FEMALE TEACHERB.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13664, 31 March 1908, Page 3

FEMALE TEACHERB.

GRIEVANCE AGAINST THE' MEN/ "EQUAL PAY FOIIIiSQUAL The Victorian women teachers have . several grievances; , These were ventilated at a crowded* meeting in Melbourne the other' day, when head i teachers that httd'^grown gres in the service and , juniors in short frocks joined in denouncing the Department's' i tyranny and its • 'partiality ' towards men. % '%^al pay for equaj work" was one *>F |he .demands'. . In the eye of the Departtiie»sb, r Jt was '.stated^ i womon could" 'not do, tho work of men, but 'as a matter of fact, they i did do it; "I am in charge t^-day of a." school' >yith nearly 400 children," said bno; of the, "though in , theory it is imposi*ible that I should do anything xtf thefkind 1 ." "".Th^'i'eal . diffe~renco is not in! what' we do,"'Tßaia „ another, "but in what.%o get." it took thiV'tea'Jcli^r -twoylears of writing . to ventilators f6r her school, dur-, ing Which time she had to give lessons on the necessity" o*f "Ventilation to children , sitting ■in a Building ventilatea^ by a door, and by notliin^'ejse. To get a chair with a back to ,it took almost as long. vßutv ßut when her successor 'came along— a man — the," Department,; fell over itself m its 'htirrjKto" make his ' lov better. He wab provided with a verandah, • two. firo escape^,, and an extra room, and got £7$ more, sajary c than his predecessor, fdr doaijg/ the same work. ' \"■ ', • t Young - teachers gave ' astoxjiiihing instances of underpaynieiiit. . One > said .she got 6s 8d a we,ek, an.d 'paid ,j 12s 6d 'a. week ipr her ' beared, and . a shilling traveling expe.n^bs ,^ get j to tho - contiauatioii clsisi. \l Another „ said she taught ]|!& children foi;,6s a week,' and saw ji'o 'change of a^rise*, although* she had passed aIL ex^niina- ( tions and matriculated. Ano^r^ de- .*' mand Was for a' minimum salary of -.' £110,. 0n wbiclfj ak. young woman would ' be prepared to, go'in,^o the country. < "A. girl 6nl^!gets x £s than she would get iij, Melpourne, ; " declared a 1 young fedy ~slfo "fi^d' declined to leave j the towii, ,"anil iiasn*t anything like ] as good a chance. of meeting tli© right ■; class of man to marry.' 1;. *•> ;. The statement that -pp woman in j , Fictoria. gpt 0101-9 than £240 ar made by an opponent of tke equal ' pay demartd,* was controverted by en- j quiries made by * f iwo, teachers intti salaries paid outside tlie pi'ofesision. 1 "'ln occupations Where women ploaso ,'■ the -vanity. of mia^/',it was declaimed, ' •'suqh as in tho. bi^ drapfery osiabHsh- j ! nients,-, women in. Melbourne ar« dr.a^?-. ing- £250 -to £50Q a'lyoar." The op'fni- *i on of one. teacher was jthat of men's 1 fairness, to woman >^as f'just rubbish." -, \ ■„' L " " , , " ,