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
"Another post I had was ideal. I worked for two men, for one of whom I
spent the morning in a pathological laboratory. Here I did nothing
but research work and writing. In the afternoon I did general
correspondence and assistant editing of one of the medical journals. I
had free evenings and Saturday afternoons. It is an excellent plan
to work for two men, as it gives variety and may often be more
remunerative, although for myself I never had more than £100 a year.
There is lack of organisation in this profession, and posts are
difficult to get by registry or advertisement. I have never found a
Women's Employment Bureau of any use whatever. I have got everything
by personal recommendation."
A common grievance seems to be the amount of overtime imposed on many
clerks, sometimes paid for, but often obligatory whether paid for
or not. There is a naive arrangement in the Civil Service Typing
Department. It seems that the typists are allowed 9d. or 10d. an hour
for overtime up to a limit of fifteen hours a month, but any overtime
beyond that is not paid for. In the Minutes of Evidence before the
Royal Commission we read:--
"_Commissioner_. Is any other time beyond that (15 hours a month) ever
exacted?
"_Superintendent_. Yes.
"_Commissioner_. Are they ever required to work longer than that?
"_Superintendent_. Yes.
"_Commissioner_. And are they not paid for it?
"_Superintendent_. No.
"_Commissioner_. What is the reason for that?
"_Superintendent_. The Treasury laid it down in their minute.
"_Commissioner_. Have you questioned it?
"_Superintendent_. Yes, we have many times asked the Treasury to allow
the department to pay for more, but so far as I know, in no case has
it been allowed, and at this present time (May 1912), in the
London Telephone Service all shorthand-typists and typists and
superintendents are doing a great deal of overtime, but only 15 hours
in a month of 4 weeks is paid for. Superintendents are not paid at all
for overtime. The only reason, apparently, for the limitation is that
the salaries are so close that if shorthand-typists were paid for
more overtime than 15 hours they would be earning more than the
superintendents."
It seems impossible to tell as yet how the working of the National
Insurance Act will affect women clerks. The secretary of the
Information Bureau of the Woman's Institute says that, as far as she
knows, good offices continue to pay their clerks their salaries in
cases of illness, only making a deduction of the 7s. 6d. paid as
insurance money.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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