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but the results do not dilfer substantially from those obtained in other
districts, and it is evident that the popular idea that infantile mortality
is largely due to the industrial employment of married women stands
much in need of revision. The disadvantages of the mother's abscnce
from home seem more than counterbalanced by the advantages accruing
from the increase in the family income owing to the employment of the
mother. In the Hampstead inquiry it was found that whereas the average
family income in the case of the mothers not industrially employed was
22s. 8d., it varied from 27s. 6d. among the women industrially employed
at home to 26s. 6d. among women employed in factories anil workshops,
and 26s. 2W among women employed elsewhere. Moreover, it must not
be forgotten that the wage-earning woman has an income of her own,
and is not altogether dependent on what her husband allows her. It
may be that she is better nourished both before and after childbirth than
the mother who is not industrially employed, but further evidence is
required before a definite statement can be made on this point. The
employment of the mother is obviously harmful if it involves the
premature weaning of the infant; but it by no means follows that it need
necessarily have this result. In Hampstead a considerable proportion
of mothers continued to suckle their babies after returning to work.
The complete results of the Home Office inquiry will, no doubt, throw
light on these difficult questions; but from the evidence so far adduced
it is clear that the question of the relation of infantile mortality to the
industrial employment of married women is much more complex than
has hitherto been believed.