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.
II
THE LOWER GRADES AND THE PRESENT POSITION
So far as the position of its women workers is concerned, the State is
very far from being the model employer it sometimes professes to
be. When one considers the very wide disparity existing between the
salaries for similar work of women and of men, one realises to what
an enormous extent the Exchequer, and, consequently, the taxpayer, has
benefited by the economies practised at the expense of the women Civil
Servants ever since their introduction in the early seventies.
There is not a shadow of doubt that economy was the motive for their
employment, but even economy would not have justified the continued
increase in their numbers, had they not exhibited what has been
called by a high official, "remarkable efficiency," and also the very
desirable qualities of docility, patience, and conscientiousness.
When the Government first took over the telegraphs from the private
companies, it found women in their employ, and decided to retain them
in the service. Women Telegraphists and Counter Clerks are now a very
large body numbering in London about 2,000, and in the Provinces about
5,000,--a total of 7,000 women as compared with 16,000 men. The duties
of men and women telegraphists are more closely comparable than their
respective work in any other class in the Civil Service, practically
the only differentiation being that women are debarred from night
duty. They are also generally exempt from Sunday duty, excessive late
duty, and special duties in connection with race meetings, although
the Hobhouse Committee in 1907 recommended that women should do the
Sunday work if required. (As, however, payment for this is made at a
higher rate, there is usually no lack of volunteers.) Their scale
of salary in the Central Telegraph Office is 18s. a week at eighteen
years of age, rising to a maximum of 40s. The men's scale is 20s.
rising to 65s. When the necessary technical qualifications are
acquired, an allowance of 3s. a week carried beyond the maximum and
pensionable, is now given to both sexes alike. Formerly the technical
allowance for women was 1s. 6d. per week only, and this would appear
to account for the lower proportion of women who have qualified for
the technical increment.
There appears to be a tendency to stereotype certain kinds of work for
men only, in order to justify the differentiation in pay, but in
point of fact, most of the work now exclusively allotted to male
telegraphists was at one time done by women. The work done by men and
women Counter Clerks is identical. The women in the Telegraph Service
have no separate organisation, but combine with the men in the Postal
Telegraph Clerks' Association, which has a large number of branches,
and carries on a very active campaign for improvement in pay and
conditions of service. Equal pay for equal work is one of the planks
in its platform, and formed part of the case put forward before the
Select Committee on Post Office Servants last year.
Women Clerks are employed in the great financial Services of the
General Post Office, the Savings Bank Department, Money Order
Department (including the Postal Order Branch), Accountant-General's
Department, and the Controller's Office of the London Telephone
Service, as well as in the Accountant's Departments of the General
Post Offices in Edinburgh and Dublin. In all, they number nearly
3,000. It may, perhaps, be of interest to go into the history of this
class.
Women Clerks were first introduced into the General Post Office
in 1871 by Mr Scudamore, who considered that as women were more
"fault-finding" than men, they might well be used as "a check on the
somewhat illiterate postmasters of the United Kingdom in the
interests of a somewhat long-suffering public." Entry was at first
by nomination, but in 1881 the appointment of Women Clerks was thrown
open to the public by competitive examination by Mr Fawcett, who was
then Postmaster General. This step met with some opposition, and Queen
Victoria even caused a letter to be written to Mr Fawcett expressing
her strong disapproval of the change. The Postmaster-General, however,
carried his point, and fixed the scale of salary at £65, rising by £3
per annum to £80. When the working day was increased from six to seven
hours, the maximum was raised to £100. The revisions of the Tweedmouth
Inter-Departmental Committee came into force in 1897, involving many
concessions to the male staff, and simultaneously the minimum salary
of the Women Clerks was, without any warning, reduced for new entrants
to £55 per annum, and the increment for the first six years was
reduced to £2, 10s.
