Page:Meta Stern Lilienthal - Women of the Future - 1916.pdf/14

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doubtedly be some restrictions in an industrial democracy, but only such restrictions as will be necessary for the welfare of the human race. Mothers and potential mothers will not be permitted to operate heavy machinery, to stand for hours in succession, or to do any kind of work that may injure their reproductive functions. Motherhood will be guarded and protected as never before. Though women will be treated as human beings first and foremost, the fact that they are the bearers and nourishers of the coming generation will be given far more consideration than it is at present.

EDUCATION

In Socialistic society every worker, no matter what his or her task may be, will be adequately trained to perform that task. In present-day society inefficiency drags many workers down because industrial conditions often compel them to go from one job to another without becoming skilled at any. This is especially true of women. Most of them come into wage earning occupations young and without any training for their work, and after a few years pass out of them again to perform other work, as housekeepers, for which they are equally untrained. In an industrial democracy one of the prime demands will be efficiency of all its workers. But not only will men and women be trained to work, they also will be trained to an understanding of science, of art, of literature, of human life; they will be endowed with an education and a general culture that at the present time is possible only for the leisure class. That the education of all its members is one of the most important functions of organized society is not a Socialistic discovery. Present-day society recognizes the principle of general education and endeavors to realize it. In our own country the principle of free education is generally established. Theoretically every boy and girl of the working class, as well as the sons and daughters of the rich, can go from kindergarten through elementary school, high school and college at the expense of the community. But in actual life the vast majority of working class boys and girls do not get beyond the

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