CHAPTER 2. New Roles, New Responsibilities, Increased Demands

During the Second World War there was a dramatic rise in female employment, and the war accelerated changes that were taking place in women's lives and in traditional attitudes to the family, as many married women took over the roles and responsibilities which had been vacated by their male breadwinners. In 1942 single women were 'manpowered' into essential industries as part of their duty to 'do their bit' for their country. By 1944 it was compulsory for all women up to the age of 44 to register if they did not have dependants under 16; if they refused to work they were breaking the law. It now became socially acceptable and sometimes financially necessary for married women, including mothers, to work.

Between 1936 and 1945, however, the proportion of married women in paid employment rose from 8.5 to 17.2 percent. For many of them this was their first experience of the working world.²

An outstanding aspect of this radical change in outlook towards women's employment was the boost it gave to women's participation in employee organisations. Women who would never have met under normal peacetime circumstances formed warm and supportive friendships as they worked together in both paid and voluntary work. As they became aware that they were capable of doing 'men's jobs' they found they had common grievances — the injustice of doing the same job for lower pay and the lack of opportunity for women to have permanent careers in the public service. To remedy such grievances they became actively involved in employee organisations and a new phase in the movement for equal pay.

Rona Meek (later Rona Bailey) was featured in the Public Service Journal of November 1944.

The revival of the movement for equal pay during the Second World War was closely related to the temporary employment of women in men's jobs at lower rates of pay and the desire to protect men's wages. The occupational groups which became most involved were those which received the greatest boost in wartime employment — clerical, teaching, engineering and, notably, the clerical division of the public service. Many of the temporary female appointees to this division had secondary and tertiary qualifications, and were working alongside men, often doing equal work.

Under the new Labour government which had been elected in 1935 and held office during the war, public service functions multiplied and many new departments and wartime agencies were created. Between 1935 and 1945 there was a staffing increase of approximately 300 percent in the public service, half of which took place during the war years. Public service employees had risen from 8317 in 1919 to 30,557 in 1945.³ In 1939 the public service consisted mostly of permanent officers but by 1945 temporary replacements for men in the services made up 56 percent of the staff.⁴ Temporary staff appointments suddenly opened up new opportunities for women in the public service, although wartime workers included approximately 3000 male clerks, office assistants and sorters. Many of the women were young but most of the men were over 40.⁵ In 1944 women in the public service reached a maximum of over 7000, some 5000 being clerical workers; many had never been employed before. In 1939, 5 percent of the clerical workers in the public service were women, by 1947, 25 percent.⁶

Although female wartime employment in the public service received its greatest rise in the clerical division, women in this division continued to be barred from permanent appointments. Some were well aware that they were doing 'men's jobs' and felt the time was ripe to remedy the situation, a feeling that was shared by the new, more progressive leadership that was emerging in the PSA during the war years.

In 1943 a Women's Sub-Committee of the Wellington section was formed, which became generally known as the Women's Committee. Leadership came predominantly from a small group of graduates from Victoria University College, newly recruited to the clerical division. The group, convened by Claudia Fox, first met in the government tearooms 'in a faint atmosphere of food and a strong atmosphere of enthusiasm' and later, after a mass meeting, elected a committee and formed themselves into the Public Service Association Women's Committee. They became affiliated to the Wellington Section Committee, which agreed to use their services in an advisory capacity. The first president of the committee was Pixie Higgin, ex-president of the Victoria University College Students' Association, recently appointed to the Department of External Affairs. Their chairwoman was Mrs Tahiwi, their secretary Claudia Fox and their treasurer Miss Griffiths. They aimed to apply within the public service the democratic principles of 'Equal opportunity for all, without regard to sex, class, religion, or social position'.⁹ One of their main functions was to publicise the issue of new public service salary scales in conjunction with other women's organisations such as the Business and Professional Women's Federation.

After considerable debate it was also decided to elect two women's representatives to the National Executive of the Public Service Association — Rona Meek^† and Kate (Kathleen) Ross. Though in principle opposed to token representation and separate organisations for women, these women had to recognise that they were unlikely to achieve equal pay and equal opportunities without them. As a means of encouraging more active participation by women in the activities of the PSA, an organisational committee was formed under Rona Meek, consisting of Miss Atkinson, Miss Pike and Eileen Ryan. These women went around each Wellington department in turn and spoke to the female employees there at arranged meetings or individually. They also introduced quarterly lunch-hour meetings for public service women. This direct contact resulted in over 100 new members being enrolled in the PSA from the first five departments approached. It also gave the committee members a chance to find out first hand about the working conditions and grievances of women in various types of work and to tell them about the aims of the PSA Women's Committee. This campaigning led to the establishment of liaison page 23 officers in each department who distributed bulletins, organised meetings and assisted with other administrative tasks such as questionnaires. Another task of the Women's Committee was to publicise equal pay in a variety of publications including the tramways and railway magazines, the Listener and Southern Cross, as well as the Women's Page in the Public Service Journal, edited by Kathleen Ross. Letters were written to the press at every available opportunity.

