There is another point to be remembered in this connection; it is important that the recommendations made by Women Inspectors should have the chance of being considered and acted upon by women in an administrative capacity, as well as by men.  Otherwise there is danger that the women’s point of view put forward by an Inspector may be overlooked or her recommendations brushed aside.

Miss Penrose, Principal of Somerville College, Oxford, in her statement for the Royal Commission, said: 

“In branches of the Service, such as the Home Office, the Local Government Board, and the Board of Trade, in which a good deal of work is done, or should be done, by women because it is concerned with women, I think it would be an advantage to have one or more women on the general administrative staff, which deals with the work of the departments as a whole.

“If a board which deals with human beings, does not employ women except to carry out the policy of the Board, after that policy has been initiated, shaped and embodied in regulations, it may not infrequently be found that regulations unsuitable in some respects to be applied to women have been drafted, or that unnecessary differences of treatment have been created.  Just as in so far as women look at things from a different angle it is important that their point of view should be at the service of a department at as early a stage as possible.”

An illustration of this may be found in the draft Order for the regulation of Poor Law Institutions which is now before the public.  This draft has been drawn up by a departmental committee of the Local Government Board, composed entirely of men, notwithstanding that it will regulate the administration of institutions staffed by women and having large numbers of women and children as inmates.  It is not surprising to find that the draft Order meets with the disapproval of many women engaged in poor law work.

The Council on Women’s Employment also claimed:—­

  “That women should be made eligible or considered
  for appointment—­

“As scientific specialists, especially museum assistants and keepers.  The area of choice would thus be enlarged in cases where there is sometimes a very small number of suitable candidates.  Women have been notably successful in original work in various departments of botany, and have done valuable original work in bacteriology and archaeology.  They are already employed as scientific specialists in certain departments and in temporary work for the British Museum, though hitherto excluded from its permanent service.

“As librarians, keepers of records and papers, and assistants to the holders of these offices, and to positions requiring qualifications for statistical work and historical knowledge, such as those in the Public Record Office.