Women Workers in Seven Professions / A Survey of Their Economic Conditions and Prospects

by Unknown

SECTION V

WOMEN IN THE CIVIL SERVICE

I

THE HIGHER GRADES: PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

The claim that women should be allowed to enter not only the lower but the higher branches of the Civil Service is being freely made at the present time. It is very generally felt that posts in which the holder has to execute judgment and to decide on administrative matters should be open to women as well as to men.

Many reasons are urged for admitting women more freely to a share in the responsible work of the Service, but the true basis of their claim lies in this—that the most successful form of government and the happiest condition for the governed can only be attained, in the State as in the family, when masculine and feminine influences work in harmony.

It is not, perhaps, widely known that women have already made their way into many branches of the Service and have done invaluable work therein. Perhaps the strongest argument that can be urged in favour of their admission into yet other branches of the Service will be found in the following brief survey of the appointments held and the work already done by them in various directions.

The Local Government Boards

The credit of being the first Government Department to appoint a Woman Inspector belongs to the English Local Government Board. As far back as 1873, yielding to the pressure of public opinion, that Board appointed a Woman Inspector, with full powers to inspect workhouses, and district schools. During the short period of her appointment, this lady did excellent work, and called attention to much needed reforms in the education of girls in Poor Law Schools. Unfortunately, owing to a breakdown in health, she was obliged to resign her appointment in November 1874, and the Local Government Board, either repenting of its enlightened action, or not appreciating the aid of a woman even in matters concerning the welfare of women and girls, refrained from appointing a woman to succeed her. It was not until 1885 that another Woman Inspector was appointed, and then her work was restricted to the inspection of Poor Law Children boarded out beyond the Union to which they belonged. In 1896, once more by reason of the pressure of public opinion, a woman was appointed as an Assistant Inspector of Poor Law Institutions in the Metropolis. In 1898 a second Inspector of Boarded-out Children was appointed, and in 1903 the number of Inspectors was increased to three, each Inspector having a district assigned to her.

Four years ago the total number of Women Inspectors was increased to seven, and the scope of their duties somewhat widened, as will be seen below. There is now one Superintendent Inspector at a salary of £400 to £450, and six Inspectors at £250 to £350. Candidates for these inspectorships must have had considerable administrative experience. They must hold a certificate of three years' training as a Nurse, and the Central Midwives' Board's certificate is considered desirable. These qualifications have only been required since 1910.

The duties assigned to the Women Inspectors include (1) the inspection of boarded-out children, both within and beyond the Poor Law Unions to which they belong; and (2) the inspection of Poor Law Institutions—i.e., infirmaries, sick wards of workhouses, maternity wards, and workhouse nurseries: also of Certified Homes, Cottage Homes, and Scattered Homes.

The duties of the Women Inspectors in connection with the boarding-out of Poor Law Children include the visiting of officials of Boarding-Out Committees, and of homes in which children are boarded out; the Inspector visits a sufficient number of children and homes to enable her to satisfy herself that the duties of the Boarding-Out Committee are carried out in a satisfactory manner, and makes a report to the Board thereon. Women Inspectors arrange their own inspections of boarded-out children within a prescribed district.

Each of the fourteen districts into which the country is divided for Poor Law purposes is placed under the care of a General Inspector (male), whilst the half dozen Women Inspectors are available for duty in these districts, but only at the invitation of the General Inspector. If an Inspector omits to arrange for these visits it is possible for his district to remain unvisited by a Woman Inspector for an indefinite period. When it is remembered that there are still 194 Unions without a woman on the Board of Guardians, the present arrangement, by which the Women Inspectors can only inspect Poor Law Institutions on sufferance, is seen to be indefensible and the need for reform in this direction urgent.

There is one Assistant Woman Inspector, who is a highly qualified medical woman, in the Public Health Department of the Board. She has been in office only a few months, but it has been remarked in more than one quarter that the enhanced value of the recent report of the Board's Medical Officer on Infant Mortality is due to her co-operation.

The jurisdiction of the Local Government Board in London is confined to England and Wales—Scotland and Ireland having their own Boards in Edinburgh and Dublin respectively.

