Breaking Barriers: The Untold Story of Women’s Progress in the Bank during the 1900s

Janet Hogarth made history in 1894 as the first woman to work in the Bank, where she was appointed to supervise a small team of women who sorted used banknotes. During the First World War, the number of women clerks in the Bank increased significantly, with 1,309 women appointed by 1919. However, these women were paid less than their male counterparts and had a separate pay structure that remained in place until 1958.

The salary scheme for men in the Bank was designed to provide a substantial increase around the age of marriage, typically around 28 years old. In contrast, women were required to leave the Bank upon marriage and receive a lump sum, serving essentially as a dowry. This was due to the Bank’s strict enforcement of a marriage bar, a policy also common in the Civil Service at the time. The marriage bar was finally lifted in 1949, following post-war labor shortages.

During World War II, women clerks on permanent staff who married were allowed to remain in service temporarily at the discretion of governors. The range of work for women expanded slightly during wartime, including an increase in basic clerical tasks and a reduction in roles focused on sorting and counting notes. From 1939 to 1944 there was an increase of ten percent in clerical roles while there was a fifteen percent decrease in employees involved sorting and counting notes.