§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware that women doctors in the Colonial Medical Service in Hong Kong are not paid at the same rate as men, and why this discrimination exists in this Colony alone, while doctors of both sexes are paid at the same rate in the rest of the Commonwealth.]
THE MINISTER OF STATE, COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS OFFICE (THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE)My Lords, the position in Hong Kong is, I understand, that women medical officers engaged on "career" terms and having the requisite three years' post-qualification experience receive equal pay. Temporary women medical officers are employed on a lower scale. The question of equal pay for temporary women officers, including medical officers, was reviewed by the Government of Hong Kong in September of last year, but for financial and other reasons it was decided that no change could be made.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, is the Minister not aware that this is a most curious position? In the whole of the Commonwealth women doctors are paid equally with men, and now, because of these conditions, the Hong Kong University and the Colonial Medical Service are black-listed in the newspapers and the medical papers which carry advertisements for women doctors. As a result of the position he has outlined—this curious contravention—only one-third of the women doctors in Hong Kong ever reach equal pay. I want to know why there is this discrimination, in view of the fact that the Platt Committee, which examined this matter in 1959, recommended that there should be equal remuneration.
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, I can add little to what I have said. The Hong Kong Government has reviewed the matter. It is within its 799 jurisdiction, and it feels that a distinction should be drawn between career and temporary doctors. One of the reasons is that the great majority of temporary doctors are married and have other obligations in their lives than the full-time medical profession, and the Hong Kong Government, in its wisdom, has seen fit to draw this distinction: "career" on one side and "temporary" on the other.
§ BARONESS SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, may I ask the noble Duke whether he is aware that women doctors marry in every country in the Commonwealth?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, can the noble Duke say how many doctors are career doctors and how many are temporary; and is there any special reason why a temporary doctor cannot become a career doctor? Is it the point that there may be some restriction on the number of women doctors who may be employed by the Hong Kong Government on a career basis, if that is the correct term, and that therefore doctors remain temporary and in this position of inequality?
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREMy Lords, the numbers asked for are as follows: 29 of the 83 doctors in Hong Kong are career and the remaining 54 are serving on temporary terms. As I understand it—and I am subject to correction as I am answering from a portfolio; it is not directly my concern—it is a matter for the officers concerned whether they become career or temporary. It is a matter of terms of reference. Whether under the Hong Kong Administration the number of career doctors is limited is a matter I will find out and inform the noble Lord of the answer.
§ THE EARL OF LISTOWELMy Lords, may I ask—and I am learning from the noble Duke's reply—whether this differential in payment to the tem- 800 porary doctors exists in any other Colonies, in Kenya or Aden besides Hong Kong; or is Hong Kong the only Colony where this differential exists?
§ LORD SHEPHERDMy Lords, could the noble Duke say whether male doctors, if temporary, receive the same salary as a career male doctor? Because if the noble Duke could give us that information, we could see whether the ladies are being treated ill or on a par with the males.
THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRESo far as I am aware, male doctors receive the same salary; but it must be becoming increasingly clear to your Lordships that I am on thin ice in answering these questions. Should I be wrong—and it would not be for the first time—I will let the noble Lord know. I think I am right in saying what I have said.