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WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1922 ADDITIONAL COPIES OR THIS PUBUCATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE -WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 10 CENTS PER COPY CONTENTS* Letter of trarusmittal Introduction General Bummary I. Detailed study based on census data Scope of study Nationality Marital status Age.. Family status and responsibilities Tenure of homes Industries and occupations Bread winning mothers II. Study based on personal survey iv 1 4 9 9 10 13 14 16 22 24 35 41 ' ni LETTER OP TRANSMITTAL. U I H T E D STATES D E P A R T M E N T OF LABOR, WOMEN'S BUREAU, 'WasUngton, April 21, 1922. SIR: I have the honor to submit to you the* report of a detailed study of material i n the census schedules on the family status of breadwinning women i n Passaic, N. J. This city was chosen because the population was not so large as to render the work of scrutinizing each schedule too expensive and yet possessed a sufficient number of breadwinning women to warrant statistical analysis. This city seemed to answer the requirements. Although small, i t is an important industrial center and employs a great many women. Respectfully submitted. M A R Y A N D E R S O N , Director* H o n . JAMES J . DAVIS, Secretary of Labor. IV THE FAMILY STATUS OF BREADWINNING WOMEN. INTRODUCTION. The 1920 census of population shows that 8,549,511 of the Nation's 40,449,346 women 10 years of age and over are breadwinners— meaning thereby that this one-fifth of all women has a financial rating under our present system of national bookkeeping. In the balance sheets drawn periodically from the Nation's books, the service rendered by breadwinning women is carefully analyzed by industries, occupation, and locality when these women work in factory, mill, or other mechanical establishments. Fragmentary pictures of the conditions surrounding their labor also appear in the balance sheets drawn at more frequent intervals showing the equipment, hours of operation, cost of materials, labor, power, and the other habihties and assets of employers. But it is almost a quarter of a century since balance sheets were drawn from the Nation's books showing the personal and family assets and liabilities of the milhons of women who maintain themselves in the class officially recognized as "breadwinners." ^ In passing, i t may be noted that no sheets have ever been drawn showing the personal and family liabilities and assets of men workers or of employers of either sex. However, the very fact that a person is an employer is evidence that the accumulation of wealth by saving or inheritance has been sufficient to care for the immediate personal and family liabilities and that there is enough left over to invest in productive equipment, labor, and materials. As long, therefore, as he is counted on the employers' balance sheets, drawn so carefully by the United States Bureau of the Census to promote the prosperity of manufactures and commerce, that fact alone is adequate assurance that the employer's personal and family liabiUties are carried on reasonably comfortable levels. In the case of the workingman, one of the principal services to be rendered by an analysis of personal and family responsibility is secined in large part b y the assumption that the size of the average family as determined by the Bureau of the Census measures the burden which the workingman's wage must bear. I n all the family 1 One buUetin on "Women at work" was prepared from the schedules coUected in 1900 by the United re tlie Census. Although the bunetin in question did not cover aU the breadwinning women to^ ^^ ^^ so large a proportion of such women and so much of the significant data to be oana on the schedules that it constituted a most valuable public document. 1 T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . 2 budgets underlying the settlement of wage disputes there is no cavil over the fact that not all workingmen are married nor over the degree of help which junior or adult members of the family may render to the married man in bearing the burden of family support. Insignificant exceptions aside, neither the evidence of personal and family security afforded by status among employers, nor the basis available for measuring the personal and family responsibility of the workingman attaches to the breadwinning woman. While only the fancy-fed mind still entertains the fiction that ''women work chiefly for pin money/' there is nevertheless a ceaseless and judgment-beclouding controversy as to the measure of responsibility for personal and family support which should be used in fixing the wage of women workers. Yet among the data collected by the Bureau of the Census from every household in the land there is a wealth of material which, properly assembled and published, would reflect with clearness the economic plane upon which breadwinning women of the Nation live. Among the facts of manifest social significance this material would show how many of the millions of women breadwinners are married and how many are the mothers of yoimg children; how many of the mothers are winning their bread outside and how many inside of the home; how many children of babyhood age are left at home while the mothers are winning bread in factory, store, or mill; and how many children of school age are at home, at school, or helping the wage-earning mother i n the business of winning the bread. I t would show whether the mothers who work away from home are widowed, divorced, or separated, and how many are livmg with breadwinning husbands. I t would show whether there are servants or adult persons living in the house who could with reason be regarded as caretakers of young children loft motherless during the day. For the single women breadwinners, the schedules contain material throwing a direct and guiding light upon the degree of responsibility for personal and family support which rests upon the single woman breadwinner. The schedules reveal, for example, the number in given age groups who are living in normal families; that is, where the fathers are breadwinners and the mothers are at home. They show how many of the single breadwinning women living in the family group are daughters of widowed, divorced, or separated mothers; how many without breadwinning fathers still have mothers at home, presumably looking after the needs and comforts of the family; how many have mothers at work outside the home; how many are sharing their homes with boarders and lodgers; and how many of the single breadwinning women are themselves boarding or odging or economically " a d r i f t . " THE FAMILY S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEiT. 3 The schedules would show how many of the smgle women breadwinners are sole, one of two, and one of three breadwmners living in families where no male breadwinners^ appear to share the burden of family support. The schedules would show, for married and single women breadwinners alike, whether the homes were rented or owned, and if owned, whether free or encumbered. These and many other important facts, properly correlated, would sketch with adequate dependability the family conditions surrounding the Nation^s millions of breadwinning women. Quite aside from the availability of the material as a basis for gauging the demands made upon the earnings of women breadwinners for personal and family support, its value for guidance in Americanization and educational efforts is obvious. How nearly 9,000,000 women are circumstanced in the matter of personal or family support, how many millions of yoxmg children are mothered by women classified as breadwinners, are questions of such large social significance that any reliable data throwing light on the answers are an asset in constructive efforts. Much money is spent by the Bureau of the Census periodically collecting the data described in the foregoing paragraphs, but, except for the bulletiri published nearly a quarter of a century ago, these fundamental facts concerning the entire body of breadwinning women have gone into the archives of the Government unpublished. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent by public and private agencies to get this same information as a basis for much needed intensive studies, such studies being confined necessarily to selected groups in selected localities. Assembling the basic facts already collected by the Bureau of the Census for the entire body of breadwinning women will release large sums for more intensive work. But the appropriations allotted for the census have not been large enough ordinarily to provide for the publication of the data on breadwinniug women without curtaUiag other census publications. While the 1920-21 appropriations were no exception to the rule, arrangements have been made for the publication of data bearing upon the breadwinning women as a whole in the more important industrial centers. These data will be of great value even though the funds available do not permit the publication of all of the data by cities. This information for the majority of breadwinning women will serve as a background for more intensive analysis of the breadwinning women in given cities. With the consent of the Secretary of Commerce and the approval and generous cooperation of the Director of the Census, the Women's "The census schedule covers every person living in the household. Some iamilies, therefore, might have the help of male breadwinners who were not living in the famUy group. T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . 4 Bureau undertook to extract the intensive data for a single c i t y choosing one whose population was not so large as to render the work of scrutinizmg each schedule too expensive and yet possessing breadwinning women in large enough numbers to warrant statistical analysis. Passaic, N. J., seemed to answer the requirements best, as i t is a comparatively small city of large industrial importance and contains industries conspicuous as extensive employers of women. Wliile data embodied in this report furnish a remarkably significant picture of the city chosen, the main purpose of the bulletin and the larger service which i t is hoped the publication will render, is to show the quality and ex^tent of the information available for publication concerning the Nation's nearly 9,000,000 breadwinning women who were, of course, included in the population census of 1920. GENERAL SUMMARY. What the data showed concerning Passaic women breadwinners. The outlines of the picture of Passaic women breadwinners presented by the 26 tables found in the body of this report and derived exclusively from the 1920 census schedules are easily traced. They bring into view nearly ^ 10,000 women—not far from one-half of the adult woman population of Passaic—working for money, four-fifths of them earning i t outside of the home. They show that one-half of these women were or had been married; that nearly three-fourths of the married or once-married women breadwinners were mothers; that more than one-half of the mothers were working outside the home and that of the 1,800 mothers working outside the home, over 900 had children under 5 years of age. The woolen industries were the conspicuous employers of these women. They show that while the Poles and other Slavic peoples furnished less than a third of all of the Passaic women breadwinners, they accounted for over 45 per cent of the breadwinning women who were married, widowed, divorced, or separated, and for almost twothirds of the mothers having children under 5 years of age. The related tables show, too, that while American white women were 40 per cent of all the breadwinning women in Passaic, they were but 16 per cent of the women breadwinners who were or had been married and only 8 per cent of the breadwinning mothers having children under 6 years of age. About one-fifth of all the breadwinning mothers were widowed, divorced, not living with husbands, or living with nonbreadwinhing • Not being restricted by the Census Bureau's need of maintaining the comparability of classifications from period to period, the Women's Bureau has included in this study all women who earned money regardless of whether the method of earning is the main source of Income or not. As a consqeuence this bulletin discusses the conditions of over 2,000 more women engaged in breadwinning hi Passaic than the census classified as "breadwinners." The difference, however, is not one of what the data show, but of ruling as to what constitutes a breadwinning woman. THE FAMILY S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I N G W O M E K . 