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LLEGH EN '/ C
TODAY'S
IN TOMORROW'S WORLD
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Today's Woman
in Tomorrow's World
REPORT OF
A Conference Commemorating
the 40th Anniversary
of the Women's Bureau
Thursday and Friday
June 2 and 3, 1960
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
James P. Mitchell, Secretary
WOMEN'S BUREAU
Mrs. Alice K. Leopold, Director
Women's Bureau Bulletin 276
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Note
1•his bulletin, "Today's Woman in Tomorrow's World," embodies the proceedings of a conference held on June 2 and 3, 1960,
at Washington, D.C. The verbatim transcript of the conference
has been edited to a minor degree for the sake of brevity and
clarity. Opinions expressed by panelists and speakers are not
necessarily those of the Women's Bureau or the Department of
Labor.
U.S. Government Printing Office : 1960
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington 25, D .C . - Price 50 cents
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Contents
Pa~e
Introduction _____________ _____ ____ ________ ________________________
Conference Program _ _ __ ___________ _______________ ___________ ____ __
June 2-Morning Session
Welcome, Mrs. Alice K. Leopold __ _________ _________ _____________ __ _
America's Womanpower Future, The Honorable James T. O'Connell_____
Today's Woman Prepares for Tomorrow's World: A Panel-interviewed by
a young mother, a mature woman, and a high-school senior___________
Panel: Dr. Mary I. Bunting, Moderator
Mr. Howard Coughlin
Mr. Lowell B. ,Jacobsen
Dr. Junius A. Davis
Dr. Jeanne L. Noble
Dr. Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr.
Dr. Ormsbee W. Robinson
Dr. Carl F. Hansen
Dr. John P. Walsh
v
viii
1
2
8
June 2-Afternoon Session
Woman's Role in a Changing Society, Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning______
Today's Woman Prepares for Tomorrow's World: Written questions from
the audience, and answers by the panelists____ ________ ______ ________
Special Stamp Honoring The American Woman:
Presentation by The Honorable John McKibbin, to The Honorable
James P. Mitchell, Miss Mary Anderson, The Honorable James
T. O'Connell, and Mrs. Alice K. Leopold__ __________________ _
June 2-Evening Session
Spotlight on Women of Achievement_________________ ___ ________ _____
An Address by The Honorable James P. Mitchell__ ______________ _______
35
40
54
58
60
June 3-Morning Session
Achievements and Goals of American Women, Mrs. Esther Peterson__ ___
American Women in International Programs_ _______________ ___ _______
The Honorable Francis 0 . Wilc9x, Keynote Speaker
The Honorable Jose A. Mora
Mr. Saxton Bradford
Mrs. Oscar M. Ruebhausen
Mrs. Lorena B. Hahn
Today's Shrinking World, The Honorable George V. Allen__ ____________
67
74
92
Appendix
Biographies of Speakers and Panelists______ ___ ______ __ _____ _____ ___ __
Conference Advisory Committees__ ________________ __ ________________
Highlights, 1920-1960 __ _________________ _____________ _________ ____ .
40 Years of Progress in Labor Legislation for Women Workers_ _ ________
Publications of the Wopien's Bureau_ ________________________________
International Publications on the Status of Women ______________ _____ _
97
107
113
124
125
138
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It has always been the pride of our people that we have been worthy of freedom.
That is because we have turned power to the use and the betterment of the
individual; we have made free decision and voluntary cooperation the touchstones of a system that serves and honors the highest ends of society-the
elevation of each man toward wider horizons.
-James P. Mitchell, Secretary of Labor.
The American woman of today is a citizen of the world. She is well informed,
in all probability votes regularly, and is becoming more and more aware of
the fantastic challenge of the future. She needs to prepare for this future--to which she can make a great contribution, whether she is employed
or a full-time homemaker.
-Mrs. Alice K. Leopold, Assistant to the Secretary
of Labor, and Director of the Women's Bureau.
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Introduction
The Women's Bureau's Conference on the subject "Today's 1i\Toman
in Tomorrow's World" grew out of the genuine need to evaluate
women's progress at mid-1960 and to take, insofar as possible, an informed and responsible look at the future for women. For many
years, women have been important contributors to all segments of
this Nation's social, economic, and political structure. Their numerous contributions, material as well as spiritual and intellectual, were
the mainstays of early life in America. Increasingly, as time went
on and new ways of living were developed, women extended the
realms of their contributions to the world outside of the hometo the :factory, to the school, to the hospital, to the laboratory, to the
office-to almost every business and professional establishment.
