Page:The Feminist Movement - Snowden - 1912.djvu/231

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THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT
223

of opposition, not only from men moved by professional jealousy, but from the very people it is hoped to benefit by the establishment of the principle. Men argue that the work of women is not in any circumstances as good as their own. They point out that the effect of such a demand by the women would probably mean a reduction in their own wages or salaries. This, it is pointed out, has happened again and again, notably in New York quite recently, where the wages of the men teachers have been slightly lowered to equal the women teachers' salaries, which have been raised. It is maintained by the men that their salaries are calculated on a family basis, and that single women ought to be content with less.

Women who argue this point lose no self-respect by admitting the truth of much of the objection. The unit of calculation is probably the family, and it is not fair to seek to get over the difficulty by suggesting an additional grant to the man for every member of the family he is called upon to support. The effect of such a rule would be that single men would be engaged and would probably be dismissed when they married. Similarly with the women with dependants, who would come under the same rule. Those women without encumbrances would have preference over those with dependants. A slight lowering of the salaries of men by a mean-spirited