6d., cannot, and do not, live upon these earnings.

They must either die upon them, as many in fact do, or else they must be assisted by other funds.
There are, at least, three classes of female workers whose competition helps to keep wages below the point of bare subsistence in the employments which they enter.
First, there are married women who in their eagerness to increase the family income, or to procure special comforts for themselves, are willing to work at what must be regarded as "uncommercial rates"; that is to say, for lower wages than they would be willing to accept if they were working for full maintenance.

It is sometimes asserted that since these married women have not so strong a motive to secure work, they will not, and in fact do not, undersell, and bring down the rate of wages.

But it must be admitted, firstly, that the very addition of their number to the total of competitors for low-skilled work, forces down, and keeps down, the price paid for that work; and secondly, that if they choose, they are enabled to underbid at any time the labour of women entirely dependent on themselves for support.

The existence of this competition of married women must be regarded as one of the reasons why wages are low in women's employments.
Secondly, a large proportion of unmarried women live at home.