The growing demand for women's services has been accompanied
by widened opportunities for their education and training-developments which have encouraged them to prepare for and seek employment in ever-expanding occupational fields. As a result of these and
other social and economic forces, and of their own demonstrated abilities, women of the United States by mid-1960 constituted more than
a third of the Nation's total working population, and even larger
proportions in such vital professions as teaching and nursing. More
of them than in earlier years also were entering the professions from
which come our physicians and surgeons, and our physicists, chemists,
and engineers--the trained personnel so vital to scientific and
technological process.
It seemed timely to make this evaluation and take this look into
the future during June 1960, when the Women's Bureau reached its
40th anniversary. The Bureau was created in 1920 to promote the
welfare and status of women workers and to increase their contribution
to the Nation's civic, economic, and social welfare. Its programs are
closely related to the changing needs of women everywhere, and have
been developed and changed to meet new times and new challenges.
The Woman in Industry Service, the forerunner of the permanent
omen's Bureau, \Vas created in 1918-a period in which millions of
women, many of them raw recruits to the factories, were rushed into
war product ion jobs. The new service, established under the Directorship of the very able Mary van Kleeck, was charged by the Secretary
of Labor with the duty of "developing standards and policies to insure the effective employment of women while conserving their health
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and welfare," and correlating the activities of the various national
and State agencies concerned with women in industry . .
Recommendations of the Woman in Industry Service resulted in
improved conditions of work for women, in better worker morale, and
in increased production in the industries to which women workers
were newcomers. From these experiences, it became obvious that a
permanent bureau was needed to protect the interests of working
women and to assist employers in adapting to women workers. Accordingly, by Act of Congress, approved by the President on June 5,
1920, the Woman in Industry Service became the Women's Bureau, a
continuing service in the Department of Labor.
The first Director was the outstanding Mary Anderson, who served
in that capacity until June 1944. She was succeeded by Miss Frieda
Miller, who brought to the Federal Government extensive experience
as an administrator of New York State's minimum-wage law. Miss
Miller served as Women's Bureau Director from mid-1944 to December 1953. It was my privilege, a short while later, to become the
third Director of the Women's Bureau. Since late 1957, the Directorship of the Women's Bureau has been held concurrently with the
post of Assistant to the Secretary of Labor. This post includes the
duties of adviser to the Secretary as well as coordinator on all department programs affecting women workers.
Developments which have occurred in the women's labor force
during the 4 decades of the Bureau's existence have been of farreaching significance. One of the most striking has been the general
acceptance of women as an integral and permanent part of our
working population. For example, in the early days of the Bureau
in 1920, there were only 8¼ million women with positions outside the
home. Today, there are some 22½ million women in paid employment and by 1970 it is estimated that there will be 30 million.
Authorities in the manpower field have estimated that the average
young girl of today may work, during various intermittent periods,
for perhaps 25 years of her life. The pattern with which we have
become familiar- and one which is customary with many women- is
employment outside of the home a few years after marriage, withdrawal from the labor ~arket when the children are young, and a
return to work when family responsibilities have lessened.
Because of widening employment opportunities for women and the
fact that their life expectancy has steadily increased, the average
woman worker is now more than 40 years of age. Further, about 40
percent of today's women workers are 45 years of age or older. In
contrast, in the days when the Bureau was established, the average
working woman was but 28 years of age and she was single. Now,
she is not only older but also married- facts whi ch are reflected in
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the predominance of married women in the population, and in trends
in women's employment.
On the average, the woman worker of 1960 has had 12.2 years
of schooling and is better educated than her predecessors. More
women are now enrolled in institutions of higher learning- al?- estimated 1¼ million as compared to the 11,'~ million enrolled about 4
decades ago. These women in colleges and universities are expected
to earn a total of more than 156,000 degrees in 1960-almost 9 times
the number awarded at the beginning of the 1920's. By 1970, it is
expected that over 2 million women will be enrolled in colleges and
that 280,700 degrees will be conferred upon them. The educational
attainment of women takes on new meaning today because the
emphasis of tomorrow will be on quality.
These evidences of the past and projections of the future inspired
the planning of the conference. Capable assistance was given by four
advisory committees who represented women's organizations, industry
and labor, education, and international organizations. 1
By publishing the conference proceedings, we hope to share with
all interested individuals and groups the valuable information provided by the panelists and speakers at a conference that was designed
and planned to help today's woman prepare for tomorrow's world.
