ...............................
Never married1______________________
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Negro
Foreign bom
12
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
The mothers who had not worked after marriage had not been mar
ried so long as the mothers who had worked. Thirty-seven per cent of
the white mothers who had not been employed had been married less
than 10 years compared with 26 per cent of the mothers who had been
employed; 71 per cent of the negro mothers who had not worked and
39 per cent of those who had worked had been married less than 10
years. Forty-four per cent of the native white and 28 per cent of the
foreign-born mothers who had not worked had been married less than
10 years, as contrasted with 36 per cent of the native white and 16
per cent of the foreign born who had been employed and had been
married less than 10 years. Only 6 per cent of the negro mothers
who had not worked, compared with 18 per cent of those who had,
had been married 20 years.
M A R IT A L S T A T U S
The composition of the 12,227 families in the 11 districts throws
light on the extent of the mother’s employment as related to the
presence or absence of the father as breadwinner and to the number
of children. In nine-tenths of the homes visited (91 per cent of the
white and 83 per cent of the negro) the father, mother, and children
were living together at the time of the inquiry. (Table 5.) In 5 per
cent of the white and in 6 per cent of the negro families the father was
dead; in the remaining families the father was absent from home for
some other reason. The proportion of fathers who had deserted their
families or who were divorced or separated was not learned for the
whole group of families who were visited during the house-to-house
canvass.6
T able 5.— Whereabouts of husband and race and em ploym ent history in six months
immediately preceding date of interview o f mothers having children under 16 years
o f age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
Employed in 6 Not employed in
Not
months immedi 6 months imme reported
ately preceding diately preceding whether
date of interview date of interview employed
in 6
months
immedi
ately
Per cent
Per cent
Per cent
Number distri Number distri Number distri preceding
bution
date of
bution
bution
interview
Total
Race of mother and whereabouts of
husband
White .................................................
Whereabouts of husband reported.
Whereabouts of husband reported.
Race not reported------ --------------------
10,243
10,109
9,212
405
492
124
10
1,966
1,869
1,555
203
111
58
39
3
15
100
91
4
5
m
83
11
6
2,384
100
2,330
1,764
76
13
297
12
269
47
7
1,115
ÏTÔ52" ~ ^ 1 0 0
75
787
16
167
9
98
36
27
2
8
7,855
7,775
7,444
108
223
77
3
849
815
767
35
13
22
12
1
7
100
96
1
3
100
94
4
2
4
4
4
________2
2
1
1
«In 232 of the 2,190 families for whom more detailed information was obtained the fathers were away from
home Of the 232 fathers 38 per cent had deserted; 40 per cent were divorced, legally separated, or hying
apart without court action; and the remainder were away for miscellaneous reasons, some of them being
in hospitals or penal institutions. (See Part 2.)
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE WORKING MOTHERS
13
Among the white families visited in the house-to-house canvass, 19
per cent of the mothers whose husbands were at home and 63 per cent
of the mothers whose husbands were away or dead had been working
in the six months preceding the canvass. The removal of the father
from the family group by death, desertion, or other reason appeared
to have precipitated many of these mothers into wage-earning.
Although in Pennsylvania the mothers’ pension and workmen’s com
pensation laws in many cases partly relieve widows of the burden of
the support of the family, nevertheless 55 per cent of the white widows
included in the study were working in the six months preceding the
date of the interview, more than half of this group as the only wage
earner in the family. An even larger proportion of the white working
mothers whose husbands were living away from home (60 per cent)
were the only wage earners in the family. This is not surprising,
however, as many of the husbands had probably deserted, and women
whose husbands have deserted are not eligible for mothers’ aid under
the Pennsylvania law.6
The need for supplementing the husband’s earnings was apparently
more pressing among the negro women than among the white. In
more than half the negro families in which the husband was at home,
and in more than four-fifths of the homes in which he was away
from home, the wife was working— larger proportions for both groups
than were found among the white. Negro widows seemed to receive
less benefit from relief agencies, State or private, than did the white,
for 88 per cent were working— a larger percentage even than of the
negro mothers whose husbands had deserted or were divorced or were
away from home for some other reason, 82 per cent of whom were
working.
N U M B E R A N D A G E O F C H IL D R E N
The typical family in the districts canvassed had one or two children
under 16 years of age; 40 per cent had three or more. Seventy-one
famihes had eight or more children of school or preschool age.
The negro families were appreciably smaller than the white; only
34 per cent of the former, compared with 41 per cent of the latter,
had more than two children under 16 years of age. (Table 6.) This
difference is partly accounted for by the fact that the negro mothers
were younger than the white mothers and had been married for
shorter periods. Another factor is the high death rate among negro
babies in Philadelphia over a period of years. Although the negro
birth rate is consistently higher than the white, the death rate for
infants 7 and for the negro population as a whole is almost double
that for the white population.8 Apparently, then, many negro
families are small because of the excessively high death rates rather
than because of low birth rates.
•Pa., Stat. 1920, sec. 16,722.
_
„ „ ^
„
7 Birth, Stillbirth, and Infant Mortality Statistics, 1926, part 1, p. 21. U. S. Bureau of the Census.
Washington, 1929.
„ „ „
, _
_ .. .
* Mortality Statistics, 1926, part 1, p. 7. U. S. Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1929.
1 8 9 2 3 °— 31------ 3
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
14
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
T a b l e 6.— Race of mother, number o f children under 16 years of age, and em ploy
ment history of mothers having children under 16 years o f age in 11 districts of
Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
Race of mother and number of children under 16
years of age
Employed since
marriage
Not employed since
marriage
Total
Number Per cent1 Number Per eent1
White.............................. — ............................- ..........-
Negro........................ - ....................................—...........
4,486
44
5,757
56
3,228
2,805
1,931
1,133
1,136
10
1,534
1,217
801
481
445
8
48
43
41
42
39
1,694
1,588
1,130
652
691
2
52
57
59
58
61
1,966
1,569
80
397
20
811
486
271
204
192
2
665
394
208
156
144
2
82
81
77
77
75
146
92
63
48
48
18
19
23
24
25
3
15
3
12
10,243
3
[
1Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
The size of the family varied with nationality as well as with race.
Native-born white mothers averaged fewer children than did the
foreign born. Among the latter group the Italian mothers had the
largest families, closely followed by the Polish, Russian (other than
Jewish), and Irish; those having the smallest number of children
were the German, Lithuanian, and Jewish families. The majority
of both white and negro mothers (58 per cent and 62 per cent, re
spectively) who were visited during the house-to-house canvass had
children under school age.
The size of the family and the age of the children seemed to have
a direct bearing on whether or not the mother was employed after
marriage. Mothers who had been employed after marriage had not
only fewer but also older children then mothers who had not been
employed. Fifty per cent of the white mothers and 44 per cent of the
negro mothers who had worked after marriage had no children under
6 years of age. The corresponding percentages among the mothers
who did not work were 37 for the white and 15 for the negro. Appar
ently the tendency is for the mother with a number of children,
particularly if the children are of preschool age, to stay at home and
care for them.
. . . .
,
This conclusion is further justified by the relationship shown
between the number of children and the percentage of time worked
after marriage. The mothers with only one child under 16 years of
age had worked more steadily than the mothers with two or more
children; the mothers with two children had worked more steadily
than those with three or more, and so on up the scale. This progres
sion held for mothers of both races. (Table 7.)
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T able 7.
Race o f mother, number o f children under 16 years o f age, and percentage o f time em ployed since marriage of mothers having children
under 16 years o f age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
Number of children under 16
Race and percentage of time employed
since marriage
1
Total
Total
reported
Number
r-''
Per cent Number
0)
3
Per cent Number
(«)
4
Per cent Number
0)
5 or more
Per cent Number
0)
Not
Per cent reported
0
10,243
10.233
3,228
32
2,805
27
1,931
19
1,133
11
1,136
11
10
Employed since marriage______ _____
4,486
4,478
1,534
34
1,217
27
801
18
481
11
445
10
8
Percentage of time employed:
Less than 10 per cent_____
10 per cent, less than 20______
20 per cent, less than 30______
30 per cent, less than 40___
40 per cent, less than 50______
50 per cent or more__________
Not reported...... ........... . .
1,105
689
600
362
307
748
675
1,104
687
600
361
307
747
672
303
215
177
135
128
347
229
27
31
30
37
42
46
34
304
175
164
109
81
204
180
28
25
27
30
26
27
27
213
141
112
57
51
112
115
19
21
19
16
17
15
17
142
90
81
32
27
41
68
13
13
14
9
9
5
10
142
66
66
28
20
43
80
13
10
11
8
7
6
12
1
2
Not employed since marriage________
5,757.
5.755
1,694
29
1,588
28
1,130
20
652
11
691
12
2
1,966
1,964
811
41
486
25
271
14
204
10
192
10
2
■ Employed since marriage____________
1,569
1,567
665
42
394
25
209
13
157
10
144
9
2
Percentage of time employed:
Less than 10 per cent________
10 per cent, less than 20...........
20 per cent, less than 30______
30 per cent, less than 40_______
40 per cent, less than 50______
50 per cent or more__________
Not reported______ ______
145
107
120
72
97
460
568
145
106
120
72
97
460
567
48
47
36
31
35
213
255
33
44
30
43
36
46
45
40
22
36
19
25
123
129
28
21
30
26
26
27
23
25
10
23
8
19
55
68
17
9
19
11
20
12
12
15
15
14
6
12
27
57
10
14
12
8
12
8
10
17
12
H
8
6
32
58
12
6
7
10
397
397
146
37
92
23
63
16
48
12
48
12
3
15
3
15
8
Negro.................._.............................
Not employed since marriage.. . .
Chinese. ________ _________
Race not reported-............ ...............
1
Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 60.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
1
5
1
x
1
1
1
....
3
1
THE WORKING MOTHERS
W hite_________ _ _
2
16
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
Similarly the extent of the employment of the mothers in the six
months prior to the inquiry varied directly with the size of the
family; the smaller the family the larger the percentage of mothers
who were employed. (Table 8.) This was true for all groups— native
and foreign born, white and negro— but the decrease in employment
with increase in the number of children varied from group to group.
Whereas 27 per cent of the white mothers— 24 per cent of the native
born and 32 per cent of the foreign born— with one child under 16
were working, the trend of employment of white mothers with two,
three, or four children was downward, reaching 18 per cent— 14 per
cent of the native born and 20 per cent of the foreign born— of those
with five or more children. The proportion of negro mothers who
were working ranged from 63 per cent of those with one child to 46 per
cent of those with five or more children.
