VAN Namboodiri's Blog

Visit the Past (16) – Female and Male Telephone Operators

August 15, 2016 5:02 pm

A question was raised in the Legislative Assembly of India by Shri Sardar Sant Singh MLA vide Question No.33 of 5.2.1935, regarding the number of telephone Operators in the country and why females were being preferred lately. The questioner was the President of the All India Telegraph Union. In reply, Sir Frank Noyce, Government Member, gave the following reply:

Out of the total 600 Telephone Operators in the country, 51 are females. Out of the females, 1 is Portuguese Indian, 2 are Indian and 48 are Anglo-Indians.
Females are being preferred in recruitment, because they have clear voices and more pleasant manners. They are more disciplined. They are also preferred because they will resign on marriage and the new appointee need be paid less salary, because they are new.

Gradually, the big exchanges were feminised and only women Telephone Operators were recruited for such exchanges. Not only in the metros like Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, in other major exchanges also feminisation started. The number of operators were also increased due to the large scale expansion of the telephones.