conditions brought about by the formation of military camps and the movement of troops in training (see WOMEN'S WAR WORK).
The Women Patrols were organized by a special committee of the N.U.W.W., with Mrs. Garden as hon. sec. and chief organizer; and the Women's Police Volunteers were formed by Miss Nina Boyle and other members of the " militant " Women's Freedom League, and within a few weeks were reorganized by Margaret Darner Dawson (d. May 18 1920) as the Women Police Service. The latter was a paid force, dressed in a uniform closely resem- bling that of the regular male force; the former was mainly volun- tary and wore no distinguishing mark except an armlet. The Women Patrols were, however, from the first recognized by the Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (Sir Edward Henry), who signed the passes authorizing them to patrol streets and public places, and by the Home Secretary (Mr. McKenna), who circularized the chief constables of borough and county police throughout the United Kingdom, inviting them to do the like in their own districts. The Women Police Service received no direct official recognition; but in 1916 they were requested by Sir Edward Henry to supply policewomen for the munition fac- tories throughout the country. In Jan. 1917 the Women Police Service received a grant from the Ministry of Munitions for the expenses involved, and in the same year the Women Patrols received a subsidy of 400 from the Home Office, reduced the next year to 300. With these exceptions, both forces, which originated in private effort, were for long supported entirely by funds privately collected. They conducted their own training, the Women Police Service entirely at their London centre and the Women Patrols not only in London but also at the three schools which they established in Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow. These combined in the autumn of 1918 to form the Federated Schools for Policewomen and Patrols and received a grant of 1,000 from the Carnegie U.K. Trust, followed by 250 in 1910-20.
In Oct. 1918 Gen. Sir Nevil Macready, who had become Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan Police when Sir Edward Henry resigned in consequence of the police strike in Aug. of that year, decided to form a force of 100 women police for London, to be drawn from the ranks of the Women Patrols. The force, after- wards known as the Women's Patrol of the Metropolitan Police Force, was organized and placed under Mrs. F. Stanley as superintendent, with one assistant superintendent and 10 ser- geants, and its status and duties were defined by the Police Order of Dec. 23 1918. The women were not sworn in as con- stables and were not given the power of arrest. Similar limita- tions attached to most of the individual policewomen employed by the' chief constables of boroughs or counties throughout the United Kingdom. These, in Sept. 1920, numbered 126 for Eng- land and Wales, of whom only 33 were appointed with the same status as men, and 14 for Scotland, none of whom were sworn in as constables. They were for the most part women trained by one or other of the two voluntary organizations. In Dec. 1920 certain members of the Women Police Service were engaged by the military authorities in Ireland to assist in searching women suspected of complicity in conspiracy.
The Committee on -the Police Service appointed in March 1919 under the chairmanship of Lord Desborough did not deal with policewomen, and on the request of a deputation, which attended at the Home Office Aug. 8 1919, a Home Office departmental committee was appointed in Feb. 1920 to inquire into " the nature and limits of the assistance which can be given by women in the carrying out of police duties and as to what ought to be the status, pay and conditions of service of women employed on such duties." The committee, which included two women, Viscountess Astor and Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, reported July 24 that " there is not only scope but urgent need for the employment of police- women." They enumerate as " appropriate " duties : "investiga- tions in cases of assault on women and children ; investigations under the Children Act 1908, the Immoral Traffic Acts 1902-1912, and similar statutes; attendance at court when cases of female or ju- venile offenders are being dealt with; inspection of common lodging- houses (where this falls on the police) ; supervision of parks and open spaces; visiting of licensed premises, cinemas, registry offices, etc.; prevention of offences by prostitutes ; a_nd, generally speaking, any work in connection with offences committed by and against women and children." They recommended : (l) that all policewomen should be sworn in, given full powers of arrest and ranked with the male
police, forming an integral part of the police force and being trained and appointed by the chief constables ; (2) that their pay should be standardized and approximated to that of the men (6os. minimum as compared with the men's 70s.), and that their allowances should be the same; (3) that their hours should be seven daily; (4) that mar- riage should be no bar to service ; (5) that pensions should be granted on a scale slightly lower than for men, but that gratuities for de- pendent children should be the same for both sexes.
Up to Feb. 1921 this report had not been translated into action except as regards the pay and allowances to Metropolitan police- women, which were standardized from Jan. I 1921. But on Feb. 28 a deputation from the Federated Schools was assured by the Home Secretary that he would advise chief constables throughout the country that, where policewomen were employed, their employment should be regulated by the terms of the departmental committee's report. He added that it was undesirable that the work should any longer be carried on under voluntary organizations. Under Section 10 of the Police Act 1919 the wearing of police uniform by members of unofficial bodies is an actionable offence, and in March 1921 thirteen summonses were taken out against five executive members of the Women Police Service, which resulted on May 4 in fines of IDs. each and 10 los. costs against the commandant. The name of the service was subsequently changed to the Women's Auxiliary Service, and changes were made in the uniform differentiating it from that of the official policewomen. Its future function was de- fined as mainly that of training, in London and in Edinburgh.
See Report of the Committee on the Employment of Women on Police Duties (1920, Cmd. 887) and its Minutes of Evidence (1921, Cmd. I,I33)- See also the annual reports of the Bristol, Liverpool and Scottish Training Schools for Policewomen and Patrols, and the annual reports of H. M. Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales (1917 et reg.). (J. E. C.*)
UNITED STATES. About 300 cities in the United States employed policewomen in 1921, either as single officers of the law or in connexion with special women's bureaus. In many cases positions were secured through civil-service examinations, and promotions were made on the same basis as for men. Probably the largest number of policewomen was found in the cities of Chicago and New York, where the women's bureaus each em- ployed about 30 women, usually in the capacity of police and pa- trol officers. Their duties were varied but related largely to the welfare of women and children. In Chicago one woman was assigned to the Morals Court, where she assisted the woman bailiff and the probation officers. In New York the women's bureau had attached to its staff a number of men welfare workers. These were usually former policemen who for some reason be- came incapacitated for regular work and who were assigned to assist in caring for needy cases, particularly among widows and children of former policemen. One city in 1921 announced the appointment of a coloured woman as police officer.
In some cases this wide field for social service attracted high-class women; their duties included probation work, institutional com- mitments, supervision of dance-halls and places of amusement, juvenile court work and at times physical and psychopathic examinations. This work frequently merged into expert detective work and required a woman to be on duty almost any time of the day or night. The minimum salary seldom fell below $ 1,000, while the highest was not often above $2,000 a year, except by special legislation. Policewomen were eligible for the retirement pension, which was usually about 50% of their salary. (I. O. A.)
WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT. UNITED KINGDOM. Women have
been employed outside their homes in the industries of Great Britain from at least the days of Edward II., when they appear to have washed ore in the Derbyshire lead mines for id. a day. During the following six centuries they found their way into one trade after another, until in 1914, at the outbreak of the World War, in spite of their having been in the 19th century almost driven out from their once considerable occupations of agriculture and coal-mining, the total number of women in commerce
and industry in the United Kingdom was 3! million, while
another 1½ million were earning wages as hospital nurses, domestic servants, dress-makers in small workshops and outworkers of similar kinds.
The increase that took place during the war was only a million, and yet it probably attracted more discussion than the whole of the steady industrial development which had made the sudden extension possible. This was due partly to deliberate publicity designed to attract women into the factories, partly to the interesting nature of a small part of the work which they undertook;