T a b l e 8 .— Race o f mother, number o f children under 16 years o f age, and em p lo yment history in six months immediately preceding date o f interview o f mothers
having children under 16 years o f age in 11 districts of Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
Employment history in 6 months immediately preceding
date of interview
Race of mother and number of
children under 16 years of age
Total
White.............................................
Negro..............................................
10,243
Not employed
Employed
reported
10,239
Not reported
Number Per cent1 Number Pèr cent1
2,384
23
7,855
77
4
2,353
2,148
1,525
885
935
9
73
77
79
78
82
2
1
1
2
3,228
2,805
1,931
1,133
1 136
ÌÒ
3,226
2,804
1,930
1,133
1,136
10
873
656
405
248
201
1
27
23
21
22
18
1,966
1,964
1,115
57
849
43
811
486
271
204
192
2
811
486
271
203
192
1
508
276
143
99
88
1
63
57
53
49
46
303
210
128
104
104
37
43
47
51
54
3
15
3
15
2
8
1
1
1
7
1 Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
Still more striking are the indications of the influence that the
presence of children of preschool age exerts in keeping mothers from
gainful employment. Twenty per cent of the white mothers with one
child under 6, 13 per cent of* those with two children, and 9 per cent
of those with three or more children were employed in the six months
preceding the interview. (Table 9.) Although the native-born white
mothers with one or more small children more jxequently stayed at
home than the foreign-born mothers, the contrast between these two
groups was not so marked as between foreign-born mothers of different
nationalities. For instance, 48 per cent of the Russian mothers (other
than Jewish) with no children under 6 were working in the six months
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
17
THE WORKING MOTHERS
preceding the inquiry. This percentage dropped to 30 for the mothers
with one child under 6, and to 17 for those with three or more children.
Among the Polish mothers, 42 per cent of those with no children
under 6 were working. The percentages employed decreased to 27
per cent of those with one child, 17 per cent of those with two, and
11 per cent of those with three or more under the age of 6. On the
other hand, only one-fourth of the Irish and Italian mothers who had
no children under 6 were employed, and as one or more children of
preschool age were added to the family group, the proportion of
mothers employed dropped rapidly to 5 per cent of the Irish and 11
per cent of the Italian mothers with three or more children in this
age group. Among the negro mothers, decrease in employment with
an increase in the number of preschool children was quite pronounced;
73 per cent of the negro mothers with no children under 6 years of
age, 56 per cent of those with one child, 40 per cent of those with
two, and 28 per cent of those with three or more were working within
the six months preceding the interview.
T able 9.— Race o f mother, employment history in six months imm ediately preceding
date o f interview, and number o f children under 6 years o f age o f mothers having
children under 6 years o f age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 6 years of age
Employment history in 6 months immediately preceding
date of interview
Race of mother and number of
children under 6 years of age
Total
Employed
Not employed
Total
reported
Number Per cent1 Number Per cent1
White.
1 child.......... . . ...........
2 children___________
3 or more children___
Number not reported.
Negro.
1 child______________
2 children___________
3 or more children___
Number not reported.
C hinese...______
Race not reported.
5,914
6,913
3,382
1,794
712
26
3,381
1,794
712
26
1,223
1,221
568.
645
364
204
644
364
204
9
360
146
57
5
3
9
2
10
4,925
675
238
65
10
5
Not re
ported
83
2,706
1,556
647
16
47
653
284
218
147
4
1
4
1Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
The facts available seem to indicate clearly that mothers of large
families and mothers of small children tend to devote themselves to
the care of their homes and children rather than seek gainful employ
ment. However, 2,122 (61 per cent) of the 3,509 mothers had
more than one child, and 639 (18 per cent) had four or more. These
children were often at the age when they required constant care and
supervision. Many mothers who were gainfully employed had
children under 6 years of age— 1,040 had one child, 386 had two, 101
had three, 20 had four, and 1 even had five children not old enough
to go to school.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT OF MOTHERS IN SIX MONTHS
PRECEDING INQUIRY
Of the 12,227 mothers interviewed in the study 3,509 (29 per cent)
reported employment in the six months preceding the interview; 23
per cent of the white mothers and 57 per cent of the negro mothers
were in this group. For this group of mothers somewhat more
extensive information was obtained than for the total number inter
viewed as to their status as breadwinners and as to duration, regularity,
and kind of work in the 6-month period. The information that fol
lows relates to this group of 3,509.
M O T H E R ’S S T A T U S AS B R E A D W IN N E R A N D
M A R IT A L S T A T U S
Such facts as were obtained for the working mothers visited in the
house-to-house canvass concerning the father’s presence or absence
from the home and the status of the mother as chief wage earner
indicate that the economic situation was a contributing factor in the
decision of the mother to carry the triple burden of mother, house
keeper, and wage earner. Five hundred and eighty-one (18 per cent)
of the mothers who had been employed in the six months prior to the
inquiry were the sole support of their families, and 297 (9 per cent)
were the chief but not the sole support. (See Table 10.) The remain
ing 2,373 (73 per cent) reporting were not the chief bread winners in
their families, but doubtless many of them found it almost as essential
to work as did the mothers who had no other means of support.1 A
slightly smaller proportion of white than of negro mothers (17 and
21 per cent, respectively) were the sole support of their families.
Three-fourths of the white mothers and an equal proportion of the
negro mothers who had been employed in the six months preceding
the inquiry had husbands at home. The extent to which the where
abouts of the husband was a factor in the mother’s employment
varied considerably among the different nationalities. For the white
mothers the percentage who had husbands at home was 69 for
the native born and 81 for the foreign born. The English-speaking
foreign born had the smallest percentages (60 for the Irish and 65 for
the English, Scotch, and Welsh), and the Italians had the highest
(91 per cent). These differences are probably due in part to the
differences in the age of the mothers of the various nationalities.
The English, Scotch, and Welsh, and the Irish mothers who were
working were much older than the Italian mothers. More than half
of the English-speaking foreign born were over 40 years of age as
compared with a third of the Italians. In the older groups of working
mothers it is reasonable to expect a larger percentage of widows and
of women forced to work because of the incapacity of their husbands
1The occupational distribution of the fathers was obtained for the smaller group of families included in
the intensive study (Part 2 of this report). Twenty-two per cent of the husbands of 624 white working
mothers were employed as laborers, 23 per cent as semiskilled factory operatives, and 27 per cent in skilled
trades in manufacturing industries. Six per cent were employed in clerical occupations, 4 per cent were
proprietors or managers of stores, and 1per cent were employed in professional occupations. Theremainder
were in miscellaneous occupations, a number being employed as drivers, chauffeurs, and teamsters. The
majority of the husbands in the negro families were laborers or semiskilled operatives in factories or were
employed in domestic and personal service. Evidently most of the fathers, both white and negro, were in
occupations of a low wage level.
18
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19
THE WORKING MOTHERS
than in a group of younger married women. Then, too, the fact that
more of the Italian, Polish, and Russian (other than Jewish) than of
the native-born and English-speaking foreign-born mothers who were
working had husbands at home may indicate that the husbands of
English-speaking mothers, presumably in most cases not handicapped
by language difficulties, were better able to support their families
than were immigrants from non-English-speaking countries; or it may
mean that work among married women was more customary among
the newer immigrant groups. Probably all three reasons applied.
In 410 of the 878 families in which the mother was the sole or chief
support the father was living but was away from home; in 307 families
he was dead; and in 126 he was at home but contributed little or noth
ing to the family. (Table 10.) Among all the native white mothers
the absence of the husband was more common than among the foreignbom mothers. (Table 11.) Among the latter the absence of the
father was usually due to death, except for the English, Scotch, and
Welsh, and Russians (other than Jews). The reverse was true for
the native-born mothers; for every two native white women whose
husbands were dead, three had husbands who had deserted, were
divorced, or were away for other reasons. The proportion of negro
mothers whose husbands were living but were away from home was
still larger.
T able 10.— Whereabouts of husband and race and status as chief breadwinner o f
mothers employed in six months imm ediately preceding date o f interview; mothers
having children under 16 years of age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers employed in 6 months immediately preceding
date of interview
Status as chief breadwinner
Race of mother and whereabouts of
husband
Total Total
re
ported
Total________ __________
Husband at home_____________
Husband away..............
Husband dead____________
Whereabouts not reported_____
Never married______ _
White_____________
Husband at home_______
Husband away....... .........
Husband dead______________
Whereabouts not reported...
Never married___________
Negro_________ _______
Husband at home__________
Husband away..............
Husband dead_____________
Whereabouts not reported____
Never married........ ......
Chinese _____
Race not reported2______
Chief and
only
Chief but
not only
Not chief
Not
re
Num Per Num Per Num Per ported
ber cent1 ber cent1 ber cent1
3,509
3,251
581
18
297
9
2,373
73
258
2, 554
465
367
88
35
2,393
448
348
27
35
65
293
196
1
26
3
65
56
61
117
111
3
5
3
26
32
2,267
38
41
23
4
95
8
12
161
17
2,384
2,209
367
17
232
11
1,610
73
175
1,764
297
269
47
7
1,642
285
256
19
7
51
172
137
1
6
3
60
54
49
90
90
2
1
3
32
35
1,542
23
29
16
94
s
11
122
1,115
1,036
213
21
65
6
758
73
79
; 787
167
98
36
27
748
162
92
7
27
14
121
59
2
75
64
12
27
21
1
4
2
17
23
722
14
12
97
9
13
39
2
8
1
5
19
61
28
29
1
? Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
ported ami l^ii^ve^rnarrted ^lus^,anc*
^ome> 1 with husband dead, 4 whereabouts of husband not re-
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20
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
T a b l e 1 1 .— Whereabouts o f husband and race and nationality of mothers employed
in six months imm ediately preceding date o f interview; mothers having children
under 16 years o f age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers employed in 6 months immediately preceding date of
interview
Whereabouts of husband
Race and nationality of mother
Total.
White.
Native..............
Foreign b o m ...
Polish____
Russian___
Jewish.
Other..
Italian__________ _____
Irish......... ...... ................
German............... ..........
English, Scotch, and WelshLithuanian___________
Other._______________
Nationality not reported.