Mns. ALICE K. LEOPOLD,
Assistant to the Secretary of Labor
and Director of the Women's Bureau.
1-
Members of the advisory committees are listed in the Appendix.
See p. 107.
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PROGRAM
Today's Woman in
Tomorrow's World
Opening Session
June 2, 1960, 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon
Departmental Auditorium
Constitution Ave. between 12th and 14th Sts. NW.
Second Session
June 2, 1960, 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
U.S. Department of Commerce Auditorium
14th St. between Constitution Ave. and E St. NW.
Banquet
June 2, 1960, 7:30 p.m.
Statler Hilton Hotel
16th and K Sts. NW.
Third Session
June 3, 1960, 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon
Departmental Auditorium
Constitution Ave. between 12th and 14th Sts. NW.
Thursday, June
2,
1960, at 9:30 a.m.
Departmental Auditorium
The Rt. Rev. William F. Creighton, D.D.
INVOCATION
Bishop Coadjutor of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, Diocese of Washington
WELCOME
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mrs. Alice K. Leopold
Assistant to the Secretary of Labor
and Director of the Women's Bureau
THE MANPOW ER CHALLENGE
OF THE
196o's . .
. .
.
The Honorable James T. O'Connell
Under Secretary of Labor
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TODAY' S WOMAN PREPAR ES FOR TOMORR OW'S WORLD
Moderator: Dr. Mary I. Bunting
President of Radcliffe College
Cambridge, Mass.
Panel
Dr. Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr.
Mr. Howard Coughlin, President
Executive Director
American Association of Junior
Colleges
Washingt on, D.C.
Office Employees International Union
American Federation of Labor and
Congress of Industrial Organizations
Canadian Labour Congress
New York, N.Y.
Dr. Jeanne L. Noble
Dr. Carl F. Hansen
Assistant Professor
Center for Human Relations Studies
New York University
New York, N.Y.
Superinte ndent of Schools
Washingt on, D.C.
Dr. 0. W. Robinson
Dr. Junius A. Davis, Dean
Assistant to the Director of
Executive Development
International Business Machines, Inc.
Port Washington, N.Y.
Graduate School
University of North Carolina
Greensboro, N.C.
Dr. John P. Walsh, Director
Mr. B. Lowell Jacobsen
Trade and Industrial Branch
Office of Education
U.S. Departme nt of Health,
Education , and Welfare
Vice President
Personnel
National Broadcasting Company
Question s From Today's Women
Young Mother
High School Senior
Mature Woman
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Thursday, June
2,
1¢0, 2:00 p.m.
U.S. Departme nt of Commerce Auditoriu m
TODAY'S WOMAN PREPARES FOR TOMORR OW'S WORLD
DR. MARY
•
•
SPEAKER •
I.
•
•
•
•
•
•
Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning, Writer
Duluth, Minn.
Member, Commission on the Education of
Women,
American Council on Education
BUNTING AND PANELISTS
QUESTIONS FROM AUDIENCE
SPECIAL PRESENT ATION OF STAMP HONORIN G THE
AMERICA N WOMAN
The Honorable John McKibbin
Deputy Postmaste r General
Afternoon Recess ( 5 p.m. to 7: 30 p.m.)
Thursday, June
2,
1960, 7:30 p.m.
Statler Hilton Hotel
BANQUET
Rt. Rev. Monsigno r Lawrence P. Gatti
Pastor, St. Mary of the Assumption
Upper Marlboro, Md.
INVOCATION
SPOTLIGHT ON
w OMEN
Introduced by .
OF ACHIEVEME NT
. Mrs. Esther Van Wagoner Tufty
Tufty News Bureau-N BC Commentator
Washington, D.C.
Theodore F. Koop
Director of News and Public Affairs-CB S
Washington, D.C.
Address
. The Honorable James P. Mitchell
Secretary of Labor
Music, Courtesy of Lodge No. 12
American Federation of Government Employees
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Friday, f une 3, 1960, 9: 30 a.m.
Departmental Auditorium
Dr. Norman Gerstenfeld, Minister
INVOCATION
Washington Hebrew Congregation
Washington, D.C.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF AMERICAN WOMEN TO NATIONAL
AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Achievements and Goals
Mrs. Esther Peterson
Legislative Representative, Industrial Union Department
American Federation of Labor and
Congress of Industrial Organizations
Washington, D.C.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
•
•
•
•
The Honorable Francis 0. Wilcox
•
Assistant Secretary of State for
International Organization Affairs
Washington, D.C.
