PENSIONS FOR MOTHERS.

Taihape Daily Times, 6 September 1919, Page 2

PENSIONS FOR MOTHERS.

i TO KEEP THEM IN THE HOME. [ 1“ tllcil’ I'opol‘t to the B’ritislr Minislter of Reconstruction, the VVonlen’s ‘Employment. Committee, appointed in England in August, 1916, to consider {in the light of war experience the : chances of wollierr‘a"§'!er’ the mar, recommend:——— ! Free entrance to clerical posts in ‘WOCRP government -service, -should be ;accorded to women. 5 Excessive overtime, long spells, work i-b9fol'G breakfast, night work, and Sunday work f~or'Women should be forbiddcn. . A new Act to limit excessively long hours in shops. All factories employing women in substantiall numbers should have ‘a woman superintendent. Employment of ‘married women outside their homes not to be encouraged. A free and efficient medical and midwifery service, both before and after confinement, is urgently needed. Some system 1015 mothers’ pension should be established, enabling widows, deserted, wives, and wives of men in prison for long terms, to remain athome and care for their children. “It is not intended (says the committee) to on-0 dew m-otherhood, but simply to compen- § sate the woman who, in order to fulfil l her family duties, retires from indus-‘ trial competition.” ‘ The report mentions that before the war 3,20,,000 women were employed in clerical, commereizil, agricultural, «and industrial occupations, and the number in Blarch last was 4,500,000. WOMEN BUSINESS MANAGERS. A small but increasing tendency is visible for the employment of women business managers, the industries in-‘ cluding engineering, jewellery, and tobacco. As to clerical work, it is suggested: that railway, -gas, and electric companies, banks, amd insurance ioffices would gain if they drew their women clerks from a colnm:on pool, their acquiremen-ts certified by a. common test. “It is lloped,”“s‘ays the committee, “that the excessive employment of married women which obtained during the'.,:war will cease at its termination.”