The Local Government Board for Scotland appointed a Woman Inspector for the first time about three years ago, at a salary of £200 a year. She is a fully qualified medical woman. Her duties include both Poor Law Work (e.g. the inspection of children in poor-houses or boarded out, enquiries into complaints of inadequate relief to widows) and Public Health Work (e.g. enquiries into any special incidence of disease).

The Local Government Board for Ireland employs two Women Inspectors, one at a salary of £200-10-£300 and the other at a salary of £200, to inspect boarded-out children.

There are no prescribed qualifications for these posts; but they have always been, and still are, held by highly qualified women—distinguished graduates and experienced in social work; one is a doctor of medicine.

Sir Henry Robinson, Vice-President of the Local Government Board for Ireland, said in his evidence before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service that he would like to have one or two women doctors to go round the work-houses and to visit the female wards, but the salaries offered by the Treasury to women doctors seemed to him too low to attract well qualified women.

The Home Office

It was about twenty years ago that the Home Office began to realise that the ever-increasing number of women and girl workers in factories and workshops made it imperative that women as well as men inspectors should be appointed if the Factory Acts intended for the protection of workers were to be effectually enforced. There was no doubt even from the first about the usefulness of these Women Inspectors, but in ten years' time the number appointed for the whole of the United Kingdom had only increased to eight. At the beginning of the present year, 1913, they numbered eighteen, and only within the last few months has this number been increased to twenty.

There is one Woman Inspector of Prisons at a salary of £300-15-£400.
(The lowest salary received by Men Inspectors is £600-20-£700.)

There is also one Woman Assistant Inspector of Reformatories and
Industrial Schools. Her salary is £200-10-£300, whilst that of Men
Assistant Inspectors is £250-15-£400.

Women Factory Inspectors are appointed in the same way as men. A register of candidates is kept in the office, in which the name of every applicant is entered. When a vacancy occurs a selection is made from the list, and the best qualified candidates are interviewed by a Committee of Selection, consisting of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary, the Private Secretary, the Chief Inspector of Factories and the Chief Woman Inspector. Generally speaking, about one half of the candidates interviewed are selected to sit for an examination in general subjects. At the end of two years' probation a qualifying examination in Factory Law and Sanitary Science must be passed.

The Principal Woman Inspector is responsible to the Chief Inspector of Factories for the administration of the Women Inspectors' work throughout the United Kingdom. Women Inspectors are stationed at Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Belfast. The work of the Women Inspectors is so organised as to be entirely separate from that of the Men Inspectors, although they cover the same ground. The nature and scope of the women's work is so generally known that it is perhaps unnecessary to describe it in much detail. Investigations into cases of accident affecting women and girl workers or into complaints as to the conditions under which they work are promptly made by the Women Inspectors. Women Inspectors (equally with men) have power to enter and inspect all factory and workshop premises where women and girls are employed. They are empowered to enforce the provisions of the Factory and Truck Acts and to prosecute in cases of breach of the law. They conduct their own prosecutions.

The reports of the Women Inspectors evoked much appreciative comment during a recent debate in the House of Commons. Some interesting remarks on their work are also to be found in the evidence given before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service by Sir Edward Troup, K.C.B., Permanent Under-Secretary of the Home Office.

The number of Women Inspectors at present employed is not nearly large enough to cope with the work that needs to be done. It must be remembered that the staff enumerated above is responsible for the inspection of factories and workshops in Scotland and Ireland as well as in England, and that the number of women engaged in industrial work has increased during the last five years from about one and a half millions to two millions. The necessity of increasing the number of Women Inspectors has frequently been urged upon the Government in the House of Commons and in the press, and it seems probable that the Government must soon yield to this pressure.

The following extract from the Women's Trade Union League Quarterly
Review, July 1913, may be of interest in this connection:—

"That the Women Inspectors' staff in particular is far below the numerical strength which would enable it to cope adequately—we do not say completely—with the task presented to it, has long been patent to every one who knows anything of the industrial world and the part taken in it by the woman worker. But in 1912 promotions and resignations left gaps in the already meagre ranks which for some time were not filled even by recruits, with the result that the number of inspections was necessarily reduced in proportion. To those who realise, as we do, the importance of the women inspectors' visits, both in detecting infringements of the law and in making clear its provisions and their value to the employer and worker alike, this decrease, even for a time, of the opportunities which Miss Anderson's staff enjoy of exercising their beneficent and educative influence seems altogether deplorable. The recent promise of the Home Secretary to increase that staff by two is very welcome, but we cannot pretend to think that such an increase will meet the need which these pages reveal."