Jewish................. . —
Other______________
Mother
Dead
Away
At home
never
Total Total
Not married
re
reported^Num- Per Num Per Num Per ported
ber cent1 ber cent1 ber cent1
3,386 2,554
2,384
2,330 1,764
297
1,082
1,300
376
•299
129
170
724
1,054
1,275 1,039
314
366
252
298
106
128
146
170
200
118
73
63
41
50
63
4
13
131
123
78
68
67
78
129
121
78
63
75
47
130
139
27
27
17
97
25
19
5
14
10
7
35
9
9
8
9
6
13
7
6
4
65
34
31
80
38
42
367
465
3,509
1
3
Nativity not reported _
1,115
Negro___________
Chinese.................
Race not reported.
2
8
1,052
787
3
2
1
1
167
75
”
16
’ i
* Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
Desertion or divorce was primarily a problem of the younger work
ing mothers. Although less than half the employed white mothers
were under 35 years of age, two-thirds of those whose husbands were
living but away from home were under that age. On the other hand,
absence of the husband from the homes of the women 35 years of
age and over was in most instances due to death; three-fourths of the
white widows who were employed were at least 35 years old. In
general the same situation was found among the negro women.
Working mothers under 35 years of age without husbands were usually
divorced or deserted, or the husband was away from home for some
other reason; those over 35 were more often widowed.
D U R A T I O N A N D R E G U L A R IT Y O F W O R K
Considering their triple functions of mother, home maker, and
wage earner, it is significant that more than three-fourths of the
mothers employed away from home in the six months preceding the
study had had full-time employment; two-thirds of this group had
been employed at least five of the six months. The proportion who
had worked steadily would have been larger if employment had
been available. For instance, about one-fourth of the mothers who
were textile operatives had been working irregularly, owing to the
general depression in the textile industry.
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21
THE WORKING MOTHERS
The working week varied from one to seven days and the working
day from one to seven or more hours. The majority of white mothers
employed away from home were regular full-time workers; that is,
they worked five and a half or six days a week and a full working day
of at least seven or eight hours. (Table 12.) The majority of the
negro mothers worked less than a full week, but as a rule full time on
the days they did work. Seventy-one per cent of the white mothers
and 46 per cent of the negro usually worked a 5}i or 6 day week. The
remainder of the white mothers (29 per cent) and the majority of the
negro mothers (54 per cent) were customarily employed only irregularly
or on certain days, ordinarily not exceeding three days each week.
T a b l e 1 2 .— Custom ary regularity of work and race o f mothers em ployed away
fro m home in six months immediately preceding date o f interview; mothers having
children under 16 years o f age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers employed away from home in 6 months immediately
preceding date of interview
Customary regularity of work
Total
White
Negro
Race
Chi
not
cent Num Per cent
Per cent nese
re
Num Per
Num
distribu
distribu
distribu
ported
ber
ber
ber
tion
tion
tion
Total______________________
2,749
Total reported....... ..........................
2,624
100
1,639
100
980
100
1
4
Full week.......... .............. . _
7 or more hours a day...........
Less than 7 hours a day.......
Hours not reported.............
Ì; 618
1,315
298
5
62
50
11
1,168
932
234
2
71
57
14
447
380
64
3
46
39
7
1
1
2
2
Part week__________________
7 or more hours a day....... _.
Less than 7 hours a d a y ...
Hours not reported.......... .
1,006
'735
243
28
38
28
9
1
471
320
142
9
29
20
9
1
533
413
101
19
Not reported_________________
7 or more hours a day....... ........
Less than 7 hours a day_____
Hours not reported.....................
1,731
fi
1,012
(1)
125
92
32
12
4
109
5
3
84
7
1
24
1
(l)
42
10
2
1 Less than 1 per cent.
Part-time work has sometimes been proposed as a solution of the
problem of the mother who must support and at the same time care
for her family. It is interesting to note, therefore, the extent to
which mothers in Philadelphia had resorted to this method of com
bining their functions as wage earner and home maker. Although
the majority of both white and negro mothers worked full time (that
is, at least seven hours a day), 23 per cent of the white mothers and
17 per cent of the negro mothers employed away from home who
reported on this point were working part time— most of them working
at least four hours a day for six days a week.
E M PLO YM EN T AT H O M E OR AW AY FR O M
HOME
Mothers in Philadelphia who must earn or supplement the family
income are apparently finding fewer and fewer opportunities to do
sufficiently remunerative work in their homes. They have gone more
and more into outside work. This exodus is shown by a comparison
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22
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
of the findings of the study made in 1918-19 and those of the
Children’s Bureau in 1928. In the earlier period 14 per cent of the
white married women worked away from home, compared with 7 per
cent who worked at home.2 Nine years later 17 per cent of the mothers
of young children worked away from home and 6 per cent worked at
home or in a family business closely associated with the home. If
married women without children had been included in the Children’s
Bureau study, the percentage working away from home would un
doubtedly have been still larger, as these women do not have to provide
care for children during working hours, and the better-paid work is
outside the home.
Table 13 shows the place of employment of the mothers employed
in the six months preceding the inquiry.
T a b l e 13.— Race, nativity, and place o f em ploym ent o f mothers employed in six
months imm ediately preceding date of interview; mothers having children under 16
years o f age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers employed in 6 months immediately preceding date of
interview
Place of employment
Race and nativity
Total
Away from
home
At home
Total
reported
Num- Per Numher cent2 her
Close by or
connected
with hom e1
Per Numcent2 her
Not
reported
Per
cent2
T otal........... ...........
3,509
3,434
260
8
2,749
80
425
12
75
White_______________. . .
2,384
2,331
185
8
1,731
74
415
18
53
Native__________ . . .
Foreign born________
Nativity not reported
1,082
1,300
2
1,045
1,285
1
52
133
5
10
900
831
86
65
93
321
1
9
25
37
15
1
Negro._________________
Chinese________________
Race not reported_______
1,115
2
8
1,094
2
7
73
7
1,012
1
5
93
9
1
1
21
2
1
1Includes 416 mothers working in own or relative’s store, shop, or business in or very near dwelling,
and 9 mothers in domestic and personal service close by or connected with home.
2 Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
Neither the size of the family nor the age of the children seems to
have any effect in determining whether the mother works at home or
away from home. The only factor apparently exerting a real influ
ence in keeping the wage-earning mother at home is custom. Eightyone per cent of the Jewish mothers, 66 per cent of the Italian mothers,
and 43 per cent of the German mothers who were gainfully employed
within the six months preceding the interview worked in the home or
in a family business closely connected with the home. In contrast,
only 8 per cent of the Negro mothers, 9 per cent of the English, Scotch,
and Welsh mothers, 14 per cent of the Irish, 14 per cent of the nativeborn white mothers, and 18 per cent of the Polish mothers who were
employed worked at home or near-by.
2 Mothers in Industry, pp. 33-34.
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THE WORKING MOTHERS
23
O C C U P A T IO N S
The 3,509 mothers working in the six months preceding the inter
view were gaining a livelihood in many different industries and in
many different occupations. Forty-seven per cent were in domestic
and personal service, 33 per cent were in manufacturing and mechani
cal industries, 15 per cent were in trade, 2 per cent were clerical work
ers, 1 per cent were in transportation, and 1 per cent were in profes
sional service. Their occupational distribution was strikingly like
that of all married women in Philadelphia in 1920. The census of
that year showed that 43 per cent of all employed married women 15
years of age and over were in domestic and personal service, 34 per
cent were in manufacturing and mechanical industries, 11 per cent
were in trade, 8 per cent were clerical workers, 4 per cent were in pro
fessional service, and 1 per cent were in transportation.3 The differ
ences in the census figures for 1920 and the figures for 1928 obtained
in the present study may be due more to the fact that in the census
enumeration married women include only those who are living with
their husbands, widowed and divorced women being grouped with the
single, and to a difference between mothers and married women who
are childless than to a real change in the occupational grouping, and
as such throw light upon the occupations of mothers as opposed to
those of married women without children. The census figures were
for all employed married women, whereas the present study was con
fined to mothers of children under 16 years of age, including widows
and women living apart from their husbands. Married women who
are childless, particularly the younger ones, may be expected to do
much the same type of work as single women. According to the
1920 census, 24 per cent of the employed single women in Philadelphia,
as compared with 8 per cent of the married women, were clerical
workers; 9 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, were in professional
occupations.4
Factory work and domestic service were the principal occupations
o f mothers who worked away from home. (Table 14.) Shopkeeping
(that is, work in the family store), industrial home work, and launder
ing were the leading occupations of women working in or in connection
with their homes.
* Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, vol. 4, Population, Occupations, pp. 851-852. United
States Bureau of the Census. Washington, 1923.
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24
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
T a b l e 1 4 .— Indu stry and occupation, race, and nativity of mothers em ployed away
from home in six months imm ediately preceding date o f interview; mothers having
children under 16 years of age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers employed away from home in 6 months immediately
preceding date of interview
Negro
White
Total
Foreign born
Native
Industry and occupation
Per
Per
Per
Num cent
Num cent
Num cent
dis
dis
dis
ber
ber
ber tribu
tribu
tribu
tion
tion
tion
900
2,749
Industry and occupation reported.. 2,724
i it
Manufacturing and mechanical.
Cigar and tobacco facMetal industries and
electrical supplies.»..
Dressmaking and tailoring..
100
(iy
35
444
916
434
' 172
34
16
6
86
44
0)
50
(0
U
383
176
62
46
21
7
102
4
73
10
gì
7
2
3
57
15
7
2
12
1
2
8
16
2
7
1
10
2
429
252
37
49
29
4
3
17
29
1
5
22
71
1
(!)
2
13
2
0
1
4
1
56
17
81
23
258
2
9
3
29
2
19
2
381
226
112
8
4
84
25
10
3
863
268
46
2
32
10
2
57
76
16
3
61
(l)
46
4
(!)
76
25
'
■■--:==•
100
3
109
50
39
136
6
1,012
■
100 1,007
831
■ ; r—,
- 1
100
827
4
411
23
104
32
Domestic and personal service.. 1,517
Employees in restaurants,
hotels, and institutions.. .
Laundry operatives............
Cleaners and other workers in private families------
884
7
966
Race
not
Per Chi re
nese
cent
port
dum dis
ed
ber tribu
tion
1
2
(i)
27
1
0)
(■)
Z
2.