Realising the defencelessness of their position, the Women Clerks
formed an Association in 1901, and so strong was the case for
improvement which they were able to bring before the Hobhouse
Parliamentary Committee of 1906, that in spite of considerable
misrepresentation of their work in the evidence given by Heads of
Departments, they were able not only to get back the 1881 minimum of
£65, but were awarded further an increased increment of £5 throughout
the scale and a rise of £10 in the maximum. This was the position
until December 1911, when a tentative scheme was introduced in the
Money Order Department to hand over all the simpler duties to a new
class of Assistant Women Clerks with an eight-hour day and a wage
of 18s. rising to 34s. a week. The Association of Post Office Women
Clerks, the basis of which is "equal pay and opportunities for women
with men in the Civil Service," and which therefore necessarily
stands for simplification of the classes of employment, regarded
the restriction of a fresh grade of women to yet another water-tight
compartment at a low wage as in itself an evil. But apart from this,
they looked upon the scheme as a deliberate evasion of the Hobhouse
Committee's recommendations. So strong was the criticism levelled at
the new scheme, both by Members of Parliament and the Press, that the
Postmaster-General, Mr Herbert Samuel, consented to refer the
matter to the Select Committee on the Post Office (known as the Holt
Committee)[1], which was appointed in the early part of 1912, and
he gave an undertaking that no more appointments to the new grade
should be made in the Money Order Department until the Committee had
reported, The value of this concession was considerably lessened by
its limited application, and the fact that many Assistant Women Clerks
were subsequently appointed to the London Telephone Service, clearly
indicated the intention of the authorities to proceed with the
development of the scheme in a Department which provided an easier
field of operation in the shape of new work and a new staff taken over
from the National Telephone Company.
In 1897 the class of Girl Clerks was created, to undertake some of the
simpler duties in the Savings Bank Department, hitherto performed by
Women Clerks. They were subsequently introduced into the Money
Order Department and the Controller's Office of the London Telephone
Service, and there are approximately 250 now employed. They take
the same examination as Women Clerks, but at a lower age--sixteen
to eighteen--and are grouped apart for the purpose of marking. Their
hours of duty are seven daily, and their salary £42, raising by £3 per
annum, to £48. They are in reality a probationary class, and become
Women Clerks automatically after two years' service. The introduction
of this class was not considered by the Department to be an
administrative success, as the obligation to make them Women Clerks in
two years prevented their being employed in sufficiently large numbers
to effect any appreciable economy. The scheme for the introduction of
the grade of Assistant Woman Clerk involved the abolition of the Girl
Clerk.
The Women Clerks are an analogous grade to the Male Clerks of the
Second Division who are common to the whole Civil Service, and they
do practically the same class of work. The examinations for the
two classes are somewhat severe in character and are roughly
comparable.[2] There is, however, a wide disparity in the salaries
paid, as will be seen from the following comparison:--
SECOND DIVISION CLERKS.
£70 by £7, 10s. per an. to £130
thence by £10 per an. to £200
thence by £10 per an. to £300
(Efficiency Bar at £130 and
£200)
Above the salary of £300 advancement
to higher posts by promotion.
WOMEN CLERKS.
_Second Class_--
£65 by £5 per an. to £100
(No Efficiency Bar)
_First Class _(by promotion)--
£115 by £5 to £140
Above the rank of First Class
Clerk there are certain higher
posts which constitute a percentage
of 4.6 of the total
number of First and Second
Class Clerks.
The existence of this double standard of payment for the same kind
of work is not only an injustice to the women concerned, but is a
standing menace to the men, who rightly consider that the presence
of women as a blackleg class keeps down their wages and reduces their
prospect of promotion. A sense of irritation and dissatisfaction is
thus engendered between the two sexes. The maintenance of separate
staffs of similar status but with different rates of remuneration,
enables the department to play off one against the other, for the
existence of a lower paid class makes it increasingly difficult for
the Men Clerks to substantiate a claim for better pay themselves. The
standard of their work is raised by the "moving-down" or "degrading"
of duties, without any improvement in pay such as they would probably
be able to obtain if women were not involuntarily undercutting them.
Women fully sympathise with their male colleagues, whose prospects
are injured in this way, but they insist that the only solution of
the difficulty is equal treatment and fair and open competition.
The Association of Clerks of the Second Division supported the Women
Clerks' claim for equal pay for equal work in their evidence before
the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, and it is gratifying that,
in spite of the determined policy of the department to adhere as far
as possible to the absurd segregation of the sexes, the two organised
bodies of Men and Women Clerks are on excellent terms.