There is one Woman Inspector of Prisons, a qualified medical woman, who acts also as Assistant Inspector of State and Certified Inebriate Reformatories. Her salary is £300-15-£400, whilst the lowest salary received by Men Inspectors is £600-20-£700.

There is one Woman Assistant Inspector of Reformatories and Industrial
Schools in Great Britain. Her salary is £200-10-£300, whilst that of
Men Assistant Inspectors is £250-15-£400.

The Board of Trade

The first woman to be admitted to the higher branches of the Board of Trade was appointed as a Labour Correspondent in 1893. In 1903 she became the Senior Investigator for Women's Industries, the salary of the post being fixed at £450. A Senior Investigator's Assistant was also appointed at a salary of £120-10-£200, but the salary has now been increased to £200-£300. These posts are open only to University women with high honours.

The Senior Investigator, with the help of her Assistant, undertakes special enquiries into the conditions in women's industries. Perhaps her most important function is to originate investigations concerning women, which will yield information likely to be useful to the Department in the future, when some particular question comes up for discussion or decision. For instance, when the question of bringing laundries within the scope of the Trade Boards Act was under discussion, the investigations previously made by the Women Investigators into wages and conditions proved invaluable.

There are also three Women Investigators appointed in connection with the Trade Boards. Their duty is to assist in the collection of information relating to the scheduled trades, in all of which a large number of women is employed. They may be called upon to help in the preliminary work involved in setting up new Trade Boards. They explain as far as necessary the provisions of the Act to the working women concerned get nominations of workers to sit on those Boards and otherwise assist the Boards in carrying out their functions. They also conduct inspections to see that the law is carried out.

All these appointments are made by the President of the Board of Trade on the recommendation of the Civil Service Commissioners.

Labour Exchanges

The establishment of Labour Exchanges under the Board of Trade some years ago gave occasion for the appointment of a considerable number of women to responsible posts. On the organising staff at the Central Office there is a Principal Woman Officer at £400-15-£450, who is responsible for the organisation of the women's work in all the Labour Exchanges. She has an Assistant at £150-£7, 10s.—£200. A woman also acts as Secretary to the large London Juvenile Advisory Committee. She has the acting rank of an Assistant Divisional Officer, although her salary (£300-15-£400) is less than that received by men Assistant Divisional Officers.

There are nine Senior Organising Officers with salaries of £250-10-£350, six of whom are women. The three men holding these appointments deal with Juvenile work only, whereas some of the women are in charge of both Women's and Juvenile work. Of the five Junior Organising Officers at £200—£7, 10s.—£250, three are women. The nine Assistant Organising Officers at £150—£7, 10s.—£200 are all women. All these officers are engaged in organising the work of the Juvenile and Women's Departments all over the country, and inspecting local offices. There are also twenty secretaries to Juvenile Advisory Committees, who may be either men or women. The salary for these posts is £150-5—£200.

In the Divisional Offices there are some staff posts open to women at a salary of £200 to £300. Their work is purely clerical, and is concerned with Unemployment Insurance.

The original appointments in this branch of the Board of Trade were made by a Selection Committee on which the Civil Service Commissioners were represented. Applications were invited by advertisement, and a large number of candidates was interviewed. The more recent appointments have been filled by candidates who have first appeared before a Board, and have then passed a qualifying examination, conducted by the Civil Service Commission.

Board of Education

The Board of Education (or the Education Department, as it was then called) was established in consequence of the passing of the Elementary Education Act of 1870. Its jurisdiction was and still is limited to England and Wales.

