L.C.C. AND MARRIAGE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 227, 27 September 1935, Page 2

L.C.C. AND MARRIAGE

IMPORTANT RECONSIDERATION. Some little time ago a cable message announced that the London County Council had decided by 76 votes to 37 to remove the bar restricting the employment of married women teachers, states an exchange. Further information on this decision has now come to hand in overseas journals. Before taking action the council referred the whole question of the employment of married women to a committee which, in making its report, stated that it had considered the matter from the point of view of the efficiency of the various services and not from that of the special interests of those directly affected. “After long deliberation,’ 1 the report continues, “we have come to the conclusion that in two instances, those of the medical and teaching professions, material advantage to the public service would result if married women -were eligible to serve as officers of the council. Not only do the duties of both doctor and teacher call for certain personal qualities which may be thought to be enriched by marriage, but the training of those entering these professions involves in many cases considerable expenditure of public money, the fruits

of which are lost to the community if the career of every woman is terminated by marriage. We propose therefore, subject to certain limitations . . . that restrictions which at present debar married women in these professions from entering or remaining in the council’s service should be withdrawn.”