standpoint, which is not that of her husband, or her brother, or of
the men with whom she works, or even that which these persons imagine
must naturally be hers. Her point of view is her own, and it is
essential to social progress that she shall both recognise this fact
and make it understood.

The aim of the Fabian Women's Group was to elicit women's own thoughts
and feelings on their economic position, and to this end we invited
women of experience and expert knowledge, from various quarters and
of many types of thought, to discourse of what they best knew to
audiences of women. After the lectures, the questions raised were
discussed in all their bearings by women speaking amongst women
without diffidence or prejudice. In this manner the physical
disabilities of women as workers have been explained clearly by women
doctors, and carefully and frankly weighed and considered; the part
taken by women in producing the wealth of this country in past times
has been set forth by students of economic history, and much scattered
material of great value unearthed, and for the first time brought
together concerning a subject hitherto deemed negligible by the male
historian. Lastly, women employed in or closely connected with
each leading occupation or group of occupations to-day--from the
professions to the sweated industries--are being asked to describe
and to discuss with us the economic conditions they have directly
experienced or observed.[1]

It is hoped in time to complete and shape for publication all the
material accumulated during these six years. We make a beginning with
this book of essays on the economic position of women in seven of the
leading professions at present open to them. Some of the papers appear
almost in the form in which they were first read to the group and its