The secretary living in with congenial literary or medical people, where she is made one of the family circle, has a happier time, but the payment is not high.
Apart from salary, the conditions in which the woman clerk works are by no means ideal.
Twenty years ago, in a far northern city, there was a flourishing new school where over thirty girls of from fifteen to twenty were being taught shorthand, typewriting, book-keeping, and all that goes to the making of a fully-equipped clerk. This school was the first experiment of the kind in an enterprising community. As the pupils qualified, with Pitman certificates of varying degrees of speed, at the end of six months or longer, the way in which old-fashioned lawyers accepted the innovation of attractive young women on their clerical staff, seemed almost magical. Decorum relegated the young women to separate rooms from the rest of the employeés, and the formality in the bearing of heads of departments towards these pioneer females must have been gratifying to Mrs Grundy. So superior to human exigencies seemed these dignified men, that the subject of lavatory accommodation for young women, mewed up from 9 to 1 and from 2 to 5.30, was not mentioned. Woman's modesty, if it were to reach the high standard made for her by man, had to come before her health or comfort. Although typists of all grades have multiplied by thousands[1] during the past twenty years--in London alone there are over 25,000 women clerks and secretaries--there is still need for adequate inspection of sanitary accommodation for women workers of this class. Apart altogether from sanitary accommodation, common sense would seem to suggest that, in the case of any one who has to turn out decent typing, a regular supply of hot water is a necessity for washing hands that may have to change a ribbon or do the many little messy jobs that typing involves.
In a lecture before the Fabian Women's Group in February 1912, Miss Florence, of the Association of Women Clerks and Secretaries, said:
"With regard to the sanitary conditions--these as a rule are bad, especially where there is only one woman. The difficulty has been shirked by the women themselves in a great many cases.... I do not see how these can be altered except by improving the status and position of women, so that they may become strong enough to say they will not have it if it is too bad."