Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 253, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1910 — WOMEN IN BUSINESS [ARTICLE]

WOMEN IN BUSINESS

Mrs. Murphy-Mulligan, Real Estate Operator, Against It 'Physical Limitations Are Teo Great and They Are Almost Certain to Lose ideals Necessary for Home Life. New York.—Mrs. Agnes MurphyMulligan, the only woman member of [the Real Estate exchange, has announced her retirement from business [after 30 years of money making. She Idoeen't believe that women should go into business. Their physical limitations are too great and they are almost certain, Bhe says, to lose the Idealß that are necessary for home life and the upbringing of children. Mrs Murphy-Mulligan began to sell real estate up in tjie Bronx when the [borough was little built up. Her father was William Jay Murphy, one of the pioneers in developing the Bronx and an active real estate man. His daughter studied law at the New York haw school and was graduated when jshe was sixteen years old. Her father idled, and the care of an Invalid mother fell to Agnes. She took up her father's business where he dropped it and became one of the best known real estate dealers in New York city. She was among the first women who ever took up a business career in ;thi6 city, and in 30 years she subdivided and developed large sections of ithe Bronx. Her husband is William <3. Mulligan. "Thirty years of business,” she said, '"has convinced me that, woman's isphere is home and motherhood, not business. I have five girls, the oldest seventeen years, the. youngest two months, and I should consider it the greatest calamity if one of them went Into business. I did it because I had to. It was necessary to take up my lather’s work. Perhaps I have been more fortunate than most women in finding chivalry among men. "As things are today I do not think ithat women should be in business. They are not satisfied with ordinary success. They insist on going on and fools of themselves by wanting to vote and compete with men instead of helping men. They have a place in the business world, but they Should not go away from home to find it They can remain at home and be partners with their husbands. The most successful business women are married women. Women defeat their own ends by becoming competitors. “In 30 years I have seen many business women, and one thing has impressed itself on me. As soon as women get wrapped up in business they forget their homes. They have no longing for home or motherhood. Most women in business lose their ideals. A girl who maps out a business career maps out a career of unhappiness. "The most powerful argument against women in business is their physical limitations. Their chances of success, are remote, because they are not physically fit to compete- with men. That cannot be gainsaid, any more than the theory I have formed that a woman, to be in business, must be untrue either to herself or to

her employer—to her employer if she thinks about a future with a home in it; to herself if she does not. “Natural aptitude and love for the work may bring success, but the fact that there are so few women in the real estate field seems to prove that women have neither for this kind of work.” Mrs. Murphy-Mulligan has one more sale of lots to handle before she down her sign.