6 husbands. Seven-eighths of the married women breadwinners were living in rented homes. These are outstanding facts concerning this group of married women breadwinners. B u t these facts are themselves illumined in the body of this report by closely related data scarcely less important as barometers of economic and social conditions surrounding a material proportion of the wage-earning families in the city. Turning to the single women breadwinners as pictured by the data assembled, from the census schedules collected in Passaic in 1920, outlines of important features are impressively clear. The most cheerful phase of the picture is the large proportion— 41 per cent—who were living i n normal families where the fathers were breadwinners and the mothers were home custodians. Fifteen per cent were either sole breadwinners, one of two, or one of three or more breadwinners i n families having no male breadwinners living in the family. More than 30 per cent of the single women breadwinners in Passaic were boarding or lodging, living with employers or with relatives, or were domiciled in institutions. I n other words, nearly half of the single women breadwinners (women who were without male assistance i n their families or women living independent of their families) apparently had sharply defined responsibilities for personal or family support. Over a third of the single women breadwinners belonged to families owning their homes either free or encumbered. Less than 8 per cent lived in unencumbered homes. Ninety-eight per cent of the single women worked outside of their homes, more than 92 per cent being employed in factories, stores, or offices. Almost two-thirds of the single women breadwinners were American, born, while 19 per cent belonged to Slavic peoples. Nearly 40 per cent of all of them were under 20 years of age. Such are the most conspicuous features of the family conditions of Passaic women breadwiimers, as shown by the 26 tables to be found in the body of this report. All this information, i t should be remembered, is to be found in the census schedules collected i n 1920, and is equally available for all the breadwinning women i n the Nation. I n thus emphasizing the importance and extent of available census data bearing upon the personal and family responsibilities of breadwinning women, the obscurities and omissions in such data should not be overlooked. For example, all census data are collected for households as such households are found at the time of enumeration. Whether husband Or wife is widowed or divorced or not living with spouse is made plain, but other members of the family who are regu103987°™22 2 T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF B R E A D W I N N I I T GW O M E i T .6 larly domiciled elsewhere do not appear in the household schedule, though of course they appear as boarders or lodgers or other sojourners on other household schedules and may be a material factor in the support of their own absent families. Frequently these uncertainties are reduced in the light of contextual data such as the age of the mother and the number and ages of children at home, at school, and at work. But more often the imcertainties and omissions in important features of the pictures point clearly to the character of surveys that should be made in each locality for which the census data have furnished the general background. The assembled census data for the breadwinning women of Passaic suggested pointedly the need of further information concerning the family conditions of the breadwinning mothers at work outside of the home. The large numbers of women who, in going to work in a factory, store, or office, left yoimg children at home, challenged assurance as to the economic conditions surrounding these mothers and the children of these mothers. As a secondary purpose of this report is to demonstrate the availability of census data bearing upon family conditions surroimding breadwinning women as a guide to the sort of intensive surveys most needed, the Women's Bureau accepted one conspicuous suggestion of a needed survey afforded by the tables in this report summarizing the data for breadwinning mothers. As stated, the census schedules show only the members living regularly in the house at the time of enumeration. I t is no surprise that there was an insignificant number of breadwinning mothers going out to work who had servants living in the family. But there were too few cases where there were any other adults that might with reason be regarded as caretakers of children during the absence of mothers. The insistent question raised by the assembled census data is, ''What care was provided for these children?'' To answer this question the Women's Bureau took 1,000 addresses of women breadwinners having small children. These addresses were chosen from each emmieration district in Passaic with due reference to the proportion of married women breadmnners therein. Agents were commissioned to follow up the addresses, establishing the identity of the occupants of the houses with the occupants living there at the time of the census emmieration. The limitation of funds restricted the inquiries made during the personal survey to the provisions for care of young children and the amount of help breadwinning mothers had in the performance of household duties. Over 500 were found and identified as breadwinning mothers enumerated in the census of 1920. THE FAMILY S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEK. The facts challenging attention i n the results are(1) That over one-fifth of the mothers worked at night, caring for the children i n the intervals between indispensable rest taken dnring the day. (2) That nearly one-fifth left children with, neighbors, landladies, or boarders. (3) That another fifth left children w i t h mother's or father's relatives, about one-fourth of such relatives living outside the home. (4) That over one-tenth of the mothers going out to work left the children at home to the care of husbands who were night workers, unemployed, or working at home. (5) That more than one-fifth left children virtually without care in the home. Eighty-two of these mothers, having children of school age, were assured that for part of the working-day at least the young were safe. The others had children below school age—some under 5—^who had no care at all or only that given by children 14 years of age and under. (6) That but 25 mothers out of 522 left children in the care of paid custodians. With such inadequate provision for the care of the yoimg children, it is not surprising that scarcely more than one-fifth of these breadwinning mothers had any help in the performance of household duties; that the number having hired help even for washing and ironing regularly or irregularly was negligible; that the help came chiefly from the older children or relatives or lodgers. There was no opportimity to analyze these facts more minutely, However, two objects of the personal survey were achieved. I t served to measure the value of census data as background for intensive economic and industrial surveys; and, further, to test the validity of the census data as an index to the general plane of living maintained by the groups of breadwinning women whose economic and industrial conditions have been made the subject of constructive mquiry. For i t shoidd be borne i n mind that the addresses of mothers of young children chosen for personal visit were selected from the number of wage-earning mothers i n strict accord w i t h the proportions of the mothers w i t h young children reported i n each enumeration district i n Passaic. While the picture drawn by the results is small, i t must be regarded as a miniature, fairly true i n line and proportion, i m t i l a nearer life-size outline is made available by a comprehensive survey. As stated previously, only one of the 26 tables constructed exclusively from census data was used as a basis for direct investigation. This table, showing the numbers of mothers of young children working outside the home, raised the sharpest question to be answered b y T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . 8 further study. But many other tables pomt to needed studies of social and economic conditions. Of course, i t is well known that none of the census data in the population schedules include information as to earnings, unemployment, or family or personal budgets. But the level of personal and family responsibilities as shown by the assembled census data for the several groups of women breadwinners indicate in the main among what groups the earnings and conditions of employment should be the object of special studies. 13 L DETAILED STUDY OF THE FAMILY STATUS OF BREADWINNING WOMEN I N PASSAIC, N. J., AS SHOWN BY CENSUS DATA. Scope of studyI n the regular course of the official United States census enumeration; data are collected from which i t is possible to construct a picture of the breadwinning woman in relation to her family life and responsibilities. For the purpose of presenting such a picture this study of the family status of the breadwinning women of Passaic, N. J., was undertaken by the Women's Biu^eau of the United States Department of Labor. The material gathered by the United States Bureau of the Census in 1920 was compiled and analyzed by agents of the Women's Bureau, and the information contained in this report is, with one exception, the result of that analysis. The exception arose out of the fact that, as the work progressed, i t was found that many of the married workers had small children. What provision was made for the care of such children during the mother's absence from homo, and what help in the home, if any, was provided for the working mother, the census data do not show. Personal visits were made, therefore, to several hundred selected families in Passaic, and a large amount of supplementary data was thereby secured. The survey of census data covers all women and girls engaged in remunerative employment, both within and mthout the home. I t embraces that large and economically important group of women who supplement the family income by taking boarders or lodgers not related to the family i n addition to performing home duties-. These women are not included by the Bureau of the Census among ''breadwinning women,*' although they make definite and in some cases large contributions to the family earnings. For this reason, the numbers of breadwinning women discussed i n this report are much larger then the numbers of women breadwinners reported by the census in Passaic, N. J. The 9,769^ women and girls who constitute the subject of this report comprised the female breadwinning populaiioni)f Passaic. The number is equal to approximately 16 per cent of the total female population 14 years of age.and over of the city. * As aU women taking boarders and lodgers are included as breadwinners in this report, thefigureswill not agree with the figures presented In the regular census publications in which are included only such women as report boarding and lodging house keeping as a "main source of income." 10 TABLE T H E P A M I L Y STATtTS OF B B E A D W T N N I K G WOMEN. Proportion which women hreadtuinners formed of the total feimle population 14 years of age and over. Per cent which women breadTotal Number number of of women winners formed women bread14 years winners 14 of total female of aeo vears Jf CMAl IJ of V * ace U^w populaand and over. tion 14 over. years of age and over. 21,263 45.9 9,769 Even taking into consideration the fact that women who supplement the family income by keeping boarders or lodgers were counted as bread^v^nne^s, the proportion of women who were engaged in remunerative occupations is unusually large. Furthermore, as will be seen in Table 2, almost 8,000, or 80.5 per cent of the breadwinning women of Passaic, were engaged i n occupations which took them away from their homes. Less than 20 per cent were earning money at work which they did within their own homes. TABLE 2.^Numher and per cent of women breadwinners working in their own homes or outside their homes. Women working outside own homes. Total. Number..,*,.