New Homes for Old Part 14

Another interesting development has been the growth of national organizations for women alone. One of the earliest and best known of these is the Polish Women's Alliance, an example of organized effort of women to deal with their own problems on a national scale. The leaders in this enterprise were women who, through their own experiences as immigrants, and through contact with those who came later, had come to realize both the nature of the problems women were called upon to meet and the different position of women in America.

One of the women who had been active in inaugurating the movement spoke of the extreme difficulty of such work in the Polish community because of the prejudice against women's taking part in anything outside of their homes. Some of the more advanced women thought that the welfare of the whole Polish community was r.e.t.a.r.ded by the ignorance and indifference and prejudices of the women which kept them clinging to Old-World methods and customs entirely unsuited to the new conditions. They hoped that by building a clubhouse for women, with library and reading rooms, a large hall for a.s.semblies, and small rooms for clubs and cla.s.ses, they might gradually interest the women in something outside their homes.

No one thought it possible, however, for women to organize in this way, much less to carry on a national movement and to build a clubhouse, as they have succeeded in doing. Some leading women felt that education must come, if at all, through the women's own efforts, and that the education involved in work for the organization more nearly than any other experience touched the needs of these women, in that it drew them out of their older habits and encouraged them to take the initiative and so to gain the self-confidence they lacked.

The organization was at first possible only because of the benefit features through which the support could be gained of men and women who had no interest or confidence in such educational projects as attempt to interest the women in clean streets, satisfactory disposal of garbage, and improved housing conditions.

This movement does not represent hostility to the great joint organization. Most of the women interested in developing the movement have been members of the Polish National Alliance; but they have thought that to give the women a sense of confidence it was necessary to have a women's organization, quite independent of the men's. And there have developed then the three relationships between men and women: (1) the Women's Department as one of the divisions of work in the Alliance; (2) the Women's Auxiliary to the men's society, and (3) the National Women's Organization, in which men are not members.

LITHUANIAN WOMAN'S ALLIANCE

The idea of the separate woman's organization finds an interesting ill.u.s.tration in the Lithuanian Woman's Alliance. This national society, independent of any other organization, was organized in 1915 in Chicago. Only Lithuanian Catholic women who are in good standing in the Church are admitted. The society has now grown, until there are over five thousand members in different Lithuanian communities throughout the United States.

The society was organized for the education of Lithuanian women in America. Those interested in the organization recognized that it would be very difficult to obtain support for such a movement among women of the type they most wished to interest unless it had the indors.e.m.e.nt of the Catholic Church.

There are two departments, an educational (_Absvieta_) and a benefit (_Pasalpa_). It was recognized by the leaders that little appeal could be made to women for an educational enterprise, for the majority of women are too ignorant and indifferent; but like the Polish women they knew that "benefit" would appeal to every immigrant woman, for all belong to at least one friendly insurance society. The poorer women and the more recent immigrants are a.s.sociated in the little parish self-a.s.sessment societies, in which each pays a small monthly fee, usually twenty-five cents. Membership in a substantial fraternal insurance society costs more than they can afford to pay.

The Lithuanian Woman's Alliance provides insurance for 35 cents a month. The benefit department provides for the payment of a death benefit of $150, and $5 per week will be paid upon request to any member who is sick more than two weeks. In each case in which benefit is granted, two visitors are appointed to make arrangements for hospital care if necessary, and to render any other needed a.s.sistance.

The idea back of this organization has been to help immigrant women to adjust themselves to the new circ.u.mstances of life in America; the method chosen has been through education along general and very practical lines, beginning at the point where the women themselves have come to recognize their needs. The fact that few of these women can read even in their own language makes it very difficult to reach them. At present, however, the task seems less difficult than ever before. The fact that fewer lodgers are taken, that in some cases the higher wages have lessened the pecuniary problems--even the fact that women have been drawn outside the home to work--these facts, together with the activities of women in war work, have served to give them a sense of ident.i.ty with the American community; so that there is now a greater demand for English lessons than ever before. Many women now realize the necessity of speaking the English language, and women who read in Lithuanian are eager to learn to read English so that they "may know what is in the attractive-looking magazines they see on the news stands."

The educational department is open to all women, whether they wish to avail themselves of the benefit or not, but the benefit department is open only upon condition that members also take part in the educational movement. Dues in the educational department alone are ten cents a month. The educational program is to be carried on through the local lodge and the official organ, _Woman's Field_, issued monthly by the central committee.