2
___
1
(')
4
4
7
874
78
39
9
5
63
48
6
5
6
9
2
84
171
8
.1
10
21
1
(l)
721
20
21
1
72
2
2
(»)
7
8
1
6
1
16
5-
1
2
(>)
46
m
5-
1
(*)
6
3
1
0)
0)
(*)
1
87
1
3
1
1
5
4
1
■
•Less than 1 per cent.
NATIONALITY AND RACE
National customs appeared to be a determining factor in the type
of work that the mothers performed. For example, shopkeeping, as
owner, partner, or assistant, was the occupation of three-fourths of the
Jewish, one-third of the Russian (other than Jewish), and one-fourth
of the German and Italian mothers, but of few of the native-born
women or of the English-speaking immigrants. Industrial home
work was performed largely by Italians; 39 per cent reported this
occupation. The only others showing a significant proportion of moth
ers in this work were Germans (12 per cent) and Jews and Lithuanians(5 per cent). Laundry work at home was confined almost exclusively
to Germans and Irish.
Similarly, native background influenced to a certain extent the kind
of work that the mothers performed away from home. Factory work
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
T H E W O R K IN G M O T H E R S
25
furnished employment to foreign born and native born alike, almost
half of each group being engaged in some process of manufacturing,
but here the resemblance ceased. Almost all the foreign-born
mothers who were not in factories were in personal and domestic
service, but fewer native-born white mothers were engaged in this
employment. Trade, transportation, clerical, and professional work
was limited almost entirely to the native-born whites. (Table 14.)
Further differentiations in occupation according to nationality
were found within the foreign-born group. The majority of the
English, Scotch, and Welsh, Poles, Jews, and Italians worked in
factories. Irish, Russians (other than Jews), Germans, and Lith
uanians were more often in domestic and personal service, than in
any other type of work— the Irish and Russians as cleaners in offices,
stores, and other buildings; the Germans as day workers in private
families; and the Lithuanians as hotel and restaurant employees.
Race even more than nationality was a determining factor in place
and kind of employment. Ninety-three per cent of the negro mothers
who had been employed in the six months preceding the interview
worked away from home. Seventy-eight per cent were in personal
and domestic service, 65 per cent as cleaners or other day workers
in private families. Only 9 per cent worked as operatives in manu
facturing and mechanical industries, and the number in trade,
transportation, clerical, and professional service was negligible.
REGULARITY OF EM PLOYMENT
The fact that white mothers worked much more regularly than
negro mothers (see p. 21) is attributable in large measure to the type
of work performed. Work in factories, hotels, restaurants, and
laundries, the cleaning of offices and stores, and selling, clerical, and
professional work is usually regular,5 and the women who work in
these occupations must adjust themselves to the demands of the
occupation. These industries and occupations furnished employ
ment to a large proportion of white mothers, and these women have
had to accept regular hours in order to obtain employment. On the
other hand, negro mothers found employment in cleaning, laundering,
and doing other work for private families only on certain days of the
week. As a consequence, less than a third of the negro mothers
engaged in this work were regularly employed for five or more days
a week. That occupation rather than race was the largest determin
ing factor in the irregularity of employment is further evidenced by
the fact that the negro mothers who had succeeded in obtaining em
ployment in factories, hotels, restaurants, and laundries apparently
worked as regularly as white mothers in these occupations.
The occupations of the mothers who worked only part time (that
is, less than seven hours a day) differed somewhat from the occupa
tions of those who worked fuff time. (Table 15.) Of the 379 white
women who did part-time work, 33 were in manufacturing and me
chanical industries, 295 in domestic and personal service— 49 as
waitresses and other hotel and restaurant workers, 39 as workers in
private families, and 191 of the remainder as cleaners in offices,
stores, and other buildings— 23 in stores, 15 in offices, and 9 in the
professions. Of the 166 negro part-time workers 155 were in domestic
8For definition of regular work see p. 21.
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26
C H IL D R E N O F W O R K IN G M O T H E R S I N P H IL A D E L P H IA
service— 123 as laundresses, cleaners, or general houseworkers in
private families.
T a b l e 15.— Race, and industry and occupation o f mothers em ployed away from
home for fu ll or part day in six months immediately preceding date o f interview;
mothers having children under 16 years of age in 11 districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers employed away from home in 6 months immedi
ately preceding date of interview
Industry and occupation, and race of
mother
Total
Full day
Part day
Not re
Num Per cent Num Per cent Num Per cent ported
distribu
distribu
distribu
ber
ber
ber
tion
tion
tion
White.................................................. .........
1,731
Industry and occupation reported____
1,711
100
1,245
10O
376
100
90
Manufacturing and mechanical___
Domestic and personal service____
Employees in restaurants,
hotels, and institutions_____
Cleaners and other workers in
private families......................
Cleaners in buildings________
Other............................ L...........
Not reported________________
855
639
50
37
771
316
62
25
33
295
9
78
51
28
162
9
103
8
49
13
10
141
247
88
1
8
14
5
97
47
69
8
4
6
39
191
15
1
10
51
4
5
9
4
Other___ __________ ___________
217
20
13
158
13
48
13
11
1,257
(1)
Not reported____ ___________________
Negro_________________________________
1,012
379
95
(l)
12
3
5
800
166
46
Industry and occupation reported...,.
1,007
100
796
100
166
100
45
Manufacturing and mechanical___
Domestic and personal service____
Employees in restaurants,
hotels, and institutions_____
Cleaners and other workers in
private families____________
Cleaners in buildings------------Other__ _________ __________
Not reported
.
109
874
11
87
101
680
13
85
3
155
2
93
5
39
Other................................ ..............
24
Not reported_______________________
5
4
1
5
1
4
Chinese________________________________
Race not reported______________________
63
6
45
6
13
8
5
721
20
69
1
72
2
7
568
7
59
1
71
1
7
123
12
7
74
7
4
30
1
3
2
15
2
8
5
1
(*)
0
(t)
1
0
1
1Less than 1 per cent.
Manufacturing and mechanical industries offered relatively few
opportunities for part-time employment; 62 per cent of the white
mothers who worked full time, as compared with 9 per cent of the
part-time white workers, were in factory work. Stores, offices, and
professional service 6 gave employment to practically the same per
centage of part-time as to full-time working mothers, but* the total
number employed in these occupations was small. The only occupa
tions that met the needs of an appreciable number of mothers for
employment at hours which interfered the least with their home duties
were the heavy, unskilled, low-paid jobs of scrubbing, washing, and
cleaning. Little more than one-tenth of the white mothers who did
full-time work, but almost two-thirds of the white mothers who did
•Professional service includes ushers and cashiers in theaters, school and music teachers, social workers,
nurses, and similar workers.^
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T H E W O R K IN G M O T H E R S
27
part-time work, did these types of domestic service. Practically all
the negro women who did part-time work were day workers in private
families or office cleaners. That women considered this kind of do
mestic work undesirable is evidenced by the small proportion of
women whose family circumstances allowed them choice in the matter
of working hours who were doing it. Many women, however, under
took the physically hazardous task of combining housework and
care of the children during the day with four or five hours of scrub
bing or cleaning at night.
M OTHER’S STATUS AS BREADWINNER
The mothers who were the sole support of their families had a
somewhat different occupational distribution from that of other
working mothers. Almost all were employed away from home
because necessity forced them to seek out the better-paying jobs.
Half the white mothers who were the sole support of their families
worked in factories, one-third in domestic and personal service, 7 per
cent in trade and transportation, and 6 per cent in clerical work.
Many of these women represented a different occupational level from
that of the mothers who were the chief breadwinners, but not the sole
support, of their families. The latter were more often found in
domestic and personal service, particularly as night cleaners in stores,
offices, and other buildings, and less frequently in trade, transporta
tion, or clerical work.
Contrasted with these mothers who bore the brunt of family sup
port were the great majority (72 per cent) who were not the chief
breadwinners but who for one reason or another were at work to
supplement their husbands’ earnings. These women were more often
employed at home or in connection with the home business than were
the chief breadwinners; one-third found it possible to carry on work
that did not necessitate leaving their children for any length of time.
They did not accept full-time employment so frequently, nor did
they work so many days a week, as the women who were the sole
support of their families.
Less variation appeared in the occupational grouping of the white
mothers who were not the main support of the family and yet worked
away from home than in that of the chief breadwinners. Almost the
same proportions were in factories, but textiles absorbed a larger
percentage of the mothers who were not the chief breadwinners than
of the more necessitous mothers. Trade and professional service gave
employment in equal proportions to the two groups. About the same
percentages worked in domestic and personal service, but there was a
marked contrast in the type of work which they performed. About
half the women who were not chief breadwinners were cleaners in
stores, offices, and other buildings, as compared with a fifth of the
mothers who were the sole support of the family and a third of those
wLo had some assistance. The fact that this work could be done at
night when the father could stay with the children made it appeal to
mothers who needed to supplement the family earnings; but, on the
other hand, the low wages paid made it undesirable for the woman
who had no other means of support for herself and family.
Employment of negro mothers followed the same general trends as
did employment of white mothers except that the differences were
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28
C H IL D R E N OF W O R K IN G M O T H E R S I N P H IL A D E L P H IA
less pronounced. The mothers who were not the chief breadwinners
showed only a slight tendency to work at home rather than away, but
they worked less regularly and for shorter periods of time. The chief
breadwinners were more often factory operatives than the other
mothers, but few among them were so employed. Almost 80 per cent
of both groups of wage-earning negro mothers were in domestic and
personal service. The mothers without aid in family support were
more often in hotels and restaurants than were the others, but the
vast majority were day workers. Differences in other occupational
groups were negligible.
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CONCLUSIONS
This inquiry indicates a growing tendency in Philadelphia for
mothers to be gainfully employed outside the home. In the selected
areas of the city included in this study 21 per cent of the white
mothers with husbands and one or more children under 16 years
of age living at home were employed in 1928, compared with 14
per cent for a similar group of mothers who lived in wage-earning
neighborhoods of similar character who were employed in 1918-19.
(See p. 5.) In the earlier period 14 per cent of the white married
mothers worked away from home compared with 7 per cent who
worked at home, whereas in 1928, 17 per cent of the mothers with
children under 16 years of age worked away from home compared
with 6 per cent who worked at home. This difference would undoubt
edly have been even greater had married women without children
been included in the later, as they were in the earlier, group, for
these women are logically the first to be employed away from home.
