"RANK INJUSTICE"

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 80, 5 April 1932, Page 5

"RANK INJUSTICE"

WOMEX TEACHERS DRASTIC SALARY CUT ' A plea for support in opposing what she described as a rank injustice to women teachers was made to the Wellington School Committees and - . Educational Federation last evening by Miss i\l. Magill, speaking on behalf of a deputation from the Women Teachers' Association, who drew attention to the proposed cut of £75,000 in the salaries of women teachers in primary schools. ■■•'•. The position was that women could never reach very ■ high positions in the schools, not because of. any inferiority to the men, but because it had long' been the custom for them to take minor positions, said Miss Magill. However, when the further injustice proposed became known they felt they could not remain silent any longer. The members of the Economy Commission were all business men, and in a matter of a few weeks they had been able, it seemed, to go over the whole of the education system and,understand the complexities of the very com-, plex salary scale. People who had been in the profession all their lives hardly understood that scale themselves. The salary scale in New Zealand was entirely different from those in .Australia and England. Women teachers were kept at the bottom of the service.- The £75,000' proposed to be takan -from the salaries of women teachers would mean a reduction of from: 40 to -50 per cent. ■-■' If a 10 per cent, cut • was necessary, women' teachers were prepared to bear their share. Miss Magill, also dealt with the recommendation to "cut" special allowances to teachers by £SSOO, and pointed out that those receiving the allowances' had them not as extra; pay but instead, of it.; She was sure the Commissioners had not understood the grpss unfairness oT what they proposed to bring about. Those who would be most affected would be those who had suffered the heat and burden of the day. ' ' '. Referring'to the prt^osed raising of the minimum age for admission to primary schools, Miss Magill said the women teachers regarded it as a most, retrograde step. It had. been claimed that it would do no harm to the child, but with the kindergartens crippled already the position would be a most serious one. In these times of stress it was more important than ever for young children to have the happy atmosphere of the infant schools. It would be a tragedy and a crime for little children to be forced on to the streets and obliged,to, stay, in homes, where'life .was, by reason' of the times, chaotic. " ■ " ' ■'" ' ■ Miss ,T. G. Park, secretary of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute, emphasised that the; women1.- teachers were* quite prepared to bear their fair share of what might be required tothelp those who were less fortunate; ■": ■ . .-:'■'■ ~>■ .-.. -i : The chairman (Mr. C. H. Pinnock) said that the federation's interests were closely interwoven with, those of the'teacliT er.-s. He assured the deputation of the federation's support. .'.... . ~ ' ..