The Home Secretary yesterday received a deputation organised by the "Six-Point" Group to hear the points in which in their view the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act appears to have failed. Twenty-seven different societies were represented in the deputation, which was introduced by Lady Astor, MP.
Miss Gray, Headmistress of St. Paul's Girl's School, put the case for equal opportunities in university education for men and women, and Mrs Wintringham, MP, that for equal pay and opportunities for Civil servants. She made a special point of women police. Lady Barrett dealt with the dismissal of married professional women, and Miss Voyce said that all over the country married women teachers were being dismissed and their pensions jeopardised. Lady Rhondda suggested that an Act of Parliament was necessary giving peeresses in their own right the same rights and privileges as peers. Lady Astor put in a general plea for recognition of the women's point of view.
The Home Secretary, in his reply, thanked the deputation for the concise way in which they had stated the different aspects of the case, as they appeared to them.
He was convinced already of the value of the work of the women police. At the present moment it was purely a question of expense. He would be glad - even with the small force we had got - to receive any suggestions for their better organisation.
The dismissal of married women teachers was a very big question, and he did not want to trespass at all upon the ground of the Minister of Education. He would give him a full report of what had been said. As to Public Health appointments, he did agree very much with the view that married women with children could bring an experience and sympathy to bear on many of the sides of their work which was of special value. He would be very sorry to see that experience diminished, and would be very glad indeed to see it increased, but the question was one for the Minister of Health to consider. Lady Rhondda's suggestion was a matter for the Lord Chancellor, and he would convey what had been said to him.
