Women Workers in Seven Professions Part 24

_The National Health Insurance Commissions._

The Inspectors appointed by the National Health Insurance Commissions are so recent an inst.i.tution 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 a.s.sistant Women Inspectors at 100-10-300. Men a.s.sistant 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 a.s.signed 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, b.u.t.tons 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 compet.i.tion, 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 a.s.sistant Superintendents at 210-10-260; and 53 Princ.i.p.al 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 cla.s.s.

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 cla.s.s. There is one Superintendent at 350-20-500; 1 Deputy Superintendent at 270-15-330; 5 a.s.sistant Superintendents at 210-10-260; and 24 Princ.i.p.al Clerks at 150-10-200.

The _Accountant General's Department_ has 1 Superintendent at 280-15-400; 3 a.s.sistant Superintendents at 210-10-260; and 3 Princ.i.p.al Clerks at 150-10-200. The staff of clerks numbers 416, of whom 57 are in the first cla.s.s.

The _London Telephone Service_ has 1 a.s.sistant Superintendent at 210-10-260 and 5 Princ.i.p.al Clerks at 150-10-200, with a staff of 278 clerks, of whom 21 are in the first cla.s.s.

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 a.s.sistant Superintendents at 150-10-170. Of the staff of 61 clerks, 7 are first cla.s.s. In Edinburgh there is 1 Superintendent at 200-10-250, and 1 a.s.sistant Superintendent at 150-10-190. Of the staff of 69, 8 are in the first cla.s.s.

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 a.s.sistants, 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 a.s.sistant Supervisors (first cla.s.s) at 140-6-170 and 61 a.s.sistant Supervisors (second cla.s.s) 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 a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sistants 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 a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sociation 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, Princ.i.p.al 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 ill.u.s.tration of this may be found in the draft Order for the regulation of Poor Law Inst.i.tutions 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 inst.i.tutions 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 a.s.sistants 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 a.s.sistants 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 pa.s.sed or can pa.s.s an examination equivalent to that of male second division clerks, or clerks of the intermediate cla.s.s, 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.