Revolt Against the Kitchen

Women have long been rejecting home economics in order to assist with home economy--by going to work earning money. Partly because of continued inflation, women in ever-increasing numbers are leaving their dishes in the sink and their babies in the nursery to move into offices and factories. As a result, less than half the nation's women are now keeping house full time.

This is the conclusion of David I. Ver-way, a Michigan State University economist, who compiled the totals from Government reports. Verway reported last week that the percentage of women who stay home to keep house has slipped to 48.4%, compared with 57% in 1957. The greatest increase in working women has been among those who are married and have children.

Old Prejudices. Despite the spread of "liberation" movements and antidiscrimination laws, women's jobs are far from the boardroom variety. Five of the ten occupations employing the largest number of women--teaching, nursing, making clothes, cooking and cleaning--are simply functions that have been transferred from the home to some institution. Whatever the job, a woman's wage seldom matches a man's. In 1957, fully employed women earned a median wage of $3,008 a year and men, $4,713. By 1968, men's income had risen 65%, to about $7,800, while women's had gone up 51%, to $4,550.

One barrier is the lack of a strong female contingent in labor unions. Though more than two out of five workers are women, only one out of five union members is a woman. Detroit's outspoken Labor Leader Myra Wolfgang figures that men labor chiefs--harboring some old prejudices--really believe that women are overly individualistic, selfish and impulsive and lack the discipline to forgo immediate benefits in order to work for long-range organizational goals. To those indictments women reply that men are the unfair sex.

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