Panel Members
The Honorable Jose A. Mora
Secretary General
Organization of American States
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Oscar M. Ruebhausen
Chairman
Women's Africa Committee
New York, N.Y.
WOMEN IN INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS •
•
•
•
•
•
Mr. Saxton Bradford
Deputy Director
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs,
U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Lorena B. Hahn
Omaha, Nebr.
United States Delegate, United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women
The Honorable George V. Allen, Director
United States Information Agency
Washington, D.C.
ADJOURNMENT OF CONFERENCE
12 Noon
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THE WHlTE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
May 9, 1960
Dear Mrs. Leopold:
Please give my greetings to those attending the
fortieth anniversa ry conferenc e of the Women's
Bureau of the Departme nt of Labor.
It is most fitting that this conferenc e provide the
occasion for the issuance of a United States commemorati ve stamp in honor of the .Anlerican woman.
The spirit of the American woman at work in her
many and varied activities - - at home, in communit y
service, in the arts, profession s and industry -- is
a basic part of our national strength and well- being.
I am delighted to add my best wishes for a memorabl e
conferenc e.
Since~rely,
7 . ,,._,/~'
.A
µ
Mrs. Alice K. Leopold
Assistant to the Secretary of Labor
Washingto n, D. C.
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~-,-, -
"
Jwne 2-Morninr, Session
Welcome
Mrs. Alice K. Leopold, Assistant to the Secretary of Labor, and
Director o / the Women's Bureau
We are most honored to have such a distinguished audience at this
conference, and I know that you will be equally honored when you
hear our speakers and the deliberations of the panels.
We have with us representatives from women's civic organizations,
from trade unions, from management, and from State labor departments. There are editors and writers, visitors from other countries,
and old and new friends of the Women's Bureau.
We welcome all of you and hope you will be with us for the 2 days
of the conference commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the
Women's Bureau. We planned to have this conference jointly with
you because it is you who, over the years, particularly the past 40
years, have helped us advance the position of women fo many fields.
The Women's Bureau has been happy to assist you in your activities,
and, similarly, without your assistance and inspiration, we could not
have accomplished all our objectives.
The theme of our conference is "Today's Woman in Tomorrow's
World." But before looking ahead, let us pause and look back a
little. There are many comparisons between today's woman and her
counterpart of 40 years ago. In 1920, 8¼ million women were in
paid employment; today's figure is 22½ million. The average age of
the working womH-n in 1920 was 28 years ; toda.y she is 40 years of age.
Progress has been made also in labor legislation affecting women
workers: The number of States having minimum-wage laws increased from 13 to 33 between 1920 and 1960, and over the same period,
the number of States having equal-pay laws increased from 2 to 20.
Similar advances have been made in State legislation establishing
maximum daily and weekly hours of work, and in laws covering night
work, meal periods, and days of rest within a workweek.
Many other changes have occurred during the past four decades,
and one important change that is becoming more and more apparent
is the continuous widening in the variety of positions that women
hold. These changes in the types of women's occupations will be
discussed in the sessions of our conference.
We will honor past accomplishments, but I believe that all of you
would join me in feeling that the exciting part of an anniversary is
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to look ahead to see what the next 40 years will bring, rather than to
glorify the past. We must acknowledge that without the past we
would not be where we are today. There have been many, many
changes, and I think that the status of ,vomen today-not only in the
United States, but around the world-is an inspiration to all of us.
In our conference sessions, we will point out also that today's
woman, whether or not she is in paid employment, makes a contribution to her community. I am sure all of you know that more than
half-55 percent-of all the women in the United States are full-time
homemakers. We intend to emphasize this important fact at conference sessions.
The woman of today is a citizen of the world. She is well informed;
goes to the polls and casts her vote; and she recognizes the fantastic
challenge of the future. We believe she needs to prepare for this
future-to which we know she will make a great contribution.
During the conference sessions, you will hear many viewpoints on
the subject of "Today's Woman in Tomorrow 's World," and you will
have an opportunity to express your own ideas and to challenge the
concepts of others.
Our first speaker this morning will give us the economic background
for the subjects to be discussed during the conference. His subject
is "America's Womanpower Future." It is my privilege to introduce
to you the Under Secretary of Labor, Mr. James T. O'Connell.
