116 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



future. Th© period must be long enough for the removal of trade- 

 union restrictioiis to be realised, for training hitherto denied to be 

 acquired; but not long enough for a material change in physique, arts 

 aoad customs. If in the course of evolution the female sex became 

 as strong as, or even stronger than, the male, if in the progress of 

 practical science muscular strength became less and less in demand, 

 then the average of a-, b, . . . f might no longer be less than the 

 average of m, n, . . . z. Again, a conceivable change in desiderata 

 would affect the truth of om' representation; for instance, if type- 

 writing, telephoning and the like became more in demand than coal- 

 mining and ironworks. Again, if the vast amount of household work 

 that is now unpaid could only be obtained by paying for it, the demand 

 for woman's labour and its price might be considerably raised. The 

 general principle of equal distribution above indicated would hold good 

 notwithstanding these changes; Lut the suggestions made for its work- 

 ing would require modification. The changes, however, do not appear 

 verjf imminent. 



14. Existing institutions being presupposed, it should be noticed 

 that the supposition above made of work defined irrespective of sex 

 is somewhat abstract. It wonld be appropriate in the Socialist com- 

 munity imagined by Anatole France (' Pierre Blanche '), where the 

 employer would not inquire whether an applicant for work was a 

 man or a woman. He \\o\x\A not be informed by the garments of the 

 applicant, identical attire having been introduced along with equal 

 conditions of work. But in the present state of things it will often 

 be within the knowledge of the employer that it is more profitable to 

 employ a man than a woman, although the work performed by each 

 is identical so far as it can be defined by the most exact rate. For 

 a woman, unlike a man, is ' liable to go off and get married just 

 as she is beginning to be of some use, ' as a candid champion of equal 

 pay has observed (Economic Journal, 1917, p. 59). Again, a woman 

 is generally less useful in an emergency. As a witness before the 

 Committee on the Employment of Women put it, ' A woman punching 

 a ticket may appear equal to a man, but she is not so useful in case 

 of a breakdown or nuiaway.' Of course these ' secondary ' differences, 

 as they might be called, are much less serious in some industries than in 

 others. In some permanence may be less a desideratum, a breakdown 

 less to be apprehended. Among secondaiy differences is haixily to 

 be reckoned the alleged inability of women workers to ' tune ' the 

 machines on which they work ; for that regularly recurring need can be 

 allowed for by a. properly constructed rate. But it is otherwise with 

 the risks which hardly admit of actuarial calculation. Besides, even if 

 the probability could be calculated precisely, the compensation to the 

 employer for carrying the I'isk is not to be measured by the mathematical 

 ' expectation ' thereof. This point has been well brought out with 

 reference to risks in general by Mr. Keynes in Iiis great treatise on 

 Probability. Tlie point is of importance here as it contravenes what 

 primd facie seems the simplest solution of the difficulty: that is, in 

 all the industries where secondary differences between the sexes are 

 operative to lower the rates for female work correspondingly. Thus 



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