Late in 1944, following representation from the PSA President, Bert O'Keefe, and Executive Vice-President Jack Lewin, the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, agreed to the setting up of a Consultative Committee jointly with the Public Service Commissioner, to formulate new salary scales. This Consultative Committee, which first met in February 1945, consisted of four PSA representatives and four Commission representatives, with the Public Service Commissioner John Boyes as Chairman.

Mary Boyd recalls that the setting up of this committee was the main stimulus to research activity of the Women's Committee. Because little basic information was available on the salaries and status of women in the public service, a research committee consisting of Mary Boyd, Ruth Fletcher, Pixie Higgin, Helen Harrison and Miss O'Donnell began a serious investigation into the conditions, wages and classification of women public servants. Mary Boyd recalls that Dr Bill Sutch (executive economist in the Ministry of Supply and trade union nominee on the Railways Tribunal) gave the research committee expert advice and information.

A questionnaire framed by the Women's Committee was issued to 1000 women as a sample survey requesting information on conditions, wages and classification. Those who filled it in remained anonymous. Question 13 asked, 'Do you believe in the principle "equal pay for equal work with provision for family allowances"?' According to Rona Bailey and Mary Boyd, the wording of this question was politically expedient. They and some other members of the Women's Committee did not support the view that the introduction of universal family allowances should be a prerequisite to the introduction of equal pay. They believed that in the existing climate of public service and PSA opinion, they could only get support if equal pay was linked to family allowances. As Mary Boyd says, 'We regarded the family allowance as a red herring which in a sense was being used by people in the PSA and other people to oppose us. ... It was an oversimplification to say the married man was the only one with dependants — there were single and widowed women, deserted wives, women supporting sisters, fathers, mothers, brothers. You can't provide a wage structure in the public service that caters for one of these and ignores the others.'¹⁰

One of the most notable results of the questionnaire was the fact that 83 percent of women favoured equal pay along with a system of family allowances.¹¹ The Women's Committee was now in a position to say that the majority supported equal pay, which was a matter to take up with the employers, the Consultative Committee and the PSC (Public Service Commission), while family allowances were a political matter for the government.

At this time Jack Lewin became involved in the equal pay issue. According to historian Bert Roth, 'The Public Service which he [Lewin] joined in 1934, page 24

Shirley Smith gives some interesting and forthright answers to the September 1944 questionnaire sent out to women public servants by the Research Sub-Committee of the PSA Women's Committee. To question 13, 'Do you believe in the principle "equal pay for equal work with provision for family allowances"?', she replies 'Yes,' giving as her reason, 'Women should not only have equal opportunities with men hut should be compensated for sex handicaps.' Later she slates that she 'would only-leave [her job] if having a child or children was found to be incompatible with the Public Service.'

page 25 became the field for his reforming zeal, and the Korero, a band of devoted followers, became the weapon with which he transformed the PSA from a passive, toothless weakling into a powerful instrument for social change.'¹²

Rona Bailey, former President of the Women's Committee, believes that people like Jack Lewin especially, and Bert O'Keefe, were initiating a new era. They played a key role in the Korero, in which she participated, and which she describes as 'an unofficial left caucus of PSA members who met regularly with the aim of developing PSA policy on progressive lines and encouraging members sympathetic to change to stand for the national and local executives'.¹³

Jack Lewin, PSA President 1946–51, and the Korero were a powerful voice for change in the matter of equal pay.

In April 1945, Mary Boyd, on behalf of the PSA, presented the Case for Equal Pay for Equal Work to the Consultative Committee. A rate for the job and equal opportunity in employment and promotion were stressed.

Part 1 of the case described past and present discrimination of women in the public service, with the compulsory placing of women on the temporary staff for 24 years seen as the main injustice and bar to equal opportunity. Attention page 26 was drawn to the widespread discontent with the conditions of employment and remuneration for women public servants, especially as New Zealand was almost the only Western nation to debar women from permanent employment in the public service. Reference was made to a meeting of over 200 women from the public service in March 1945, when unanimous approval of the PSA policy of equal pay was voiced. Also mentioned was the questionnaire, which indicated considerable support for equal pay, provided it was allied to a system of family allowances.