Notwithstanding that it was responsible to Parliament for regulating the conduct of public elementary education all over the country, and that in those schools there were hundreds of women teachers and thousands of little girl pupils, it seems not to have occurred to the Department to call in the aid of women either as inspectors or administrators until the appointment in 1884 of a Directress of Needlework. A Directress of Cookery was added in 1891, and laundry work was brought under her supervision in 1893. It was only when the passing of the Education Act of 1893 had brought other forms of education—secondary, technical, and scientific—more completely under the supervision of the Department that the need for Women Inspectors began to be felt. In justice to the Department it must be said that having once realised the need, they did not meet it grudgingly. The first Women Inspectors were appointed in 1904, and by the spring of 1905 there were no less than twelve, one of whom was appointed as Chief. Since then the number has been steadily increasing, and there are now 45—a much more satisfactory rate of progress than that of the Women Factory Inspectors.

Educational Inspectors.—There are now 1 Chief Woman Inspector, at a salary of £650; 45 Inspectors, 8 at £400-10-£500, and 35 at £200-15-£400.

The method of appointment of Women Inspectors' is similar to that of men—i.e., by nomination of the President of the Board of Education. The Chief Woman Inspector first interviews candidates, weighs their qualifications, and reports upon them to the Secretary. There is no examination on appointment. Besides academic qualifications, which are the same as those of men, many of the Inspectors have special qualifications, as well as having had practical experience in teaching.

A special class of work is allotted to each Inspector: about 17 of
them are occupied in inspecting Girls' and Infants' Public Elementary
Schools: 15 are responsible for Domestic Subject Centres in Elementary
Schools: 4 for Girls' and Mixed Secondary Schools: 3 for Training
Colleges (women's and mixed): and 3 again for Domestic and Trade
Courses and Girls' Clubs.

In the case of secondary schools, the Women Inspectors pay special attention to women's subjects, but they also take part in full inspections. They are not in charge of districts, and therefore do not carry on the miscellaneous correspondence with the Local Education Authorities which falls to the lot of a District Inspector. In relation to domestic subjects, however, the Women Inspectors are practically in charge of districts, and deal directly with Local Education Authorities. They inspect the work done by girls, and look into the organisation of the schools with regard to health, suitability of curricula, etc.

In the case of elementary schools, the Women Inspectors are attached to the various districts and are directed by the District Inspectors (men) as occasion requires, to deal with infants' and mixed schools, and to carry out routine inspections of public elementary schools.

Medical Inspectors.—There are one Senior Medical Officer at £600-£800; one Junior Medical Officer at £400-20-£500; and also three Inspectors of Physical Exercises at £200-15-£400.

The Women Medical Inspectors take part in the work of the medical branch in the same way as men; Physical Exercises come under their jurisdiction.

The Board of Education also employs three women on the permanent staff of the Department of Special Enquiries and Reports. The salaries are £100-£7, 10s-£180, and the posts are pensionable. The duties consist partly of library work and partly of giving assistance in the general intelligence work of the office.

The Right Hon. A.H. Dyke Acland said in his evidence before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service that he did not see why at the Board of Education the same sort of women who become good inspectors and headmistresses should not take part in the administrative work of the office.

Scotch Education Department

The first Woman Inspector was appointed by the Scotch Education Department in 1902, and two others were appointed in 1910. Their scale of salary is £200-15-£400. They are strictly specialist inspectors for domestic economy subjects, cookery, laundry, etc., for which they have qualifications including experience in teaching and inspecting such subjects.

Specially qualified women are occasionally employed by the Department to inspect girls' schools, and are paid a fee according to the time occupied.

National Education Board, Ireland

Two Women Inspectors are employed by the Irish National Education
Board. Their salary is £150-10-£300, the same as that of Men Junior
Inspectors; Men Senior Inspectors receive £300-20-£700.

There are two Women Organisers, whose duty it is to organise weak schools.

There are also 14 Organisers of Domestic Economy; their work is similar to that of Inspectors; they travel about and have authority in the schools; they do not inspect general subjects, but confine themselves to cookery, laundry and domestic science.

There are also six Women Organisers of Kindergarten.

The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.

This Department has recently employed a few women upon various kinds of scientific work. Three women are appointed as Assistant Naturalists in the Fishery Branch, at a salary of £150 per annum, and two as Junior Assistant Naturalists at £2 per week. They are appointed on the nomination of the President, without examination, but they must possess the necessary scientific qualifications and have taken a recognised course of study. These posts are non-pensionable. The Fishery Branch deals with questions relating to the natural history and diseases of fish, fish-hatcheries and laboratories, the protection of undersized fish, the effect of methods of capture, international investigations, and grants in aid of fishery research. The women are engaged upon the same work as men, except that they do not write technical reports and are not liable to be called upon for sea duty.