In 1883 the class of Women Sorters was instituted, its original scale
of pay ranging from 12s. per week, increasing by annual increments of
1s. to 20s. per week. In 1885 a first class was created with a maximum
of 30s. per week. The Tweedmouth Committee of 1897 abolished the
classification, and substituted therefor an efficiency bar at 21s.,
so that, unless incompetent, all the Women Sorters have a right to
proceed to the maximum of 30s. Since the salary was fixed at that
figure, the work of the Sorters has greatly improved in character.
Originally introduced for the purpose of sorting, arranging, and
filing the multitudinous kinds of official documents and papers,
they have by degrees taken over more and more of the simpler duties
formerly performed by the Women Clerks, until, at the present day,
it is no exaggeration to say that nearly one-half of their duties
consists of elementary clerical work. The Women Sorters are recruited
from an examination of the same standard as that hitherto applied
to Telegraphists, and the Women Sorters' Association claims that the
principle of equality between Sorters and Telegraphists, which was
recommended to the department by the Tweedmouth Committee in 1897,
should be applied to the Women Sorters. Prior to 1900, vacancies
occurring in the female staff at the Returned Letter Office were
filled by transferred Women Telegraphists, but since that date,
vacancies have been filled by successful candidates at the Women
Sorters' examinations, who are awarded the Women Telegraphists' scale
of pay. There is, therefore, the anomaly of two different scales
of pay being given to successful candidates in the Women Sorters'
examinations. The Women Sorters also claim some outlet, or prospect of
advancement, other than that provided by the "Senior Sorterships,"
of which there are a few in each department, carrying a supervising
allowance of 3s. a week; this claim has been partly met by the
apportionment of the new posts of Assistant Women Clerks previously
mentioned.
Women Telephone Operators are a large and rapidly growing class,
recruited entirely by nomination followed by a qualifying examination.
They number at the present time about 4,000, including Supervisors.
The growing use of the telephone is replacing the telegraph, and
is likely to make of this class a serious rival to the grade of
Telegraphist. In this connection, it is important to recognise that
the change is likely to entail an enormous increase in the use of
cheap labour. The maximum salary of the Telephonist in London is only
28s. per week. The work is extremely exacting and exhausting to the
nervous system, so much so, that it is an absolute necessity for the
maintenance of health that proper and adequate rest-room accommodation
should be provided, and that the operators should be equipped with
apparatus of the proper type.
The classes already mentioned have, until the present year (1913),
been recruited solely for the Post Office, but the class of Women
Typists, numbering about 600, are a Treasury Class, and are common to
the whole Civil Service, the conditions of entry varying according
to the Department. In the Post Office alone, are Typists recruited
by open competitive examination. The scale of salary is 20s. a week,
rising in three years to 26s.: they then have the option of qualifying
in shorthand, after which they can rise to 31s. per week. In the Post
Office, however, the number allowed to qualify in this way is
limited to 50 per cent. of the staff. The supervising posts are:
Superintendent, 35s. a week, and Chief Superintendent, 40s. a week.
No higher positions are open to Typists anywhere, no matter how good
their qualifications and educational equipment. The Association of
Civil Service Typists claim some avenue of promotion to clerical work
in the Departments in which they serve.
There are also about 650 women employed by the Board of Trade in the
Labour Exchange Service. With the exception of about 180, who were
transferred from the Post Office for Unemployment Insurance Work under
Part II. of the National Insurance Act, these women were admitted
by the new method of recruitment adopted by the Civil Service
Commissioner under Clause VII. of the Order in Council of January
1910. Under this system, applications are invited, and a certain
number of apparently suitable candidates are interviewed by a
committee of selection, and those chosen for appointment are
subsequently required to pass a qualifying examination. The
educational standard of this examination, for both men and women,
is so low that it appears to be designed, not for the purpose
of selecting candidates of good general education, but merely to
eliminate the illiterate.
The scale of salary for these posts is the same for women as for men,
and is as follows:--
Lower Grade £60, rising by increments of £5
per annum to £105.