The magazine, aside from such s.p.a.ce as is needed for official notices, is devoted to educational material. A typical number includes articles on questions of general interest to women everywhere. Emphasis is laid on the necessity for women's learning English and a.s.suming the duties of citizenship. One page each month devoted to questions of general hygiene and the care of children is edited by a Lithuanian woman physician. A page or section is given to instruction in the preparation of food, as the Lithuanians realize that one of the gravest problems for their people here has been that of diet. s.p.a.ce is given to articles about Lithuania, "so that the young people may know that they need not be ashamed of their country."

The educational work planned for the local lodge includes instruction along many lines. Cla.s.ses are held two evenings a week in the parish halls. The work of one of the more active lodges gives an idea of the scope of the undertaking. This chapter numbers over fifty members.

Regular monthly meetings for the payment of dues and transaction of business are held on Sunday afternoon in the parish hall. After the business is finished there is a social hour.

Weekday cla.s.ses have been held on two evenings each week; on one, English and sewing cla.s.ses are held; on the other, cooking and housekeeping cla.s.ses. Women who have had greater advantages in Europe as well as in the United States give their services as teachers. All courses are planned for women who have had very little opportunity in either country; the president of one of the lodges said, in explaining their program, "You know Lithuanian women are not high up like American women--they do not know how to keep house or cook or take care of babies."

On one evening in the week the whole time is devoted to housekeeping.

The church hall has been equipped with a gas stove, a set of cooking utensils, dining-room table, linen, dishes, and silver. Lessons are given in the preparation and serving of a meal. Some attention is given to food values, but the object is mainly to show women how to prepare wholesome food as economically as possible. Processes of canning, preserving, and drying fruits and vegetables are demonstrated, as they are wholly new to most of the women. The women are also shown how to scrub, wash dishes, and care for clothing.

Reference might also be made to a local society organized by Lithuanian women about twelve years ago on a mutual-benefit basis, for educational purposes, which were stated in the const.i.tution to be:

... to provide sick and death benefit; to organize Lithuanian women for a better and larger education; to provide evening and day cla.s.ses in reading, writing, sewing, sanitary housekeeping, and the care of children; to provide lectures, books, and programs to interest women in health and education; to encourage friendship among Lithuanian women, and provide social life; to provide scholarships for students seeking higher education; to encourage writers; to encourage women to read the newspapers in Lithuanian and English.

These women, who have all been in the United States for a considerable period, and know the needs of the newcomers, have fitted up a housekeeping center in the public park center in their neighborhood.

They have a kitchen and dining-room equipment consisting of a stove, a set of cooking utensils, and a dining table with service. Here cooking cla.s.ses are held once a week, the lessons given by the women who are skilled in cookery.

The attempt is made to create an interest in food values, in proper cooking, and in wise spending. In housekeeping lessons, washing, scrubbing, washing windows, and even dishwashing and the setting of the table are taught. Cla.s.ses in English have been organized, but these women have suffered as others have suffered from a lack of teachers skilled in teaching this kind of a group, and from a lack of cla.s.sroom material suited to their needs.

The Polish and the Lithuanian societies ill.u.s.trate the organized effort of women in those groups in which the group life is highly developed, in which a number of women have become conscious of separate needs and undertake to a.s.sist in the development of others of their s.e.x.

UKRAINIAN BEGINNINGS

Among the Ukrainian women the beginnings of this process can be observed, but in this case there is common effort on the part of the most progressive men and women in behalf of the more backward women.

We are told that the Ukrainian women have much greater authority and responsibility in the United States than in the Ukraine, so that some men say that here "the laws are made for women." They spend the money, discipline the children, and direct the household life. Many of the women have been poorly fitted, by their inferior status at home, for their new duties, and the Ukrainian Women's Alliance was organized in 1917 by both men and women in an attempt to meet this situation.

This organization, too, is based on the benefit idea, which all the women can understand, but plans are already laid for a comprehensive educational program to be carried out not only through educational centers in the local lodges, but through a magazine of national circulation. This is a complete innovation, as there has never before existed among the Ukrainians a woman's a.s.sociation, nor has any attention been paid to their interests in Ukrainian publications. The organ of the Alliance had in October, 1919, put out four issues, and met with so cordial a response that its next number was double the size of the first numbers and the sales at news stands were sufficient to cover the cost of these first numbers.

The contents of one number indicate the purposes sought by its publication. Of the articles, one describes the organization of the Alliance, one discusses the relation of the inst.i.tution of the home to the community, with special stress laid on the responsibilities of the mother in the home, one explains the woman-suffrage movement and urges the importance of woman's place in government. There is a department devoted to diet, food values, and recipes, and one devoted to hygiene, with special emphasis on child care.

In some of the other national groups the number of men is still so far in excess of the number of women that the energies of the group seem to have been absorbed in dealing with the problems of the men or of getting a foothold as a group.