In the Herbarium and Library of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew there are two Women Assistants at £150-10-£300 (the Men Assistants' scale is £150-15-£300). Scientific qualifications are required for these posts, and there is an examination by the Civil Service Commission. The Library is maintained for official consultative work, to supply the basis of an accurate nomenclature throughout the establishment and as an aid to research. The Herbarium aims at representing the entire vegetation of the earth with especial regard to that of British possessions. A scheme for preparing a complete series of floras of India and the Colonies was sanctioned by the Government in 1856, and has been steadily prosecuted ever since. The principle work of the staff is the correct identification of the specimens which reach Kew from every part of the world, and their incorporation in the Herbarium. It is visited for the purposes of study and research by botanists from every country.

The scientific work in the various branches of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries would seem to afford some scope for women of scientific attainment. Sir T. Elliott, formerly Permanent Secretary to the Board, in his evidence before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, said he considered that women could do good work in many directions, and that their help might be especially valuable in entomology.

The Public Trustee's Office.

The Public Trustee's office was established in 1908, under the Act of 1906. Two Women Inspectors—or more correctly speaking, Visitors—are now employed, one of whom receives a salary of £200 and the other £180.

These Visitors are attached to the special Department set up to take charge of children (1) left by will to the guardianship of the Public Trustee, or (2) who have been awarded damages in the High Court either for injury or for the loss of parents or guardians.

As regards the first-named, the Public Trustee has express powers under his rules to act either as sole guardian or co-trustee. In these cases the Women Visitors assist the Public Trustee in discharging his trust. They visit the children, go thoroughly into the circumstances of each case, consulting with relatives and family solicitors. Schools are chosen, holidays arranged, careers decided upon, apprenticeship or training provided for; medical attendance is secured and even clothing attended to.

In all cases concerning children in which an action for damages has been brought under the Common Law or under Lord Campbell's Act, the money awarded as compensation is paid over to the Public Trustee, unless the judge otherwise directs. A large part of the Women Visitors' work consists of supervising these compensation cases. It is important to see that the money is spent upon the children, and in the manner most likely to promote their future welfare—e.g., in providing education or special training. In the case of injured children, proper medical attention is secured and any instruments or artificial limbs which may be necessary.

It is becoming increasingly the practice, when funds are raised locally to help special cases, to place the money collected in the hands of the Public Trustee, instead of appointing local trustees. Where the beneficiaries of such funds are women or children—very often they are widows—it becomes the duty of the Women Visitors to find out on the spot how the money can best be applied, and to advise the Public Trustee accordingly.

In all cases the supervision is continued as long as it is required, but where relatives are found to be competent and willing to take charge of children the responsibility is left to them.

Such work, concerned as it is with the young and the helpless, seems peculiarly suited to women. The Public Trustee in his evidence before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, stated that the women already appointed had proved themselves "most efficient."

The National Health Insurance Commissions.

The Inspectors appointed by the National Health Insurance Commissions are so recent an institution that it is not yet possible to say whether the work to be performed by this Department will afford scope for the employment of a large number of educated women.

It is satisfactory to note, however, that the salaries of men and women more nearly approximate to equality than in any previous appointments. The salaries of the Women Commissioners in all four countries are the same as those of the men, viz., £1,000 per annum.

The English Commission has 10, the Scotch 1, and the Irish 1 Woman Inspector at £300-10-£400. Men Inspectors begin at the same salary but rise to £500.

The English Commission has 25, the Welsh 3, the Scotch 5, and the
Irish 4 Assistant Women Inspectors at £100-10-£300. Men Assistant
Inspectors begin at the same salary, but after two years they rise by
£15 to £350.

The English Commission has 19, the Welsh 1, the Scotch 5, and the Irish 5 Women Health Insurance Officers, on a scale of salary £80-5-£110, after two years rising by £7, 10s. to £150. This scale is precisely the same as that of Men Health Insurance Officers.

