From the days of the telegraph, telecommunications has played a leading role in integrating women into the world of work.
First as operators, then as supervisors, and now in every area of the business, women have played a leading role in telecommunications.
Women represented an ideal prospect for the Victorian telegraph employer, as they had a high aptitude for the work, but could be paid a lower rate than men.
It was noted by the Post Office that women possessed a quickness of eye and ear, and delicacy of touch that were essential qualifications for a good operator. Also, due to the scarcity of other respectable professions, the job attracted women of a better class and education than their male counterparts.
Women were paid up to a third less than men. They were also forced to leave their jobs when they married. This lack of career prospects enabled the company to exploit the wage difference, keep wages low from the high intake of new recruits and avoid paying pensions to the overwhelming majority. Instead women received a gratuity on their wedding day and a firm good-bye. The practice was finally stopped in 1946.
Dorothy Belsham, joined the Post Office as a Telephonist in 1928 where she worked until 1937. She thoroughly enjoyed her career especially the social side of the job and the people she met through it.
She remembers some of the social events laid on and how she met her husband at one of them.
Play the audio clip and view the transcript to learn more. A new window will open.Jill Goldsmith started working for the Post Office as telephonist in 1954, attracted by the decent wages. She grew up near Worthing on the south coast
She wasn't sure she would get the job when she first applied, there were a number of restrictions placed on employees, and the odds were stacked up against her. Here she remembers the ordeal.
Play the audio clip and view the transcript to learn more. A new window will open.Annette Cooper is a 55 year old GPO supervisor. She grew up in Didcott near Oxford, but moved to Dorset as a girl.
Although she used public call boxes her first regular contact with the phone was working as a telephone operator for the GPO, in the 1960s.
There was a great spirit amongst the staff, and she remembers the little jokes they made as well as the more serious business of dealing with emergency calls.
Play the audio clip and view the transcript to learn more. A new window will open.Mrs Polly Shakeshaft is 82 years old. She first came in contact with a phone working at head office of C&A Mauge, when it was thrust into her hand by a busy colleague. Unused to the device she ended up with the mouthpiece against here ear and couldn't hear a thing
During the Second World War she was a Ministry of War Transport Worker, when certain phone calls had to be encrypted, but remembers being puzzled by the command to scramble.
Play the audio clip and view the transcript to learn more. A new window will open.
The CB1 switchboard was a hefty piece of kit designed to deal with the heaviest traffic from major town and city centres. The first switchboard arrived in the UK at the beginning of the 20th century and incredibly the system was used up until 1976 when the last one closed.
CB1 (standing for Central Battery, type 1) switchboards could handle up to 14,000 subscriber lines on a single exchange. Any more lines, and it was time to open another exchange.
Exchanges of this sort of size needed a lot of operators to deal with all the calls. This board came from the Potters Bar exchange in Hertfordshire. The operators sat in front of it in a long line, side-by-side, fielding calls for the whole of the local area.
