Women Workers in Seven Professions Part 2

It seems, as far as can be judged, that future opportunities are likely to occur when the right candidates for posts are there in sufficient numbers to make their exclusion on the ground of s.e.x, already seldom explicitly stated, impossible or inexpedient. Meanwhile it is probable that individual women will continue, in some cases, to suffer injustice, while in others, by virtue of their unquestionable attainments and strength of personality, they may attain the positions they desire. Slow progress is not altogether bad for the ultimate cause of women at the Universities: nothing could injure that cause so much as mistakes at the initial stage. An important appointment given to the wrong woman, or to one in any respect inferior to her colleagues, would be used as an argument against further experiment for many years.

University women teachers can best help to secure equality of opportunity by rendering themselves indispensable members of the body corporate. In their case much is required of those to whom little is given. Above all they must avoid the temptation to live entirely in the absorbing interests of the present: they must remember that it is the business of a University to make contributions to learning as well as to teach. Secondly, they must insist on equality of payment and status when there is any disposition, overt or acknowledged, to differentiate on the score of s.e.x. It is not right to yield on these points, for an important principle is at stake. On the other hand the time and place for insistence must be wisely selected, and any claim made must be incontrovertible on the score of justice and practicability. Lastly, women on committees and elsewhere are not justified in keeping unduly in the background. When they have something worth contributing to the discussion, it is not modesty but lack of business capacity, which makes them silent. "Mauvaise honte"

is as much out of place as undue pertinacity. Women who are unwilling or unable to a.s.sert themselves when necessary, are not in place at a co-educational University. Most women, however, will derive intellectual stimulus from the free interchange of opinion, possible only when both s.e.xes are working happily together, with common interests and common aims.

If relatively too much s.p.a.ce in this article has been given to women's work at mixed Universities, the excuse lies ready to hand. In Women's Colleges there is, of course, no s.e.x bar, and the way lies clear from the bottom to the top of the ladder. Conditions of appointment, tenure, and work do not greatly differ from those described, except in so far as the stipends tend to be lower, especially for more responsible posts, when these are ordinarily occupied by women. It is a sign of the times that in at least one Women's College in a mixed University, it has been recently necessary to rule that posts are open to men as well as to women, unless it is specially stated to the contrary. Thus, when the power is theirs, women also may be unwisely tempted to erect a new form of s.e.x barrier. To do so would be to play into the hands of those enemies who are always raising the voice against equal pay for equal work. The most suitable candidate for a post is the one who should be selected, irrespective of s.e.x. It is this principle that women are endeavouring to establish. They must do so by scrupulous fairness when the power is theirs: by making themselves indisputably most fitted, when they are knocking at the closed door.

One further topic needs discussion in this section--the continued employment of married women in University posts. At present there is no universal rule, and every case has to be judged on its merits.

Every lecturer who marries, can and ought to help to form the precedent that continuance of professional work is a matter for her own decision and is not one that concerns governing bodies. Already a good many women, mothers as well as wives, have set the good example and have established their own position, sometimes without question, sometimes as the result of a difficult struggle. It is clear that Universities, with their long vacations, and with their established recognition of long absences for specified purposes, have less ground than most employers to raise difficulties for married women. Thus the holder of an A.K. scholarship may travel for a year, in order, by the wise provision of the founder, to enlarge his or her mind and bring back new experience to University organisation, research, and teaching. The woman who fulfils the claims of s.e.x, and to do so journeys into the realm where life and death struggle for victory, cannot thereby be unfitted for the profession for which she has qualified. Enlargement of mind and new experience will help her too, in the daily routine. It is for her alone to decide whether new claims and old can be reconciled. If in practice in an individual case they cannot, then and only then has the University or College a right to interfere, and on no other ground than that the work suffers. Since women workers are as a rule only too conscientious, this contingency is unlikely often to arise.

[Footnote 1: Her local authority may, however, have claims upon her, if she has promised to teach in an elementary school.]

[Footnote 2: Trained teachers only, men and women, will be admitted to the new Register.]

[Footnote 3: See tables at the end of this section, pp. 82 to 136.]

[Footnote 4: On the Continent even in Germany, and in the U.S.A.

several women have been elected to University chairs.]

[Footnote 5: Dr Benson, Staff Lecturer at Royal Holloway College, was raised to the status of University Professor of Botany in 1912 without open compet.i.tion; Dr Spurgeon was appointed to the new University Chair of English Literature, tenable at Bedford College as from 1st September 1913, after open compet.i.tion. These professorships are the only two held by women at the University of London but there are several women Readers.]

