In every nationality without exception the occupation of saleswoman attracts a larger percentage of the total number of female breadwinners in the second generation than in the first. The increase in the percentage for the second generation is striking in the case of the Irish. Of the Irish immigrant women at work only 1.2 per cent were reported as saleswomen, but in the next generation the percentage advances to 6.2. A similar increase is shown for the Italians, from 1.6 to 6.8. In each generation the largest percentage of saleswomen is that shown for the Russians, a fact which reflects, perhaps, the characteristics of the Russian Jew, but the contrast between the first and second generations in this respect is not so striking here as it is in many other nationalities. The Norwegians and the French Canadians appear to have the least inclination toward this occupation of saleswoman in either the first or the second generation. Doubtless the differences among the various nationalities are influenced by their geographical distribution. Opportunities for employment as saleswomen are mainly confined to urban centers and are most abundant in large cities where the big department stores exist. TABLE 20.-Female breadwinners, classified by nationality and general nativity: Total number, and number and per cent employed as saleswomen. • Includes also the few foreign-born white whose parents were natives of the United States. TABLE 20.-Female breadwinners, classified by nationality and general nativity: Total number, and number and per cent employed as saleswomen-Continued. a Includes also the few foreign-born white whose parents were natives of the United States. Less than 0.1 per cent. 1,498 2.6 99,909 5,862 5.9 1,337,020 425 (0) TEACHERS. Teaching in the United States is preeminently a profession for women. The number of women reported by the census of 1900 as employed in teaching was 328,049. This is almost three times the number of men employed in this profession (118,748), and more than three times the number of women employed in all other professional service (103,125). It nearly equals the aggregate number of men reported in the three great professions of law (113,693), medicine (124,826), and the ministry (108,537). It greatly exceeds the number of women and girls employed in the textile mills (278,343). Only 5.3 per cent of the female teachers are immigrants; 27 per cent are the native children of immigrants, and 63.5 per cent are the children of native Americans. The proportion of teachers in the total number of female breadwinners is 2 per cent for the foreign-born, or immigrants, and 7.5 per cent for the second generation represented by the native white of foreign parentage. The second generation of female breadwinners comprises a larger proportion of teachers than the first in every nationality with the exception of the French. This exception is probably due to the fact that many women born and educated in France migrate to this country because of the opportunities for teaching the French language. The second generation, born in this country, may be not so well qualified for that line of teaching. The movement toward teaching on the part of the second generation of female breadwinners as compared with the first is perhaps most marked among the Irish and the three Scandinavian nationalities, viz, the Danes, the Norwegians, and the Swedes. But the percentage of teachers is highest in the second generation of Canadian English, and almost as high in the second generation of Scotch. The third highest percentage is that for the second generation of English and Welsh. In fact, the female breadwinners whose parents were Canadian English, English and Welsh, or Scotch immigrants comprise proportionately more teachers than the female breadwinners whose parents were native Americans. |