No Easy Victory: Towards Equal Pay for Women in the Government Service 1890-1960
CHAPTER 1. The Early Challenge to Unequal Pay
CHAPTER 1. The Early Challenge to Unequal Pay
In October 1960, when the Government Service Equal Pay Act was passed in the last week of the final parliamentary session before the general election, it was an hour of triumph for the many thousands of New Zealanders who had sought this historic milestone since the 1890s.
Cath Kelly, † an activist in the Public Service Association (PSA) campaign of the 1950s, recalls that night: 'It was an exciting evening. We didn't know that the reading was taking place that night. Parliament went off the air and then the phone call went around —"they're debating the Equal Pay Bill." Hardly anyone had cars in those days. It was about midnight. I sprang out of bed, got a taxi and dashed down to the House and there they were reading the Equal Pay Act — a great triumph.' 1
Margaret Long, ‡ another activist in the campaign, says, 'We consciously wanted an equal pay act. We felt it was possible only with a Labour government and of course the fact that we got it when the Labour government had a majority of one, is extraordinary. We didn't know until the last minute whether the opposition would vote for it or against it — and they voted for it.' 2
The victory was not easily won. This history tells the story of a long, frustrating and at times exciting struggle for equal pay which began with the demands of the suffragettes in the 1890s, and of women's organisations in the 1900s. It was fought spasmodically against the background of economic and social change and wide-ranging attitudes and beliefs. The education of girls and women, the Great Depression, two world wars and increasing numbers of women in the workforce all contributed to the lulls and peaks experienced by the adherents and opponents of equal pay over the course of 70 years. There were debates over a 'woman's place', the value of women's work, the male 'breadwinner', family allowances and the trade union principle of 'the rate for the job'. At times, such as in 1919 and 1945, it appeared as though equal pay was almost won, only to be undermined by repressive legislation or recurring social and economic arguments against it. The PSA pressure politics of the 1950s were countered by the forceful opposition of the Public Service Commission and the procrastination of 'supportive' politicians. In their favour there was the influence of many overseas countries where equal pay existed, the United Nations Charter of 1945, the Declaration of Human Rights in 1949 and the International Labour Convention 1951, all of which supported the principle of equal pay for equal work.
In early colonial New Zealand it was a widely held belief that a woman's place was in the home and that she would usually marry and have children. However, poverty forced many women into the workforce where they received pitiful wages. Although there were many widows, deserted wives, single female assisted immigrants and women supporting fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, it was generally held that the man was the breadwinner and head of the household and should therefore receive a higher wage to enable him to support a wife and family, even if he was not married at the time. Associated with this was the belief that women's work was inferior to men's — women were not as capable in the workforce and should therefore not expect to receive equal pay.
In the 1890s the employment of cheap female labour was seen as a threat to the employment of men and boys who were facing competition for jobs; there was also the possibility of wages being reduced to the level of women's wages. Such competition, it was felt, would have disastrous effects on family life as women could end up having a greater responsibility for the maintenance of their families if they were employed ahead of men.
There is a cry that women who are now employed alongside men in the workshops, or farmwork, or in education, should be paid equal wages with the men for the same class of work. It should be remembered that at present the man is expected, out of his wages, to support his wife and children, and that the only hope of a happy marriage is that the young husband should earn enough to do so in comfort, he is generally, therefore, working for at least one more than himself. Arc women prepared to take such responsibilities off the shoulders of men, and to become the breadwinners of the family? If they compete in the labour market they will tend to lower the whole standard of wages. If they insist on a rise in the present standard of their wages, to equalise them with men in similar employments, they will find employers unable to find sufficient wages for both at the old rates, and the whole scale will have to be lowered and averaged. 3
It is useless to forget that physically, the average woman is not equal to the average man, and the latter would be employed by preference at the same price. ... Nature has not intended them to compete with men in the hard work of the world, and all your artificial arrangements cannot alter the facts. If each woman conscientiously fulfilled the tasks for which she is best adapted she would not compete with men or talk about equality of wages, but rather seek for a position in which she would not so compete. In seeking rather the best wealth of her brothers than her own immediate pecuniary gain, she will in the long run best consult her own welfare and happiness. Her aim will then be not competition, and not equality of wages, but hearty co-operation in improving the condition of men by doing her own special tasks as well and as economically as possible, for the two sexes are so bound up together that the woman must participate in the rise of the man and suffer by his fall. 4
By the 1890s many women were in a position to compete with men in the workforce. All New Zealand girls had the right to free primary education and some obtained places in secondary schools. In 1871 Otago University admitted women and in 1874 women had the right to obtain New Zealand University degrees. After the establishment of the first boys' public secondary school in Dunedin, Otago Girls' High School followed in 1871. This served as a model for later girls' schools in Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Napier, Nelson and Invercargill. In 1877 both girls and boys received the right to free primary education. By 1893 women constituted over half the number of university students in New Zealand. 5
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This correspondent to the Public Service Journal in 1895 was, as were many men at the time, utterly opposed to the concept of equality for women.