Cases of better paid employees outside the public service were cited, such as the Retail Shop Assistants' and the New Zealand Chemists' Assistants' Union. The New Zealand Tramways Authorities Employees' Industrial Union of Workers was noted as one organisation in which equal pay existed, the main motive in this instance being to protect the future wages of male conductors who were in the armed services and had been temporarily replaced by women. Women had argued that there was nothing in their award which said that workers had to be male, so if women were taken onto the trams they should be paid trammies' rates. They were conductors only, not drivers. Reference was also made to the medical and legal professions and the universities which had always fixed salaries on a functional basis and 'refused to make any discrimination on the grounds of sex'.

In November 1944 the Public Service Journal printed public servants' views on equal pay.

In Part 2 of the case overseas precedents for the policy of equal pay were outlined, with references to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United States of America, Canada, South American republics, European countries, the United Soviet Socialist Republics, Great Britain and Australia, where regulations on equal pay for equal work were either in force or close to being enforced.

The third part of the case dealt with common objections to equal pay. The view that equal pay would create more competition between the sexes was dismissed on the grounds that women receiving lower pay might be employed in preference to men and could possibly end up as breadwinners. The argument that the husband had greater financial responsibility was qualified on the grounds that many women, too, had dependants, especially during the war. If wage rates were to be determined by job content, the justification of a lower salary scale for women, in the absence of a universal scheme of family allowances, was illogical. The 'logical outcome' of the introduction of equal pay would be increased support for a scheme of family allowances. The possibility that equal pay might induce women to sacrifice marriage and/or motherhood for a career was countered with the argument that many men and women had been forced to marry late because of inadequate wages.

As well as dealing with objections to equal pay the case incorporated reasons in its favour. It was an abstract principle of justice. If women continued to be a cheaper labour commodity they would undercut men's salaries and be a disadvantage to the economy. Equal pay would give new opportunities to women to develop their educational and cultural interests and contribute to the financing of a home.

After a careful study of the case the Public Service Consultative Committee agreed 'in principle, that reward for services should be based on the value of the work done without any discrimination in regard to sex',¹⁶ but foresaw practical difficulties if equal pay was introduced into the public service before being applied to industry generally and before universal family benefits were introduced. Equal pay was therefore restricted to positions above the basic grade and to specific occupations, such as librarians.

Mary Boyd and Rona Bailey recall that most of the Women's Committee wanted a rate for the job and equal opportunities for employment and promotion, but given the prevailing climate of opinion, the PSA compromised. As Mary Boyd says, 'We were really much more concerned about equal opportunity and equal status than we were about equal pay. We wanted women to be eligible for recruitment to the public service for permanent careers. We were page 29

Women in the 1940s often performed responsible and lonely jobs. A school dental nurse farewells some of her patients at Te Araroa. Photo: Richard Taylor, Alexander Turnbull Library

well aware this would create further needs, e.g., maternity benefit, if married women were included. There was no way we would get the PSA to support this. It was far too advanced ... First things first.'¹⁷ In relation to the family allowance issue Mary Boyd points out that 'You can't put up a case on behalf of the women in the public service if you ride roughshod over what you know is the majority opinion. ... We knew that if they were going to receive equal pay they would only do so if they received family allowances. We knew that. There was no getting over that fact. We also knew the majority of people at that time did link the two and there was no way were going to get them to support a straight-out case.'¹⁸

Teaching has long been regarded as a 'woman's job'. Women training as physical education instructors in the 1940s. Rand Collection. Alexander Turnbull Library

The acceptance of equal pay 'in principle' by the Consultative Committee shows that traditional attitudes towards the role of working women were changing. Further evidence of this change could be seen in the passing in 1945 of the Minimum Wage Act. Although it stated that there should be different rates of pay for men and women, there was no mention of a breadwinning content in men's wages, as there had been in the 1936 act. In 1946 the means test was abolished and universal family benefits were introduced. Administrative difficulties and a wide dislike of means tests were factors in this change. Parents were now to receive government financial assistance for their children irrespective of family income and the family benefit would not be lost if women worked. Because the benefit was at a low rate — £26 per child per year — it was not equal to the inequality of women's and men's pay. A breadwinning content in men's wages was still seen as necessary by many.

As well as preparing the Case for Equal Pay women public servants in the clerical division took the initiative in gaining the support of other organisations.

