What a woman wears, cheap moralists to the contrary, is always important. It is especially important in business relations because the impression she creates is, to a considerable degree, dependent upon it. The self-supporting woman, when about her work, should not dress elaborately or conspicuously. Bright colors, jewels, extreme hats should be rigidly barred from her wardrobe. She should be dressed quietly but becomingly, with exquisite neatness and, to a reasonable extent, in the prevailing mode. A quiet elegance in style, care in the manner of putting on her clothes,—these go a long way toward creating the proper appearance for the woman in business. Human nature being as it is, the properly gowned woman of business has a far better chance than the one who is dowdily dressed.
The habit of many young girls in the business world of wearing sleeves that do not come to the elbow and displaying an amount of chest that would be proper only at an evening party, is a serious mistake. Another mistake is the marked preference for wearing, even in winter time, white shirt-waists. If these waists are to be really fresh and fit for wear, a new one must be put on every day, and that is an expense that the wearers clearly can not afford. Dark dresses, with touches of white at neck and wrists, are a much wiser choice when one must economize.
It is very commonly said that men have larger interests than women, and that one reason for this lies in the fact that, in their every-day work, they form, naturally and easily, relations with many people; whereas a woman’s relations with the world too often come through the more artificial channels of pleasure. A woman in business has the same opportunity for meeting people on real ground that a man has. She should take advantage of these openings to healthful communication with her kind. We have all come in contact with women who have been thus broadened and have realized in them a kind of attraction not to be found in women leading more secluded lives. It is well in summing up the pros and cons of the business woman’s life to lay stress on her advantages, and the one just named is one of which she should make the most.
Women, as a class, are sometimes accused of a lack of method in the performance of their tasks. This is owing to the fact that the duties of domestic life may often be performed at any hour the housekeeper chooses, and that attention to them is not rigidly fixed as to time. A business career is often an effectual remedy for desultory habits. And this is the reason that many women who have served a time as wage-earners come back to housekeeping with renewed energy and ability. The best housekeepers the writer has ever known were retired women of business. They put into the tasks of the home the method, the promptness they learned in a more exacting field.