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
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.
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