One of the first organisations to support PSA demands was the Federation of Business and Professional Women of New Zealand. During the Second World War there had been an increase of women in the more highly skilled professional occupations, by far the greatest number being found in the teaching and nursing professions. Between 1936 and 1945 there was also a rise in the number of women lawyers (12), dentists (2), doctors (54), university staff members (39), welfare workers (63), librarians (217), accountants and cost accountants (186), women police (introduced) (30) and those involved in general health services.¹⁹ (See Appendix II.) It is not surprising, therefore, that the Federation of Business and Professional Women joined the PSA women in their movement for equal pay, becoming involved with the research and also page 31 participating in the publicity campaign. With the PSA they organised two public meetings in 1945, on the Social and Economic Aspects of Equal Pay. An extract from Caroline Webb's speech gives an indication of the way some women were feeling at the time: 'Now that family allowances have removed the basic reason for the difference in pay between men and women, now that the war has given women the opportunity to prove their ability in every field of work, and now that the United Nations have reaffirmed in their Charter the equal rights of men and women, now is the time to press our demands for economic equality, and so complete equal status for men and women.'²⁰

Teachers also made independent demands for equal pay. During the war the number of women teachers increased by about 20 percent and in 1946 representatives of the New Zealand Women Teachers' Association and the Education Department discussed the salary differences between men and women teachers. Progress was made when, in May 1947, the NZEI upheld the principle of equal status for women teachers. It was claimed that women would be free to take on higher positions if they received a salary which would enable them to pay for home help. The provision of adequate family allowances was another recommendation although male teachers were already receiving a marriage allowance of £50.

In the private sector, the outstanding demands for equal pay were made by the Engineering and Clerical Workers' Unions. Engineering was an essential industry and between October 1943 and March 1945, 1470 women were 'manpowered' into engineering and munitions.²² In 1947, when the Wellington branch of the Engineers' Union presented a resolution to the Federation of Labour supporting equal pay, the FOL decided to bring it to the attention of the Arbitration Court.²³

In 1944 the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS) took a case for equal pay for women to the Government Railways Industrial Tribunal. Details of the case were outlined in the Women's Page of the Public Service Journal of December 1944. As with the clerical workers in the public service, there was a development in the organisation of clerical workers in the private sector under the new Labour government following the introduction of compulsory unionism in 1936. In 1948 approximately 70 percent of the membership of the Clerical Workers' Union and the New Zealand Office of Stenographers were women — some 10.000.²⁴ In February 1949 the New Zealand Clerical Workers' Association's claim for a new award with equal pay was rejected by the Arbitration Court on economic and social grounds.²⁵

Some of the lesser organised and smaller bodies made their voices heard by submitting remits to the Labour Party, FOL and the National Council of Women (NCW). At the New Zealand Labour Party conference in 1941, in response to a series of remits, it was recommended that equal pay be adopted and put into practice as soon as possible and that in future the question of equal pay be referred to the joint committee of the FOL and the Labour Party. Accordingly, at FOL conferences in 1945–50 a series of remits from the FOL and Labour Party were passed recommending payment of workers on the basis of work performed, rather than the sex of the worker.²⁶

The NCW stated its support for equal pay and in 1947 remits requesting equal pay and opportunity were carried, recommending that the government page 32

The Public Service Journal of December 1944 comments on manpowering.

set up a commission to investigate the question of equal pay along the same lines as that of the British Royal Commission.²⁷ In 1948 they decided to urge the government to amend the Minimum Wages Act to include equal pay and reaffirmed their support of trade unions, the public service, the professions and supporting organisations.²⁸

Meanwhile, in 1947 public service women decided to resume quarterly lunch-hour meetings which had lapsed after the war, and interest in the equal pay question continued to grow. In 1943, soon after the Women's Committee had been formed, its executive officers had met the Prime Minister, Peter page 33

In answer to a reader's query, the Public Service Journal in July 1945 provided a photograph of and biographical notes on top PSA women.

Fraser, to discuss questions regarding wages and employment conditions for females. This tactic of involving MPs continued and in 1947 Mabel Howard, the new Minister of Health, was a guest speaker at an overcrowded meeting. The most outstanding achievement at this time was the Public Service Commission's 1947 decision to allow female cadets to join the permanent staff of the public service. This achievement, negotiated by Jack Lewin, how PSA "I President, did not, however, give women on the permanent staff equal opportunity for promotion, as male and female cadets were to begin on the same salary and have the same increments up to the 8th of the 11 steps of the bottom grade. But males were to rise automatically to the 11th step, whereas women had to be specially recommended for a rise at the 8th-9th, 9th-10th and 10th-11th.

Nonetheless it seemed that the major hurdles to equal pay and opportunity in the public service had been overcome — equal pay had been accepted 'in principle' by the PSC in 1946 and by 1947 women were eligible to join the permanent staff of the public service. Little did women public servants dream that they would have to wait another 13 years and partake in a strenuous campaign of pressure politics before their goal of equal pay became a reality.

The Public Service Journal reports on the equal pay campaign in July 1952.