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

by Unknown

(1) School medical officer, or assistant medical
officer of health.
(2) Assistant medical officer in some asylums
and poor law infirmaries.

There is one woman inspector of prisons who is a medical woman, but she is not a medical inspector and was not appointed in that capacity. It is much to be hoped that women prison medical officers will speedily be appointed on equal terms with their medical colleagues. The conditions for women prisoners from the standpoint of health are, at the present time, extremely unsatisfactory.

The tendency is to employ more and more women in the public service, and therefore the opportunities are likely rapidly to become more numerous.

The Act, under which medical school inspection was made obligatory, particularly mentioned the suitability of women for much of this work. It is therefore becoming usual all over the country to have at least one woman school doctor, and in some districts there are several on the staff. This work is not extremely arduous, is free from the heavy strain of private practice, and, if the school medical officer is allowed reasonable freedom in her work, may be made of much interest. It is, however, somewhat monotonous, and has the great disadvantage that at present the stimulus of promotion is largely absent, as the higher administrative posts are almost universally in the hands of men. This is a disadvantage which will also be gradually, perhaps rapidly removed as the prejudice against women in authority dies down.

After having practised medicine for some years, further degrees indicating experience are open to the medical practitioner; thus, if she has taken the Bachelorship of Medicine she may, after the lapse of three or four years, enter for her Doctorate. This is gained either by a further examination or by writing a thesis on some subject of original research. If she has taken the Diploma of the Royal Colleges, it is open to her to sit for the Fellowship in Surgery or Membership in Medicine. She is also open to election to the Fellowship in Medicine.

It is extremely difficult to give anything like an adequate idea of the remuneration to be obtained in medicine, as it varies tremendously.

The first posts, which are taken soon after qualification, if really first-rate in the experience which they give, seldom include any salary at all, though board and lodging are provided. Posts which rank as slightly inferior to these, but still give a considerable amount of experience, are often associated with honoraria varying from about £50 to £150 a year, including board and lodging.

(a) If we turn again to our three sub-divisions we find that a specialist or consultant cannot expect to earn her working expenses for a good many years. She must have one room at least in a certain specialist quarter of the town, known as the consultants' area, and there the rents are usually high, in London about £150 a year, in the provinces slightly less.

We have already stated that she requires some hospital post; for this she will receive no remuneration, but if the hospital where she works has a medical school attached to it, she may expect to get a certain number of patients through the recommendation of students whom she teaches at the hospital. There is generally also some teaching at the hospitals, for which the students pay definite fees. She may also augment her income by lectures and work of that description. She will probably find it necessary to write papers on her special branch of work and on the cases which come under her observation, but for this she will very seldom be paid. It is, therefore only possible for a girl with some monetary resources independent of her work, to take up successfully a special branch of medicine.

If she elect to become a surgeon, a hospital post is an absolute necessity, and her income will, as in the case of the medical specialist, be delayed. Eventually, however, if she is successful, it is greater than that to be obtained on the medical side. The fees are high, and therefore money can be made more speedily in this branch of the work. People, however, hesitate as a rule to trust a very young surgeon, so she will at first get her work chiefly as assistant to her seniors and must be content to wait some years for the much bigger fees which she will get as principal. Ultimately she should make £1,000 to £2,000 a year.