change in work is likely to be so gradual as to be almost
imperceptible if they remain in the same place of employment. If they
change to another place, those who are stenographers have a slight
readjustment to make in getting accustomed to new terms and to the
peculiarities of the new persons who dictate to them. Bookkeeping
assistants may encounter different systems, but their part of the work
will be so directed and planned that it cannot be said to necessitate
difficult adaptation on their part. The work of clerical assistants is
so simple and so nearly mechanical that the question of adjustment
does not enter. These girl workers do not find that the change of
position or firm brings them necessarily into a new relation to the
business.

Even moderate success is denied to a boy if he has not adaptability
and the capacity to grasp business ideas and methods; but a
comparatively high degree of success could be attained by a girl who
possessed neither of these qualifications. A boy, however, who has no
specific training which he can apply directly and definitely at work
would be far more likely to obtain a good opening and promotion than a
girl without it would be.

The range of a boy's possible future occupations is as wide as the
field of business. He cannot at first be trained specifically as a
girl can be because he does not know what business will do with him
or what he wants to do with business. The girl's choice is limited by
custom. She can prepare herself definitely for stenography,
bookkeeping, and machine operating and be sure that she is preparing
for just the opportunity--and the whole opportunity--that business
offers to her. Her very limitation of opportunity makes preliminary
choice and training a definitely possible thing.