There is one Woman Inspector of Prisons, a qualified medical woman, who acts also as Assistant Inspector of State and Certified Inebriate Reformatories. Her salary is £300-15-£400, whilst the lowest salary received by Men Inspectors is £600-20-£700.
There is one Woman Assistant Inspector of Reformatories and Industrial Schools in Great Britain. Her salary is £200-10-£300, whilst that of Men Assistant Inspectors is £250-15-£400.
The first woman to be admitted to the higher branches of the Board of Trade was appointed as a Labour Correspondent in 1893. In 1903 she became the Senior Investigator for Women's Industries, the salary of the post being fixed at £450. A Senior Investigator's Assistant was also appointed at a salary of £120-10-£200, but the salary has now been increased to £200-£300. These posts are open only to University women with high honours.
The Senior Investigator, with the help of her Assistant, undertakes special enquiries into the conditions in women's industries. Perhaps her most important function is to originate investigations concerning women, which will yield information likely to be useful to the Department in the future, when some particular question comes up for discussion or decision. For instance, when the question of bringing laundries within the scope of the Trade Boards Act was under discussion, the investigations previously made by the Women Investigators into wages and conditions proved invaluable.
There are also three Women Investigators appointed in connection with the Trade Boards. Their duty is to assist in the collection of information relating to the scheduled trades, in all of which a large number of women is employed. They may be called upon to help in the preliminary work involved in setting up new Trade Boards. They explain as far as necessary the provisions of the Act to the working women concerned get nominations of workers to sit on those Boards and otherwise assist the Boards in carrying out their functions. They also conduct inspections to see that the law is carried out.
All these appointments are made by the President of the Board of Trade on the recommendation of the Civil Service Commissioners.
The establishment of Labour Exchanges under the Board of Trade some years ago gave occasion for the appointment of a considerable number of women to responsible posts. On the organising staff at the Central Office there is a Principal Woman Officer at £400-15-£450, who is responsible for the organisation of the women's work in all the Labour Exchanges. She has an Assistant at £150-£7, 10s.--£200. A woman also acts as Secretary to the large London Juvenile Advisory Committee. She has the acting rank of an Assistant Divisional Officer, although her salary (£300-15-£400) is less than that received by men Assistant Divisional Officers.