Woman Censor In Press Bureau

Northern Advocate, 31 January 1940, Page 4

Woman Censor In Press Bureau

LONDON, December 1

No longer are the 34 women linguists of the postal section of the Press Bureau commanded only by men. For the first time there is now a woman deputy assistant censor newly promoted from the ranks of the examiners, who look through mail matter sent by foreign journalists to various world centres. She is paid £320 a year. “You must not reveal my name,” she told a reporter. “It’s against regulations. But you can say, if you like, that I’m very pleased indeed to have broken new ground. After all, why shouldn’t women be censors? “I’ve been abroad a good deal with my husband, who is a colonel in the R.A.S.C., and have learned three languages and some ‘smatters’ as well. And I have done some organising work. That is all there is to it.”

She added: “Now, don’t describe the girls as ‘ pin money ’ girls. You should see how they work.” “Three languages and some smatters” is a trifling accomplishment compared with that of some of the others. The record is nine languages, held by a quiet, middle-aged woman whose peacetime work is translation. She can translate French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish, Russian, Polish and Hungarian. A full knowledge of French and German is expected from the examiners, all of whom are British, and then they “branch off” into rarer tongues.

Between them, women can tackle every European language, except certain of the Baltic ones, and these are dealt with elsewhere. Chinese and Japanese are covered by an Englishman expert in another section of the bureau. Arabic is done as a side line by Lord Raglan, also in another department And when there are messages in obscure Eastern or African tongues, they are translated under an arrangement with the School of Oriental Languages. "