In February of this year the Federal Committee of the British Medical Association in Australia passed a resolution at the instance of the New South Wales Branch to the effect that the remuneration of medical officers in the Commonwealth and State medical services should be the same for men and for women, provided that the work undertaken be the same. Three years and a half ago there was occasion to call attention in these columns to the resistance still offered to the woman doctor in her claim for equality with men within the profession. Time and circumstances have combined to compel the opposing forces to yield to the claims of the educated and intelligent woman in public life ... In Australia women students compete on equal terms with men in the medical schools and there is ample evidence of success on the part of individuals of both sexes. In practice women are required to recognise the same ethical rules and to conduct their practices in exactly the same manner as men ...

It has been pointed out that women workers in other walks of life do not receive the same remuneration as men, even when exactly the same work is performed. One reason given for the differentiation is that in a very large number of instances the man has a wife and family dependent on him, whereas the woman usually has no actual dependants. If the world were planned on a strictly logical scheme, this excuse might be regarded as valid. The real reason why women in industry and in some professions receive less than men for the same kind of work is that they have not adopted the expedient of collective bargaining. If a governmental department deals with an individual a hard bargain is the usual result. Equitable conditions of service are rarely offered; they have to be demanded. And the isolated individual is helpless in enforcing his or her demands. By uniform action and a concerted determination to refuse inadequate remuneration the employer is forced to yield. The tendency to-day is to grant reasonable demands of all workers, at all events of all male workers. To-morrow women will come into their own ...

It is still held by some men that the employer, be he a government department or an individual, would engage men in preference to women in all cases if there were no distinction between the rates of pay. It may be so. But if this be true, the employer has still to learn that in his own interests he should engage the individual best equipped for the service. Every person with experience of the world knows that a clever woman is invaluable in many industrial undertakings and that in some positions they excel. There are clever women and stupid women, just as there are clever men and stupid men ... In medicine women have revealed aptitude of no mean order and in special instances have demonstrated their ability to occupy leading positions. As teachers, as surgeons, as physicians, as bacteriologists, as physiologists, as medical officers in industrial concerns, as medical officers in school medical services and in the public health services many women have accomplished much and have won recognition and esteem. There have been great pioneers among women doctors, women who have made immense sacrifices for an ideal and have attained their goal through sheer force of character, expert knowledge and unflinching determination to succeed. The battle against prejudice will not be won by the passing of resolutions or the establishing of principles. Unity of purpose and combined action are the weapons that must now be employed. Armed in this way the medical women of Australia will have little difficulty in breaking down the last remnants of the sex barrier which has impeded them for so long.

Med J Aust 1923; 1: 531-532 [editorial]