* Percent . .. 9 769 100.0 Women working in own homes. 1 899 19.4 Total. 7,861 80.5 In In .Not factories, others' stores, or homes. reported. oflaces. 7.348 75.2 613 5.3 9 0.1 Nationality* The city of Passaic has a large foreign population. According to the 1920 census, more than 41 per cent of its total population of 63,841 were foreign bom.® Of the total female popidation 40 per cent were foreign born. Among the breadwinning women the percentage of foreign born was still larger or nearly 60 per cent of the total number as shown in Table The Poles predominated among the foreigners, forming slightly more than one-fourth of the entire number of working women. The Hungarians, who formed about 10 6 S.Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census, 1920. Bulletin^ Population: New Jersey. Composition and characteristics of the peculation, p. 12. T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEiT. 11 per cent, ranked next in numerical importance, and there were many smaller groups of Italians, Russians, Austrians, and other nationalities. American whites were the largest single nationality group, comprising 40 per cent of the total. Included in this classification were native-born daughters of foreign-horn parents. I t should be borne in mind when nationality is discussed that for the purposes of this report all persons born* in the United States, regardless of the nationality of their parents, were considered Americans in accordance with the fourteenth amendment to the Federal Constitution. T A B L E 3.—Number and per cent distribution Number. Percent. NationaUty. Total... American,white American, negro Austrian Dutch . . .. 9,769 ^,100.0 3,929 139 345 264 80 40.2 1.4 3.5 2.7 .8 of breadwinning NationaUty. German« . . . ^ Hungarian Ttfliinti,--, Polish .... Russian All other womenj by nationality. Number. Per cent. 197 983 418 2,519 380 615 2.0 10.1 4.3 25.8 3.9 5.3 The complete cessation of immigration from some coimtries and reduced immigration from aU lands make figures concerning the years which women workers had been in the United States of less significance than would attach to them had the years immediately preceding 1920 been a period of normal immigration. Few women workers in Passaic had been in this country less than five years. The fact revealed i n Table 4 that over 40 per cent of the 5,701 foreign-born breadwinning women of Passaic did not speak English is rendered more astoxmding in view of the fact that only 73 women were recent immigrants and that approximately two-thirds had been here 10 years or more. The number of non-English-speaking Poles is particularly striking, nearly two-thirds, or over 1,600, not speaking English. Forty per cent had been i n the United States less than 10 but more than 5 years, while 56 per cent had been here 10 years or more. The percentage unable to speak English does not, however, diminish perceptibly among those who have been here 10 years and longer; nearly 65 per cent of that group were still xmable to speak our language. About one-third of the Austrians and Czechoslovakians, more than one-fourth of the Htmgarians, and approximately one-fifth of the Italian women did not speak English. I n these nationalities, however, the percentages of those who did not speak English were much smaller among those who had been here 10 years or over than among those who had been here less than 10 years. The percentage of non-English-speaking Italians is 34 per cent among the women who had been here from 5 to 10 years and 18 per cent among those TADtti 4,—Number and per cent of hreadwinning women offoreign birth unable to speah English, by years in the United StaUs. to Breadwlnnlng women who had been in tho United States— Under 5 years. 5 and under 10 years. Years of residence not reported. 10 years and over. Nationality. § i EH Tofal: Nqmbej.. P ^ cent- 5,701 2,980 37 loao 34 1,847 32.4 715 50 970 162 2,073 1,262 242 204 3.6 155 19 5.5 14 I Austrian; Cr©chosl,ovafean; Per tot.. Dutch: Numborl German: Niimberi...... Percent...,.^. Hungarian: Numben*..,,.. Per Italian: Number....... ^ ^Perc6nA. Polish: Number.....,,. Percent Russians, Number4.>..>, ?er dent AU other: Number Per dent 345 100.0 61.2 124 35.9 10 2.9 103 29.9 loao 144 54.5 32.6 34 12.9 30.3 SO 100.0 79 98. S 1 1.3 loao 197 191 97.0 5 2.5 100.0 664 67.5 266 27,1 264 211 1 1.3 53 5.4 35 221 64.1 145 176 66.7 108 7 2.6 7 8.8 7 62 77.5 29 14.7 25 152 77.2 150 2 307 31,2 187 639 67.0 462 164 287 68.7 236 51 100 65 10 12.5 15 .7,6 23.4 31 1,2 1,026 40,7 231 691 104 1,414 56.1 386 138 23 4 6.1 1.1 94 24.7 61 26 7 259 226 11 49 9.5 103 20.0 59 11 1.7 347 67.4 298 36 32S 78.5 90 21.5 2,519 loao 639 25.4 1,635 64.9 245 9.7 380 100.0 305 80.3 52 13.7 615 100.0 419 8L4 47 9.1 § 33 18 4.3 418 100.0 § W 15 3.6 48 1.9 23 6.1 56 10.9 o 31 fel THE FAMILY S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEiT. 13 who had been here 10 years or over. The non-English-speaking Austrians drop from 48 per cent to 32 per cent after longer residence, and the Hungarians' figures are 33 per cent for the more recent immigrants and 25 per cent for those who arrived more than 10 years ago. The Russians, a large proportion of whom are Jews, apparently learn to speak English very readily. Only 28 per cent of those who had been here between 5 and 10 years, and less than 9 per cent of those who had been here over 10 years, were. non-English-speaking. Among the nationalities represented by the breadwinning women of Passaic, i t is apparent that the Poles clung most tenaciously to their own language, and consequently to their own national life and customs. There is nothing to indicate whether i t was because they were less adaptable than other nationalities or because there were so many of them that they associated chiefly with one another and did not make outside .contacts. Whatever the cause, in every nationality the number of persons who did not speak English after several years i n this country was larger than would seem possible, and can not fail to have its effect upon every phase of the inmiigrant's life in America. Marital status. One-half—that is, 4,945—of the breadwinning women of Passaic were single; 4,013, or 41 per cent, were married; 751, or nearly 8 per cent, were widows; and less than one-half of 1 per cent were divorced. I t will be noted i n Table 5 that 367, 91: 3.8 per cent, are entered as ''married, husband not living with family." .The marital status of the women so described was given i n the census report as "married,'' but there was no record of a husband in the family group. I n some cases the separation may have been temporaiy, although the instructions to census enumerators stated explicitly^ that temporary' absentees were to be recorded as residing at home. Where actual separation had occurred, there was a possibility that the wife was receiving some financial assistance from her husband. The economic status of this group was so uncertain that i t has been considered and carried separately in the tables. TABLE 5.—Number and per cent distribution Number. Marital status. of breadwinning Per cent. women, by marital 'Marital status. Number. status. Per cent* Total 9,769 Single husband Uving with 103987^—22 3 100.0 1 Married, husband not Uving with 4,945 50.6 3,646 37.3 fatnilv Widowed Divorced Not rODOrted 367 751 38 Z.S 7.7 .4 22 .2 14 T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . 14 Almost two-thirds of the single breadwinning women were to be found among the American born. As a consequence i t is to bo expected that the married women breadwinners were largely foreign born. From the Slavic races come half of the married women breadwinners whose husbands were also breadwinners. I n this racial group, of which by far the largest number were Polish, fall also the greatest number who were married but whose husbands were not living with them. * Table 6 discloses in detail the differences in the proportions which women of each nationality formed of the total number of breadwinners and in the proportions they were of the several marital groups. TABLE 0.—JVOZIOTIA/T/Y of breadwinning women, by marital status. Marital status. NaUonallty. Total. All nationalities: Number Percent 9,769 100.0 American, white: Number Per cent American, negro: Number Percent Austrian: Number Percent Czech oslovokian: Number _ Percent Butch: Number Percent German: Number. Per cent...^.. Hunparlan: Number Percent Italian: Number Per cent Polish: Number Percent Hussian: Number Per cent AUothcn Number Percent Married, Married, Married husband Notre, Single. hnsband not a not liv- Widow- Divorced, ported. a bread- breadwith ed. winner. winner. ing family. 4,945 loao 3,929 40.2 139 3,596 loao 50 100.0 367 100.0 751 100.0 (0 502 14.0 14 23.0 72 19.6 185 24.6 (0 1.4 .8 62 1.7 M5 90 1.S 4.6 3.5 264 2.7 47 1.0 80 11 166 167, 4.6 2 4.0 983 26 3.5 9.0 55 7.3 20 5.4 27 3.6 Q) 8 LI 0) .8 72 L5 16 3.0 30 197 2.0 22 0) 82 2.3 1 2.0 6 1.6 lai 195 3.9 1&4 9 1S.0 418 4.3 205 4.1 165 4.6 6 12.0 34 4.5 (0 724 14.6 1,504 41.8 13 26.0 54 14.7 7 1.9 115 31.3 145 19.3 (0 181 19 5.2 26 3.5 3S0 3.9 3.7 150 4.2 515 5.3 219 4.4 179 5.0 5 10.0 7.6 4.3 131 17.4 82 la 9 n) 0) 10 (0 0) (0 computod, owing to smaD number involved. Age. Table 7 brings out clearly the age differences between single and married breadwinning women. Seventy^ne per cent of the single women breadwinners were under 25 years of age, almost 40 per cent THE PAMILY S T A T U S OE B B E A D W I K N I N G 15 WOMEK. of the total being less than 20. On the other hand, 80 per cent of the married women breadwinners were 25 years of age or older, more than one-third of all married women being between 30 and 40 years. The numbers of married, widowed, and divorced who were under 20 were negligible, as might be expected. Widows and divorcees formed the largest group among those 50 or more years of age. As succeeding tables will show, the inclusion of boarding or lodging house keepers among breadwinning women accounts for the large number of women in the older age groups shown in Table 7. TABLE 7.—Marital status of breadwinning women, by age groups. Number and per cent of women whose age was— Marital status. Total: Number. Per cent Single: Number. Percent Married: Number. Per cent Widowed and divorced: Number Per cent Not reported: Number Total. Under 16 and 18 and 20 and 25 and 30 and 40 and 50 under under under years Not re16 17 19 under 30 25 50 and ported. 40 years. years. years. years. years. years. years. over. 9,769 100.0 3884.0 752 7.7 832 8.5 "ill 4,945 100.0 388 7.8 745 15.1 776 15.7 'HI 4,013 mo 6 .1 52 1.3 789 1 .1 mo 22 4 1,702 2,047 17.4 21.0 975 10.0 689 7.1 (}) 469 9.5 187 3.8 123 2.5 O 990 1,369 24.7 34.1 584 14.6 263 6.6 G) 653 13.2 748 18.6 22 2.8 57 7.2 205 26.0 202 25.6 302 38.3 7 2 4 2 1 5 2 1 2 * Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. As the largest number of American women breadwinners were single, i t is to be expected that these women would be foimd i n the younger age groups. Over 60 per cent of all American white women, married and single, were under 25 years of age. Among the girls between 14 and 18 years of age, the largest number and proportion who were at work were American bom, these including, as already stated, the children of foreign-born parents. Almost 8 per cent of all American women and girl breadwinners were under 16 years of age and 14.6 per cent were 16 and 17 years of age. The Dutch and Italians rank next to the Americans in the proportions going to work at an early age. About 16 per cent of the women workers of each of these nationalities were under 18 years of age. The significance of the proportions of Dutch and German is reduced materially because the actual numbers concerned were small. I t is interesting to note that among the Austrians, Czechoslovakians, and Hungarians a larger proportion of women at work were between the ages of 30 and 40 than were in other age groups. 16 T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF BREADWINNING WOMEN. TABLE S,—Nationality of hrcadwinning women, hy age groups. Number and per cent of women whose ago was— Nationality. Total: NUMBER Tcrcont American, white: Number Per cent American, negro: Number Per cent Austrian: Number PERCENT Czochrtslo%-akian: Number Per cont Dutch: Number Per cont Gcnnan: Number Percent.