Essay
A Woman’s Work

There are many positions in this world that can be filled suitably by women and sometimes by women only. I suppose her great work is really in the house. It is a woman that first arranges the furniture, and keeps the [house] clean and tidy. Next they prepare the meals and do all the cooking. Women do all the sewing for the children, look after them and rear them. Homes are beautified by the many fancy goods produced by the women. If there be a garden with the house, who looks after it? As a rule the women. It is part of women’s work to be loving, cheerful, and patient. They look to and tend the sick either in their own homes or hospitals, which they enter as nurses. At times when sewing is not done by hand, generally we find the women in factories doing both the hard manual labour and the delicate finishing off.
Thousands of women today work in the shops, behind the counter, or they hold positions in various offices. Some of the most popular authors are women. People generally wish to see a lady acting on the stage rather than a man. We find that it is nearly always women that go around on charitable visits. They tend to raise the standards of virtue. They keep a friendly eye on their neighbour’s children, if they think they are in need of it. Another item is the giving of good advice, when it is needed. This is needed in the upbringing of children and that is a woman’s work. Women say it is their work to look after the spiritual welfare of children and this they try to carry out in Sunday Schools.
(Thanks go to my mother, Jennifer Donovan, for providing the original source documentation.)