The employment of mothers is affected by various factors, among
the most important of which are race, nativity, nationality, and age
and number of children. Of the 6,070 mothers interviewed who had
one or more children under 16 years of age and had worked after
marriage, 4,486 (74 per cent) were white and 1,569 (26 per cent) were
negro; 51 per cent of the white mothers were foreign bom. Work
was less frequent among the native-born white mothers than among
the foreign born and negro. However, some of the foreign-born
groups— notably the Irish, Italians, and Jews— showed a marked
disposition for the mother to stay at home with her children. When
it became essential that she earn or supplement the family income,
she ordinarily took up work that she could do at home or in close
proximity to her home, such as industrial home work or neighborhood
storekeeping. As a group, the foreign-born mothers were more
often employed and worked for longer periods of time than the
native-born white women. Work of negro mothers was general;
as a rule the only ones who were not employed were those with a
number of young children requiring constant care.
Apart from economic necessity, apparently the outstanding con
sideration in determining whether or not a mother went to work was
the age and number of her children. The proportion of mothers
employed varied directly with the number of children and with
the presence of children of preschool age. The indications are that
mothers of children who require constant supervision and mothers
of large families do not go to work except as a last resort. Then
they try to obtain work at night or at hours that interfere the least
with their duties as mothers. Mothers who must earn to keep the
family together, however, will work even if the children are neglected.
It is a choice between food and clothing for the children and their
adequate supervision.
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APPENDIX A.— EMPLOYMENT OF MOTHERS IN THE DIF
FERENT DISTRICTS
T h e follow ing section contains a description o f the districts surveyed and a
discussion of m others’ em p loym en t b y districts.
N in e of the 11 districts were
predom inantly w hite and 2 pred om in an tly negro.
T o clarify the picture, w hite
m others on ly will be considered in th e 9 districts predom inantly white^ and negro
m others on ly in th e 2 rem aining districts. T h e boundaries of the districts are
inserted in footnotes for th e inform ation of interested persons in Philadelphia.
T ables I to I V , pages 36 to 3 9, sum m arize th e facts relating to m others em
p lo ym en t b y districts.
District 1 (.Kensington ) 1
K en sin gton is an old, highly industrialized section of Philadelphia w ith fa cto n es scattered am on g th e residences. T h e E nglish, Scotch, and W elsh
settled here originally to be near th e m ills in w hich th ey worked. T heir descendants, together w ith recent im m igrants from their hom eland, m ade up the
greater p art of those interviewed in this stu d y.
M oth ers in this district have
worked in th e m ills from generation to generation.
Girls brought up in the
sam e tradition h ave continued their factory w ork after marriage and while their
children were grow ing u p .
M o s t of th e m others in K ensington who were em
p loyed w orked in factories, chiefly in th e hosiery, woolen, carpet, and other
textile m ills.
,
, %
.
fi .
,,
T h e largest proportion of w hite m others em ployed after m arriage and also the
largest proportion em p loyed in the six m on th s preceding the interview were
fou n d in this district, in w hich m o st of th e m others were native born,
(bee
T a b le I I , p. 3 7.)
F ifty -sev en per cent of the m others interview ed had been
em ployed after m arriage, 29 per cent in the six m o n th s preceding the interview .
T h e prevalence of em p lo ym en t am on g m others in this district no d ou bt was
partly due to real necessity, in addition to custom .
A relatively large proportion
(29 per cent) of th e w orking m others were w idow ed, divorced, or deserted, so
th a t it was p robably essential th a t th e y support their families.
E ig h ty -o n e per cent of th e w orking m others were em ployed aw ay from hom e.
S ixty-eigh t per cent of these were em p loyed in factories— 56 per cent in textiles,
and a few in clothing, food, m eta l, and leather m anufacturing.
T w e n ty -o n e per
cent were in dom estic and personal service, m o stly as day workers m private
fam ilies. A lth ou gh th e percentage of factory workers in this industrial district
was ab ove th e average for all sections, th e p roxim ity of industry did not appear
to be an im portant factor in d eterm ining th e extent of the em p loym ent of m others.
T w o other im p ortan t industrial sections had appreciably higher proportions of
factory workers in general and even of ^textile workers.
T h e indications are
th a t in itself th e presence of a factory w ithin a block exerted no pull upon the
m others unless th e fam ily situ ation was such th a t their w ork was m ore or less
essential.
I f th e y were accustom ed to w ork or needed to w ork, th ey found
em p loym en t w herever available, preferably near h om e.
,..
W ork in g m others in K en sin gton , in com m on w ith other n ative-b orn m others,
did n ot m ake a practice of working regularly after m arriage. T h ose w ho had
husbands a t hom e w orked periodically according to fam ily needs.
O f the m others
w ho had worked after marriage one-third had been em p loyed less than a y®ar
and ab ou t one-half less th a n tw o years.
M ore th an one-fourth had worked fave
years or m ore, m a n y of these being dependent upon their earnings and having
no choice b u t to work regularly.
± .
. . .
,•
T h e tendency in this district, as in the other districts m w hich n ativeborn m others predom inated, was for th e m others to go to w ork only after their
children had reached school age.
M ore th an h alf of these m others w ho had
i
This district consists of two sections, one north and the other south of Lehigh Avenue. The boimdary
line of the northern section began at the intersection of Kensington Avenue and Indiana Street, oorranued
southwest on Kensington Avenue to Lehigh Avenue, west to Front Street, and northto Clearfield Street.
The northern boundary line was irregular, going east on Clearfield Street as far
r*
^hp-ncp
to Cambria and east to D Street, where it turned north again and continued to !ndiana Avenue. thence
east to Kensington Avenue. All this territory was in ward 33. The southern section of thedistrict lay
in ward 19, and included the territory bounded by Kensington Avenue on the east between Huntingdon
and York Streets, York on the south, Palethorp Street on the west, and Lehigh Avenue on the north as
far as Front Street, then south and west on Huntingdon Street around the hospital grounds to Kensington
Avenue.
30
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T H E W O R K IN G M O T H E R S
31
worked after m arriage had no children under 6 , and one-third had only one
child under 6.
On th e other hand, tw o-fifth s of th e m others w ho had not w orked
after marriage had no children under 6 and one-third had only one child of this
age. ,
T h e average fam ily am on g the working m others contained 2 children under
16 years of age as_ com pared w ith 2 .4 am on g th e m others w ho did n ot w ork.
T h is difference in size of fam ily, w hich was found in the other districts in w hich
n ative-born m others predom inated, as well as in K en sington, is und oub tedly due
in part to the greater proportion of broken hom es am ong the w orking m others
and in p art to th e tendency for the m others w ith larger fam ilies and younger
children to go to w ork only as a last resort.
District 2 (West Philadelphia) 2
A lth ou gh 4 4 per cent of the w hite m others in all districts had been em ployed
after marriage, in W e s t Philadelphia, where alm ost all the m others were native
born, on ly one-third had w orked after marriage.
Seventeen per cent were em
p lo yed at the tim e of the interview , three-fourths of them aw ay from hom e.
M oth ers w ho w orked in this district were m ore often saleswom en, telephone and
telegraph operators, and clerical and professional workers than were those w ork
ing in other districts. Practically one-third of the outside workers were doing
work of one kind or another th a t is generally considered m ore socially desirable
than factory em p loym en t or personal and dom estic service. R ela tiv ely fewer
factory workers (21 per cent) were found in this district than in other sections,
and th e percentage (43) of dom estic workers was lower than the average for all
districts.
T h is district was ty pical of the sections in w hich n ative-born m others pre
dom inated in the percentage of working m others w ho were not living w ith their
husbands (including those whose husbands were dead)-— 28 per cent as contrasted
w ith 14 per cent in the sections in which the foreign born predom inated. I t was
also typical of the size of families in the form er as opposed to the latter districts;
working m others averaged 2.1 children per fam ily and nonworking m others 2 .4 ,
whereas the average for working m others for districts in w hich the foreign born
predom inated ranged from 2 .4 to 2 .7 and for nonworking m others from 2 .4 to 3
children per fam ily.
District 8 (Southwest Philadelphia) 3
T h e district covered in Southw est Philadelphia is a residential section in the
extrem e southwestern p art and was selected as characteristic of another ty p e of
neighborhood whose inhabitants were chiefly native born.
In econom ic level it
m ore nearly approached W e s t Philadelphia th an an y other section, and it was
also m u ch like it and South Philadelphia in the nationalities of its foreign-born
population.
T h e chief difference was th a t Italians and Poles were m ore largely
represented and E nglish-speaking im m igrants less.
One-third of the m others canvassed in this district had been em ployed after
marriage, and less th an one-fifth (17 per cent) in the six m onths preceding the
interview, the proportions being practically the sam e as those in W e s t Philadel
phia.
N a tiv e-b orn m others predom inated, b u t som e Italians and Poles were also
found.
A larger percentage of m others in Southw est Philadelphia than in W e st
Philadelphia were em ployed in factories and a sm aller percentage in trade, clerical
w ork, and the professions, a difference th a t m a y be attributed to the presence of
the newer im m igrant groups.
T h e size of the fam ilies in the tw o districts was m u ch the sam e.
T h e propor
tion of broken hom es showed little variation.
T h e striking similarities found in
2 Two separate districts in West Philadelphia north of Market Street were included in the study. The
smaller section was in ward 24, just across the Schuylkill River north of Haverford Avenue, the eastern
boundary line being formed by the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks, which curve northeast to Thirty-fourth
Street. Here the line ran south to Fairmount Avenue, west to Thirty-eighth Street, and south again to
meet Haverford Avenue. The larger section occupied part of two wards, 24 and 44. It extended from
Fortieth to Fifty-second Street and consisted for the most part of a strip two blocks wide between Brown
Street and Westminster Avenue. In the northwest corner the boundary line extended one block north to
Cathedral Cemetery and two blocks east to Fiftieth Street. In the southeast corner the line ran south
from Brown Street on Forty-second Street, east to Lancaster Avenue, then southeast on the avenue to
Fortieth Street, where, turning northward, it formed a straight eastern boundary as far as Westminster.