III

SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING

The girls' secondary day schools of this country, largely built up in the first place by the individual pioneer work of broad-minded women during the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, are now in most cases coming, if not under State control, at least into the sphere of State influence. These women educationists in some cases worked on old foundations, in others obtained from guilds or governors a share for girls' education of funds previously allocated to various benefactions or to the education of boys only. Private enterprise, individual or, as in the case of the Girls' Public Day School Company, collective, added schools in most important towns.

Thus by the beginning of the twentieth century there was provision for a large number of girls of the middle cla.s.s up to eighteen years of age, in schools which as High Schools were a.n.a.logous to the Grammar Schools for boys dating to a corresponding burst of educational activity rather more than three centuries earlier. Dependent on the fees of their pupils or on special funds or endowments, these schools could not, for the cla.s.ses unable to pay a fee, adequately supplement the elementary schools of the country, which provide for such children education at most up to fourteen or fifteen years of age. The Education Act of 1902, therefore, placed education beyond this age in the hands of local authorities, the Board of Education supplementing the rates by grants for secondary education--so that publicly owned schools have been started by munic.i.p.alities and County Councils, while other inst.i.tutions receive grants on certain conditions.

Schools of all the types mentioned and a few others, providing education at least from ten to sixteen (or eighteen) years of age, are known as secondary schools, and it is to work in them that this article refers.[1] Various as may be their origins, and different their aims, the teachers in them form a fairly h.o.m.ogeneous group, with definite points in common, resulting from the requirements of the Board of Education for the earning of the grant now paid to most of these schools, or for the register in force for a short time--as well as from the co-ordinating influence of membership of the Headmistresses' or the a.s.sistant Mistresses' a.s.sociations and other professional and educational bodies, and of educational literature from the publications of the Board of Education downwards.

It would be well if for this, as for other parts of educational work, people of middle age, or in fact all whose school days lie in the past, would dismiss their ideas gained from schools of even the end of the nineteenth century, and realise that the daily life of a school to-day is, in most cases, very different from that which they have in their minds. The time-table and the cla.s.s-room work may not appear dissimilar to the casual observer, but a difference there is, nevertheless. The chief alteration, however, is that a girl's education is increasingly carried on by many agencies other than these. In the school society rather than in the cla.s.s-room lesson, at net-ball and hockey rather than in the drill lesson, on the school stage or in the school choir she learns, rather than is taught, her most valuable lessons. Examinations still exist, it is true; but these come later in a girl's school life, and are more frequently based on the school curriculum and held in the school than used to be the case.

What does all this new life mean in the work of the teacher and her preparation for it?

Miss Drummond, President of the Incorporated a.s.sociation of a.s.sistant Mistresses, spoke thus on the subject[2]:--

"In a lesson in a good school there is most often a happy give and take between the teacher and the cla.s.s.

The teacher guides, but every girl is called on to take her part and put forward individual effort. The homework is no longer mere memorizing from some dry little manual, but requires thought and gives scope for originality. The whole results in a rigorous mental discipline, real stimulus to power of original thought, eager enthusiasm in learning.... It means an enormously increased demand upon the teacher." Again, "it must not be thought, however, that the work of the school is limited to lesson hours. We aim not only at giving a definite intellectual equipment but at producing independence and self-reliance together with that public spirit which enables a girl quite simply and without self-consciousness to take her part in the life of a community."

Besides games, which may be organised by a special mistress (see p.

59) or by ordinary members of the school staff,

"there are nearly always several societies, run again by the girls as far as possible, but almost always with the inspiration and sympathy of some mistress at the back of them. Thus there are social guilds of various kinds.

These vary from mere working parties for philanthropic purposes to large organisations which embrace a number of activities.... Of something the same kind are the archaeological and scientific, the literary and debating societies.... These societies are among the most interesting and important parts of the work of a teacher, as they are also among the most exacting. Games and societies together tend to lengthen the hours of a school day, but even on leaving school, her work is not finished. There are always corrections to be done.... Still this is not all if lessons are to be kept as alive and stimulating as they should be.

First and foremost, it is absolutely essential that the teacher should not be jaded. She must get relaxation, she must mix with other people and exchange ideas, she must go about and keep in touch with all kinds of activities. But at the same time she has to read in her own subject, she has to keep up with modern methods of teaching, she has to think out her various lessons."[3]

Just as the headmaster of a public school often seeks for a cricketer rather than a cla.s.sical scholar for his staff, so the headmistress thinks not only of academic attainments but seeks for an a.s.sistant who can keep going a school society or a magazine (while leaving it in the hands of the girls), who enjoys acting and stage management, who can take responsibility for a dozen girls on a week's school journey (the nearest approach to camping out--and experience of this would perhaps be a recommendation!). She wants some one not merely to teach or manage or discipline girls, but a woman who can share the life of the girls, or at least understand it well enough to let them live it.

