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however, to dissociate the effects of married female labour from those
of poverty, and in social questions causes and effects may occupy
positions of mutual dependence and transferability. Many of the
women are occupied, not from choice, but from necessity, and are
widows or the wives of men whose earnings are insufficient to maintain
the home in comfort.
The excessive mortality from bronchitis and pneumonia may also be
one of the effects of married female labour. The mother has to take
her baby to be cared for in the morning as she proceeds to work, and
fetch him again in the evening. Under the best of conditions the child
is liable to contract respiratory diseases, but in former years the mother
had no option but to leave the child in charge of a neighbour. The
mother does not select the house where the baby is cared for on sanitary
grounds, and the standard of cleanliness which usually obtained in a
"baby-minder's house " is below that of the average for the neighbourhood.
In 1913, the Albany Day Nursery was opened, and it has been
undoubtedly the means of improving the conditions under which the
children are cared for.
Other allied conditions may also be put down as contributory
causes to the wastage of child life:—(l) The unhealthy condition of
the parents, particularly the mother. Young girls frequently, before
being married, lead most unhealthy lives. Instead of taking as much
open air exercise as possible, and eating plain and wholesome food at
proper times to develop all the normal functions of the body, they prefer
spending their spare lime in stuffy houses, picture palaces, etc., where
conditions are far from satisfactory. Especially does this apply to those
employed in factories or close workshops during the day time. Again,
sweets often are taken in place of a good meal, and it is noticeable,
particularly when young girls go out to the factories, money so earned,
instead of being spent on good food, is used in finery and other trashy
things. When a girl gets married, the course of training up to marriage
has been so useless that the same helpless methods are carried on during
the early years of married life, leading to bad nutrition and deficient
staying power, with the result that when a call is made upon the system
these weakly subjects either do not go to their full time, or a debilitated
human being is added to the present generation, to die in a few days,
or it may be months later, from failure of the mother to carry out
her proper maternal functions. (2) The want of care exercised by the
mother during early motherhood, tending towards or causing this general
debility. (3) The irregular habits of the father before marriage.