Women Workers in Seven Professions: A Survey of Their Economic Conditions and Prospects
General
Women Workers in Seven Professions: A Survey of Their Economic Conditions and Prospects
Vocational guidance; Women -- Employment -- Great Britain
If she is working in the East, she will have the endless complications
of caste and race and religion to deal with, and will have for some
time, to learn vastly more than she teaches. Her success or failure
will depend very largely upon how she gets on with the medical
department--in other words, upon her own tact and common-sense, and
whether she can so approve herself to the various medical officers
that they will loyally back her up in her attempts at reform. Once
things are established in working order, it is a question of constant
supervision, day by day, for in no tropical hospital is it possible to
expect that native nurses will do their work well and conscientiously,
without the constant example and supervision of their trained Matron
and Sisters.
Colonial posts are chiefly to be obtained through the Colonial Nursing
Association, of which offices are at the Imperial Institute, South
Kensington.
Salaries vary considerably, according to climate and the nature of the
work. In very unhealthy climates, such as the west coast of Africa,
the salary is high, and the risks proportionately so.
Private nurses, and those holding subordinate posts in hospitals get
salaries varying from £60, which is the minimum, to £120 a year. An
Assistant Matron may in some few cases get a salary increasing to
£150 or £200. In a large hospital there is the ordinary chance of
promotion--a Sister may be made Assistant Matron, or an Assistant
Matron become Matron; but most colonial posts are simply for a certain
term of years, at the expiration of which the nurse seeks fresh
fields, her passage, both out and home, being paid. If, however, there
should be a desire on both sides for a renewal of the engagement, the
nurse can usually obtain an increase of salary.
A Matron's salary will vary from £100 to £250, in large Government
hospitals in the Colonies where, it must be borne in mind, leave
entails a journey to England, and a very expensive passage. In
colonial posts there is usually six weeks leave yearly (which may be
taken as three months together in the second year), but in most places
there is no bracing climate within a reasonable distance. This, of
course, does not apply to India and Ceylon, where the hills are easily
accessible.
Each Government has its own arrangements with regard to pensions; some
posts include pensions, but not all. The retiring age is usually
sixty years. There is, unfortunately, no pension obtainable from the
Colonial Nursing Association itself. This is certainly one respect
in which it would be well if an alteration could be made; it is
a question of funds and has already been brought forward for
consideration. There would be vastly more inducement for really
capable nurses, no longer very young (the age limit for joining is
thirty-five) to join the Colonial Nursing Association, and serve their
country in foreign dependencies, if they were assured of even a small
pension after ten years' hard work in trying climates.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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