*... Iluncarlan: Number Percent Italian: Number Per cent PoUsh: Number Percont Russian: Number Percent AU other: Number Per cont Total. Under 16 and IS and 20 and and 30 and 40 and 50 under under under years Not re19 under 16 17 50 30 40 and ported. 25 years. years. years. years. years. years. years. over. 832 2,379 8.5 21.4 1,702 17.4 2,517 21.0 975 10.0 689 7.1 561 14,3 978 24.9 476 12.1 610 13.0 263 6.7 264 6.7 2 1.4 8 5.8 24 17.3 24 17.3 32 23.0 26 18.7 21 15.1 5 1.4 16 4.6 15 4.3 74 21.4 54 15.7 105 30.4 44 12.8 31 9.0 100.0 4 1.5 9 3.4 8 3.0 50 18.9 62 19.7 79 29.9 43 16.3 19 7.2 so loao 6 7.5 7 8.8 6 6.3 12 15.0 6 7.5 13 16.3 16 18.8 2ao 197 100.0 3 J. 5 2.0 4 6 2.5 27 13.7 20 10.2 49 24.9 31 15.7 58 29.4 983 100.0 16 TE 25 2.5 48 4.9 174 17.7 156 15.9 317 32.2 174 17.7 72 7.3 418 100.0 22 6.3 45 LAS 54 12.9 79 18.9 16.3 77 18.4 37 8.9 36 A6 2,519 100.0 11 A 64 2.5 769 30.5 27.5 686 27.2 201 1,0 8.0 70 2.8 380 100.0 5 1.3 30 7.9 40 10.6 115 30.3 16.6 66 17.4 36 9.5 22 5.8 515 100.0 1.7 16 3.1 24 4.7 77 15.0 90 17.5 LU 22.1 105 20.4 80 15.5 9.769 100.0 3S8 4.0 752 7.7 3,020 100.0 305 7.8 572 14.6 139 100.0 2 1.4 345 100.0 2mA - 1 0.3 16 »Loss than ono-tenth of 1 per cent. Family status and responsibilities. Tho family status and responsibilities of Passaic's women workers are reflected in three Tables, 9, 10, and 11. Table 9 deals with the apparent burdens of single breadwinning women. The significant feature of this table is that almost two-thirds of the single breadwinning women were living at home w i t h one or both parents. Not all of these were equally circumstanced, however, since only 63 per cent were living in homes where there were breadwinning fathers w i t h mothers at home.® The others showed marked deviations from the normal standard of family life. The proportions of women who were sole breadwinners, or in families vnth. one other or w i t h two or more others, yet having no male breadwinners, show other curves i n the lines of personal and family responsibilities of the single breadwinning women living imder the parental roof. • AVhcrcver a father was ''retired" and the family apparently in comfortable drcomstances, he has been constdered a breadwinner on the assumption that his contribution to the family support had not ceased. T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B E E A D W I K N I K G WOMEN. 17 One-third of the entire number of single breadwinners in Passaic might be described as economically ' ' a d r i f t ' ' ; that is, they were boarding or lodging, maintaining independent homes, or living with relatives or employers. These may, of course, i a v e been contributing to the support of absent families or may themselves have been recipients of help from home. The census data simply show the group as not under the parental roof or protected by the solidarity of an immediate family group. Similar data with regard to married women, but showing the average number of children instead of the average number of persons in a family, are set forth i n Table 10. Here the married women are divided into three groups—those with breadwinning husbands, those with nonbreadwinning husbands, and those not living with their husbands. The average number of children is based on the total number of married women, including those who had no children. Almost 90 per cent of the 4,013 married breadwinners were women whose husbands were employed. Nine per cent had husbands who were not living in the family, and less than 2 per cent (50 women) had husbands who were living in the family but whose occupations were recorded by the Bureau of the Census as ''none." TABLE 9.—Family status and family responsihilities of single women breadwinners. Single women Families in which daughter breadwinners was sole breadwinner. reporting. Number reporting as to number Per cent of breadof those winners report- Average Number. ing num- number Number. Percent. in ber of in family. famUy. breadwinners. Family status. Total living with parent or parents Parents living, father breadwinner.... Parents living, mother breadwinner... Parpts Uving, both parents breadwinners Parents living, neither parent breadwinner Mother only Uving,'mother br^dwinner Mother only living, mother not breadwinner Father onlyHvlng, father breadwinner. Father only Uving, father not breadwinner Maintaining home Neither parent Uving Adult women Uving Independently... nving with relatives. Boarding or lodging I^^ng with employer.. Living in institutions.. ... 4,945 100.0 3,376 186 5.5 1.9 3,179 64.3 3,179 9S 3.1 2.6 2,008 IC 40.6 .3 2,008 IG 283 6.7 283 67 1.4 67 12 17.9 3.2 221 4.5 221 442 117 8.9 442 117 80 18.1 2.5 2.01 2.4 25 .5 25 6 24.0 197 4.0 197 88 44.7 1.01 95 102 1.9 2.1 95 102 4 4.2 82.4 2.01 1.01 256 992 206 115 5.2 20.1 4.2 2.3 Si IS T H R F A I M I L Y S T A T U S OF B E E A D W I N N I K G WOMEL^, TAIJJ.K ^,—Famihj statun andfamily responsibilities of single women breadwinners-^on. Families In which daughter was one of two breadwinners. Family status. Having men breadPer cent of those Average reporting Number. number Per cent number of In family t of2-brcad broadwinners. Number. winner group. Total Living with parent or parents Parents living, father breadwinner Ptttont'i livint? mother breadwinner Parents livinc, neither parent breadwinner.. ilothcr only livinj;, mother breadwinner Mother only living, mothernot breadwinner^. Father only livin^^, father breadwinner Father only living, father not breadwinner.... MaintainiflK homo. Neither parent 11 vine Adult women living independently. SCO 25.5 630 73.3 4.3 790 24.9 002 70.2 4.5 470 4 24 98 147 40 7 23.4 470 mo «35.8 44.3 33.3 34.2 28.0 IG 0) 73 40 3 49.7 100.0 0) 5.2 3.3 5.1 3.0 3.7 3.0 3.6 70 35.5 28 40.0 2.3 65 15 57.9 14.7 19 9 34.5 0) 2.2 2.5 Families in which daughter was one of three breadwinners. Family status. H a v i i ^ men breadmers. Per cent or those Average reportmg Number. number of number Percent in family. breadofS-breadNumber. winners. winner group. Total Living with parent or parents.. Parents living, father breadwinner Parents living, mother breadwinner Parent? living, both parents bread winners Parents IIvine, neither parent breadwinner... Mother only living, mother breadwinner Mother only living, mother not breadwinner.. Father only living, father breadwinner Father only living, father not breadwinner.. Maintaining homo Neither parent living Adult women living independently 6.4 2,330 69.0 2,244 90.3 2,291 72.1 2,217 90.8 0.4 1,538 12 283 31 123 215 77 12 76.6 100.0 ^100.0 40.3 55.7 48.0 65.8 48.0 1,538 10 283 31 82 189 77 7 ^100.0 100.0 66.7 87.9 100.0 (0 6.9 7.0 6.0 7.2 4.6 5.4 5.0 3.3 39 19.8 27 69.2 4.2 3G 3 3l9 2.9 24 3 66.7 (0 4.2 3.3 »Not computed, owing to small number involved. As would be expected, by far the great majority of married women maintained homes, with their husbands or by themselves. A few lived at home with their parents or with other relatives. About 9 per cent were boarding or lodging. Less than 5 per cent of the married women were sole breadwinners. This group consists of 28 women with nonbreadwinning husbands, and 148 whose husbands were not living in the family. The women THE FAMILY S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEiT. 19 who were sole breadwinners had for the most part but one child, usually young, and in no case as much as 18 years of age. Most of the married women, 85 per cent of those reporting, were in the group having two breadwinners, and because, as has been said, the great majority were women with breadwinning husbands, in nearly every instance the second breadwinner was a man. The average number of children in the two-breadwinner group was about two. Between 10 and 11 per cent of the married women were in families with three breadwinners. I n these families the average number of children was more than three, the women with nonbreadwinning husbands having the largest families. --Family TABLE status and family responsihilities of married women breadwinners. Women who were sole breadwinners in family. Married women breadwinners. Number rePer porting Average number of as to cent of children in family. numthose ber of reportNumbreading ber re- Per winners Numnum18 ber. porting. cent. in ber of Under years Total. 18 family. bread- years. and winover. ners. Family status. Total 4,013 100.0 3,846 3,596 89.6 3,596 3,281 61 56 202 6 81.8 1.3 1.4 5.0 .1 3,281 51 66 202 6 Married women, husbands nonbreadwinners: Marutaining home 50 1.2 50 26 Married women, husbands not living at home 367 9.1 200 111 43 24 165 19 5 2.8 1.1 .6 4,1 .5 .1 111 43 15 31 Married women with husband breadwinners Maintaining home Living with parents Living with relatives... Boarding or lodging . Living with employer Maintaining home Living with parents Living with relatives. Boarding or lodging . Living with emnlover Living in institutions - . 1 Not computed, owing to smaU number involved. 176 4.6 LO 1.0 1 56.0 1.0 LO 148 74.0 1.0 1.0 74 34 10 30 66.7 79.1 .9 .9 1.5 1.2 .9 .9 1.5 1.2 T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B K E A D W r C T N l N G 20 TABLE WOMEN. 10,—-FamiUj status and family responsibilities of married wornen breadudnmnrs^ Continued. Women who were one of two breadwinners in family. Family status. Total., Married women with husband breadwinners Maintaining homo LivInR with parents Li vine with relatives Boarding or lodging Living with employer Average number of children Having men in family. breadwinners. Per cent of those reporting Number. number Per cent of bread- Number. of 2-bread- Under 18 ISyears Total. years. andover, winner winners. group. 3,252 S4.6 3,237 99.5 1.6 3,211 89.3 1.6 1.6 88.4 3,211 2,900 51 53 100.0 2,000 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 (») 1.7 T7 51 53 201 6 Married women, husbands nonbreadwinners: Maintaining home 100.0 W.6 99.5 (») 201 22.0 Married women, htisbands not living at homo 15.0 Maintaining homo Living with parents... Living with relatives.. Doarding or lodging... Living with employer. Living in institutions.. 20 18.9 9.3 66.7 66.7 i\ Le .4 .5 1.0 0.5 L6 1.1 .5 L6 L2 1.0 1.0 1.0 L8 L3 1.3 1.0 Women who were one of three or more breadwinners in family. Family status. Total.. Married women with husband breadwinners Maintaining homo Living with parents... Living with relatives.. Boarding or lodging... Living with employer. Having men Average number of children in family. breadw^mners. Per cent of those reporting Number. number Per cent of bread- Number. of3-bread- Under 18 ISyears TotaL winners. years. over. winner group. 418 10.9 414 99.0 2.6 0.9 3.5 385 10.7 335 100.0 n.6 5.4 .5 381 100.0 2.7 2.7 .8 381 "Ts f " 4.0 To 5.0 L3 .8 3.5 L3 Married women, husbands nonbreadwinners: Maintaining home U 22.0 10 2.0 2.0 4.0 Married women, husbands not living at home. 22 n.o 19 L5 L4 L8 L5 3.0 1.4 L4 4.0 3.2 6.0 Maintaining home;. Living with parents Living with relatives.... Boording or lodging Living with employer.,. Living in institutions.... 14.4 n.6 2.0 2.8 »Not computed, owing to small number involved. The family status and responsibilities of the 751 widowed and divorced women are shown i n Table 11. About two-thirds of the THE FAMILY S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I K N I I J J G 21 WOMEK. widows—a percentage smaller than that of the married women— maintained homes; 10 per cent lived with relatives and 14 per cent were boarding or lodging. Almost three-fourths of the widows reporting family responsibiUties had no man or boy in their families to share the burden. W i t h the exception of the divorced women, who were but an insignificant number, the largest percentage of sole breadwinners was found among the widows, over one-half of them being the only breadwinners in the family. One hundred and seventy-two of the widows, or about 30 per cent, were in famiUes with two breadwinners. The children in this group averaged slightly less than two. Less than one-half of these women had men breadwinners in the family group. The widows who were i n families with three or more breadwinners formed the smallest group, approximating 16 per cent of the whole, and 85 per cent had the assistance of a wage-earning man or boy. The children in this group averaged more than 3 to each family. There were so few divorced women that information concerning them is without special significance, except to account for the entire number of women breadwinners who were or had been married. TABLE 11,^Family status ily responsibilities of widowed and divorced women readwinn^rs. Widowed. Widowed and divorced women breadwinners. Family status. Number. TotalMaintaining home Llvtagwith parents.... Uvmg with relatives.,. Boarding orlodging. „ . living with employer.. Living in institution... Women who were sole breadwinners in iamily. Number Average number of reportPer children in family. ing as cent of to numthose berof regortbread- NumPer win18 number. cent. ners in years Total. berof Under 18 family. and bread- years. over. winners. 