In all regulated bourgeois families the
wife holds the purse strings; in the small shops she keeps the cash and
runs things generally. No average Frenchman would think of embarking on
any sort of enterprise without first talking it over with his _femme_,
who is also his partner. This team work lies at the root of all French
thrift.
The woman of the lower class has met the grim emergency of war with
sacrifice and courage. Not only has she faced the loss of those most
dear with uncomplaining lips, but she has taken her man's place
everywhere. You can see her standing Amazon-like in leather apron
pouring molten metal in the shell factory; she drives you in a cab or a
taxi; she runs the train and takes the tickets in the Underground: in
short, she has become a whole new asset in the human wealth of the
nation and as such she will help to make up for the inevitable shortage
of men.
Her sister of the upper class, at once the most practical and most
feminine of her sex, is also doing her bit. She is the lovely thorn in
the path of the American business promoter in France.
Before the war, it was rare to find this type of woman competing with
men in outside business affairs, although her influence has always
counted immensely in official life where she pulls the strings to get
husband or lover Government preferment or concession.
Since the war, however, necessity has sharply developed her latent
business qualities.
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