3Two separate sections in ward 40 were included in the study, the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks passing
through the centers of both. The boundary line of the larger area ran along Sixtieth Street from Eastwick
to Kingressing, then turned south to Sixty-fourth Street, thence east to Woodland Avenue, north to Sixtysecond Street, east to Eastwick, and north to Sixtieth. The boundary of the southern and smaller area
followed Sixty-eighth Street from Dicks to Woodland Avenue, then south to Seventieth, east to Elmwood,
again east on Seventieth Street to Dicks, then north to Sixty-eighth Street.
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32
C H IL D R E N OF W O R K IN G M O T H E R S I N P H IL A D E L P H IA
these districts— one an old section near the center of the city and close to indus
tries of all kinds and the other quite far rem oved in opportunities for em ploy
m ent— indicate th a t the determ ining factor in m others’ em p loym en t is n o t the
proxim ity of industry.
District 4 (South Philadelphia) 4
T h e section of South Philadelphia chosen for stu d y is an old residential district
peopled largely b y native Am ericans of Irish stock and b y Irish im m igrants.
T h e neighborhood appeared to be less prosperous than either W e st or Southw est
Philadelphia.
In n ationality representation it was alm ost an exact counterpart
of W e s t Philadelphia, having in general the sam e proportion of native-born
w hites, the sam e proportion of Irish and other E nglish-speaking im m igrants, and
in general the sam e m ixture of other foreign born.
I t is possible, therefore, to
contrast the em p loym en t of m others of th e sam e nationalities under different
econom ic circumstances.
T h e extent of em p loym en t of married w om en w ith young children was greater
in South Philadelphia than in W e s t and Southw est Philadelphia, b u t less than in
the other districts studied.
O f the w hite m others canvassed, 38 per cent had
been em ployed after marriage, 20 per cent w ithin the six m onths preceding the
interview.
T w o hundred and fo rty-fo u r worked aw ay from hom e.
T h e lower
econom ic level of the m others in South Philadelphia, as contrasted w ith those in
W e s t Philadelphia, is reflected in the occupations of these m others em ployed
outside their hom es.
F orty -fo u r per cent were in m anufacturing and mechanical
industries, the largest num bers in textiles, b u t an appreciable num ber in cigar
and tobacco, clothing, food, leather, and other factories.
A nother 44 per cent
were in dom estic and personal service, m ore than half as charw om en.
O nly 9
per cent were in trade, clerical, or professional work.
O n the other hand, in W e st
Philadelphia only 21 per cent of the m others were in factories, and an unusually
large proportion (34 per cent) were in the so-called “ w hite-collar” jobs.
Econom ic distress was evidenced in this district b y the absence of a larger
proportion of fathers (30 per cent) from the hom es of m others w ho were em ployed
when interviewed. T h e average num ber of children am ong m others w ho had
worked in the six m onths preceding the interview was 2 .4 and am ong those who
were n ot em ployed 2 .8 .
T h e fam ilies in this district also contained m ore than
the average num ber of children under 6 years of age.
T h e presence of these
sm all children m a y have dictated to som e extent the hours of the m others’ work
and accounted, at least in part, for the high percentage w ho were em ployed as
charwomen, work in which hours are m ore easily adjusted to fam ily needs.
District 5 (Nicetovm) 6
N icetow n is a relatively new residential district typical of the sections occupied
b y industrial workers.
T h e foreign-born nationalities of this district were varied.
Poles were the largest single group am ong the foreign born, b u t they were not so
numerous as to affect the exten t and nature of m o th ers’ em ploym ent, as in
R ich m on d and Frankford.
T hree-fifths of the working m others were foreign born.
A lthough half the
m others h ad been em ployed after marriage— m ore than one-fourth in the six
m onths preceding the interview — th e y had n ot w orked so long as in the other
sections in which the foreign born were in the m a jo rity b u t in duration of em p loy
m en t approached m ore nearly the districts occupied chiefly b y the native born.
T h e m others who worked aw ay from hom e— three-fourths of them were in this
group— were m o stly in dom estic and personal service— day workers in private
* This section was situated south of Grays Ferry Avenue in the central part of ward 36. It comprised
about 30 city blocks. The northern boundary line was Grays Ferry Avenue from Napa Street to Twentyeighth, where it crossed the railroad tracks and continued along Federal to Twenty-fourth Street. The
eastern boundary line followed Twenty-fourth Street to the south side of Wharton Square, there swinging
eastward and surrounding the two city blocks between Reed and Dickinson Streets and Twenty-fourth
and Twenty-second Streets. This made a small, practically separate area west of Twenty-fourth Street
and contiguous to the larger area only at the junction of Twenty-fourth and Reed Streets. The boundary
of the larger area continued from this junction point west on Reed Street to Twenty-sixth Street, then south
to Tasker, west on Thirtieth, north to Wharton, west to Napa, and north to Grays Ferry Avenue.
8The territory covered in Nicetown was roughly triangular in shape, the lower point of the triangle fall
ing at the intersection of Hunting Park Avenue and Clarissa Street. One side of the triangle ran northeast
along Hunting Park Avenue to Broad and then up Broad to Cayuga Street, and another side ran northwest
along Clarissa Street, then up Pulaski and Wayne Avenues to Wayne Junction Station. The northern
border of the Nicetown district followed an irregular line down Germantown Avenue to Eighteenth Street,
then northward to Cayuga, and east to Broad Street. The section east of Germantown Avenue lay in the
northwestern part of ward 43, and the section on the west side in ward 38, except for a very small area near
Wayne Junction that lay in ward 22.
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THE WORKING MOTHERS
33
fam ilies, laundry workers, and charw om en. H a lf the factory workers were in
textile m ills, and the next largest group were workers in m e ta l'a n d electrical
supplies.
T h e reasons for m o th ers’ em p loym en t in N icetow n were not so obvious as in
som e of the other sections.
One-fifth of those who h ad w orked w ithin six m onths
preceding the inquiry had lost their husbands through death or desertion and so
had assum ed the burden of fa m ily support.
O f the remainder, it is likely, to judge
from the general appearance of the neighborhood, th a t a significant proportion
found their earnings necessary for the upkeep of the fam ily.
T h e size of the fam ily was abou t the average for foreign-born working and non
working m others, falling approxim ately half w ay betw een those in Frankford and
in R ich m on d .
M ore th an half the m others who h ad w orked after marriage had
children of preschool age.
T h e m others who had n ot com bined gainful em p loy
m ent w ith household duties h ad more you n g children than the working mothers.
District 6 (.Northern Liberties) 6
Northern Liberties, a congested area near the center of the city in which the
families were crowded into three and four story tenem ents, presents a picture of
the em p loym en t of m others am ong the poorer Jews and Russians.
M a n y of the
native born were of Jewish or R ussian extraction, so th a t the custom s of these
tw o peoples were reflected in the em p loym en t of m others in the district as a whole.
Four d ay nurseries within the area selected for canvass were provided to care for
children of working m others.
T w o-th ird s of the m others included in the hou se-to-house canvass were foreign
born— one-third Jews, one-fifth. Russians (other th an Jews), one-seventh Poles,
and a scattering of other peoples, m o stly Slavic.
A lthough the e m p loym en t of
married w om en was less general th an in m ost of the other districts in w hich the
foreign born predom inated, nearly half the m others who had children under 16
had worked after m arriage; more than one-fourth had been em ployed in the
six m on th s preceding the interview.
These m others as a group had worked m ore
regularly after marriage than the other w hite m others included in the stu d y ;
4 4 per cent, as contrasted w ith 30 per cent of all white m others, had worked five
or m ore years after marriage, and 19 per cent had worked at least 10 years.
In spite of the fact th a t the population was m ade up largely of Jews and
Russians, am ong w hom the w om en tend to w ork at hom e or in business in con
nection w ith their hom es, 73 per cent of the m others in this district were em ployed
aw ay from hom e.
F orty-seven per cent of the outside workers were in factories—
m o stly clothing or cigar and tobacco factories.
A few were in textile, food,
leather, and paper-box factories.
F orty -fo u r per cent were in dom estic and
personal service, chiefly as cleaners in offices, stores, and other buildings, and as
hotel and restaurant workers.
Nineteen, per cent of the w orking m others were
proprietors of stores or were assistants or partners in stores, w ork shops, or other
business enterprises m aintained b y their relatives.
T h is was the only district in which the m others who were em ployed averaged
as m a n y children per fam ily (2.4) as did th e m others who were occupied chiefly
w ith household duties.
M a n y of these families had one or m ore children under
6 years of age.
For a foreign-born group the percentage of hom es in which the
father or a stepfather was not present (27 per cent) was unusually large and
probably accounted for th e degree to w hich m others of nationalities not ordi
narily found a t w ork outside their hom es were forced into the industrial field.
I t was no d ou bt p ov erty here, as in R ichm ond and South Philadelphia, th a t
necessitated the w ork of m others of relatively large fam ilies, irrespective of
national custom and th e needs of the children for a m other’s care.
District 7 {Richmond)7
T h e part of R ichm ond chosen for survey is a th ickly populated residential
section of th e poorer class of Poles.
T h e streets are narrow and dirty, and the
6This district covered sections of wards 12,13, and 16. The boundaries were long and irregular. With
Eighth and Poplar Streets as the northwest corner, the bounday line may be described as following a course
south on Eighth Street to Noble, east to Sixth, north to Buttonwood, east to Fourth, north to Green, then
making a little jutty eastward to Galloway, north to Fairmont Avenue, and back to Fourth Street, continu
ing thence northward to Poplar, southeast on Poplar to Second Street, north to Girard Avenue, west to
Randolph, south to Poplar, and west again to Eighth Street.
7 This district consisted of about 14 city blocks in the southern part of ward 45. The ward line, Allegheny
Avenue from Richmond to Almond Street, formed a part of the boundary line, which then turned northeast
on Almond Street, continued to Tioga, thence southeast to Edgemont Street, southwest to Westmoreland,
following the railroad tracks there to Richmond Street, where a right-hand turn brought it back to Alle
gheny Avenue.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
34
CHILDREN OF WORKING MOTHERS IN PHILADELPHIA
houses are sm all and often in a bad state of repair.
T h e general atm osphere was
th a t of neglect and p overty.
M oth ers for the m ost part found em p loym en t in
factories.
'
E m p lo ym en t of m others am on g the Poles is illustrated b y the findings in
Richm ond and Frankford and to a lesser extent in N icetow n.
F ifty -fo u r per
cent of th e m others living in th e R ichm ond district were Polish.
