eason of their sex, from taking part in any
Parliamentary election as voters, they are nevertheless bound by the
rules of the Civil Service which were drawn up when Civil Servants
were first enfranchised. These rules state that "now officers have
been relieved of the electoral disabilities to which they were
formerly subject, they are eligible to be placed on the Parliamentary
Register and to vote at a parliamentary election. Nevertheless, it
is expected of them as Public Servants that they should maintain a
certain reserve in political matters and not put themselves forward
on one side or the other." This rule has been interpreted by the
Department to mean that no Woman Civil Servant may take an active part
in any Suffrage Society which interferes in party politics. Thus women
are forced to accept a subservient position, and are also prevented
from taking direct steps to raise their status. The principle of equal
pay for equal work, if conceded without equal opportunities, is liable
to be evaded, and must be safeguarded by statute, and there is no
guarantee that any improvement gained will be permanent until women
have political power to enforce their demands, for the masculine
point of view dominates every Government Department and colours all
administration.

Moreover, it should be borne in mind that women are handicapped by
being, to a large degree, dependent on reports of their work emanating
from male Heads of Departments who are in many cases prejudiced,
sometimes unconsciously, against their employment. Heads of
Departments do not as a rule take the same amount of personal interest
as a private employer in the women under their control, and so these
are frequently the victims of caprice. If the person in authority at
a particular office happens to object to employing women, he actually
opposes their appointment in that office, and deprives them of the
chance of displaying their ability. Whilst they have more than their
fair share of routine work, and are excluded from practically all the
higher posts, they are on that account actually accused of possessing
less initiative, less administrative ability, and less power of acting
in sudden emergencies than men. It is indeed a vicious circle. They
are prevented by their sex from acquiring these qualities in the
ordinary course of their duties and excluded from the examinations for
admission to those posts in which such qualities would be of use. It
is then seriously