THE BRITISH CIVIL SERVICE.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14977, 26 May 1914, Page 8

THE BRITISH CIVIL SERVICE.

EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN

IMPORTANT It ECOM*IEN D ATIONS

(KROil OCR OWN CORRESPOXDENT.)

LONDON, April 17. Tho conditions under which women should bo employed in the Civil Service constituted one of the most important questions engaging the attention of tho Royal Commission on tho Civil Service, tho members of which h.ivo just presented their fourth report.

Tho General Post Office, the Commissioners state, is, of all the Departments ot Government, tho largest omploverof female labour. From tho Post Office which was the pioneer in this matter* female clerical employment has nowspread to the Board of Education, tho Labour Exchanges, and National Health Commissions, and the Board of Inland Revenue. Tho only class of female clerical labour which is common to the bervice i s that of tho femalo typists, and this rla.ss is employed in about half the public Departments. The systems of recruiting females and males are similar, save with respect to clerks, and when wo turn to the clerical staffs tho same degree of system is not apparent. Tho Commissioners have not been able to ascertain why 3000 women clerks arc employed 'in the General Post OiEco and only about 500 in the rest of tho Public Service; or why there should be the same standard of examination for girl and for women clerks, a standard, moreover, which does not seem to be adapted to meet tho circumstances of any recognised educational source of supply. After pointing out recent progress in higher femalo education, the Commissioners record their unanimous opinion that the object should be, not to provide employment for women, as such, but to secure for the State the advantage of the services of women whenever those services will best promoto its, interests.

This principle has been accepted as the true criterion of action by women of great authority who have given the Commissioners tho benefit of their evidence.

The Commissioners cannot accept the contention that, in recruiting the Public Service, the difference of sex should be ignored. This presupposes the complete interchangeability of women with men in. the Civil Service. But the evidence shows that in power of sustained work, in the continuity of service, and in adaptability to varying service conditions, the advantago lies with ,men. Tho majority recommend that, in so far as the character and conditions of the work performed by women in the Civil Service approximate to identity with the character and conditions of tho work performed by men, the pay of women should approximate to equality with that of men. They found highly qualified women inspectors receiving, in many cases, salaries little more than one-half of those paid to men inspectors of similar grade employed in the same Department, and they recommend that the Treasury should institute a general enquiry with the object of removing inequalities of salary not based on differences" in the efficiency of service. Women should be eligible for appointment on the staffs of the museums and libraries. INTERESTING SUGGESTIONS. With regard to the employment of female clerks, tho Commissioners evidence that tho experiment ini'JT!!*?a in the G.P.O. many years ago has proved successful. The work of these clerks is efficiently performed to the satisfaction of the Postal Department. They recommend that female clerks should be recruited at, or about, the age .of eighteen, and that their scales of salaiy should be determined with reference to the general principle laid down respecting the salaries of women, but that no woman clerk should be engaged on less than £65 per annum. Careful consideration was given to the question whether the female typists should bo amalgamated with the class of female clerks, and the conclusion at which the Commissioners arrive is that, while amalgamation is impossible, promotion should be permissible to the clerical class for special merit. _ The objections to complete amalgamation are insuperable. ■ They considered the question whether the educational examination for typists should be competitive or qualifying, and on tho whole the competitive examination was preferable. The present regulations are unsatisfactory. On the one hand, a typist may qualify and be paid for shorthand writing when, in fact, no shorthand writing is required or performed. On the other hand, however great the demand for shorthand in a given Department, not more than half the number of typists may be qualified and paid for the work. It seemed to the Commissioners desirable that female typists should be employed more extensively in the public departments, and it was tho duty of every head of a Department to see that the female typists, equally with other employees, work under conditions which do not prejudice their health. Certain members make a reservation in which they say: "We believe that efficiency in clerical, as in other forms of labour, depends in part upon tho food, housing, recreation, etc., made possible by the salary paid._ For this reason, wo think that no fair inference can be drawn as to the efficiency of the two sexes from a comparison between the work of the existing women oTerks and that of male clerks enjoying much larger salaries." They advocate the inclusion of a woman on the staff of the new section in the Treasury, who shall be in a position to advise on matters affecting the organisation of women in the Service.