One effect of education has undoubtedly been to raise the standard of intelligence among women, and place them more on an equality with men, but it has also had the effect of giving women a distaste for domestic employments, which they arc often disposed to look down on as something beneath their dignity, and the economy of the household is left to an inferior class, with whom their better educated sisters would not care to associate on equal terms. As a consequence, in a large number of cases it may be said of the girls of a family "they cannot cook, to scrub they are ashamed." When they marry, their husbands soon find out these deficiencies to their cost and discomfort, and the breadwinner often wishes they had learned a little more domestic economy, even at the expense of a little less "book learning". Primarily the place of the woman is in the home, and when that home becomes her own, she soon finds out how much she has missed by learning nothing of cooking or economical management of a small income, or the rearing of children, or the first principles of hygiene, and marriage becomes a species of purgatory to both husband and wife! 6
By 1891 45,417 women were classified as wage earners out of a total adult female population (21 years and over) of 130,418. 7 Of these, 11,325 women were working in some kind of industry, an increase of 7824 since 1881. 8
In 1888 the exploitation of women working as tailoresses and dressmakers was exposed. The Reverend Rutherford Waddell of Dunedin drew attention to the existence of 'sweating' in New Zealand industries — long hours of work at a rate of pay almost inadequate for sustaining life. His recommendations included the setting up of a Royal Commission to investigate the problem, the organisation of a trade union, the co-ordinating and supervision of giving work to the poor by such organisations as the Young Women's Christian Association and the necessity to introduce equal pay for women. In 1889, mainly as a result of the agitation stirred up by Waddell, a tailoresses' union was formed. By May 1890 there were branches in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, and the combined membership reached 2500. 9 In 1890, too, the government established a Royal Commission to investigate sweating, and its recommendations helped guide the newly triumphant Liberals.
I have read of a certain watch manufacturer who employed a number of women as engravers, and found them equal in skill to his men. But because the women were obliged to take lower wages the workmen compelled the proprietor to dismiss all the women operatives. The more merciful plan of equalising the pay does not appear to have occurred to either master or men. The usual plea for the difference in wages is, I believe, that men are supposed to have relatives depending on them, and therefore must be paid more highly. ... Friends, in obtaining the franchise we did not reach the summit of our wishes; we gained the liberty to protest against bad laws, and to agitate for good ones; and although there is no statute, so far as I am aware, forbidding equal salaries, yet the effects of long custom and worldwide usage are quite as hard to change, perhaps harder. 11
The more highly educated, such as teachers, had the best employment opportunities, and were among the first to request equal pay. Between 1893 and 1899 the Education Board, the New Zealand Educational Institute and a schools inspector were involved in discussions on equal pay for women teachers. One reason for this was the belief that the existing situation actually disadvantaged male teachers who had been displaced by lower paid female teachers.
The National Council of Women formed in 1896 also became involved in discussions. In 1903 they sent a deputation to the Prime Minister. Richard John Seddon, with a series of demands, including equal pay for women school teachers. His unenthusiastic response did not deter them. Before the 1905 general election, their executive presented him with a series of questions reflecting their dissatisfaction with his attitude to women's rights — first on their list was their disapproval of his unsympathetic view on equal pay for government servants.
The issue of equal pay was also raised more generally, in a number of papers read at a meeting of the Southern Cross Society in 1898, and in the press. The Southern Cross Society was formed in 1895 by a group of women, including Lady Anna Paterson Stout. It aimed at educating women 'from all classes and of all shades of opinions, to take a wide view of the questions of the day and to do all in their power to advocate reforms that will tend to benefit women, to promote their independence and equality and make life and the conditions of living easier and better for those women who have to depend upon their own exertions for their livelihood.' 12
After the National Council of Women was dissolved in 1907, there was a lull in demands for equal pay, despite the encouragement of trade unions by the new system of industrial conciliation and arbitration.