751 100.0 504 26 77 106 37 1 67.1 3.5 10.3 14.1 4.9 .1 604 26 27 28 4 325 55.2 1.2 258 21 17 27 2 51.2 1.2 1.4 1.7 1.8 1.0 0) 1.3 'I. 1.2 1.6 1.7 1.9 1.0 Divorced. Total.. Maintaining home Living with parents...! Uvmg with relatives.., Boarding orlodging..., Living with employer., 38 100.0 42.1 18.4 2.6 31.6 5.3 * Not computed, owing to small number involved. 27 19 70. LO LO 1.1 .7 1.0 1.3 1.1 .7 1.0 1.3 T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . 22 T A B L E 11.—Family Btatm and family responsibiliHes of widowed and divorced woinen 6rea</mn?ier«—Contmued. Widowed. Women who were ono of two breadwinners In lamiij. Family stfttus. Number. Total Maintaining homo Living with parents.,. IJvinc with relatives.. Boarding or lodging.... Living with employer. Percent of those renort- Having men bread- Average number of chUdren in family. winners. Per cent of2number 18 years of broad- Number. bread- ISUnder and years. winner over. winners. group. Total. 172 29.2 77 44.8 1.1 0.7 1.8 155 30.8 (r 71 3 2 45.8 1.2 .8 1.1 .7 .2 .4 1.0 1.0 1.9 1.0 1 0.8 1.0 1.8 1 1.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 1.0 6 9 1 3 iii (I I'l "l i.a 1.0 LO Divorced. Total Maintaining homo Living with parents.......... 4 14.8 3 1 Widowed. Women who were one of three or more breadwinners In family. Family status. Total Maintaining homo Living with relatives Having men bread- Average number of chUdren winners. in family. Percent of those reporting Number. Per cent number of 3* years Under 18and of bread- Number. breadTotal. winners. winner 18 years. over. group. 92 15.6 78 84.8 1.4 L8 3.3 91 1 18.0 0) 77 1 84.0 0) 1.4 3.0 1.9 3.3 3.0 0) 2.3 0.5 2.8 (}) 2.3 Divorced. Total 4 Maintaining home 4 14. S 2 2 2.8 »Not computed, owing to small number involved. Tenure of homes. Three-fourths of all the women reporting tenure of in rented homes. The proportion was lai^est among women breadwinners whose husbands also were working, among the single women. Even in the latter group whose families rented homes was large, for only a little homes lived the married and smallest the number over a third T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEiT. 23 of the families of single working women owned their homes and less than 8 per cent owned their homes without encumbrance. But 1.5 per cent of all the married women workers with breadwinning husbands owned their homes free, and over 9 per cent owned their homes mortgaged. Among the widows over four-fifths rented their homes and only one-twentieth actually owned their homes free of encumbrance. TABLE 12,—Tenure ofhoTne, by marital status ofhreadvyinning women. Women whose families rented homes. Marital status. Total. Single. Married, husband bread-winMarried, husband not a breadwinner Married, husband not living with family Widowed Divorced Not reported Women whose families owned homes. NumEncumber Free. Mortgaged. brance not rereported. portPer Per ing cent cent tenre- Num- reNumPer Per Per ure. ^ cent ber. portcent cent ing ber. reretenten- Num- port- Num- re- Num- porture. ure. ber. ing ber. ber. ing C tententenure. ure. ure. 7,251 5,541 76.4 345 4.8 1,326 1K3 253 7.7 946 28.9 .3 89.1 351 10.9 47 1.5 303 9.4 47 31 66.0 16 .340 8 17.0 7 14.9 0) 2.1 162 606 18 11 119 73.5 417 82.4 16 (*) 10 26.5 17.6 3,230 2,879 »Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. 11 25 1 6.8 4.9 («) 39 as 1,710 23.6 3,277 2,069 63,1 1,208 36.9 4 2.5 64 12.6 1 1 17.S 2 Not computed, owing to small nimiber involved. The tendency to purchase homes appears to be greatest among the families of girls and women who were American, Dutch, or German. Thirty-seven and 40 per cent, respectively, of the American and Dutch women breadwinners, and about a third of the German women, lived in homes owned in part or in whole by their families. More than nine-tenths of the Polish, Czechoslovakian, and Hungarian workers lived in rented homes. Less than 1 per cent of the families of women workers of these nationalities owned their homes unencumbered. THE FAMILY 24 S T A T U S OP B H E A D W T N N I N G ^VOMEL^. TABLE 13.—Tenure of home^ by nationality of hreadwinning woTnen, Women whoso lamilics rented homes. NaUonality. Total American, wlitte. American, negro. Austrian CicchoslovaWian. Dutch German llungarlan...... Italian roUsh Hussian AU other Women whoso families ownod homes. Num^ Encumber Free. Mortgaged. brance not rereported. portPer Per ing cent cent tenreroPer Per Per ure. Num- port- Num- portcent cent ber. ing ber. ing cent rereten- Num- port- Num- port- Num- retenure. ber, ing ber. ing ber. porturou ing tententenure. ure. ure 1,710 23.6 345 4.S 1,326 18.3 0.5 3.091 1,941 62.8 M50 37.2 62 78.5 79 21.5 215 88.8 242 27 11.2 188 92.6 203 15 7.4 41 59.4 C9 23 40.6 92 65.7 140 43 313 fiOl 734 91.6 67 8.4 281 76.4 363 87 23,6 1,5G5 1,450 93.2 106 6.8 345 90 26.1 aw 73.9 34S 75 21.6 273 78.4 7,251 5, Ml 76.4 231 3 2 1 3 7 5 9 11 13 10 9.1 3.8 860 14 25 14 25 41 34 77 95 77 64 27.8 17.7 10,3 6.9 36.2 29.3 4.2 20.9 3.5 .3 .8 .6 4.3 6.0 .6 2.4 ,7 3.8 2.9 6.1 22.3 18.4 Industries and occupations. Before passing from the outline picture of economic conditions as reflected in the foregoing tables to the tables throwing a more concentrated light upon the conditions confronting the breadwinning mothers, i t will bo well at this point to show through what industries the total number of breadwinning women were distributed. Passaic is essentially a manufacturing center. As is shown in Table 14, more than half the breadwinning women of the city were employed in the producing departments of its factories. Many others were engaged in the offices of its factories in clerical capacities, but these women were counted with all other office workers rather than with the factory workers. Ranking first in size and importance, the woolen mUls employed 2,528, or 26 per cent, of Passaic's breadwinning women, and the cotton and handkerchief factories provided work for 1,387, or 14 per cent. The chief work done by the women in the textile mills was spinning and weaving, while sewing-machine operating was done by many women in the handkerchief factories. The silk mills employed about 3 per cent of the breadwinning women. A smaller proportion ^vere engaged in making cigars and cigarettes, clothing, paper boxes, and laces and embroideries. Office service claimed the second largest group of women working outside the home. Over 11 per cent of all women breadwinners were employed as stenographers and typists, clerks, bookkeepers, cashiers, or accountants in the offices maintained by the professions or by industrial and commercial establishments. THE TABLE F A M I L Y l^—Mustrus STATUS OF BREADWIKNING WOKEN, 2 5 arvi occupatiom in which hreadwinning women were employed. Women bread winners. Per cent of total Num- number. ber of breadwinners. Industry and occupation. Total Total manufacturing... Woolen and worsted poods. 2,528 25.9 Veaving Other factory operations.. 671 643 1,314 6.8 6.6 13.5 1,387 14.2 Cotton jotton and cotton goi goods including handkerchiefs. 87 102 250 Winding Weaving Other f^tory operations-. Textiles, not specified.. H8 1.0 2.6 9.7 310 3.2 74 105 131 1.1 1.3 108 1.1 Spinning weaving Other factory operations.., Clothing, men's, women's, and children's - 1.0 J operations-. Tobacco and cigars.... .. 188 1.9 Cigar making Other factory operations'.! 100 88 1.0 ' All other manufacturing Dressmakers, seamstresses, tailoresses, milliners, and apprentices In shops or employer's home 501 5.1 Selling trades.. 308 3.2 204 198 6 2.1 1.0 Retail dealers... Other selling occupations. Women breadwinners. Industry and occupation. Per cent of total Num- number. ber of breadwinners. Telephone operators.. 76 0.8 Clerical occupations... 1,117 11.4 Stenographers and typists Bookkeepers, cashiers, and accountants All other clerical occupations... Managerial and professional sewice Managers and executives Schoolteachers Journalists, librarians, and other professional Domestic and personal service outside worker's home .. Servants living in employer's home Servants living in own home... Bay workers Power laundry workers Cleaners and janitresses Waitresses, restaurant keepers, and kitchen help Nurses All other domestic and personal service 605 5.2 203 409 2.1 4.2 485 5.0 20 366 . .2 3.7 99 674 6.9 260 102 82 16 20 2.7 1.0 .8 37 138 .4 1.4 .2 .2 .2 19 19.4 Working In own home.. Taking boarders or lodgers Taking in washing in sewing, millinery, or Teaching music or performing other professional service at home All other home service 1,796 18 ,18.4 .2 67 .3 Not reported. .1 ^ Thirty-three women shared business with husbands. 'Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. A lai^er proportion of women were at work in managerial and professional capacities than i n selling occupations. Teaching engaged the largest number of women i n the professional group. I t is interesting to note the small but significant number of women who were retail dealers; 98 women were independent proprietors of notion or grocery stores, millinery shops, or other small establishments. Of this number, 33 shared with husbands the Tesponsibility of the business. T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . 26 Among the 7 per ccnt who were engaged in domestic and personal service the largest group were household servants. About 3 per cent were servants who lived \vith employers, 1 per cent were servants who wont to their o^vn homes at night, and less than 1 per cent were women who did washing or cleaning in homes by the day. One thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine women, or 19.4 per ccnt of all women bread\vinners in Passaic reporting, earned money b^^ service rendered in their own homes. W i t h the exception of about 100 who took in washing, or sewing, or millinery, or who taught music or other arts in their homes, all of these women took boarders or lodgers to increase the family income. Among the women who were employed outside their homes 184 also took boarders or lodgers. These women are included among the women engaged in remunerative occupations in factory, store, or office rather than as workers in their homes, because the work outside the home was deemed their principal occupation. The fact of importance disclosed by Table 15 is the large number of married women who were going outside of their homes to work. Fifty-six per cent of the women whose husbands were at work were employed in factories, stores, and offices or in others' homes. The proportion naturally was still greater among widows, divorcees, and women whose husbands were not living with the family group. As one-half of all breadwinning women were employed in factories, i t is to be expected that a large number in each marital group would be so employed, as is shown in Table 16. The woolen and worsted mills employed a much larger proportion of married or once-married women than did the other factories. Almost as many single women were employed in the cotton and handkerchief m i l k as were employed in the woolen mills. Next to the woolen industry the taking of boarders or lodgers occupied the largest number of women workers whose husbands lived in the family group or who were widows. This is not true among the married women whose husbands were not living with their families; only 6 per cent of these women took boarders or lodgers, whereas about 13 per cent were employed in domestic and personal service outside the home. The saleswomen, office workers, telephone operators, and professional workers were largely single women, and only 5.2 per cent of these women were engaged in domestic service and but 1.6 per cent worked i n their own homes. TABLE 15.-Breadwinning women working in their own homes or outside their homes, by marital status. Women working in own hom .... Martial status. Total ng:' Total. Total. Not reported. Women working outside their homes. In factories, stores, and offices. In others' homes. 1----,,.----1 N=- Num. 1---,---1------.------.