Miss Ada Heather Bigg, hon. secretary of the Women's Industrial Defence Committee, writes from 14, Radnor-place, Hyde Park:-
"It is with much satisfaction that my committee has read Mr. Asquith's excellent reply to the deputation of medical men who urged him to put further restrictions upon the labour of married women. We know very well, being in constant touch with a large body of married working women, that Mr. Asquith speaks the saddest truth when he says that in many cases the mother is as much the bread-winner as the father. No one regrets this fact more than we do, but so long as there are multitudes of men who from incompetence, poor physique, or other causes are unable to keep a wife and children in decency, and who yet have wives and children to keep, so long will it be the grossest cruelty to prevent a wife and mother from securing by her own exertions the ordinary comforts of life. The cruelty becomes greater when it is remembered that the alleged connexion between excessive infant mortality and the industrial employment of women rests upon very insufficient evidence. If the medical men composing the deputation erred somewhat in generalizing rashly, they erred still more in that they apparently neglected to take working women into their counsels.
Five minutes' talk with any intelligent woman would have shown clearly that a law forbidding a married woman to work in a factory for three whole months after the birth of a child would not necessarily keep her in her home. The need remaining, women would simply be driven to substitute standing at the washtub in public washhouses, cleaning offices, or other hard work for the (perhaps) lighter work pursued by them in factories. The Women's Industrial Defence Committee makes a point of patiently consulting working women themselves on all projects of legislation which affect their employment. In furtherance of this end, it has established this year no fewer than three working women's clubs in East, South, and West London. Here, once a fortnight, women workers meet to enjoy a social evening and to learn what legislation is being proposed for their benefit. Every suggestion is carefully examined in all its bearings, and the women themselves give reason why the proposal suits or fails to suit the circumstances of their lives. Needless to say, these clubs are doing admirable work, and would do so on a still more extensive scale if lack of funds did not prevent. Help is much required and will be gratefully received and acknowledged by the committee."
