Galling, sometimes, to be a woman

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 7

Galling, sometimes, to be a woman

By

KEN COATES

. It really must be galling, j sometimes, to be a woman. ; A blatant example of disI crimination against females I has come to light, from, of i all places, the Department jof Education. I A widow, who signed a i surety for $6OO, required under the terms of her son’s ! studentship bond at Christ- ' church Teachers’ College, has five months later been asked to prove that she is “of sound financial standing.” What worries her is that a man who signed such a bond iis not being asked for ! similar proof. The request came in a letter signed by the general manager of the Canterbury Education Board (Mr D. Wil- ’ son).

The student, who is taking a three-year primary teachers’ course at the college, is told that the department requires advice that the female surety “is of sound financial standing, and there- | fore able to repay your bond j should the need arise.”

It seems that this blatant discrimination on the ground of sex (for some men could obviously be of less “sound financial standing” than women) has arisen through an excess of bureaucratic zeal.

Mr Wilson, who said the board was acting for the department, agreed that the request was “just plain ridiculous” in view of the number of solo parents in the community and the number of women who had independent means.

H e said the letter to the student had “just slipped through” without his seeing it. But with 100 on the staff, it was difficult for him to see all letters.

“I would question the department’s right to do this,” said Mr Wilson. “I hope it will get its thinking right; I have been told it is in accordance with the manual. "If this is so, the manual must be well out of date on present-day thinking.”

Mr R. U. Roy, regional

superintendent of the department, also agreed that the request was discrimination, and “a bit archaic.” But the reason why similar requests had not been made in other years was that this year a check on Education Board procedures had been instituted.

Mr Roy said he had received one complaint from a woman, and had advised her to write outlining briefly her financial status. This hardly seems to be the point. What needs changing is the outdated manual of the Department of Education which stipulate that those signing bonds should be “males over 21 years of age.” Mr Roy was apologetic, and said a teleprinter message about the complaint had been sent to head office. “Some change seems necessary in the present-day equal earning capacity of men and women,” he said. Just what will happen in the labyrinth of the department at Wellington is far from clear.