America's W omanpower Future
The Honorable James T. O'Connell, Vnder Secretary of Labor
It is a pleasure and an honor to serve as the first speaker of this
conference commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the Department of Labor's Women's Bureau. To the distinguished panelists
who will follow me, and to all of you who have seen fit to recognize
the importance of this conference by your presence here today, I
extend warm greetings from Secretary Mitchell, all officials of the
Department of Labor, and myself.
I have been asked to talk to you this morning about America's
manpower challenge for .the 1960's, a challenge which is of particular
significance to all of us because to a great extent it is one which spells
out in terms of womanpower. The number of women at work will
increase by 25 percent in the decade ahead, and by 1970 more than
one out of every three members of the labor force will be of · the
distaff side.
So, the topic of the panel to be moderated by Dr. Bunting this
morning, "Today's Woman Prepares for Tomorrow's World," . is in2
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The Honorable James T. O'Connell.
deed a vital one. And it is vital, I think, not only in terms of how
successfully today's women enter into the workaday world of tomorrow, but also in terms of how effectively they keep that world in
consonance with their first calling in the home. The correct balance
between these two worlds of women will become increasingly difficult
to define, but the core of the matter-it seems to me-is fundamental
and is this: the concept of woman as the keystone of home and
family must remain the inherent principle of our J udeo-Christian
way of life. We cannot afford to see this principle threatened in the
United States of America.
That I say this in no way alters the prominent role which women
are destined to play in this Nation's manpower future. The tabulations, the charts-all analyses of the facts-point unmistakably to
this development. But it is precisely because they do that any discussion of today's woman in tomorrow's world ought to involve
itself with the business of charting a course for what could be a
significant alteration of our society itself.
I think we are past the point in history when we. have to argue
about what a woman is capable of contributing to a nation's economic
and social development. We need look no further than the manpower structure of the Soviet Union to see how far her participation
can be carried.
Now, let's take that look.
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To begin with, one has to consider the catastrophic effect which
World War II had upon the Soviet nation in terms of loss of human
resources. The Soviet population actually fell from 195 million in
1940 to around 175 million in 1947-a drop of 20 million. It took
until 1954 before the 1940 level was again reached. In addition to
enormous civilian and military losses, birth rates in the war-torn
country dropped to less than half their prewar level. Just compare
this drop in Soviet population with the gain of 20 million in our own
population in the decade of the 1940's.
To meet a severe shortage of male workers in every age bracket, the
Soviet turned to womanpower and in the_ process refuted forever
any argument against the occupational capabilities of the female of
the species.
Consider these figures :
Today, women-who comprise 55 percent of the Russian population-account for 53 percent of that nation's total labor force. And
their predominance in some economic sectors is startling.
They represent 85 percent of the work force in the health field, 66
percent in trade, 63 percent in education, 62 percent in communica-tions, 57 percent in agricultur~, and 30 percent in construction.
Three-fourths of all of the doctors in the USSR are women.
In contrast, one-third of our own labor force is composed of
women, with the heaviest concentrations largely in the clerical, teaching, and service ·fields.
Perhaps we ought to applaud the USSR for its extensive use of
the available female work force, and try to emulate their accomplishments in this regard.
I don't think so.
What they have accomplished is based upon a system of day-care
and even "week-care" of children ·w hich is so extensive as to preclude
its adoption here without a lasting impairment of our familycentered society. When a woman comes to be viewed first as a source
of manpower, and secondly as a mere agent for reproduction of more
manpower, and only thirdly and distantly as a mother, as a creater of
home life and the basic source of the emotional strength of the family,
then I think we are losing very much of what supposedly separates
us from the Communist world.
And so, as you might suspect, my most serious thought regarding
today's woman in tomorrow's world jnvolves a hope that tomorrow's
woman will retain that tradition of today's world, which holds that
the highest calling of her sex is in the home.
Now, I will try to reconcile this view with figures revealed in a
major manpower study that our Department of Labor completed only
this year. Looking to the decade ahead, this study tells us these facts:
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The number of women workers is expected to increase from about
24 million to 30 million between 1960 and 1970. This means a 25-percent increase for women, compared with an increase of only 15 percent
for men. It means also, as I indicated earlier, that more than one
(YIJ).t of every three workers in this Nation will be a woman.
And considering our entire female population-from baby girls to
great-great grandmothers-two out of every five women will be in
the labor force by 1970.
This amazing increase in the prominence of women in our employment structure stems largely from the fact that our total manpower
picture is scheduled for a drastic change in its nature. Traditionally,
in this country, the white male worker between 25 and 44 has received
preferential treatment in the personnel office. But because of the low
birth rate of the 1930's, we now find that in the years immediately
ahead, he will no longer be available in sufficient numbers.