Not that the intellectual side is unimportant. A University degree is normally required in an a.s.sistant and this involves a three or four years' course of considerable expense (see p. 7). An honours degree is often essential--always, nowadays, in the case of a headmistress.

Whilst well-trained foreigners hold an important place in some schools, modern languages are more frequently taught by an Englishwoman who has lived abroad rather than by a foreign governess; even English, happily, is no longer entrusted to any one not specially qualified. As will be seen from the article on domestic work, the graduate in chemistry has in this a promising field, while the botanist or zoologist and the geologist have the basis on which to specialise in nature-study or geography. This, however, usually comes after the preliminary general academic training. It is well to keep up a many-sided interest apart from bread-and-b.u.t.ter subjects, not only in view of demands that may be made on one, but because the intellectual woman will best qualify by developing her own powers as far as possible. If of the right calibre, she can afterwards readily take up even a new subject and make it her own. A good secondary school needs that some of its mistresses should have the habits and tastes of the scholar who loves work for its own sake, or rather for the sake of truth. A woman with strong well-trained intellectual power need not fear the compet.i.tion of even the capable woman of action indicated in the preceding paragraph. Both qualifications may, in fact, exist in the same person.

The woman with brains is indeed needed in the schools. The work of women's education was but begun by the ill.u.s.trious pioneers to whom reference has already been made. There are to-day many new problems to solve, new difficulties caused by the very success of the older generation. On the one hand it was necessary that women should at first, by following the same lines as men, prove their powers on common ground; now they must find whether there are special fields for them, and how, if these exist, they may best be occupied. They need no longer be afraid to emphasise what was good in the old-fashioned education of girls. Might not, for example, elocution and caligraphy with advantage re-appear as good reading aloud and beautiful penmanship? just as physical training carries on the lessons of deportment and the Domestic Science course revives the lessons of the still-room, the kitchen, and the store. On the other hand, under the existing pressure to relieve the burden of childhood, women must see to it that the mothers of the coming generation are not sacrificed to the earliest stages of the lives of their children that are to be.

The motherhood of women and their home-making powers are indeed to be developed, but not at the expense of their own lives and their citizenship. Women educators, then, must take what is good in boys'

education, what has been good in girls', and must utilise both. This work is great, and it is specially difficult because legislation and administration are almost entirely in the hands of men. Now men are apt to take for granted either that girls should be treated just like boys, or that they are entirely different and are to be brought up on different lines; and women who see the truth there is in both of these propositions are hindered alike by the men who hold the one and those who hold the other.

The pioneer girls' schools of the nineteenth century did much experimental work and established the right of individual initiative and a distinct line of work for each school. Perhaps special grat.i.tude is due in respect of this to the governing body of the Girls' Public Day School Trust, since its schools were numerous enough soon to create a tradition requiring for their Headmistresses great initiatory power and considerable freedom.

"This freedom," writes a recently retired Headmistress of thirty-six years' standing (Mrs Woodhouse, late of Clapham High School), "was of the greatest value as leading to differentiation of type and character of school. It ensured a spirit of joy in work for the whole staff; for the Headmistress and her band of like-minded colleagues were co-workers in experiments towards development and sharers in the realisation of ideals. The vitality thus secured has been appreciated at its true value by His Majesty's Inspectors when in recent years they have come into touch with these schools, and as far as my experience goes, they have left such initiative untouched."

The danger resulting from the progress made in education during the twentieth century is that secondary schools, coming as nearly all now do under the cognizance if not the control of the Board of Education, may become too much office-managed and State-regulated, thus losing life in routine. The task of resisting this, of working loyally with local and central government departments, and yet of keeping the school a living organism and not merely a moving machine is one requiring by no means ordinary ability. Is there not here a call to women of the highest power and academic standing?

It is true that the direct facing of these wider problems does not fall to the lot of the a.s.sistant mistress in her earlier years. But the ambitious aspirant to a profession looks to the possibility of a judgeship or bishopric in choosing his life-work. The capable woman then will look at all the possibilities in the teaching profession.

Long before she is Headmistress she will have made her mark in her school--for not only the numerous activities mentioned but also the organisation of ordinary school work require initiative and self-reliance. The head of a large school is only too glad to hand over to a competent a.s.sistant the organisation of her own department and its co-ordination with other school activities.