The duties of Men and Women Inspectors and Officers under the National
Health Insurance Commission are identical in character and scope.

The primary function of these officers is to impose upon the whole adult population the new conditions created by the Act—i.e., they have to ensure the proper payment of contributions in respect of all persons liable to be insured.

Trades are assigned to Men or Women Inspectors according as a trade employs men or women in greater numbers.

The Insurance Commissioners work through the Inspectors in all matters that are more susceptible to local treatment than to treatment by correspondence. The Inspectors obtain information and make local enquiries as to the facts in cases submitted to the Commissioners for determination under various sections of the Act.

An interesting account of the very varied duties which fall to the lot of these Officers will be found in the first "Report on the Administration of the National Insurance Act," Part I., which has recently been published. The following extract from that Report will give some idea of the work done by the Women Inspectors, and the estimate which has been formed of it.

"Inasmuch as the Insurance Commission is the first Government Department in which a woman staff has been appointed from the outset, special mention may be made of one portion of the work carried out by the women inspectors during the past year. The enquiry held in the autumn by Mr Pope on the objections raised to the inclusion of married women outworkers within the provisions of Part I. of the Act necessitated much careful investigation among employers and outworkers in a large number of trades all over the country, such as tailoring, glove-making, lace manufacture, carding of hooks and eyes, pins and needles, buttons and fish-hooks at Birmingham, net-making at Bridport, chain-making at Cradley Heath, straw hat-making at Luton, chair-making, box-making, and boot, shoe, and hosiery manufacture. This investigation was undertaken by the women staff. The enquiry entailed hundreds of visits, both in the poorest parts of industrial towns and in remote country districts, and in interviews with employers and workers great tact and patience were required. Of the evidence given by the women inspectors, Mr Pope reports that they 'one and all gave evidence with extreme moderation, impartiality and discretion. The conspicuous fairness and the success with which they had collected information were frequently a matter of commendation from employers, who informed me that the enquiry had afforded them information about their own trades which years of work in it had not made known to them.'"

The General Post Office

This paper would not be complete without some reference to the large number—now nearly 3,000—of women clerks employed by the General Post Office, all of whom enter the service by open competition, either as girl clerks between sixteen and eighteen years of age or as women clerks between eighteen and twenty. Their duties are necessarily of a clerical nature, and in their earlier years at least they can hardly, perhaps, be included in the "higher grades." Yet the supervisory posts which become necessary wherever large numbers of workers are employed call for considerable administrative ability and are proportionately better remunerated. All women clerks are eligible for these posts, and indeed they are never filled in any other way.

The highest post open to a woman clerk in the General Post Office is that of Superintendent at the Savings Bank, the present holder of which is on a scale of £350-20-£600. There are 4 Deputy Superintendents at £270-15-£330; 13 Assistant Superintendents at £210-10-£260; and 53 Principal Clerks at £150-10-£200. The Savings Bank has the largest group of women clerks—numbering 1,210—of any department, and of these 150 are in the first class.

The next largest group of Women Clerks is in the Money Order Department; in this office the women outnumber the men in the proportion of 5 to 1. They number 592, of whom 67 are in the first class. There is one Superintendent at £350-20-£500; 1 Deputy Superintendent at £270-15-£330; 5 Assistant Superintendents at £210-10-£260; and 24 Principal Clerks at £150-10-£200.

The Accountant General's Department has 1 Superintendent at £280-15-£400; 3 Assistant Superintendents at £210-10-£260; and 3 Principal Clerks at £150-10-£200. The staff of clerks numbers 416, of whom 57 are in the first class.

The London Telephone Service has 1 Assistant Superintendent at £210-10-£260 and 5 Principal Clerks at £150-10-£200, with a staff of 278 clerks, of whom 21 are in the first class.

The Accountants Offices are the only ones in Edinburgh and Dublin which employ women as Clerks. In Dublin there is 1 Superintendent at £210-10-£250 and 2 Assistant Superintendents at £150-10-£170. Of the staff of 61 clerks, 7 are first class. In Edinburgh there is 1 Superintendent at £200-10-£250, and 1 Assistant Superintendent at £150-10-£190. Of the staff of 69, 8 are in the first class.