So the Nation's employers are going to have to turn, with greater
and greater frequency, to workers who long have been what might
be termed "second clioice selections" in matters of job placement.
These include the older worker, the very young worker, the handicapped worker, the worker from a minority group, and-of especial
significance for this conference-the woman worker.
Now in view of these facts, whatever efforts you may make to define the employment pattern of the future for the American woman,
ought, it seems to me, to focus on three principal areas of attention.
The first is a matter of occupational guidance, skill, and training.
The second is a "type" of woman worker-the younger woman or
girl, who may still be in school or in the first years of her work career.
The third is another "type" of woman worker-the older, or "mature" woman.
Frankly, I rather doubt that most Americans are aware that one of
this Nation's most dynamic and dramatic changeovers is taking place
all around them. ,vhat we are seeing at work in this country is a
business and industrial machine characterized not only by feverish
expansion, as has been commonly recognized, but also by a face and
nature which is being altered so rapidly as to literally astonish anyone
who has taken the time to examine it closely. And as the machine
grows in size and capability, it also grows infinitely more intricate
and continually more complex.
The machine needs people to make it move and grow; and when these
people lack the skill, the training, and the education which the machine
demands, it can't move fast enough and it can't grow fast enough.
An economic machine thrives on young people. They represent
the new fuel which is always being supplied to it, and when you are
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5
trying to build a better and better machine, the octane level of the
fuel has to keep going higher and higher to match it.
In America, today, the refinement of our fuel-the development of
the skill of our work force-is lagging behind the development of our
machine.
In the 10 years ahead, we can reasonably expect to see 7½ million
of our youngsters drop out of school before they receive a high-school
diploma, and of this number one out of three-or 2½ million-will
not have gotten even as far as high school.
A major portion of these young people will be young girls; many
of them an exceptionally bright species of today's woman looking
askance at a tomorrow's world full of waiting on tables, clerking
behind a counter, or watching an automated piece of machinery perform a ritual of productivity.
This is essentially unskilled work. We already have an excess of
people who can perform this sort of work. We already have a shortage of the type of soundly educated, highly trained people which the
ever-.advancing industrial and economic machine demands.
Considering what I told you earlier about the numerical influx
of women into our manpower picture of the decade ahead-an unalterable /Mt of the future-one point becomes strikingly clear. To
get the most out of our available womanpower in these years ahead,
and again, to raise our economic octane level in general, there will
need to be a much greater degree of attention paid to the career plans
of young girls still in school.
But until we as a people come to recognize that what our childrenboy and girl-can contribute to the national good is more important
than the homecoming game with Central High or the post-prom hop,
we are not likely to see a change in our traditional career patterns.
With respect to."girl-power" in our schools (which is, after all, latent
woman power), would we not be well advised to offer a little occupational encouragement to, for example, the young lady who shows
promise in an early mathematics course, rather than simply allowing
her to gravitate toward commercial training?
Now there is a third area of concern which I have called to your
attention. This is another aspect of the women-at-work challenge
lying ahead, and it involves the large number of older women-or
"mature" women as the Women 's Bureau likes to call them- who will
be in the labor force in the decade ahead. By 1970, the labor force
will include about 55 percent of all women in the 45-to-54- age group,
and. about 43 percent of all women 55-to-64 years of age.
These facts point, first of all, to a need to educate the Nation's
employers as to the abilities of these women and to the productive
contributions of which they are capable. For the mature woman
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worker runs up against double prejudice in the employment offiooher age and her sex.
Particularly do these prejudices beset the woman who has reared
her children to the .age of young adults and who, through either need
or ~esire, elects to r£?enter the labor force. We shall witness an
increasingly large number of such cases in the years ahead, and not
only will this type of woman face the double hiring prejudice, but
she will have the added disadvantage of having been away from the
workaday world for an extended period of time. But if, through
the efforts of people like yourselves, and., as the result of deliberations
such as these, we can generate a more enlightened attitude on the part
of employers, I think we can all se·e a brighter day ahead for this
segment of our feminine work force.
We can, that is, if these women are willing themselves to adopt a
corresponding attitude of enlightenment. I have mentioned earlier
the dynamics of "change" in this economy of ours, and an awareness
of this factor is the key to success for any woman who contemplates
a return to the work force. If she is contemplating, she ought to be
planning-planning against the background that what was true 20
years ago is not necessarily so today. And if she has engaged in
this planning, I think that increasingly she will become a most welcome and valued member of the American labor force. She must,
because we will need her, and need her badly.