Just because there are now openings in other branches of work for women of the highest power, those of this type should give teaching some consideration. Since it has ceased to be the only avenue for trained and educated women, it is no longer so crowded with them, and as in other callings, there is plenty of room at the top.

In addition to a degree, the qualification of training is a strong recommendation.[4] It involves, as a rule, a year after graduation, in special colleges such as exist in Oxford, Cambridge, or London, or in the Secondary Training Department of one or other of the local Universities. The expense varies, usually meaning a fee of about 10 to 30 in addition to cost of living; so that a fairly expensive year intervenes between graduation and the commencement of a salary.

Alternatives to a training-college course have been recently suggested by the Board of Education, and may shortly be available. During the training period the intending teacher must, if this is not already determined, decide on the special branch for which she wishes to prepare, according to her qualifications and the needs of schools.

If actual teaching experience can first be obtained for two or three years, it enables earning to begin at once and greatly increases the value of the training taken subsequently.

The secondary teacher thus spends from three to five years in academic and professional training; and in accordance with current economic ideas should receive a salary proportionate to the outlay involved.

The scheme of salaries approved by the a.s.sistant Mistresses'

a.s.sociation in January 1912 suggests 120 as the initial minimum salary (non-residential) for a mistress with degree and training, rising in ten years to 220 in ordinary cases, to 250 where "positions of special responsibility" are occupied. 100 to 180 is suggested for non-graduates. "These salaries are higher than those provided by the Girls' Public Day School Trust, and other governing bodies outside the London County Council. In most cases 120 to 130 a year may be taken as a fair average for an a.s.sistant mistress."[5]

Headmistresses' salaries vary from 200 to, at least in one exceptional case, 1,500. They often depend in part on capitation fees. The Headmistresses' a.s.sociation considers that the minimum should be 300.

In secondary schools as in other grades of educational work the salaries of women are lower than those of men, as may be ill.u.s.trated by the London County Council scale of salaries.

Men: a.s.sistants . . 150-300 (or 350) Heads . . 400-600 (or 800)

Women: a.s.sistants . . 120-220 (or 250) Heads . . 300-450 (or 600)

The difference between the salaries of heads and a.s.sistants is in many cases greater than is desirable. Things being as they are, it is well that there should be some prizes to attract ability into the profession. On the other hand, a woman, whose best work is that of an a.s.sistant, should not be tempted to give it up for the salary of a headmistress. The a.s.sistant has the opportunity for closer and more personal touch with her girls, being intimately responsible for a smaller number; she has also better opportunities for working out the teaching of her subject and improving its technique. Education would gain if more of the ablest teachers, specially successful in one or other of these directions, were left in a position to continue this work, instead of feeling obliged to subst.i.tute for it the perhaps uncongenial task of organisation on a large scale, and that contact with visitors, organisers, inspectors, committees, and the public, which occupies the time of the heads of schools. The truth of this is, I am told, better appreciated in Germany than in this country.

Since local authorities took over the work, secondary teachers have gained considerably both as regards salaries and tenure. They are now, as a rule, better paid than elementary teachers, which was not always the case before 1902.

The tenure of the teacher varies in different schools. It is now less common than formerly for the appointment and dismissal of the staff to be entirely in the hands of the Headmistress; and a.s.sistants are thus safe-guarded against possible unfair and arbitrary action. The Headmistress,[6] however, has almost invariably a preponderating voice in the selection of her staff--as is right if the school is to be a living organism, not merely one of a series of machines with interchangeable parts; but the power of dismissal, if in her hands, is usually safe-guarded by the right of appeal to the appointing body--local authority or board of governors as the case may be. This right of appeal should be universal, and formal agreements should in all cases be made. (A model form of agreement has been drawn up by the a.s.sociation of a.s.sistant Mistresses.)

Pensions are not generally provided for secondary teachers; but a national pension scheme for them is under consideration, and there is hope that it will not be long delayed.

The poorer members of the teaching profession come under the National Health Insurance Act and are provided for by the University, Secondary and Technical Teachers' Insurance Society which already numbers eleven thousand members. This society also offers, in its Dividend Section, to those not compulsorily insured the opportunity for voluntary insurance against sickness. a.s.sociation among secondary teachers has been considerably furthered by the desire to qualify for membership in the Insurance Society.

The distinctive a.s.sociations for secondary mistresses are the Headmistresses' a.s.sociation and the a.s.sociation of a.s.sistant Mistresses in Public Secondary Schools. These are concerned with general educational as well as professional problems, and their opinion is sought at times by the Board of Education with regard to proposed regulations. Each of them is represented on the recently established Registration Council, which has just reported (November 1913).