In consequence of the employment of so large a number of women, the General Post Office found it necessary many years ago to employ a Woman Medical Officer. The present holder of this office receives a salary of £350-20-£500. She has the help of two Assistants, whose salary is £180-15-£300.

A few posts which may properly be deemed "higher" are also open to Women Counter Clerks and Telegraphists. In the London Postal District there are 3 Supervisors at £180-10-£250, 50 Assistant Supervisors (first class) at £140-6-£170 and 61 Assistant Supervisors (second class) at £115-5-£130.

In the Central Telegraph Office the Chief Supervisor of Women Telegraphists receives a salary of £180-10-£300 (not a large salary for supervising a staff numbering nearly 1,000), the 13 Supervisors receive £180-10-£250, and the 35 Assistant Supervisors £140-6-£170.

The Postal District and Telegraph Offices in Dublin and Edinburgh have each one Woman Supervisor of Counter and Telegraph Clerks at £140-6-£875. In Dublin there are 12 and in Edinburgh 6 Assistants at £110-5-£135. There are also a number of Supervisors in the provinces whose rates of pay vary from £149-6-£175 to £115-5-£135, according to the size of the district.

The Telephone Service also offers a few important posts to women. In the London Telephone Service a Woman Superintendent is appointed at £200-10-£300, 9 Supervisors at £159-6-£190, and 40 Assistant Supervisors at £110-5-£145. There are about 3,600 Women Telephonists employed within the London postal area. The salaries of Supervisors in the provinces vary from £125-5-£150 to £105-5-£120, according to the size of the district.

The variety of work, which is now efficiently performed by women in the various departments above enumerated, seems to prove conclusively that when other branches are opened to them they will be equally successful.

In the statements recently submitted to the Royal Commission of the Civil Service on behalf of various women's organisations, the reasons for throwing open to women the more highly paid and responsible posts were admirably set forth.

On behalf of the Association of Headmistresses it was stated by Miss
R. Oldham:—

"In asking that in future some of the more highly paid and responsible posts in the Civil Service should be thrown open to women, the Headmistresses are conscious of the fact that modern economic conditions have evolved the woman who must of necessity, as well as by choice, become self-supporting. The professions of teaching, medicine, art, and literature offer openings with adequate remuneration for the highly educated young woman of to-day. Those lower branches of the Civil Service which, with a few exceptions, alone are open to women do not supply posts of enough responsibility and administrative power to prove attractive to able women of secondary school and university education, many of whom, in the opinion of the Headmistresses are fitted, both by their education and by their natural ability, to fill positions of equal responsibility with their brothers.

"They desire to submit the following reasons why women should be considered eligible for positions of administrative responsibility in the service of the State :—

"(1) Women have shown by their success in positions of great responsibility that they are capable of undertaking high administrative work.

"(2) Women have special gifts for social investigation and inquiry, and special knowledge in many important subjects, which ought to be used in the service of the State.

"(3) Under present conditions of women's employment in the Service, the ablest and most highly qualified women do not enter it.

"(4) The presence of a large number of women in the lower branches of the Civil Service makes it desirable that there should be women employed in higher and more responsible posts. This would have the effect of ensuring good discipline and judicious promotion.

"(5) The present almost total exclusion of women from high and responsible posts has the effect of discrediting them as applicants for such posts outside the Service. Private employers when asked to give women opportunities for rising to posts of responsibility, are able to point to the failure of the Government to do so."

In the statement submitted by Mrs W.L.
Courtney on behalf of the Council on Women's
Employment in the Civil Service the claim was
made:—

"That women should be eligible for first division appointments, or equivalent appointments, in suitable offices, such as the Education Office, the Local Government Board, the Home Office, the Insurance Commission, and the Board of Trade. It has already been found necessary to appoint women to responsible posts in the Inspectorate of each of these offices, and the same reasons which justify those appointments point also to the desirability of appointing women to positions in the corresponding internal administrative service."

There is another point to be remembered in this connection; it is important that the recommendations made by Women Inspectors should have the chance of being considered and acted upon by women in an administrative capacity, as well as by men. Otherwise there is danger that the women's point of view put forward by an Inspector may be overlooked or her recommendations brushed aside.