These, basically, are my thoughts on the manpower challenge of
the 1960's as that challenge affects this Nation's womanpo-wer. They
are intended, simply, as my contribution to the discussions which will
follow this talk. I hope they have sufficiently served the purpose.
But before I leave you, I shall ask you to allow me a moment or
two to extend my personal congratulations to the Women's Bureau
on the occasion of this fortieth anniversary which has brought us
together this morning. In the years that I have been Under Secretary of Labor, I have found that the Department of Labor remains a
consistently hectic place year in and year out. We find ourselves
embroiled in national steel strikes, upsurges in the Consumer Price
Index or undulations in unemployment; or entangled in legislation
governing labor-management relations which nobody wants, but
everybody recognizes as necessary.
Through all of this, I can assure you, it has been a personal pleasure
to watch the quiet but effective pace of the Women's Bureau, constantly working to improve the economic lot and the social status of
the feminine worker in the United States of America. I would like,
therefore, to take this opportunity to applaud the work of Mrs.
Leopold and her staff, who have built so well on the outstanding work
of their predecessors. I hope that you will join with me.
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Today's woman or tomorrow's woman, in whatever world you choose,
has a friend in court in the Federal Government. That friend is
the Women's Bureau, and we are exceptionally proud to have this
agency as a part of the Department of Labor.
June f-Morning Session
Today's Woman Prepares for
Tomorrow's World
A PANEL-INTERVIEWED BY
A YOUNG MOTHER, A MATURE WOMAN, AND A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
Panel Moderator: Dr. Mary I. Bunting
President of Radcliffe College
Mr. Howard Coughlin, President of the Office Employees International Union, AFL---CIO
Dr. Junius A. Davis, Dean of the Graduate School, Women's College,
University of North Carolina
Dr. Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr., Executive Director of the American
Association of Junior Colleges
Dr. Carl F. Hansen, Superintendent of Schools, District of Columbia
Mr. Lowell B. Jacobsen, Vice President, Personnel, National Broadcasting Company
Dr. Jeanne L. Noble, Assistant Professor, Center for Human Relations Studies, New York University
Dr. Ormsbee W. Robinson, Assistant to the Director of Executive
Development, International Business Machines Corporation
Dr. John P. Walsh, Director of the Trade and Industrial Branch,
Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare
The Young Mother-Mrs. James F. C. Hyde, Jr.
The Mature Woman-Miss Florence P. Sheldon
The High School Senior-Miss Emily Hanke
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June 12-Morning Session
Today's Woman Prepares for
Tomorrow's World
INTRODUCTION TO PANEL DISCUSSION
Dr. Mary I. Bunting
President of Radcliffe College
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be here. It is a wonderful moment,
you know, when anyone in the academic world can get away from the
home campus, and I cannot tell you with what pleasure I focus today
on just what we are going to do here, and forget everything else that
might otherwise be on my mind.
It is not as a speaker that I make a few remarks here this morningbut as a moderator of this panel discussion and as one very much
interested in what is going to develop during this morning and
afternoon.
The problems we will discuss today are problems that really concern all of society, and the values we develop as we are talking about
what a woman does are the values that our society feels with respect
to what anyone does, and it is in this framework, I think, that we
address ourselves to specific problems.
We address ourselves to this subject in a democracy, a community
that is based on faith in the individual's potentialities, and a community in which I think one of the most important yardsticks is the
extent to which major policies and major problems are decided at
the level of the individual. I think our panel arrangement this morning reflects this.
We are going to have three women asking questions-a young
mother, a mature woman, and a high school senior. A number of
citizens with special qualifications are here to answer their questions.
Sometimes we will turn the tables in this session, and the panelists
will ask the women a few questions, because we are all gropin¥ and
working for answers. The policies of the United States of America
have to be developed by the decisions that individuals make, because
this is the nature of a democracy and it is this process that is going
to be at work here today.
We know that the problems that women are preparing themselves
to meet, that everyone is preparing for in the world of the future,
are problems that we still do not know very much about. Everything
is changing so fast now that the one thing we know is that things are
going to keep on changing, and at an accelerating rate.
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Left to right: Mrs. Alice K. Leopold; Dr. Mary I. Bunting, and Mr. Howard
Coughlin.
