Women Workers in Seven Professions Part 22

(_e_) has discharged duties similar to those presented in the regulations in the services of a Sanitary Authority and produces such evidence as suffices to prove her competency; or

(_f_) has a competent knowledge and experience of the theory and practice of nurture, and the care and management of young children, of attendance on women in and immediately after child-birth, and of nursing attendance in cases of sickness or other mental or bodily infirmity.

"Art. 2. Every appointment must be confirmed by the Board.

"Art. 6. Enables a Sanitary Authority to determine the appointment of a Health Visitor by giving her three months' notice, and no woman may be appointed unless she agrees to give three months' notice previous to resigning the office or to forfeit a sum to be agreed.

"Art. 8. Outlines the duties of the Health Visitor but prohibits her from discharging duties pertaining to the position of a Sanitary Inspector (unless with the consent of the Board she holds the dual appointment).

"Art. 9. The Board's approval is required to the salary to be paid to the Health Visitor, and an allowance in respect of clothing, where uniform or other distinctive dress is required, may be made."

The Board in their circular letter state that they consider that, in consideration of the importance of the duties and of the salaries often paid to Women Sanitary Inspectors in London, the salary ought not to be less than 100 per annum.

It will be seen from the above that it is quite possible for a Health Visitor to be appointed practically without any qualification for the position, and with absolutely no knowledge of Public Health Law and sanitation.

It is, therefore, apparent that there are two cla.s.ses of women officials in connection with Public Health Departments, one on the same footing as the men, with equal powers and responsibilities, but remunerated at a much lower rate, and another with a lower status and a still lower rate of remuneration. The duties of the second cla.s.s may be performed equally well by the first, but the duties of the first cannot be performed by the second. The introduction of the Health Visitor has therefore lowered the status of the Public Health Service.

The remedy for this state of affairs is for competent woman officials in the future to be appointed in the dual capacity of Sanitary Inspector and Health Visitor at an adequate remuneration, and for the order of 1891 defining the duties of a Sanitary Inspector to be expanded to meet the developments which have been taking place in the Public Health Acts since that date.

There are two organisations which Women Sanitary Inspectors may join:--

(1) The Women Sanitary Inspectors' a.s.sociation, which includes as members Women Sanitary Inspectors and Health Visitors holding recognised certificates in sanitation. (Health Visitors holding official appointments but without these recognised certificates in sanitation may become a.s.sociates.)

(2) The Sanitary Inspectors' a.s.sociation, which is composed of a large number of Men Sanitary Inspectors and a few Women Sanitary Inspectors.

This is not open to Health Visitors.

There is no approved society for Sanitary Inspectors under the Insurance Act. The income of the majority of Men Inspectors exempts them from the operation of the Act, but a large number of Men and Women Inspectors receiving less than 160 per annum, have joined the approved society of the National a.s.sociation of Local Government Officers.

To sum up, we may say that on the whole the life of a Health Official is a healthy and suitable one for a woman of average physique; it demands great activity, with many hours spent out of doors, and whoever undertakes it must be prepared for surprises and difficulties.

She may find herself in an office staffed entirely by men, with chief, committee, and council composed entirely of men--indeed everything looked at from the male standpoint. She either works singly or in small groups of two or three, except in a few large towns where the women officials may number from ten to twenty. Thus isolated and scattered, it is extremely difficult for the Women Health Officials to form an effective organisation. What is accomplished under one Authority may have little or no effect upon another.

One condition which presses heavily on many women is the shortness of the holidays. The work is always arduous, particularly in poor districts where one is brought face to face with poverty, disease, and suffering, and from two to three weeks is not sufficient for rest and recuperation, particularly as the years pa.s.s on.

The creation of public opinion and the advent of a greater number of women on Munic.i.p.al Councils and Health Committees is greatly needed to improve the conditions under which women officials work, and to support their reasonable demands.[2]

[Footnote 1: Full particulars of this can be obtained from the Secretary, Sanitary Inspectors' Examination Board, Adelaide Buildings, London Bridge.]

[Footnote 2: The above article considers under the term "Health Visitors" such women only as are serving under public Munic.i.p.al Authorities. Unfortunately, since it gives rise to confusion, the name is also used in connection with officials privately appointed by various charitable inst.i.tutions. These have no universally recognised standard of attainments: some of the so-called "Health Visitors" are without any qualifications, others, _e.g._, those employed by the Jewish Board of Guardians, are fully trained and do excellent work, comparable with that performed by Hospital Almoners. We hope, in a later volume of this series, to publish an article on their duties and position.[EDITOR.]]

SECTION V

WOMEN IN THE CIVIL SERVICE

I

THE HIGHER GRADES: PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE

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

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

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

_The Local Government Boards_

The credit of being the first Government Department to appoint a Woman Inspector belongs to the English Local Government Board. As far back as 1873, yielding to the pressure of public opinion, that Board appointed a Woman Inspector, with full powers to inspect workhouses, and district schools. During the short period of her appointment, this lady did excellent work, and called attention to much needed reforms in the education of girls in Poor Law Schools. Unfortunately, owing to a breakdown in health, she was obliged to resign her appointment in November 1874, and the Local Government Board, either repenting of its enlightened action, or not appreciating the aid of a woman even in matters concerning the welfare of women and girls, refrained from appointing a woman to succeed her. It was not until 1885 that another Woman Inspector was appointed, and then her work was restricted to the inspection of Poor Law Children boarded out beyond the Union to which they belonged. In 1896, once more by reason of the pressure of public opinion, a woman was appointed as an a.s.sistant Inspector of Poor Law Inst.i.tutions 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 a.s.signed 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 inspectors.h.i.+ps 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 a.s.signed 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 Inst.i.tutions--_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 Inst.i.tutions on sufferance, is seen to be indefensible and the need for reform in this direction urgent.

There is one a.s.sistant 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 a.s.sistant Inspector of Reformatories and Industrial Schools. Her salary is 200-10-300, whilst that of Men a.s.sistant 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 pa.s.sed.

The Princ.i.p.al 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.