------,---·1------,----;---1 b~~~Ding. women. Num. ber. work. ber ing em· alone ployPer on ing. Num· ber cent. own ac- others. count. Total. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Total. Num· Num· ber ber Num- Per Num· Num- work· Num- work· ber. eont. beras beras ing beras ing em· alone Num· alone em· em· ploy· ployecs. Per on on ers. cent. ployees. own own ac- ber. account. count. --------1----1------------------------------Total.................... Single....................... :. Married, husband breadwlnncr Married, husband not a breadwinner...................... Married, husband not living with family ................ . Widowed .................... . Divorced.................... .. Not reported .•••........••.•.. 9,769 1,8\1\1 19.4 1,896 3,596 1,577 43.9 1,577 50 21 42.0 20 3 7,861 SO. 5 7,348 75.2 17 7,231 100 513 5.3 424 89 II 0.1 2,019 56.1 1,942 54.0 3 1,877 62 77 2.1 62 15 ........... . 29 58. 0 28 56.0 340 561 31 112.6 74.7 81.6 95.5 306 465 83.4 61.9 60.5 \10.9 31 82 5 1~ 23 20 -4,945 --f- -77I........ --- -98.3 - -4,564 - -112.3 - - -4 -4,549 - - -11- - -6.0- -243- - 53- -8- 77 1.6 4,860 296 .2 367 751 3S 22 'Z1 189 7 1 7.4 25.2 18.4 4.5 1~ ······2· 7 1 21 27 301 10 434 23 20 2.0 5 21 34 96 8 1 11.3 12.8 21.1 4.5 ··'·i· ····:i 3 .......... . 1 .................. . 2 8 THE FAMILY T A B L E 16.—Marital STATUS OF BREADWINNING WOMEN. siattts of brcadwinning women^ by industry and occupation. Marital status. Industry or occupation. Total..... Manufacturing. Woolen and worsted goods... Cotton and cotton EOO<1S, In* eluding handkerchiefs All other textiles All other nmnuliicturlng * Selling trades... Saleswomen Other selling occupotlons Telephone operators.., Clerit-al occupations.., Professional servlco-... Domestic and personal service outside workers' homos Servants living in employers' home Scr\'ants and dayworfcers living in own homo Nurses All other domostic and personal servicc Working In own home... Taking boarders or lodgers... All other homo service,.... Not reported.. 1 Not computed, owing to small number involved. »Includes dressmakers, seamstresses, tailoresses, milliners, and apprentices in shops or employer's home. Just as the proportion in each age group employed in manufacturing decreased with advanced age, so the proportions in the various groups employed in work at home increased as the age increased. Eighty-nine per cent of the girls under 16 years of age worked in factories, while only 25 per cent of the women of 50 years and over were so employed. No children under 16 were earning money by service rendered in the home, whereas almost one-half of the women of 50 and over were at work in their own homes. However, the factories drew most heavily upon the women who were 20 to 40 years of age, whereas the home workers were women 25 years of age and over. The factories employed many women of all ages. This is not true of other industries. Telephone operators were usually from 16 to 25 years of age. Almost three-fourths of all office employees and seventenths of all saleswomen were under 25 years of age. The professions and domestic pursuits drew largely from the more mature women. THE TABLE FAMILY STATUS OF BBEADWRANING WOMEN. 11,-Specified ageffroupBof hreadwinning women^ by Mmtry 2 9 and occupation. Women in specified age groups. Under 16 years. Industry or oocopation. TotaL Total Manuf^turing Woolen and worsted goods Cotton and cotton goods, including handkerchiefs All other textiles All other manufacturing i Selling trades Saleswomen Other selling occupations 100.0 89.2 152 39.2 1,387 418 868 78 69 57 ^ 15 16 3.9 3.9 19 1 4.9 .3 • 76 1,117 485 Domestic and personal service outside workers* home Servants living in employer's home Servants and day workers living, In own home Nurses. All other domestic and personal service Working in own home Taking boarders or lodgera All other home service 2,628 752 100.0 518 ,68.9 210 27.9 20.1 ^ 146 15.2 69 14,7 93 20 and under 25 years. 832 100.0 2,379 512 61.5 l,a47 176 21.2 607 19.4 9.2 12.4 100.0 25.5 155' 66 115 18.6 7.9 13.8 412 . 95 233 17.3 4.0 9.8 41 41 5.5 . 28 5.527 1 3,4 3.2 .1 66 58 8 2.8 2.4 .3 18 154 3 2.4 . 20 20.5 ' '218 .4 2.4 26.2 1.2 24 • 410 , 112 1.0 17.2 4.7 674 7 1.8 15 2.0 35 4.2 139 5.8 ^ 4 1.0 12 i:6 21 2.5 66 2.8 184 138 3 .8 6 5 .7 .6 29 32 1.2 1.3 .4 ,12 , ...... .3 1,899 L796 1 '103 Notreported 18 and 19 years. Num- Per Num* Per Num- Per ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. 9,769 , -388 204 104 Telephone operators Clerical occupations Professional service Num- Per -ber. ^ t . 16 and 17 years. , 3 2 1 ^ 3 . .4 ,3 .1 1 9 . 7 6 1 2 .-5 1L6 , .8 . 277 .7 270 .1 7 11.3 .3 4 .2 •2 Women in specific}d age groups—Continued. ' Industry or occupation: 25 and under 30 and under 40 and under 50 years and n'ot're40 years. 30 years. 50 years. over. ported. Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Number. cent- ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. Total Manul^tming Woolen and worsted goods Cotton and cotton goods, including handkerchiefs All other teitUes All other manufiacturing i . , . Selling trades Saleswomen Other selling occupations Telephone operators Clerical occupations Professional service B^tetlc ^ d personal service outside workers' home Servantslivinginemployer'shome Servants tod day workers Uving in own home All other domestic and perso^ service ^ Working in own home.... T ^ g hoarders or lodgers.. AU other home serviw..? Notreported 1,702 888 443 100.0 2,047 100.0 52.2 990 4&4 26.0 597 29.2 975 426 255 100.0 43.7 26.2 8.6 1.9 7.0 689 173 88 100.0 25.1 12.8 35 13 37 -XT — T T 1.5 2 15 2.4 .2 3.3 12 8.3 32 5.1 1.9 5.4 1.7 4.6 2 2 2 263 44 138 38 23 15 8 144 106 15.5 2.6 8.1 1.4 .9 .5 8.5 6.2 214 10.5 84 53 2.6 19 6.2 126 68 65 — ^ — s T 15 1.1 23 42 2.1 ^ 2 4 12 32 126 6.2 81 140 6.8 108 44 6.3 2.6 135 34 6.6 1.7 114 33 11.7 3.4 119 44 17.3 6.4 23 29 1.4 1,7 41 37 ^ 2.0 1.8 46 22 4.7 2.3 36 13 5.2 1.9 391 17 2 24.0 23.0 1.0 .1 1.1 28.7 27.6 1.1 28^ 260 22 26 1.3 — ^ 28.9 303 26.7 32 2.3 1 3.8 48.6 44.0 4.6 .1 .JL ssT 564 23 5 1 1 .3 2.2 1 Includes dressmakers, seamstresses, tailoresses, milliners, and apprentices in shops or employer's home. 30 T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF B R E A D W I N N I N G AVOMEN. Table 18 indicates the industries and occupations in which the women of each nationality were concentrated. Table 19 following i t summarizes the data for all women of foreign birth and shows the industries in which were employed those who had been here but a short time and those who came a number of years ago. The distribution of American-bom workers throughout the occupations was greater than that of the foreign-born women. About 41 per cent of the former were working in factories as against 61 per cent of the latter. The cotton and handkerchief mills had a slightly larger number of Americans than had the woolen mills, whereas the cotton mills employed little more than two-fifths as many foreign women as did the woolen and worsted mills. The silk mills and other factories in the city employed about as many American women and girls as foreign women. Office, professional, and selling occupations were filled chiefly by the American bom, whereas domestic service had attracted but few Americans. W i t h the exception of the Dutch, German, and Russian women, foreign women workers were concentrated in Passaic's factory occupations. Their numbers tended to be greatest in the woolen mills, except that the Italians were employed in the largest numbers in cotton and handkerchief mills. A considerable proportion of Russians had become saleswomen and office workers. Only one-third were factory workers. More than a fourth took boarders or lodgers to supplement the family income. Of the Dutch and Germans a third did work in their own homes, and a larger proportion than among other white women were engaged in domestic and personal service. THE FAMILY TABLE S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . 31 l%,—^N(itio7wXity of hrecdwinning wcrnim^ by industry and occupation. Total numher. Industry or occapation. Total Total working outside the home Hannfactiixing Woolen and worsted goods C!otton and cotton goods, including • handkerchiefs SiUc and silk goods Textiles, not specified Clothing, men's, women's, and children's Tobacco and cigars Allother manufacturing Dressmakers, seamstresses, tailoresses, milliners, and apprentices in shops or employer's home Selling trades .. S^eswomen Retail dealers Other selling occupations American, white. American, negro.- * Austrian. Number. Per cent. Number. Per cent. Number. 9,769 3,929 100.0 139 100.0 345 100.0 7,86^1 3,462 88.1 106 76.3 262 75.9 5,115 1,604 40.8 15 10.8 200 58.0 2,528 495 12.6 2 U4 153 44.3 1,387 310 108 527 172 45 13.4 4,4 1.1 5 2 3.6 1.4 25 10 1 7.2 2.9 .3 4 7 1.2 2.0 93 188 501 39 69 257. 1.0 1.8 6.5, 2 1.4 4 2.9 2 1.4 Per cent. 86 35 .9 308 144 3.7 14 4.1 2(W 98 6 122 18 4 3.1 .5 ,1 7 7 2.0 2.0 Telephone operators 76 74 L9 Clerical occupations 1,117 951 24.2 5 1.4 .3. Stenographers and typists. Bookkeepers, cashiers, and accountants.......... All other clerical occupations. Managerial and professional service Managers and executives Schoolteachers .. . . Journalists,librarians, and other professionals 505 436 11.1 1 203 409 168 347 4.3 2 2 .6 .6 485 436 1 .3 20 366 16 341 .4 '8.7 99 79 1 .3 674 218 5.5 89 64.0 42 12.2 Servants living in employer's home... 260 102 Servants living in own home 82 Day workers 16 Power laundry workers......... .. 20 Cleaners andlanitresses . ''. Waitresses, restaurant keepers, and Mtchenhelp 37 Nurses . 138 All other domestic and personalservice 19 66 19 8 7 3 1.7 .5 .2 '.2 .1 21 28 36 15.1 20.1 25.9 26 6 3 2 2 7.5 1.7 .9 .6 .6 14 92 9 .4 2.3 .2 3 2.2 1 2 .3 .6 1 •7 461 11.7 33 23.8 83 24.1 la 2 401 .1 3 ' .8 31 .7 26 23 8 2 16.5 5.8 1.4 82 1 23.8 .3 Domestic and personal service Total working In own home . 1,899 Taking boarders or lodgers 1,796 Takingin washing 18 Takmgin sewing, millinery, or knitting.. 57 All other home servioe • 28 Not reported 9 6 .2 3 2 T H E FAMILY ^Nationality TABLE STATUS OF BREADWMNING WOMEN. of yeadwinning woimn, by industry and occupation'-Conid, Czechoslovaldan. Dutch. German. Hungarian. Industry or occupation. Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. ToUl Total worklBff outside the home. Kanofacttirinr Woolen and worsted goods Cotton and cotton goods, including handkerchlcis Silk and silk goods Textiles, not specified Clothing, men's, women's, and children's Tobacco and cigars All other manufacturing 264 100.0 208 78.8 178 TTi 80 100.0 197 100.0 983 100.0 65,0 135 68.5 823 83.7 l i j 67 34.0 714 72.6 46 23.4 644 65.5 3.0 2.0 .5 29 9 8 3.0 .9 1.0 "i'/i 3 13 .3 1.3 128 48.5 2,5 24 4 1 0.1 LS .4 16.3 5.0 2 4 15 .8 1.5 5.7 Dretimakeri, seamitrefsef, tailoressei, millinen,, and appienticei in thopg or employer*! homo 11,3 2.7 6.3 .6 2.5 .8 1.9 2.5 3.8 1.0 1.5 1.1 6.3 1.1 3.8 6.1 2.0 2.5 2.0 1,3 4.1 1.3 Sellinr trades. Bales women Retail dealers Other selling occupations.. .3 .8 .5 Telephone operators Clerical occupations Stenographers and typists Bookkeepers,cashiers,and account- mis 17 LO All other clerical occupations Managerial and professional service... .8 Managersand executives School teachers Journalists,librarians,and other professionals Domestic and personal serrice... 10 ScrvantsHvingin employer's home.. Servants!!vingin own home..., Day workers Power laundry workers Cleaners and janitresses AV^tr^es, restaurant keepers, and kitchen help Nurses Allotherdomeuticand personal service 1.3 1.0 6.8 15.0 22.3 2.7 1.1 3.8 2.5 1.3 12.7 4.6 .8 .4 .4 1.5 1.0 .2 .5 2.5 .8 18 1.7 1.3 2.0 .5 .6 6.3 2.0 .2 79 8.0 3.2 2.2 l.l .1 .4 .6 .3 .1 Total workinif hi own home. 56 21.2 35.0 31.5 159 16.2 Taking boarders or lodgers Taking in washing 50 21.2 32.5 2.5 28.9 .5 155 1 3 15.8 Not reported., 2.0 ,1 .3 T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G W O M E i T . TABLE 33 18.—Nationality of breadwinning women, by industry and occwyafion—Oontd. Italian. Industry or occupation. Total.. Total worldjig outside the home. Manufacturing Woolen and worsted goods Cotton and cotton goods, including handkerchiefs SiUc and silk goods Textiles, not specified Clothing, men's, women's, and children's Tobacco and ci| Ail other mani Ru^ian. Polish. Other. Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per Num- Per ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. ber. cent. 418 100.0 2,519 100.0 380 100.0 515 100.0 342 81.8 72.3 272 71.6 377 73.2 300 71.8 1,701 67.6 123 32.4 185 34.1 63 13.9 74 71 17.0 12S 50 1 30.6 12.0 .2 635 24 42 21.2 1.0 8.7 3.2 .S -10 2.4 1.4 32 87 121 1.3 3.5 4.S .8 .8 3.6 12 6 34 .8.1 Dressmakers, seamstresses, tailoresses, milliners, and apprentices in shops or employez's home Selling trades -1.7 Saleswomen Retail dealers Other selling occupations... 1.7 12.0 3.7 1.2 22 .5 2.0 1.2 18.4 3.9 .47 -23 12.4 2.1 1.6 56 14.7 25 6.6 .9 0) 6.1 .2 .2 Telephone operators. Clerical occupations. 13 Ste: 3.1 .3 ,7 tepers, capers, and accountants All other clerical occupations 1.9 Managerial and professional service.... .5 .5 Managers and executives Schoolteachers JournaUsts,librarians, and other professionals .4 1.3 .3 .8 2.3 1.8 57 T a ^ g boarders or lodgers Takingiu washing T ^ n g i n sewing, mUUnery or knitting... All other home service Not reported. 3.5 1.7 3.1 19 3.7 .6 1.4 1.7 .5 103 20.0 12.2 1.0 Servantslivlngin employer's home.. Servants living in own home Day workers Powerlaundry workers Cleaners and i anitresses Waitresses, restaurant keepers, and kitchen help Nurses All other domestic and personalservice Total working in own home.; 8.3 18 3.9 .4.2 .5 1.2 Domestic and personal service,... .4 4.3 1.1 .2 .7 1.0 4.2 14.4 .8 .4 .6 75 17.9 17.5 693 ...... 1 4 1 - .3 1.1 .3 7 18 1 3.6 27.7 107 28.2 138 -26.8 27.5 104 27.4 126 2 24.5 .4 1.6 .4 8 2 .2 1.4 .2 .3 »Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. As ^ e a d y stated, only 73 women workers in Passaic liad been in this country less than 5 years. Their distribution i n the industries IS probably, therefore, without significance. I t can be readily seen i n Table 19, however, that inunigrants of five to ten years ago were mote concentrated in factory occupations, and particularly, in woolen and worsted mill work, than were the women who had been i n this country 10 years or more. The latter 34 T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF BREADAVIKNING WOMEN. had entered the soiling, office, and professional occupations to a small extent, while the numbers of recent unmigrants therein were practically negligible. TABLE Tears inihe United States ofJoreigri'homhTeQdmnning women, by industry and occupation. Industry or occupation* Total Foreign-lwm Number women wombreaden winners. re^port- Selling trades Saleswomen. Retail dealers Other selling occupations......... Telephone operators. Clerical occupations Stenographers and typists Bookkeeixjrs, cashiers, and ao^ cotmtants All other clerical occupations Kanaserlal and professional serrice. Managers and executives School tcachcrs Journalists, librarians, and other professionals side worker's home Servants living in employer's homo Servants living in own home. ,. Day workers Power laimdry workers. Cleaners and janitresses. Waitresses, restaurant keepers, and kitchen help Nurses All other domestic and personal ser\-ice. Women In United States from 5 to 10 years. Women In United States 10 yeara and over. years in Num- Per United Number. cent* States. ber. Per cent. Num- Per Num- Per ber. cent. ber. cent. 6,701 2,031 Woolen and worsted coods Cotton and cotton gooda Including 855 handkerchiefs 136 Silk and Bilk goods 63 Tcxtilejt, not spoclDod riothinp, men's, wom n's, and 52 children's 119 Tobacco and cigars 240 AH other manufacturing Dressmakers* leamstresses* tailoresses, mllUners, and apprentices in shops or employer's home Women in United States less than 5 years. 100.0 5,497 73 100.0 1,847 100.0 3,577 100.0 61.3 3,401 45 61.6 1,335 72.3 2,021 56.5 35.6 1,902 20 27.4 S25 44.7 1,147 32.1 15.0 2.4 1.1 826 126 63 13 3 2 17.8 4.1 2.7 318 36 16 17.2 1.9 .9 495 87 45 13.8 2.4 1.3 .9 2.1 4.2 48 115 231 2 —2*7* 6 6.8 22 56 62 1.2 3.0 3.4 26 57 164 .7 1.6 4.6 49 .9 46 1 1.4 15 .8 30 .8 164 2.9 156 1 1.4 21 1.1 134 3.7 82 80 2 1.4 1.4 79 75 2 1 1.4 14 7 .8 .4 64 G8 .2 1.8 1.9 .1 1 1.4 15 .S 138 i 3.9 i') I s 1 0) 169 2.9 154 69 1.2 67 4 .2 63 1.8 35 62 .6 1.1 35 52 6 5 .3 .3 29 46 .8 1.3 49 .9 43 8 .4 35 1.0 4 25 .1 .4 4 21 1 4 .1 .2 3 17 .1 .5 20 .4 18 3 .2 15 .4 367 6.4 330 15.1 , 79 4.3 240 6.7 173 55 3S 9 17 3.0 1.0 .7 .2 .3 153 51 34 s 15 12.3 1.4 1.4 51 12 1 2 2 2.8 .6 .1 .1 .1 93 38 32 6 13 2.6 1.1 .9 .2 .4 20 46 .4 .8 19 41 1 5 .1 .3 IS 36 .5 1.0 9 .2 9 5 .3 4 .1 1 U 9 1 1 1.4 1,405 24.6 1,363 14 19.2 374 20.2 975 27.S Taking boarders or lodgers. 1,372 ' 7 Taking in washing Taking in sewing, millinery, etc.. 24 All other home service 2 24.1 .1 .4 0) 1,332 7 22 2 14 19.2 370 20.0 3 1 .2 .1 948 7 19 1 26.5 .2 .5 .1 3 3 *1 Worldnc in own home Not reported 1 Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. 3 THE FAMILY Breadwinning S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N K I N G WOMEN. 35 mothers. There were 4,802 women breadwinners in Passaic who were or had married. Of these, 4,462 reported concerning children. Nearly three-fourths of these married, widowed, or divorced breadwinners were mothers; only 27 per cent had no children. There is little variation in the proportion having children in the several marital groups. The range is from 81 per cent in the small number of divorced women to 70 per cent among the wome^i workers whose husbands were not breadwinners. Among the married women whose husbands were employed, and who represented by far the largest group of workers, 72.5 per cent had children. been T A B L E 20.—Breadmnning women who had children, Marital status. Total: Number., Percent., Married, husband breadwinner: Number Percent Married, husband not a breadwinner: Number Percent : Married, husband not Uving with family: Number Per cent Widowed: Number Percent Divorced: Number Percent or had no children, hy marital status. Number of women Women Women reporting who had who had concem- children. no chilchUdren. 4,462 100.0 1,191 26.7 3,596 100.0 72.6 988 27.5 50 100.0 35 70.0 15 30.0 201 100.0 151 75.1 50 24.9 589 100.0 456 77.4 133 22.6 26 100.0 21 80.8 5 19.2 Although approximately three-fourths of the married or oncemarried women workers were mothers of children, the prevailing families were not large. The essential feature of Table 21 lies in the fact that over 60 per cent of the women breadwinners had only one or two children. Only about 10 per cent of the mothers had families ranging from five to ten children. The variations in the actual and average number of children of the mothers living w i t h husbands and of those widowed, divorced, or separated are so slight as to indicate that the number of children in a family was not a differential factor in conditions surrounding the breadwinners in each group. 36 T H E F A M I L Y STATUS OF BKEADWINNING WOMEN. TABLE 2l,-~Numher of children ofhreadwinniTig mothers, by marital status of mother. Karital status. Total Women having specified number of children. women havinf! children. One. Two. Tliree. Four. Five. Six. Seve^i. Klght. Nine. Ten. Total: Number. 3,271 Percent.. ItKKO Married, husliand brcadwlnnor: Niiinl>cr Per ccnt Married, husband not a breadwinner; Number Per cent Marric<l, husband not living with family: Number Per ccnt Widowed: Number Per ccnt Divorced: Number Per ccnt Average number of children per mother. 92fi 2S.3 590 18.0 370 11.3 176 5.4 2.5 34 1.0 12 0.4 6 0.2 2 0.1 2.4 787 755 30.2 28.9 489 18.8 306 11.7 157 6.0 2.6 31 1.2 0.3 4 0.2 2 0.1 2.6 100.0 35 100,0 7 13 37.1 20.0 7 20.0 4 11.4 1 2.9 2 5.7 151 100.0 55.6 41 27.2 16 10.6 6 4.0 100.0 178 117 39.0 25.7 76 16.7 52 11.4 21 100.0 0) 0) 0) 1,073 32.8 M 11 1 2.9 2.6 1.7 ,17 3.7 11 2.3 2.4 1.8 »Not computed, owing to small number involved. Though the families of working mothers were not large, the children were young. Approximately 60 per cent of the employed mothers had children under 5 years of age, 20 per cent had children of 5 to 7 years of ago who had not yet entered school, although the New Jersey school regulations permit children to go to school at the age of 5 years. These percentages are not mutually exclusive, as mothers with children under 5 years may also have had children between 5 and 7 years. But Table 22 presents the strikingly significant fact that all of these bread^vinning mothers had small children at home requiring care. The 12 per cent of breadwinning mothers who had children of 5 to 7 at school had the assurance that for a part of the working day at least the little ones were safe. Who got them ready for school in the morning or looked to their physical and moral welfare after school, the census data, of course, do not indicate. Another singularly striking feature of Table 22 is the revelation that i t was not the widowed mothers nor other women with disrupted marital relations who were winning bread apparently at the expense of the care of yoxmg children, but the married women living with breadwinning husbands. The revelation makes a strong urge for further f o r m a t i o n . Although children are permitted to enter school at the age of 5 in New Jersey, attendance is compulsory only from 7 to 16 years of age. W i t h the consent of parents and upon securing a proper certificate, children may leave school at the age of 14 to go to work. THE FAMILY S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N K I N - Q WOMEN". 37 Apparently many working women find i t necessary to take their children from school as soon as permitted by law. Eleven per cent had children 14 to 17 years of age at work. Eight per cent permitted children of these ages to continue their school work; less than 1 per cent had children at school who were as much as 18 years of age. TABLE 22.—Breadwinning mothers having chUdren of specified age groups in school, at home, or at work, b^ marital status of mother. II Maritalstatus. Total: Number...-. Percent Married, husband breadwinner: Number ; Percent Married, husband not a breadwinner: Number Percent Married, husband not living with family: Number ' Percent Widowed: Number Per cent.. Divorced: Number.. Percent....*. Women Women having having Women having Women having children children children 14 and children 18 6 and 6 7 and under under 18 years years of age years of 14 years of of age. and over. age. age. 3,271 100.0 1,934 393 642 1,445 59.1 12.0 19.6 44.2 2,608 100.0 1,767 345 575 67.8 13.2 22.0 376 11.5 1,172 44.9 17.1 151 100.0 57 37.7 14 55 36.4 456 100.0 21.7 50 11.0 195 42.8 50 11.0 9 3 14.3 21 LOO.O 5 23.8 14 40.0 42.9 232 8.9 1.1 35 100.0 7 20.0 476 14.6 25.7 9 14 40.0 27 17.9 33 21.9 100 21.9 192 42.1 5 23.8 How many mothers m t h young children were away from their homes dm-ing working hours? Table 23 shows that over 47 per cent of the mothers with children under 5 years of age, and about one-half of those having children 5 and 6 years of age at home, were engaged in remunerative service outside of the home. The census schedules show that in none of these families were there servants who might care for the children i n the absence of the mothers. Whether other arrangements were made for the care of these children is a question of indisputable social significance but i t can not be answered from census data.^ More than half of these mothers who went out to work were employed in the woolen and worsted mills. The cotton and handkerchief mills gave work to the next largest number, 'See Chapter n,p.41. TABLE ^^.