CAUSES OF PROSTITUTION 



257 



The ages of these women at the moment of examination and their ages 

 at the time when they became prostitutes, is shown in table 1. 



In 81 per cent of the cases, more than 1 year had elapsed since the woman 

 had become a prostitute, in 47 per cent more than 5 years, and in 6 per cent 

 more than 10 years. 



TABLE 1 



The home conditions of the examined, their social and economical cir- 

 cumstances, during childhood and adolescence appear from the following: 

 The father's trade was: 



per cent 



Labourer 38 



Artisan 20 



Farmer 7 



Other trades 25 



Unknown 10 



In 12 per cent of the cases, the examined had never known her father, in 

 2 per cent she had never known her mother. 



Seventeen per cent of them had a stepfather or stepmother, 17 per cent 

 were born out of wedlock. 



In 11 per cent of the cases, the father had died before the woman was 14 

 years old, and in 13 per cent the mother. 



In 18 per cent, the father died before she was 21, in 2 per cent the mother. 



In 6 per cent the parents were divorced before she was 14 and in 18 per 

 cent before she was 21 years old. 



The examined came from prolific families, having on an average 5.6 sib- 

 lings. Eighty per cent of them had been brought up by their parents, 20 

 per cent by foster-parents, grandparents or other relatives. 



Seventeen per cent had been in homes of education (reeducation, reforma- 

 tories), and the majority of them had likewise been under supervision of 

 boards of guardians. 