ITALIAN WOMEN UNORGANIZED

This does not apply to the Italian community. While benefit societies among the Italians are very numerous, there has until recently been little movement toward a national organization similar to those among the Poles and Lithuanians. The deep division in dialect, custom, and feeling between people from different sections of Italy accounts for the number of societies as well as for the lack of affiliation among them. Three of the largest societies in Chicago, in which membership is largely Sicilian, are now affiliated, but no effort has been discovered to make use of the organization as a basis for domestic educational enterprise.

Women are admitted to many of the societies on the same terms as men, but rarely attend meetings. There are many small self-a.s.sessment societies for women alone, but they have no social or educational feature; members seldom meet, and dues are often sent in by children.

The idea of using their own organizations as a means of carrying on educational work among women is a novel one in the Italian community, but it is being recognized as a possible method of attacking the great need for education in maternal and infant welfare, in the care of small children, and in sanitary housekeeping.

The Italian physicians, for example, realize that the women need instruction, and the Italian Medical a.s.sociation, in May, 1919, planned a series of lectures for mothers, in Italian, on these subjects, but found that there were great difficulties in reaching the mothers with such material. It is therefore very important that every device be tried for reaching the more intelligent women, who with the helpful neighborliness that exists in all the neighborhoods would share with their less-informed sisters the benefits of their aroused interests.

GROWTH OF NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

It is clear, then, that highly organized societies established primarily for mutual insurance often undertake educational and social projects which tend to overshadow their original purpose as the economic position of the members of the national group becomes more stable. Leaders who are inaugurating national educational movements in the less well-established groups are consciously using the benefit feature because of its universal appeal, and employing the general methods and machinery of the fraternal insurance organization.

Modification of the official machinery is the inevitable result of the change in purpose. We find, for instance, that the local lodge, originally only a meeting for the payment of dues, becomes a center for discussion of problems of concern to the local community or to the national group, and often the field in which the educational program planned by the national society is carried out.

The official organ, designed to carry official communication and news, tends to subordinate this function to the educational and cultural features. To a certain extent it becomes a national educational journal. It is to be noted that with the separation of men's and women's lodges and the growth of the influence of women in the national policy of the society, the section of the official organ devoted to the interests of women is extended. The very real problem of the immigrant woman in adjusting herself and the family life to the new conditions here, is given greater consideration.

As these organizations have been so efficiently developed, and as the leaders in the different groups hope for a united group where before there has been a separate and segregated one, it seemed worth while to consult the representatives of the different groups in some detail with reference to the method of using educational material dealing with family adjustment. The subject of child care seemed the most obviously pertinent and interesting, and a section of the United States Children's Bureau Study on the Pre-School Child was submitted for their consideration with the question as to its adaptation to the needs of the various groups.

All to whose attention it was called agreed that it was material of the highest importance, and that if translated it would prove of greatest interest. A translation was therefore presented to these representatives for their consideration. Again, all agreed that the only questions were the extent to which the material would have to be explained in terms of foodstuffs and methods of care familiar to the women in the different groups.

All agreed that the material should be given to the women in small doses graphically presented. The installment plan should be the rule.

All agreed that ill.u.s.trations would greatly add to the interest and the ease with which the lesson would be understood. And all agreed that a very effective way of arousing and maintaining interest would be to call in to conference representatives of the different important agencies, the Church, the school, the midwife, the doctor, to obtain common consideration of the material with reference to its more exact adaptation to the needs of the particular group.

Several editors agreed that much of the material could be used without such conference if it were only skillfully translated--which is a difficult and costly process. The Foreign Language Information Service of the National Red Cross has begun this work, and finds a hearty reception for its translations of such material. But the editors likewise thought that such conferences as have been described would have very great effect in securing co-operation in the use of the material.

It is clear that the same general method could be applied to the use of other similar material bearing on problems of family adjustment, or on the other aspects of adjustment; but in the field of family adjustment there is available a great body of information and suggestion organized by the expert members of the various Federal bureau staffs for the purpose of accomplishing just the end we have under consideration. This is true not only of the work done by the United States government, but by the state and city governments as well.

The development and maintenance of an agency which could make available to foreign-speaking groups through their own organizations the material already awaiting use, would correspond with the hopes and the intentions of leaders among the various groups, facilitate their work, and make possible a fine and a fruitful co-operation among elements that have in the past been separate, if not hostile.

FOOTNOTES:

[51] See John Daniels, _America via the Neighborhood_.

[52] Such as the Russell Sage Foundation Studies: Slingerland's _Child Placing in Families_; Hart's _Preventive Treatment of Neglected Children_, and Ralph's _Elements of Record Keeping for Child-helping Organizations_.