542 



TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 



woman's more frequent illness is in part a reason, also that the supposition that 

 a man has more dependent on his salary influences the rate of his pay as com- 

 pared with a woman's. So low have been the salaries offered to women by 

 two well-known banks that employment bureaus have in some cases refused 

 to send them applicants. This is, however, exceptional, and banks have been 

 drawing women from insurance offices by offers of higher wages. Girls of 

 seventeen mostly begin at 17s. 6d. a week, rising to 20s. ; more experienced 

 women may begin at 25s. or even 35s., but one investigator failed to find one 

 woman earning more than 1751. per annum. 



Men or women replacing Army recruits are taken on on a temporary basis, the 

 places of men going to the Front being always kept open ; but it is expected 

 that a considerable number will not return to their old posts and that women 

 taken on now are likely to remain. 



Insxjeance. 



Women had already been employed in insurance offices to a considerable 

 extent before the War, and were easily substituted for men in many cases of 

 enlistment. One firm's percentage of women rose from 8 per cent, to 10 per 

 cent, of the staff and a further increase is anticipated. Where a permanent 

 staff (pensionable) and a supernumerary staff have existed, women seem only to 

 have belonged to the latter, and the work of men enlisting from the former has 

 been distributed among the men on the latter. Women do mainly routine 

 work, such as typing, shorthand, and simple clerical work ; they have been con- 

 sidered less reliable than men and not able to deal satisfactorily with an influx 

 of heavy work, and so are not found in the more important positions or on the 

 permanent staff. They are mostly of ages ranging from seventeen to forty, and 

 of the ordinary standard of school education. They pick up the work as they 

 go along, or are taught by the older workers, and for what they do are found as 

 quick and competent as men. 



Women do not seem to have been tried as agents. Where 20,000 agents 

 represent one company none are "women, and it is not intended to try them. 

 But in the district offices of the same company 77 more women have been 

 employed since the War. 



The payment is on a lower scale for women than for men ; it is estimated 

 at about 15 per cent, less than the average man's doing similar work. It is 

 contended that women are less keen, and do not increase in value as do the 

 men, also that they are much more uncertain in their attendance owing to 

 inferior health. 



Large numbers of women have been added to insurance staffs for National 

 Insurance work. One staff alone includes 2,100 women, as compared with 

 1,700 men. Difficulty in accommodating women in old offices- has been found, 

 but large new buildings have in many cases been put up, and meet this obstacle. 



No great eviction of women taken on now is expected after the War. 



Local Authorities. 



Replacement on a small scale has taken place under local authorities. Tho 

 following show the figures in the month of February 1915, compared with 

 July in the previous year : 



