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In Hong Kong, in spite of the fact that there are fifty women teachers
in the Education Department, no possibility is held out under the present system
that any one of these may be selected for a position of authority apart from the
Headship of one Secondary and three Kindergarten Schools. There is a considerable
number of Grant-in Aid and Subsidised Schools in the Colony which provide for the
education of girls, and we would humbly submit that a woman Inspector could not
only be fully and usefully occupied in the Supervision of these as well as of the
Government Girls' Schools, but also could efficiently carry out the routine duties
(the) of an Inspector in the work of the Education Office. We believe also that, while
it would be derogatory to her position to consider the woman Inspector purely as
a partisan of the views of the women members of the Department, her presence in
the Education Office would be valuable in maintaining close accord between the
administrative officers and the Training Staffs.
It is not to be expected that a woman graduate would be able to pass
judgment with the complete competence born of practical and personal experience,
upon modern Kindergarten methods in Hong Kong Schools, but we would venture to
point out that this applies to the male Inspectors also, and doubtless a woman
Inspector, if appointed, would welcome an opportunity to study modern Kindergarten
methods in England preparatory to taking up her duties.
As regards the salary of a woman Inspector, we would respectfully suggest
that, since the Salaries Commission of 1929, in dealing with the whole question of
women's salaries, rejected the principle of "equal pay for equal work" with the
men teachers, the salary provided for a woman Inspector might be at least as nearly
proportionate to that of the male Inspector as in the case quoted above of the maximum salaries of Chief Inspectors (male and female) in England, i.e. four-fifths. (Your Excellency) 3. We wish further to beg that you will consider the position of the
women graduate teachers in the Education Department in regard to the Headship of
schools.
At present there are only five Government Schools in the Colony where
education is provided for girls; in one of these five, namely the Central
British School in Kowloon, the school provides secondary education for boys as