M ore th an half the m others living in this section had w orked after m arriage,
and m ore th an one-fifth had been em ployed in the six m onths preceding the
interview.
T h e y found em p loym en t aw ay from hom e for the m ost part (78
per cent) in factories— in the near-by m ills of K en sington and in cigar, tobacco,
and other factories throughout th e city.
G ainful em p loym en t was not a new
experience to these w om en.
M a n y of th em had w orked ever since th e y were
married.
Large fam ilies were the rule in this district. In fact there were m ore
children per fam ily (2.7) am on g these working m others than in an y other, and
m ore even than am ong nonworking m others in m o st districts.
T hree children
were m ore com m on th an either one or tw o, and 14 per cent of the working
m others had five or m ore children under 16.
D e ath or desertion of the father was n ot an im p ortant factor in forcing these
m others of large fam ilies to go to work.
O n th e contrary, the husbands were
living a t hom e m ore often than in any of the other districts except Passayunk.
I t was no d ou b t their low earnings, w hich did not m eet the necessities of fife, th a t
led the m other to find som e w ay to supplem ent the fam ily income.
District 8 (Frankford) 8
T h e Frankford district is predom inantly a Polish district, w hich m akes possible
com parison of the em p loym en t of m others in this section and the R ichm ond
section.
Frankford is industrial to a great extent, ranking in this respect next
to K ensington am ong th e sections studied. I t has a num ber of large textile
m ills, a chocolate factory, a leather w orks, and som e m etal industries, all of
which em ploy w om en.
In Frankford, as in R ich m on d , the em ploym en t of married w om en was the
rule rather th an the exception, m ore th an half the m others having been em ployed
after marriage and m ore than one-fourth in the six m onths preceding the inter
view.
M o s t of th em w orked aw ay from hom e.
E ig h ty -tw o per cent of the
m others who worked outside their hom es were factory workers, as com pared
w ith 78 per cent in R icnm ond, the largest percentages of factory workers found
in the districts canvassed.
A lth ou gh th e am ou n t and kind of em p loym ent were
m uch th e sam e as in R ich m on d, there were indications th a t the econom ic pressure
was n ot so great in Frankford.
T h e m others did n ot w ork so regularly nor had
th ey worked for as m a n y years as those of R ich m ond.
W ork in g m others and
m others w ho did n ot w ork had fewer children (2 .4 and 2 .6 per cent, respectively)
than did th e corresponding groups in R ich m on d.
Furtherm ore, the children of
the em ployed m oth er were less often under 6 years of age.
A pp arently m others
of large fam ilies and m others of sm all children were financially better able to sta y
a t hom e and care for th em in this district th an were the m others of the sam e
nationality in R ichm ond.
District 9 (.Passayunk) 9
T h e m others in th e P assayunk district were em ployed to m uch the sam e extent
(45 per cent) as were m others in other districts.
Sixty-six per cent were born
in Ita ly , an d m a n y of th e others were of Italian parentage. In contrast to the
m others in th e other districts on ly 2 9 per cent w orked aw ay from hom e, and these
were usually em ployed in m anufacturing and mechanical industries.
M ore than
half th e m others were industrial hom e workers, and alm ost one-fifth were sm all
shopkeepers.
T heir work in either case enabled th em to keep in touch w ith their
children, of w hom there were often five or more, th e average per fam ily for working
» The boundary line of this district from its southwest corner at Frankford Creek and Church Street
followed the creek to Orthodox Street, then turned north to Stiles Street, east to Tucker, south to the creek,
again following the water to the United States Arsenal on Bridge Street. Here a straight turn north was
made to Torresdale Street, then west to Orthodox, south to the first line of the railroad tracks, then west
along the tracks to Church Street, and south to the creek. Within this territory Melrose and Millnor
Streets between Church and Orthodox and Duncan Street between Melrose and Bermuda were omitted
from the canvass, but Stiles Street between Orthodox and Tucker Streets, which formed a part of the
boundary line, was included.
. ,
' ,,,
'
.
•This district in southeast Philadelphia consisted of four blocks between Eighth and Tenth Streets and
Morris and Mifflin in the heart of the Italian settlement.
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
THE WORKING MOTHERS
35
m others being 2 .6 and for th e nonworking 3.
Italian m others were rarely the
chief breadw inners; m ore than 90 per cent of th e m others in this district had
husbands at hom e.
District 10 (Girard College District) 10
A district in the neighborhood of Girard College was chosen for stu d y.
Here
the population was predom inately negro an d represented relatively poor negro
families.
v
>
O f th e 7 6 7 m others interviewed w ho h ad children under 16 years of age, 83
per cent h ad been em ployed after marriage, and 62 per cent had been em ployed in
the six m onths preceding the interview.
Practically all were em ployed aw ay from
hom e.
T e n per cent of the outside workers were in factories, m o stly clothing
factories. E igh ty-eigh t per cent were in dom estic and personal service— a
few in hotels, restaurants, and laundries, b u t the v a st m a jority doing cleaning and
other day work in private fam ilies.
.
•
These negro m others apparently had worked regularly after marriage.
O nehalf had w orked 5 years or m ore, and one-fourth 10 years or more, of their married
lives.
W ork in g m others in th e district averaged 2.1 children, whereas those who
were n ot em ployed averaged 2 .4 per fam ily.
T h e negro m others w ho had not
been em ployed after marriage h ad w ith few exceptions one or m ore sm all children
w ho required their constant care; m ore than half of th em had tw o or m ore chil
dren under 6 years of age.
M o s t of these also h ad husbands a t hom e.
District 11 (West Philadelphia) 11
T h e negro district in W e s t Philadelphia represented negro families who were,
on the whole, on a com paratively higher econom ic level than those in the Girard
College district.
I t is possible, therefore, to stu d y the part th a t economic
conditions p la y in the em p loym en t of negro m others b y com paring the findings
in the Girard College and the W e s t Philadelphia district.
In W e s t Philadelphia less th an three-fourths of th e m others had worked after
marriage, a little m ore th an half working in the six m onths preceding the inter
view.
T h e Girard College district showed 10 per cent m ore em ployed in each
group.
M o s t of the 2 77 negro m others in the W e s t Philadelphia district w ho were
em ployed in th e 6-m o n th period w orked aw ay from hom e.
T h e occupational
distribution was m uch th e sam e in th e tw o districts.
D om estic and personal
service absorbed th e great m a jority of m others in b oth.
W e s t Philadelphia had
a few m ore dressmakers an d professional workers than the poorer negro section,
b u t these workers form ed such a sm all part of th e whole group th a t th ey have no
particular significance.
'
.
In addition to the smaller percentages em ployed, the higher economic standards
in W e s t Philadelphia are further' indicated b y th e shorter periods of tim e after
marriage th a t the m others had w orked; 38 per cent had w orked less than tw o
years and 63 per cent less th an five, as contrasted w ith 2 8 and 51 per cent,
respectively, in th e vicinity of Girard College.
T h en , too, m others w ho had
w orked in this section h ad smaller fam ilies. H a lf had only one child, the average
fam ily for the district being tw o children. T h e smaller fam ily is reflected in the
num ber of children of preschool age.
Slightly less th an half th e working m others
in each district had no children under 6, b u t 8 4 per cent of those in W e s t Philadel
phia had no m ore than one child in this age group, as com pared w ith 75 per cent
in th e Girard College section.
A lth ou gh the great m ass of negro w om en are
accustom ed to gainful em p loym en t from childhood, in both W e s t Philadelphia
and the Girard College district evidence of a tendency to give up such work when
their children are sm all or as soon as fam ily circumstances perm it was found in
this stu d y.
io This district lay just north of Girard College grounds. The northern boundary was Montgomery
Street between Twenty-fourth and Twentieth Streets; the eastern, along Twentieth Street to JefTereon
Street; and the southern, along Jefferson from Twentieth to Twenty-six Street. The western boundary line
ran north on Twenty-six Street to Columbia Street, then east to Twenty-fourth Street, and north again to
join the starting point at Montgomery and Twenty-fourth Streets. The northeastern and northwestern
sections of wards 29 and 47, respectively, were thus represented.
..
..
.. ,
ft This district of West Philadelphia, occupied chiefly by negro families, included two small areas north or
Market Street, principally within ward 34. The smaller one extended into ward 44, being bounded on the
east by Lindenwood Street, on the north by Race, on the west by Vodges, and on the south by Market.
The second area was farther west, the southern boundary being still on Market Street, the eastern on
Fifty-seventh Street, and the western on Sixtieth. Vine Street constituted the northern boundary from
Fifty-seventh Street to Fifty-eighth Street, then the line ran south one block and continued on Race Street
wast to Sixtieth.
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
APPENDIX B.— TABLES SHOWING EMPLOYMENT OF MOTHERS IN THE DIFFERENT DISTRICTS
g
T a b l e I .— Race and nationality o f mothers having children under 16 years of age in specified districts o f Philadelphia
Race reported................................................................................... 12, 212 100
White _____________________ _______ ______________________ 10,243
84
6,427
4,801
1,190
704
682
881
426
455
284
284
187
351
238
136
102
15
1,966
3
15
44
39
10
Irish_________________________________________
Russian______________________
Other............... ........... .........
German........................................
Nationality not reported_______
Other____________________
1Less than 1 per cent.
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
fi
6
7
3
4
2
2
2
3
2
1
1
0)
16
0)
_____
1,776
__
385
Ut
©
a3
_____
(-1
©
a3
A
354
_____
©
a3
A
1,848
_____
<E
>
a
£
891
_____
Ut
©
x>
a3
A
1,084
1,280 100
1,239 100
1,788 100
1,774 100
384 100
354 100
1,847 100
890 100
1,260
1,237 100
1,662
93
1,547
384 100
354 100
1,620
88
882
1,027
1,140
519
12
145
231
32
21
11
38
20
8
21
12
4
8
3
126
64
29
1
8
13
2
1
1
2
1
(l)
1
1
1,043 59
93 24
500 28 291 76
209 54
3 0
2 1
20
1
4
1
234 13
1
111
6
5
58
3
1
53
3
5
52
3
22
1
6
2
1
20
61 16
1
23
1
2
1
1
2
15
7 0
1
8 0
2
4 (>)
227 13
107
246
409
1,207
176
11
9
507
281
226
24
117
48
185
130
97
33
4
227
22
65
10
1
0
27
15
12
1
6
3
10
7
5
2
0
12
308 35
574 64
396 44
44
5
1
10
42
5
1 0
41
5
11
1
23
3
4
36
1
8
4 0
3 0
1 0
944 74
313 24
43
3
1
10
58
5
27
2
19
1
8
1
97
8
38
3
1 (l)
1
16
23
2
1
7
1
16
3 0
18
2
2 0
6
833
404
63
145
64
29
11
18
33
13
12
32
13
7
6
2
1
67
33
5
12
5
2
1
1
3
1
1
3
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
7
2
87
1
30
69
233 66
1 0
1
4
1 (!)