Higher Grade £110, rising by increments of
£5 per annum to £150.
There are also a few higher appointments. Women are, however, under
a particular disability in that they must wait for a vacancy in the
Higher Grade before passing on beyond £105, whilst in the case of
the Men Clerks there is no such stoppage, officers being allowed to
proceed straight on, if certified efficient.
It will, no doubt, have been observed that the post of Women Clerk is
the highest in the Service open to women by competitive examination,
and with the exception of some sixteen or eighteen appointments in the
Board of Education, Women Clerks have hitherto been recruited for the
Post Office alone. They are now being recruited from this examination
for the National Health Insurance Commissions. The exclusion of Women
Clerks from the numerous State Departments such as the Home Office,
Local Government Board, Inland Revenue, etc., is mainly traditional,
as they are not excluded by the wording of the Order in Council of
10th January 1910 (paragraph 5, Part I.) which states that
"all appointments ... shall be made by means of competitive
examinations according to regulations framed, or
to be from time to time framed by the Commissioners,
and approved by the Treasury, _open to all persons_(of the
requisite age, health, character, and other qualifications
prescribed in the said regulations) who may be desirous
of attending the same...."
In this passage the word "persons" is interpreted to mean men only,
but as other professions are yielding to the pressure of modern
economic conditions and are opening their doors to women, it is
time that the State considered the advisability of profiting by the
services of women eminently fitted to perform clerical, organising,
and administrative duties, many of whom may possess the special
qualifications needed for the work in various Government Departments.
The present limitation of the employment of women, and their lack of
prospects of advancement constitutes a serious grievance. Whilst many
avenues are open to men to improve their condition in the early years
of service, if they possess the necessary ability and enterprise,
women have no such opportunities, and have practically no chance of
advancement except by way of supervision in their own grade. Moreover,
if we look at this question from the point of view of advantage to the
community, we find that the present mode of staffing the higher posts
of the service from the male sex narrows the field of selection. It is
in the interests of the public that the best type of officer should be
secured, and not merely the best male available, and the unrestricted
admission of women to the higher classes in the Civil Service, and
their payment on the same terms as men would make for the greater
efficiency of the Department, by securing the services of highly
qualified women, who at present are not attracted by the small
salaries and the meagre prospects offered. It must also be realised by
heads of families that they have a right to expect that the service of
the State--a dignified, secure, and independent profession--should be
open to their daughters as well as to their sons. Furthermore, as
the revenue, out of which the salaries of Civil Servants are paid, is
collected from women as well as from men, women should have an equal
right to earn those salaries.
Economy in working and simplification of administration would be
attained by abolishing the separate examinations, and allowing men and
women to enter for the same examinations on equal terms.
There are certain advantages attached to service under the State,
which are taken into account when salaries are fixed, but the value
of these privileges to the staff is frequently over-estimated by
the outsider. For instance, security of tenure and the prospect of
a pension at retirement, often act as a deterrent to clever and
enterprising officers who, but for the sacrifice involved, would
throw up their appointment and seek more remunerative and promising
employment outside. Again, the medical attendance provided by the
Post Office is, in the case of the women employed in the Headquarters
Departments, only available in practice when they are well enough to
attend at the office to wait on the Medical Officer there. In theory,
every employée is entitled to the services of a Medical Officer at her
own home in case of serious illness, but, in fact, the Women Medical
Officers are too few to be able to give the necessary individual
attention. As an instance of this, it may be stated that to one
Department, numbering 1,800 women, the part time of one doctor only,
is allotted.
Other advantages are a steadily progressing scale of salary,
provided that efficient service is rendered; annual leave with pay;
a reasonable working day--seven hours for the clerical force and the
typists, and eight hours for the other classes; in most Departments
payment is made for overtime; a pension on compulsory retirement after
ten years' service, except in the case of women retired on marriage,
when a gratuity is given after six years' service, amounting to
one month's salary for every year of service up to twelve years.