—Breadwinning molhers having children of specified age groups in school, at home, or at work, by industry or occupation of mother. Industry or occupation. Total. Total: Number Per cent Working outside own homo: Number. Per cent Manufacturing: Selling trades: Number.. For ccnt Clerical occupations: "MiiTnVwr Professional service: Number Per cent Domestic and personal service: Number . ........................... Per cent . Working in own home: Number. .............................. Per cent S g I—I 1,934 100.0 393 100.0 642 100.0 1,445 100.0 187 100.0 261 100.0 41 mo 376 mo 21 100.0 51 100.0 476 100.0 1,778 924 47.8 220 56.0 316 49.2 876 60.6 73 39.0 134 51.3 23 56.1 235 62.5 7 33.3 17 33.3 226 47.5 853 44.1 187 47.6 290 45i.2 734 50.8 66 84 V> 9 18 43.9 202 M 7i Oo. 1 46.4 A o ft 5 9.8 155 32.6 938 525 27.1 122 31.0 176 27.4 460 3L8 41 21.9 56 21.5 11 26.8 135 35.9 3 5.9 101 21.2 o ^ 319 9.8 185 9.6 32 77 12.0 14S ia2 12 6.4 11 4.2 3 7.3 27 7.2 25 5.3 w 8.1 260 7.9 143 7.4 8,4 37 5.8 126 8.7 13 7.0 17 6.6 4 9.8 40 lae 1 4.8 2 3.9 29 6.1 96 2.9 35 1.8 4.Z 13 2.0 52 3.6 5 2.7 27 las 2 4.9 11 2.9 3 14.3 4 7.8 24 &0 20 .6 8 .4 2 •5 2 .3 10 .7 1 .5 1 .4 22 2 .1 1 .3 2 .3 10 .7 1 .5 3 LI 1 2.4 1 .3 1 4.8 3 5.9 7 1.5 26 1.3 13 3.3 g 1,4 70 4.8 19 7.3 2 4.9 20 5.3 2 as 5 0.8 37 7.8 1,010 173 44.0 326 5a8 569 39.4 127 48.7 18 43.9 141 37.5 14 66.7 34 66.7 250 52.5 U i . . ... w 3,271 100.0 1,517 Woolen and worsted goods: Number. ... . ... ..... . . Per ccnt ••• • • Cotton and cotton goods: Number Per cent * AU other manufacturing: Number. Percent Women havlne Women Women having children 7 and Women having children 14 Women having children IS children 5 and 6 having years of age and over. under 14 years and under IS years of age. years of age. children ofage. under 5 years of age. I n school. At home. In school. At home. In school. At home. At work. In school. At home. At work. CO 00 28,7 ,7 123 3.8 33 17 114 61,0 3 .6 1 .3 I d CP h-4 !Z| Q ^ O g w izj 43 T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEiT. Table 24, concerned w i t h the apparent influence of nationality, shows a less proportion of mothers among the American born than among any foreign-bom group except the Germans. The American white, i t will be recalled, were a much younger group of women. The large number of Polish women and the comparatively small groups of Austrians, Czechoslovakians, and Russians show that 80 to 85 per cent have had children. T A B L E 24.—Breadvnnning women who had children, Nationality. or had no children^ by nationality. Women who had Women who had Number children. no children. of women Women who reporting were or (Mldren. Per cent had Percent been Number. of those Number. of .those reporting. reporting. married. TotaL 4,802 4^462 3,271 73,3 1,191 2.67 American, white American, negro Austrian. Czechoslovakian Dutch.. German Hungarian Italian PoUsh Russian Another 789 100 254 217 41 125 786 212 1,785 197 296 746 82 223 196 40 117 726 205 1,682 190 255 448 33 184 157 29 63 495 155 1,360 163 184 60.1 4a2 82.5 8ai 72.5 53.8 68.2 75.6 80.9 85.8 72.2 298 49 39 39 11 54 231 50 322 27 71 39.9 69.8 17.5 19.9 27.5 46.2 31.8 24.4 19.1 14.2 27.8 The prevailing number of children in the families of the foreign born differed very little from the nimiber in American families. Table 25 discloses the fact that the average nxmiber of children per mother varied b y less than one. However, there was one distinguishing difference. The percentage of women having only one child was highest among the Americans, white and negro, approximately one-half of whom had but one child. Among the great number of Polish women, 28.5 per cent had but one child, 29.9 per cent had two children, and 18.5 per cent had three children. 40 THE FAMILY TABLE S T A T U S OF B I I E A D W I N N I K - G WOMEN. 2b,—Number of children of breadwinning rhothers, by nationality of mother. Nationality. Total: Number, Percent American, white: Number Percent American, negro: Number Percent Austrian: Number Percent Czechoslovakian: Number Per cent Dutch: Number Percent German: Number Per cent Hun^ian: Number Per cent Italian: Number Percent Polish: Number Per cent Russian: Number Per cent All other: Number Percent AVomeii having specified number of children. Total Average womnumber en of chilhaving |)er chil- One. Two. Three. Four. rivo. Six. Seven- Eight. Nine. Ten. dren mother. dren. 3,271 1,073 100.0 32.8 28.3 590 370 18.0 11.3 176 5.4 82 2.5 1,0 12 0.4 0 0.2 2.0 1 •a 2 1 0.2 1 0.2 M 2 0.1 2.4 448 100.0 211 115 47.1 25.7 70 15.6 27 6.0 13 2.9 33 100.0 7 18 M.5 21.2 4 12.1 2 6.1 2 6.1 1S4 100.0 4B 59 32.1 26.1 23 29 15.8 12.5 15 8.1 157 100.0 38 46 29.3 24.2 32 23 20.4 14.6 16 10.2 29 100.0 8 27.6 8 27.6 5 17.2 3 10.3 3 10.3 1 3.4 63 100.0 22 23 30.5 31.9 14.3 5 7.9 2 3.2 2 3.2 495 100.0 177 145 35.8 29.3 79 16.0 55 11.1 20 4.0 11 2.2 15.-> 100.0 45 40 25.8 29.0 22 32 20.6 14.2 9 5.8 G 3.9 1,300 100.0 387 406 2S.5 29.9 252 18.5 169 12.4 81 6.0 38 2.8 18 1.3 2.5 103 100.0 4S 44 27.0 29.4 23.3 21 12.9 6 3.7 2 1.2 2.5 1.8 181 100.0 44 CO 32.6 23.9 40 20 21.7 10.9 9 4.9 6 3.3 2 1.1 2.6 2.0 1.9 5 2.7 5 2.7 2.6 2.6 1 3.4 2.7 2.2 6 1.0 2.3 2.6 I n most cases the Polish mothers had young children. Over threefourths of these breadwinning mothers had children imder 5 years of age; nearly a thu-d had children of 5 and 6 at home, and 10 per cent had children of those ages at school. The problem of the very young child Was less acute with the Americains, somewhat more than a third of whom had children of less than 5 years of age. The Poles, i t would seem, did not as a rule send children to school before the compulsory school age was reached. Less than one-fourth of those having children of 5 and 6 years were sending them to school. The same tendency was marked among the Austrians. Larger proportions of the remaining groups took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the State law to begin the education of children at an early age. The American whites and the Russians were the only n a t i o n a l i t i e s whosemothersof children from 14 to 18 years of agehad more of them in school than at work. The tendency among other nationalities to send the child to work as soon as the law allowed is revealed in Table 26. THE FAMILY TABLE S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G 41 WOMEiT. 2^.—Breadmnning mothers with children of specified age groups in school, at home^ or at work, by nationality of mother. Women Womenhaving children having children 5 7 and unand 6 years der 14 years of age. of age. Nationality. Women having children 14 and under 18 years of age. Women having children 18 years of age and over. ft 11 Total: NumberPercent-. American, white: Number Percent American, negro: Number Percent...:... Austrian: Number Percent Czechoslovakian: Number Percent Dutch: Number Percent German: Number Per cent Number. Percent. Italian: Number. ^ ^Percent. Polish: Number. ^ Percent. Russian: Number, , Percent. AU other: Number. Per cent- 3,271 1,934 393 642 1,445 100.0 ^9.1 12.0 19.6 k . 2 187 5.7 41 376 1.3 11.5 9 2.0 21 0.6 51 1.6 476 14.6 43 9.6 24 5.4 122 27.2 2 6.1 9 27.3 44& 100.0 162 47 30.2 10.5 34 7.6 158 35.3 12 52 2.7 11.6 100.0 12 36.4 1 3.0 3 9.1 16 48.6 1 3.0 3 9.1 184 100.0 99 53.8 17 ' 33 9.2 17.9 91 49.5 13 20 7.1 10.9 34 4 2.2 18.5 157 100.0 22 61.1 14.0 78 49.7 8 5.1 11 7.0 32 20.4 2 1,3 25 15.9 29 100.0 5 27.6 17,2 15 51.7 6 20.7 8 1 3.4 27.6 3 10.3 13 44.8 100.0 10 15.9 12.7 32 50.8 8 12.7 14 2 3.2 22.2 100.0 241 84 48.7 1Z.0 155 100.0 52.9 1,360 100.0 1.041 76.5 26 16.6 3 4.8 12.3 64.1 23 4.0 40 8.1 5 1.0 74 14.9 19 33 21.3 12.3 75 48.4 9 5.8 13 8.4 2 1.3 17 11.0 130 416 30.6 557 41.0 109 8.0 64 4.7 13 1.0 110 8.1 163 100.0 27 16.6 15 9.2 69 42.3 9 28 5.5 17.2 2 1.2 12 7.4 184 100.0 85 19 46.2 10.3 17.4 86 46.7 4 2.2 2 1.1 29 15.8 •'82 . 61 18 9.8 32 17.4 2 3.2 25 39.7 65 13.1 2 1.3 25 16.1 81 6.0 3.7 5 3.1 29 17.8 3.3 50 27.2 n. RESPONSIBILITIES OF BREADWINNING MOTHERS AS SHOWN BY PERSONAL SURVEY. Tho foregoing tables, based exclusively upon the data to be found on the schedules collected by the United States Bureau of the Census, raise a number of important questions which can be answered only by supplementary investigations. Because the census enumeration includes all the people i n a city, and therefore shows how large a number of persons are included in each classification to which imanswered questions apply, there is little chance of directing expensive surveys into conditions of numerically unimportant groups when census data are available for guidance. For e x ^ p l e , the census data studied show an actually and relatively large number of married women working- outside of the home though having breadwinning 42 T H E FAMILY STATUS OF BKEADWINNING WOMEN. husbands. I t is of manifest importance to know why so large a group of women with homo responsibilities should be at work when the usual family providers are in evidence. Rarely are the wages of fathers sufficient to keep grown unmarried daughters from going into industry as breadwinners, but that the wife and mother should go out to work while the husband and father is abreadwinner challenges attention. Is i t because she must or because she "wants t o " ? Without information on family income, which it is not possible to secure from census schedules, a definite answer to this question can not be given. As previously stated, one of the most important questions raised by the census data concerned the care provided for young children of mothers working outside the home and the amount of help in household duties which these mothers had from paid or unpaid assistants. To test the dependability of collected census data as an index to the importance of questions loft unanswered, this subject alone was chosen for an experimental survey. Approximately 1,000 addresses of women having small children were selected. The numbers were chosen from each Passaic enumeration district in proportion to the numbers of breadwinning women reported therein. Five hundred and twenty-two of these women were found and were identified as those enumerated i n 1920. They were interviewed as to the care provided for the children and the help received in the performance of household duties during the year : the census was taken. The results, though briefly stated, have a long reach in social consequence. Care of young children of rmthers working away from home. ^lother kept store, cared for chUdren at same time Mother worked nighta, cared for children i n day time Paid custodian to care for young children Relative., i Hired woman Day nursery Neighbor Relatives looked after children Living at home Living near Landlady or boarders looked after children Neighbors cared for children Husband *' kept eye on children " Worked nighta, home during day Worked at home or unable to work Children cared for each other A l l from 7 to 14 years Some under 7, others from 7 to 14 years i n same family All under 5 years... 22 25 2 4 3 16 93 G6 27 35 68 54 • 44 10 118 82 34 2 522 T H E F A M I L Y S T A T U S OF B R E A D W I N N I I T G WOMEiT. 43 The care provided seems in great measiire to have been casual and inadequate. I t is difficult to fix the line of demarcation between the conditions confronting women who said they depended on neighbors to care for their children and those who frankly stated that the children cared for themselves or t h a t " God took care of them." Many of the families lived in three-story tenements, containing from 6 to 12 families. The children, therefore, were not left in the isolation that would have obtained under other living conditions. Undoubtedly, should any children of the absent mothers have been hurt, neighbors would have rendered assistance whether or not the children were supposed " t o care for themselves." Mothers working at night usually had a ten-hour shift five nights a week, that is, from 7 p. m. to 5 a. m., or from 8 p. m. to 6 a. m. They were,therefore, at home in time for breakfast in the momiDg. Sixteen night workers, however, worked on a short shift, or from early evening to midnight, thus enabling them to get some sleep before beginning the household duties of the day. A t the time the investigator visited Passaic many women who had been on night work in 1920, when the census was taken, were out of work. As soon as the mills were busy enough to run the night shifts, however, these women expected to return to work. Except for the women storekeepers and those who were fortunate enough to have relatives living in the family, or those who paid some one to care for the children, the picture given above indicates very clearly that the children of many of these workiag mothers had to depend upon themselves for most of their needs during the mothers' absence. Almost four-fifths of the women interviewed did the housework in addition to the performance of their other labors, with no assistance except that rendered by the husband or small children. Women who worked in the factories five nights a week had, of course, Saturday in which to work at home. Twenty-one others said they took oflf frord one-half to two days weekly in order to look after household aflFairs. Only 14 employed help for housework, either regularly one or two days a week or for an occasional day; 19 sent laundry out to be done. About 70 others stated that a mother, daughter, boarder, or neighbor helped with the laundry and cleaning. A l l the other breadwinning mothers—that is, 419 of the 522 interviewed—cooked, cleaned, and Washed for their families in addition to caring for the children and performing remunerative service outside the home.
@FedFRASER