ABSTRACT
In London, the disproportion of the sexes above the age of 20 was in 1851 as 5 men to 6 women, and in 1861 as 4 to 5; while in both censuses the proportion of female domestic servants was 1 in every 6 women, or thereby; contrasting with Birmingham, where, both in 1851 and in 1861, the proportion of female domestic servants was only 1 in 11; and the disproportion of the sexes only as 20 to 21. The time of many women of the middle classes might be turned to much better account; and it is a benefit to the servant that a mistress throws on her as much management and responsibility as possible. Factory labour has for many years formed the subject of legislative attention; and various enactments are in force regulating the sanitary condition of factories, restricting the hours of work for women and young persons, and enforcing, in the latter, a certain amount of education.
