2 themselves in our local offices’

But, for the future ’if we, (the DE), can improve the atmosphere of our offices, if we find that for all sorts of reasons we need to use

1 Fourth Report from the Expenditure Committee (Session 1972-73): ’Youth Employment Services’.

more smaller offices rather than fewer larger ones, we may well come off this segregation policy'.

The policy document 'Into Action' issued by the Department of

Employment at the end of 1972 set out plans for modernising the Employment Service. Although this document contained no specific mention of women's specialised needs it is intended that the reorganisation plans should benefit them equally. By separating out the unemployment benefit paying section, by increasing the number of employment offices, by making their premises more attractive and by providing 'job display' self-service facilities, it is hoped that many more women will be attracted to use the service instead of being repelled by the old 'dingy back-gtreet dole image'.

>

Officially, the Department of Employment does not regard it as its function to encourage women to work, but from now on more attention is to be paid to the needs of job-seekers through specially trained employment advisers. In particular, greater attention is to be given to guidance for the older woman seeking to return to work. In districts where there is a labour shortage, local offices shall be encouraged further to develop schemes whereby women can be approached at their best convenience and be told of job opportunities. Already, a few local offices provide play areas for the children of mothers who are seeking advice and information. In addition, many make a point of knowing what local child care or other provisions are available to help the married woman returning to work.

Another attempt to improve help and guidance facilities is to be found in the Occupational Guidance Service. This service is open to adults who are choosing, or contemplating, a change of occupation and feel they would benefit from expert advice. At present, such facilities are only available in 44 towns and cities, but it is hoped that the near future will see an expansion of the scheme into many other urban areas. Experiments are going on to establish the latent demand for such services and to pave the way for the general use of Vocational Assessment Tests by guidance officers.

Eventually, it is planned to associate the Occupational Guidance with a proposed advisory service for young people .

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Finally, there is a separate Professional and Executive Recruitment Service (fee charging to employers) which is also being extended. So far few women use it: partly, it has "been suggested, because of a psychological

distaste for signing on weekly and partly because, perhaps, of the number of men only vacancies.

In general, the Department of Employment agrees that not enough is known about the number of women seeking .jobs. For a variety of reasons many of them do not register with the service when they leave a job. Many prefer to make use of informal networks of family and friends, of local advertisements, or even of private agencies if they seek a new job. Nor is the Department of Employment always fully informed of the vacancies available in a locality. Some women’s organisations would like the noti­ fication of vacancies made compulsory on all employers, but the Department of Employment reject this, on the basis of past experience, as unworkable in practice.

b) Private Employment Agencies

The continued spread of private fee-charging employment agencies, many of which specialise in clerical work - that is, mainly in women's employment - is frequently criticised by the TUC, by welfare organisations and often by employers. Criticisms are made on the grounds that private agencies compete with and detract from the State Services. They attract girls into jobs for which they may not be suited, encourage high job turnover; and push up the price of labour. The agencies claim that they do offer guidance in matching people to jobs and further argue that they fulfil a need in the provision of temporary work which is hardly covered by the State Employment Service.

Although temporary jobs offer no opportunity for promotion, nor any benefits such as holiday entitlement or sick pay, many women do not, at certain stages in their lives, want the commitment involved in a permanent job and the choice facing them may be between temporary work and no work.

Some 70$ of the temporary work force fell into this category, according to the Federation of Personnel Services and the NCUMC in evidence to the House of Gommons Select Committee. Since it was obvious that ’there

exists a large demand for temporary work’ the Committee recommended that the Department of Employment should run a recruitment campaign for

temporary workers and prepare a register of such work.

The Department of Employment in Great Britain will still retain a general responsibility for manpower policy after the implementation of the Employment and Training Act 1973. It will still have a special section for dealing with Women’s Employment and its current research project on this is likely to be completed in 1974« If the Equal Opportunity Bill is enacted, the responsibilities of the Department for promoting equal opportunity for women may well be increased, although these may be given to a new Equal Opportunity Commission to implement.

Conditions of Employment

a) Legal Restrictions on the Employment of Women

Special legal provisions relating to women only are few in Britain, outside the taxation and social security system. The existing restrictions are mainly found in the Factories Act I

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The Factories Act I

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persons may be employed in certain classes of employment; mainly manual work in factories^.

1 ’Equal Opportunities for Men and Women’, Consultative Document. 2 'Young Persons’ are persons over the compulsory school age (ceases