On behalf of the Association of Headmistresses it was stated by Miss R. Oldham:—­

“In asking that in future some of the more highly paid and responsible posts in the Civil Service should be thrown open to women, the Headmistresses are conscious of the fact that modern economic conditions have evolved the woman who must of necessity, as well as by choice, become self-supporting.  The professions of teaching, medicine, art, and literature offer openings with adequate remuneration for the highly educated young woman of to-day.  Those lower branches of the Civil Service which, with a few exceptions, alone are open to women do not supply posts of enough responsibility and administrative power to prove attractive to able women of secondary school and university education, many of whom, in the opinion of the Headmistresses are fitted, both by their education and by their natural ability, to fill positions of equal responsibility with their brothers.

“They desire to submit the following reasons why women should be considered eligible for positions of administrative responsibility in the service of the State :—­

  “(1) Women have shown by their success in positions
  of great responsibility that they are capable of
  undertaking high administrative work.

“(2) Women have special gifts for social investigation and inquiry, and special knowledge in many important subjects, which ought to be used in the service of the State.

  “(3) Under present conditions of women’s employment
  in the Service, the ablest and most
  highly qualified women do not enter it.

“(4) The presence of a large number of women in the lower branches of the Civil Service makes it desirable that there should be women employed in higher and more responsible posts.  This would have the effect of ensuring good discipline and judicious promotion.

“(5) The present almost total exclusion of women from high and responsible posts has the effect of discrediting them as applicants for such posts outside the Service.  Private employers when asked to give women opportunities for rising to posts of responsibility, are able to point to the failure of the Government to do so.”

In the statement submitted by Mrs W.L.  Courtney on behalf of the Council on Women’s Employment in the Civil Service the claim was made:—­

“That women should be eligible for first division appointments, or equivalent appointments, in suitable offices, such as the Education Office, the Local Government Board, the Home Office, the Insurance Commission, and the Board of Trade.  It has already been found necessary to appoint women to responsible posts in the Inspectorate of each of these offices, and the same reasons which justify those appointments point also to the desirability of appointing women to positions in the corresponding