2 Buckingham Street, Strand, and the National Union of Clerks
at 186-188 Bishopsgate Street. These are the only approved societies
under the National Insurance Act.

The Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries has been in existence
for eight years, and during the last year has more than trebled its
members, the clerks' attitude towards combination having recently
changed somewhat, in London at any rate. The Association has a devoted
secretary and does excellent work. Its aims are:

(1) To raise the status of women clerks and secretaries,
and to encourage a higher standard of
practical training.

(2) To secure a just remuneration for all grades.

(3) To render legal aid and give advice to members,
and to benefit generally the clerical and secretarial
profession for women.

(4) To maintain a registry for women clerks and secretaries,
and to watch for openings for members of
the Association.

(5) To establish and maintain an Approved Society
under the National Insurance Act, 1911, for the
benefit of Women Clerks and Secretaries.

The Association is not yet, however, strong enough to form a
recognised union able to fix a minimum education qualification for
membership. An important conference was held by this Association in
May last at the University of London. Every speaker emphasised the
need for better and wider education before taking up the profession,
and there was unanimity of opinion that no girl should be allowed to
start the technical part until she was at least sixteen. A remark of
Mrs W.L. Courtney, who was one of the speakers, is well worth quoting:
"One of the cleverest women I ever knew, who was an amateur indexer,
said to me one day, 'It does not matter in doing this work about being
clever; what matters is to have lived.'" There is not much chance then
for the school-girl of sixteen.[4]

The National Union of Clerks is conducted with energy and
enlightenment. It has increased its membership by nearly 8,000 in the
last twelve months, and one of the best reasons it offers women clerks
for joining, is that it is the only National Society for Clerks that
has always accepted women as members on equal terms as men. There are
1,000 women in a membership of 10,000. Notwithstanding the hard work
these two societies are doing, there is nothing like the response
there should be from women clerks. It is only the exceptiona