Miss Penrose, Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, in her statement for the Royal Commission, said:

"In branches of the Service, such as the Home Office, the Local Government Board, and the Board of Trade, in which a good deal of work is done, or should be done, by women because it is concerned with women, I think it would be an advantage to have one or more women on the general administrative staff, which deals with the work of the departments as a whole.

"If a board which deals with human beings, does not employ women except to carry out the policy of the Board, after that policy has been initiated, shaped and embodied in regulations, it may not infrequently be found that regulations unsuitable in some respects to be applied to women have been drafted, or that unnecessary differences of treatment have been created. Just as in so far as women look at things from a different angle it is important that their point of view should be at the service of a department at as early a stage as possible."

An illustration of this may be found in the draft Order for the regulation of Poor Law Institutions which is now before the public. This draft has been drawn up by a departmental committee of the Local Government Board, composed entirely of men, notwithstanding that it will regulate the administration of institutions staffed by women and having large numbers of women and children as inmates. It is not surprising to find that the draft Order meets with the disapproval of many women engaged in poor law work.

The Council on Women's Employment also claimed:—

"That women should be made eligible or considered for appointment—

"As scientific specialists, especially museum assistants and keepers. The area of choice would thus be enlarged in cases where there is sometimes a very small number of suitable candidates. Women have been notably successful in original work in various departments of botany, and have done valuable original work in bacteriology and archaeology. They are already employed as scientific specialists in certain departments and in temporary work for the British Museum, though hitherto excluded from its permanent service.

"As librarians, keepers of records and papers, and assistants to the holders of these offices, and to positions requiring qualifications for statistical work and historical knowledge, such as those in the Public Record Office.

"That appointments in suitable offices should be opened to women between the ages of 19 and 24, who have either passed or can pass an examination equivalent to that of male second division clerks, or clerks of the intermediate class, according to the practice of the department in filling its appointments. It seems desirable that the abilities of women who would otherwise be occupied in business, teaching, secretarial and clerical, and other work, much of which is closely comparable with that of second division and intermediate clerks, should be available for the work of the Civil Service, especially in the offices already mentioned in connection with the first division appointments."

These claims, pertinent as they are, and strongly as they should be urged, need to be extended still further.

Women claim to be admitted to share in the administrative work, not only of those departments directly concerned with women, but also in those in which the work concerns equally men and women as citizens—e.g., the Treasury, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Inland Revenue. No one could argue that the work of these departments is unsuitable for women, any more than is the work of the General Post Office, in which they have so conspicuously succeeded. Even the War Office, with the charge of so many soldiers' wives and children living in barracks, removed from the jurisdiction of all civic services, and the control of so large a number of Army Nurses, needs women amongst its administrators.

The claim must also be made quite clearly, that in throwing open these posts to women, the same method of recruiting must be employed as for men, and the remuneration must be at the same rate. In asking for these opportunities women are simply asking that the sex disability which at present bars them from the majority of posts in the service, may be removed. They do not seek admission in some special way, nor do they wish to undercut men by accepting lower salaries. They ask that the sex barrier may be removed in the case of both Class I. and Class II. appointments—in other words, that these appointments may be open to them on the same conditions as they are or may be open to men.

In the case of the majority of the appointments hitherto held by women, some care has been taken to put them on a different footing from those of men; in these instances it is not easy to compare the work of women with that of men, or to urge the claim of women to be paid at the same rate as men for work of equal value. There are, however, some conspicuous instances—e.g., of the Factory Inspectors and Inspectors of Schools—in which no such differentiation is possible and in which the only reason for paying the women less than the men seems to be that given by the ex-Permanent Secretary of the Treasury in his evidence before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, "that women ought to be got as cheaply as possible, and that if they can be got for less, they ought not to be paid the same as men."

There seems some ground for believing that official opinion in this matter is undergoing modification, since in the case of later appointments—e.g., in the Labour Exchanges and in the National Health Insurance Commission—the tendency has been to approximate the salaries of women much more closely to those of men and even in some instances to make them identical. It is therefore reasonable to hope that the principle of equal pay for equal work will, before long, be extended to appointments of longer standing, in which its application would be no less just than in the case of new appointments.