WOMEN TEACHERS' SALARIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 14

WOMEN TEACHERS' SALARIES.

Sir,—Your correspondent "Grade 11. Infant Mistress" calls the proposition of the National Expenditure Commission in regard to women teachers' salaries a "gross injustice," and is stating the case very mildly. Why should women teachers he singled* out? Iherc are few experienced women teachers who do not have outside demands on their incomes. Many are helping to eke out the slender income of a widowed mother or an ailing father. Many pay regularly to help educate younger brothers and sisters, and quite a number are the main financial support of a whole family. The injustice of differentiation in the salaries of men and women has been realised for a long time by all fair-minded teachers, male and female. Some form of family endowment could be evolved to lighten* the burdens of married men with families, but when men and women are on the same graded list, graded by the same inspectors, all positions in tho profession should be open, irrespective of sex. The women teachers of New Zealand contribute heavily to the unemployment fund, but what has been done to alleviate the misery of the unemployed women of New Zealand ? Practically nothing. It is a far more serious matter for young girls to be thrown out of work than for young men, sad as their plight may be. It will be .in everlasting disgrace to the people of New Zealand if many of the proposed economies are put upon the Statute Book. The backs of tho disabled soldiers, the widows, tho aged and the women and children are not the ones best fitted to bear the financial burdens of the community. Why do our highly-paid Parliamentarians, who love their land, not volunteer to relinquish half their salaries until times improve? Another Infant Mistress.