A compassionate allowance is also given on the same basis for both
sexes, in cases where an officer is compelled to retire through
ill-health before completing ten years' service. Sick pay is granted
up to a maximum of six months on full pay and six months on half
pay. The full period of leave is not, however, always allowed before
retirement. It is given only at the discretion of the Department,
if there is a chance of complete recovery; officers have no definite
claim to it. Although these are distinct advantages to the staff, it
must not be overlooked that it is essential for the State to offer
some inducements of this kind, in order to obtain a staff more or less
permanent who will regard their employment as a career. It is most
important for the proper conduct of a Government office that the
officials should have a lasting interest in their work, and a share in
the successful administration of the Department.
Women Civil Servants are under the Superannuation Act of 1859 as
regards their pensions, and receive an amount equal to one-sixtieth
of their annual salary at retirement, for every year of service. Under
the Courtney Scheme of 1909, the basis of calculation is one-eightieth
instead of one-sixtieth, and the reduction in the pension is
compensated by a cash payment at retirement, or, in the event of
death occurring whilst in harness, a cash payment is made to the
next-of-kin. Women secured their exclusion from the provisions of the
latter scheme at their own request, as it was felt that the larger
pension was of more value to them than the cash payment at death or
retirement; moreover their pensions were already too small to admit of
further diminution.
It is a general rule throughout the Service that a woman must retire
on marriage; as already mentioned, a compensating-bonus is granted in
respect of the loss of pension thereby sustained. A married woman has
no definite claim to return to her employment, should she again desire
to earn her own living, and only if widowed is she allowed, in certain
circumstances, to return to the Service. Should any other misfortune
overtake her, or should she for any other reason wish to become
economically independent, she is not allowed to earn her living by
means of her own profession of Civil Servant. This rule of the Service
undoubtedly acts as a deterrent to marriage for, according to the
statistics published, only about 3 per cent. of the whole female staff
annually leave to be married. It need hardly be pointed out that
in the present state of the law of the land, when no portion of a
husband's income is secured to his wife as a right, a woman will not
lightly throw up her means of livelihood with no prospect of returning
to it should she so desire, in order to take her chance of happiness
with a man whom the law permits to hold her in subjection body and
soul. There is another aspect of the question: Women Civil Servants
have to pass a strict medical examination before entering the Service;
they have to furnish satisfactory evidence of respectability, of the
health of their antecedents, and of a certain standard of education.
They are therefore what is known as "selected lives": if these women
are forced to remain celibate as a condition of their employment,
it is a distinct loss to the nation of a specially selected class
of potential mothers. In these days, when the declining birthrate is
causing some concern to our statesmen, it would surely be worth their
while to consider how far they are themselves contributing to the
condition of affairs which they deplore, by maintaining this rigid
regulation for the sake of a worn-out sentiment. The compulsory
resignation on marriage is a definite wrong both to the women
concerned and to the community at large, for women of selected health
and intellect are discouraged from marriage by this regulation.
Pending the final settlement of this question which is likely to be a
very controversial one, the difficulty might be met by a modification
of the existing rule allowing married women who have been Civil
Servants to return to their employment should they again desire to
earn their own living by means of the only profession for which they
have qualified.
Women in the Civil Service are in a peculiar position with regard
to their rights as citizens. They are handicapped by all the rules
governing the political action of men, while they are without the
means of maintaining their status as wage-earners. Although they
are prohibited by reason of their sex, from taking part in any
Parliamentary election as voters, they are nevertheless bound by the
rules of the Civil Service which were drawn up when Civil Servants
were first enfranchised. These rules state that "now officers have
been relieved of the electoral disabilities to which they were
formerly subject, they are eligible to be placed on the Parliamentary
Register and to vote at a parliamentary election. Nevertheless, it
is expected of them as Public Servants that they should maintain a
certain reserve in political matters and not put themselves forward
on one side or the other." This rule has been interpreted by the
Department to mean that no Woman Civil Servant may take an active part
in any Suffrage Society which interferes in party politics. Thus women
are forced to accept a subservient position, and are also prevented
from taking direct steps to raise their status. The principle of equal
pay for equal work, if conceded without equal opportunities, is liable
to be evaded, and must be safeguarded by statute, and there is no
guarantee that any improvement gained will be permanent until women
have political power to enforce their demands, for the masculine
point of view dominates every Government Department and colours all
administration.