CHAPTER III. SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT OF WAGE-EARNING WOMEN. (") For the purposes of the study of the living conditions of selfsupporting women-the housing, the food, the social environmentthe adrift women have been arranged in four groups: (1) Those keeping house; (2) Those living in private families; (3) Those living in boarding or lodging houses; and (4) Those living in organized boarding houses. (') This grouping has been made on the theory that the way in which a woman lives, the home responsibilities which she carries, and the conditions and influences which surround her home are the strongest social factors of her life. There must always be taken into account, of course, the amount of money which the self-supporting woman has to meet her living expenses, but as that can be discussed for each group separately as well or better than for the whole number, these four divisions have been made the basis for the development of the topic. In explanation of these divisions it may be said that the first group is intended to include all those who are keeping house in such a way as to be surrounded by something like a home atmosphere, although many times other elements crowd in to such an extent that there is little trace of a real "home" left. This group, therefore, does not include women renting one room in a lodging house and preparing such meals as they can in that one room, nor those doing light housekeeping in one or two rooms in a private family, but only those renting a house or tenement where they have their own private entrance and in which they live entirely independently of other people. The second group consists of women who are rooming or boarding in private families. The line between a private family and a boarding house is necessarily somewhat difficult to draw, but for the purpose of this report it has been considered that more than three persons outside of the family destroy its privacy and create the atmosphere of a boarding or lodging house, both for the family and the a In this topic only the women classed as "adrift" in the general introduction have been considered. b By "organized boarding houses" are meant houses financed by some social organization, so managed as to offer to women board and lodging under good moral and sanitary conditions, at a price which shall not bring any profit to the managers. The aim is generally to pay expenses, but it is seldom attained, and the deficit is made up by the organization which maintains the house. outside members. Therefore only households in which there are not more than three boarders or lodgers are classed as private families. Women who live in regular boarding or lodging houses—that is, houses with four or more boarders or lodgers-form the third group. The fourth is formed by those living in "organized boarding houses," as the term has been defined. These have been differentiated from ordinary boarding or lodging houses because of the difference in social environment as well as in restrictions and supervision. Attention is called to the fact that the number and per cent living in organized boarding houses should not be taken as applying to the group of wage-earning women in any one city, nor to the group of wage-earning women in all the cities. These schedules were secured by a special canvass of such institutions without regard to the proportion which the number of women living in them bears to the total number of women adrift, and the information furnished is used to make clear the living conditions existing there both in the matter of social environment and personal economics. The distinction by group and by city of the women covered in the investigation is shown in the following table. As this topic has been based on method of living groups, the comparatively small number of women for whom such data were not obtained (89, or 5.2 per cent) have not been considered or included in any of the tables or text. The Chicago stock-yards girls, treated separately in other chapters of this report, are included here, as the purpose of this topic is to show what social environment is possible under any given economic conditions, and what the influence of such environment is, without special reference to prevailing industrial conditions. NUMBER AND PER CENT OF WOMEN ADRIFT (EMPLOYED IN STORES, FACTORIES, MILLS, AND RESTAURANTS), KEEPING HOUSE, LIVING IN PRIVATE FAMILIES, IN BOARDING AND LODGING HOUSES, AND IN ORGANIZED BOARDING HOUSES, BY CITIES. a Numbers and per cents not applicable to whole group of wage-earning women covered by investigation as special canvass of organized boarding houses was made for the purposes of comparison. Not including 87 not reporting as to method of living. The per cent of women in the different groups will be seen to vary greatly in the different cities. For example, 56.6 per cent are boarding in regular boarding houses in Boston and only 1.6 per cent in New York. The per cent in private families ranges from 61.8 per cent in Chicago to 17.4 per cent in Boston, etc. Of the 1,607 women who are included, 267, or 16.6 per cent, were found living in homes of their own making. They include the married women who must earn a living for themselves and their children and are "adrift," because they are without homes that are in any sense an asset as is usually meant when reference is made to "the wage-earning women living at home." All of these "homes" were supported and presided over by women wage-earners. Although in a few cases the earnings of a son or brother were added to the general fund, it was always the woman who was the mainstay of the family. For these same groups the average weekly earnings and the average weekly cost of living are shown in the following table. For purposes of comparison the earnings and cost of living of the waitresses are added. With these, however, it should be borne in mind that food received as a part of the wage is not included. AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS AND COST OF LIVING (FOOD, SHELTER, HEAT, LIGHT, AND LAUNDRY) FOR WOMEN OTHER THAN WAITRESSES, BY CITIES, AND FOR WAITRESSES IN ALL CITIES. a This is the estimated cost for the worker, exclusive of her expenditure for the support of dependents who may constitute a part of the same household. b In making out these averages the women employed in the Chicago stock yards are included. c The earnings and cost of living of waitresses are based on 200 cases; food which is paid for in service is not included. |