3
1
2
6
1
2
2
6
1 0
1
8
1
99
1
a3
¡Z¡
616
—
1,084 100
98
t-i
X
CD
a3
A
958
—
616 100
Per cent dis
tribution
1,789
A
a3
I Per cent dis1 tribution
__
A
Ut
S
pO
West
Girard
Nicetown Philadel
phia
College
(negro)
I Per cent dis1 tribution
1,240
A
a3
Frankford
1 tribution
¡z¡
t-4
<
D
Northern
Liberties
I Per cent dis-
a
Passayunk
I Per cent dis1 tribution
<5
M
Rich
mond
I Per cent dis1 tribution
A
1,286
Total....................................................... 12, 227
Foreign born______ ___________ __________
a3
1 Per cent dis1 tribution
%
©
Per cent dis
tribution
a3
Ut
£
Per cent dis
tribution
Ut
3
rO
Per cent dis
tribution
Bace and nationality of mother
West
Philadel
phia
(white)
I Per cent dis1 tribution
South
Southwest
Philadel Philadel
phia
phia
Per cent dis
trib u tio n !
Kensing
ton
Tota
—
956
100
95
82
13
188
20
389 36
638 59
286 26
88
8
60 6
80 7
8
1
72
7
24
2
37
3
1 0
51
5
11
1
43
39
7
6
118
70
2
6
4
10
7
3
3
1
1
1
12
7
0
1
0
0
0
7
34
19
15
2
5
1
4
2
2
2
1
0
0
3
17
8
9
87
767
1
2
11
1
10
5
3
2
57
5
534
0
0
1
2
1
1
80
0
C H IL D R E N OF W O R K IN G M O T H E R S I N P H IL A D E L P H IA
Mothers having children under 16 years of age
37
T H E W O R K IN G M O T H E R S
T a b l e . I I .— Race and employment history o f mothers having children under 16
years o f age in certain specified districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers having children under 10 years of age
Employment since marriage
Race of mother and district
of residence
Total
White.
Kensington____________
Southwest Philadelphia.
South Philadelphia........
West Philadelphia_____
Richmond_____________
Passayunk____________
Northern Liberties_____
Frankford_____________
Nicetown_____________
Other districts_____ _
Negro_____________
West Philadelphia.
Girard College____
Other districts._
Chinese_________
Race not reported.
Employed Not employ Not re
in 6
ed in 6
Not
ported
months
im months im whether employed
Total
mediately
mediately employ
employed
preceding
preceding
ed in 6
date of
date of
months
interview
interview immedi
ately pre
ceding
Num Per Num Per Num Per
date of Num Per
ber cent1 ber cent1 ber cent1 interview ber cent1
10,243
4,486
44
2,384
23
2,098
20
1,260
1,237
1,662
1,547
384
354
1,620
882
1,027
270
716
415
632
617
196
159
746
468
509
128
57
34
38
33
51
45
46
53
50
47
370
209
333
264
83
82
436
241
277
89
29
17
20
17
22
23
27
27
27
33
346
205
298
252
113
77
310
227
231
39
27
17
18
16
29
22
19
26
22
14
1,966
1,569
80
1,115
57
452
23
534
767
665
391
638
540
73
83
81
277
473
365
52
62
55
114
163
175
21
21
26
3
15
3
12
2
8
4
1
1
1
1
5,757
56
544
822
1,030
li 030
188
195
874
414
518
142
43
66
62
67
49
55
54
47
50
53
2
397
20
2
143
129
125
27
17
19
1
4
1Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
T a b l e I I I .— Whereabouts o f husband and race o f mothers em ployed in six months
immediately preceding date o f interview; mothers having children under 16 years
o f age in specified districts o f Philadelphia
Mothers employed in 6 months immediately preceding date of
interview
Whereabouts of husband
Race of mother and district of
residence
Total
At home
Away
Dead
Not
Total
re Mother
re
never
ported Num Per Num Per Num Per port married
ber cent1 ber cent1 ber cent1 ed
White.
2,384
2,330
1,764
76
297
13
269
12
47
Kensington_____ ____ _
Southwest Philadelphia.
South Philadelphia____
West Philadelphia_____
Richmond.:____________
Passayunk____________
Northern Liberties_____
Frankford_____________
Nicetown........................
Other districts_______
Negro___________________
370
349
209
205
333
330
264
260
83
80
82
79
436
433
241
236
277
271
89
' 87
1,115 1,052
247
151
232
187
71
72
314
205
214
71
787
71
74
70
72
89
91
73
87
79
82
75
65
26
48
43
1
3
65
16
23
7
167
19
13
15
17
1
4
15
7
8
8
16
37
28
50
30
8
4
54
15
34
9
98
11
14
15
12
10
5
12
6
13
10
9
20
3
3
1
3
3
2
4
6
2
36
210
309
268
1
2
78
71
77
36
79
52
13
18
15
22
46
30
8
11
9
3
29
4
1
4
West Philadelphia______
Girard College_________
Other districts________
Chinese____ ______ ______
Race not reported_____ ___
277
473
365
2
8
268
434
350
1
3
1Per cent not shown where number of mothers is less than 50.
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
1
if
7
1
1
3
1
i
27
6
10
11
1
T able IV . — Place o f work, industry and occupation, and race o f mothers employed in six months imm ediately preceding date o f interview;
00
mothers having children under 16 years o f age in certain specified districts o f Philadelphia
District of residence
Negro mothers
White mothers
North
Frankern
Liber
ford
ties
264
81 160
7
966 198 55 41
1 0)
5
23
Transportation_____________________
104 16 4 14
Trade______________ _______________
4
1
3
32
Professional service--------- ------ - ...........
1,517 61 17 83
Employees in restaurants, hotels,
226 15 4 27
Cleaners and other workers in pri5
8
863 27
3 39
268 11
2 12
158 8
Clerical----------- ------------------------------Not renortine occurtation____________
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
75
25
7
4
2
1
10
3
81 244
21 108
3 4
7 11
2
3
42 107
14
3
20
6
5
2
23
17
60
7
9
2
77 203
77 I T
34 42 16
3
1 9
3 29 11
1 11 4
34
7 33
7
5
19
2
3
1
24
28
22
13
20
5
82 "
9
11
8
5
8
2
61
I7
z
z
__
89 ___ 277 —— 4 7 3 —
436 . . . . 241 . . . . 277
95
24
30 312
73 184
77 205
74
1 1
17 21 146
3
34 151
1
63 78
4
0)
32
(it
21
4 Iß
2
2
1 137
24
1
3
4
50
12
3
10
4
23
59
5
5
14
1
6
8
4
12
1
1
1
2
0
a
ë
¿2
a
k
©
rQ
a
z
74
31
35 242
89 433
16 6
1 0
1
2
1
4
11 217 79
13
15
2
4
4
10 112
41
iö
3
11
4
3
3
16
6 29
3
3
29
36
35
11
13
13
3
1
3
3 173
1 7
3 21
63 309
3 11
8 29
4
4
4
2
1 0
6
3
366 —
93 338
6
2
1
2
4
18
66 239
2
2
6 19
0
2
1
z
2
1 0
9 51
42
2
1 0
2 0
1
2 0
378 81 279
28
2
©
89 100 27Ì” 100 466 100 356 100
6
1
9
2
©
U
Per cent dis
tribution
¡1
a
I Per cent distribution
ê
a
©
rO
U
0
a
1
A
O
*0
©
Pi
8
4*
0
a
8
as
«
1
a
©
«¿2
Per cent dis
tribution
¿2
6
1
g
©
100 81 100 429 100 238 100 276 100
2
1
West Girard Other
Other Phila
College districts
districts delphia
Per cent dis
tribution
z
82
83
Place of work reported.............. ................................. 3,434 358 100 197 100 318 100 263 100
Away from home____________________________ 2,749 290
ê
a
S-4
©
I Per cent dis1 tribution
ê
B
©
¿2
1 Per cent dis1 tribution
a
¡5
&
1Per cent dis1 tribution
Ü
333
209
Total----------------- ----- ------------------------- 3,509 370
a
h
©
rO
Per cent distribution
¡1
©
1
a
U
Per cent dis
tribution
U
©
rO
Per cent dis
tribution
¡25
Per cent dis
tribution
*3
o
ë
-a
a
U
Nicetown
Per cent dis
tribution
Passayunk
I Per cent distribution
Rich
mond
1
South South
West
west
Phila Phila
Phila delphia
delphia
delphia
1
Ken
sington
1
P lace of work and industry and occupation
0
1
2
8
2
7
95 —
5
1
14 —
1
0
79
2
1
3
67 . . . .
1 —
5
1
1
1
5
1 0
1
2
1 0
1
—
C H IL D R E N OF W O R K IN G M O T H E R S I N P H IL A D E L P H IA
Mothers employed in 6 months immediately preceding date of interview
At home__________ ________________ I ___
Close by or connected with home’ _______
260
20
6
14
7
19
6
13
5
2
2
165
87
8
12
8
3
2
11
3
6
2
15
4
5
1
3
10
1
4
2
2
425
48
13
23
12
55
17
47
18
2
2
75
12
12
15
1
1
11
28
6
15
4
10 4
19 7
1 (!)
7
15
6
2
3
1
5
10
1
3
1 0)
6
1
2
1
4
7
53
35
8
9
4
27
10
3
3 30
43
53
6
25
9
2
1 (!)
7
2
3 24
1 3
9
1
1
2
1
2
14
17
82
44
16
55
62
43
1
7
19
45
3
19
1
10
....
2
2
1
____
1
1Less than 1 per cent.
’ Includes 416 mothers working in own or relative’s store, shop or business in or very near dwelling, and 9 mothers in domestic and personal service close by or connected with
home.
o
THE WORKING MOTHERS
CO
50
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
https://fraser.stlouisfed.org
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
@FedFRASER