arge numbers
to effect any appreciable economy. The scheme for the introduction of
the grade of Assistant Woman Clerk involved the abolition of the Girl
Clerk.

The Women Clerks are an analogous grade to the Male Clerks of the
Second Division who are common to the whole Civil Service, and they
do practically the same class of work. The examinations for the
two classes are somewhat severe in character and are roughly
comparable.[2] There is, however, a wide disparity in the salaries
paid, as will be seen from the following comparison:--

SECOND DIVISION CLERKS.

L70 by L7, 10s. per an. to L130
thence by L10 per an. to L200
thence by L10 per an. to L300
(Efficiency Bar at L130 and
L200)

Above the salary of L300 advancement
to higher posts by promotion.

WOMEN CLERKS.

_Second Class_--
L65 by L5 per an. to L100
(No Efficiency Bar)

_First Class _(by promotion)--
L115 by L5 to L140

Above the rank of First Class
Clerk there are certain higher
posts which constitute a percentage
of 4.6 of the total
number of First and Second
Class Clerks.

The existence of this double standard of payment for the same kind
of work is not only an injustice to the women concerned, but is a
standing menace to the men, who rightly consider that the presence
of women as a blackleg class keeps down their wages and reduces their
prospect of promotion. A sense of irritation and dissatisfaction is
thus engendered between the two sexes. The maintenance of separate
staffs of similar status but with different rates of remuneration,
enables the department to play off one against the other, for the
existence of a lower paid class makes it increasingly difficult for
the Men Clerks to substantiate a claim for better pay themselves. The
standard of their work is raised by the "moving-down" or "degrading"
of duties, without any improvement in pay such as they would probably
be able to obtain if women were not involuntarily undercutting them.
Women fully sympathise with their male colleagues, whose prospects
are injured in this way, but they insist that the only solution of
the difficulty is equal treatment and fair and open competition.
The Association of Clerks of the Second Division supported the Women
Clerks' claim for equal pay for equal work in their evidence before
the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, and it is gratifying that,
in spite of the determined policy of the department to adh