From 1901 girls were appointed to civil service cadetships on the permanent staff. (They had been eligible to sit for the Civil Service Examination from 1886.) The Education Department took the first step, appointing three girl cadets from the examination pass list of January 1901, and a few other departments followed this lead, slowly. Before this there were not more than six women engaged on clerical or typing duties in the public service, excluding those in the Post and Telegraph Department. In 1907–08 the government introduced a classification of the service which included the names of permanent and temporary employees. By this time the service had absorbed 37 female cadets and 26 typists but, apart from three child welfare officers in the Education Department, the 'higher positions were still free from feminine invasion'. 13
From this period onwards shorthand came to be a factor in offices. The Service was promptly in the fashion, and the appointment to the permanent staff of shorthand writers and typists rapidly swelled the ranks of women employees, but female cadets were being appointed in less degree. In 1912 came the passing of the Public Service Act, creating non-political control of the Service and placing it under the control of a Public Service Commissioner and two assistants. Despite the definite advantages that the new system provided for public servants, the Commissioner regime immediately dealt one unkind cut to our daughters — they were not permitted to sit for the Public Service Examinations held in 1913, 1914 and 1915. World War 1 was then upon us and possibly the shortage of male employees compelled the reversion to the former policy. 14
In 1913 the Public Service Association was formed and at their annual conference in 1914 a remit was passed demanding 'that female employees of equal competence with male employees and doing similar work shall receive equal treatment as to pay and privileges.' 15
During the First World War the question of equal pay received little public attention, despite greatly increased female participation in the labour force. Moreover, in 1918, for the first time in New Zealand history, the Arbitration Court decided on a 'basic' wage at three levels — skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled — but stated that this concept did not apply to females. 'No definite family unit was stated as the basis on which the basic rate was calculated, the minimum pre-war award rates for unskilled labour, with appropriate adjustments being apparently used as a standard.' 16
By 1919 there were 8014 public servants under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Commissioner — 6448 permanent 17 and 1566 temporary staff.' 18 Temporary female employees in the public service had increased to 748 clerks (as opposed to 502 male clerks), 96 shorthand typists (presumably women), 116 typists (presumably women), 6 draughtswomen and others.
In 1919, when the first five-yearly regrading of the public service took place, the Public Service Commissioner in many cases discriminated against women, including many female clerks who appealed to the Public Service Appeal Board against his decisions. The PSA supported these appeals on the grounds that the commissioner's action was unjustified — and the board responded by approving equal pay for women clerks provided their work was 'equal in quality and quantity'. The Public Service Journal of May 1920 wrote: 'In particular we are pleased to see that the conditions of the women in the Public Service were to some extent recognised, and wherever it was shown that the women were doing equal work equally as well as a male officer the Board, speaking generally, granted equal salary conditions.' 19
This significant success was short-lived. During the depression of 1921, when there were wage cuts and a rise in unemployment, recruitment of women to the clerical division of the public service ceased. Instead a new class of temporary female office assistants was created with the same salary scale as shorthand writers and typists and, like them, deprived of permanent status, rights of appeal, superannuation and the opportunity to make the service a full career. So now women in the public service had to regain what they had lost before they could make any serious demands for equal pay.
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Temporary Employees at 1st April, 1919
The initiative of the public sector in temporarily granting equal pay to women clerks must not be overlooked, however. The PSA had led the way in the struggle for equal pay for women and was to continue to do so in future years.
Following the post-war depression, both men and women sought increased salaries, and in mid-1926 the government attempted to relieve families in financial distress by introducing the Family Allowance Act. This provided 2s a week for the third and every subsequent child under 15 if the family income was less than £4. Although this was a small sum, its implications were significant. The government had acknowledged that it had a responsibility for children when breadwinners could not meet their financial needs.
The concept of a higher wage for the male breadwinner was challenged for the first time, in 1927, when equal pay was written into the Labour Party platform. However, the Great Depression reinforced traditional attitudes. In 1936 the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Act passed by the Labour government stated that the basic wage was to be 'sufficient to enable a man ... to maintain a wife and three children, in a fair and reasonable standard of comfort. 20 The breadwinning role of men in New Zealand families had been legally recognised in the statute books, and women and children were generally seen to be the financial dependants of the husband or father.
† Cath Kelly, née Cath Eichelbaum.
‡ Margaret Long, née Margaret Brand.