Women In Industry: Effects Studied

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32233, 27 February 1970, Page 2

Women In Industry: Effects Studied

Solutions to the problems of married women in employment are still being studied in Britain, according to Dr Elizabeth Baxendine, a retired general practioner from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dr Baxendine recently attended the Medical Women’s International Association Congress in Melbourne. It bad “Women In Industry” as its theme, and more than 400 women from all over the world discussed the conditions under which women worked and the problems of equal pay for equal work. “They didn’t make any

resolutions; the idea was to discuss the situation and the possible solutions in different countries,” said Dr Baxendine, who is in Christchurch this week visiting her nephew, Mr A. T. Baxendine. After 37 years in private practice she retired 10 years ago and this is her third visit to New Zealand in four years. She travels extensively to attend medical conferences. Dr Baxendine is enthusiastic about married women working, provided their children are at school. “Women are marrying much younger, often when they are still students, and they want to go back to a career after their children are born. The young women of today cope extremely well with a home and a job and I have a great admiration for them.” In her opinion, the dual role of career and home making did not undermine the health of a normal woman. Help In House “Nowadays, husbands take their share and are prepared to help in the house after

work. Most young men want ’ their wives to work, not for i the material gain but because they know it gives women a 1 fuller life. It is all a matter ; of intelligence; you have to ' have a sense of proportion I about it If a well educated ’

girl wants something more stimulating than scrubbing floors, then a job can benefit her and her husband and family.” British women in medicine had received equal pay for as long as she could remember, but they did not have equal opportunities. “No woman has that yet,” said Dr Baxendine. A scheme being studied in Great Britain for married women wanting to return to medicine was that of “refresher courses” to familiarise them with the latest trends in the profession. "The biggest problem of married women in employment is the hours; they cannot take a full-time job when they have children. An idea being considered is two women doctors sharing a fulltime job in a hospital. In that way they could work half a day each and still cope with family demands,” she said. Dr Baxendine began practising medicine in 1924. Seven years later she married and went into partnership with her husband. “I did not find this a strain at all, but we

didn't have any children and I suppose that would make a difference," she said. Industrial relationships in Scotland for women were “pretty good.” But the female labour force did not hesitate to go out on strike if they thought they were getting a rough deal, she said. When she is not travelling, Dr Baxendine is a senior active member in the Edinburgh Soroptimist Club and is on the executive committee of the Edinburgh and Leith Old People’s Welfare Council.

Most of her work since retirement bad been with the elderly, but not in a medical capacity, she said. As a practical contribution she cooks the mid-day meal on a Saturday and Sunday at a small home for old people. On her present trip to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Dr Baxendine is travelling with a retired child psychiatrist, Dr Margaret Methven.

Although she likes New Zealand, Dr Baxendine thinks it unlikely that she will be back. “I am getting too old,” she said.