This follows from the rate at which science is moving and new
knowledge is being gathered, and it affects not just the few people
at the top; it permeates throughout society and changes the kind of
job that everyone is doing. It changes the way in which each individual will participate in his job. This is a very important concept
and a very important one for our young people to understand. Many
illustrations come to mind. For example, the rapidity with which
television developed after the first equations that were necessary to
make it possible. Now, there is a television, or more than one, in
nearly every home; there is a man around the corner who can fix the
set; and there are people who put on programs. When you watch
this sort of thing permeate society, you see. how the developments in
physics change every aspect of our life and how there will continue
to be changes in education and everything else.
It is this sort of change that we have to understand when we think
of the role that women, and men too, are going to play in the future,
and we have to recognize that we do not know what the future will
be like.
Therefore, any training and any planning has to be in the most
basic te.r ms-not how to do the little thing that is needed today, but
how to get ready to be able to learn to do the big thing that is needed
tomorrow.
Women's lives have been affected tremendously by all of this change.
I am glad that Mr. O'Connell made the point so clearly that the focus
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of woman's life must remain in the home, that nothing is more important to our society. At the same time we must recognize that
the home is a very different thing from what it once was.
There was a time when the home was the sort of place where a
great deal that was economically important to the family was carried
on; the children were there but they were part of a whole enterprise.
When I was a young mother, I used to drop in on a Lithuanian
farm family in Connecticut and a little boy would take me out to the
smokehouse where the hams were hanging and tell me that his mother
could make 45 different things from a pig. The knowledge that this
woman had she had gotten from her parents. That home was very
different from the modern home of today, and the information the
mother had was different too.
When we think of what woman is doing today we have to recognize
this kind of change and above all, that in today's world where things
move so fast the most important resource for the family, as for the
Nation, is the trained talent of individuals. The woman who is particularly interested in the wealth-in the bigger sense-of her family,
has got to be interested in the sum total of trained talent that that
family has available, and if she is interested in building this for her
children I think she has got to build it by the way she lives herself.
One does not do this by just telling the children to do their homework.
Rather, it is done by the model one sets one's self.
It is true that, in terms of many of the jobs in the home, women
are to some extent technologically unemployed, and it is true also
that we all live very much longer than we once did. For every year
we live now the expectation is half a year longer. This means that
the kind of emphasis that was essential in an age when life was shorter
and when there was need to raise more children, is changed today;
and this is another factor we must keep in mind.
What we want to do now is to turn to the problems within this
framework. What are the problems that are facing individual women
of different ages and what are some of the leads that we can provide
at this time to help them? It is to this whole subject that our panel
will address itself.
I invite your attention and your questions because you have a real
part in what we emerge with today, and it is as active participants
that we hope to proceed.
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June i, 1960-llforning Session
Today's Woman Prepares for
Tomorrow's World
PANEL DISCUSSION
DR. MARY
I.
MR. How ARD CouGHLIN
DR. JUNIUS
A.
DAVIS
DR. EDMUND J. GLEAZER, JR.
DR. CARL
F.
HANSEN
BUNTING,
Moderator
MR. LowELL B. JACOBSEN.
DR_. JEANNE
DR. ORMSBEE
DR. JOHN
P.
L.
NOBLE
w.
ROBINSON
WALSH
Dr. Bunting: For this panel discussion, we will first call on Mrs.
Hyde, a young mother, to ask some of the questions she has in mind;
then Miss Sheldon, a mature woman ; and Miss Hanke, a high school
senior. Then, the panel members will make their comments and ask
their questions. We hope to have a free conference here, with the
young mother, the mature woman, and the high school senior posing
new questions that develop as the discussion progresses. This is not
an act we are putting on, but an inquiry; and if any one of this group
finds that he or she is developing an entirely different point of view,
we shall certainly hope to hear it.
We do not know what will develop here, but we anticipate a meaningful and profitable discussion. It is in this spirit that I call on
Mrs. Hyde, the young mother, to ask some of the questions that are
uppermost in her mind.
THE YOUNG MOTHER
Mrs. James F. C. Hyde, Jr.
Mrs. Hyde: Thank you, President Bunting. Mr. O'Connell has
just given us some very interesting statistics showing that the majority
of women are full-time homemakers-I think he said some ·55 percent-and you, President Bunting, have stressed the importance of a
woman being a model for her children's growth.2
I would like to ask the panel if life today can hold enough satisfaction for a woman who is not contemplating employment-so that
2
Detailed information on the woman worker in the population and in the labor force
is given in the Women's Bureau publication Hanrlbook on Women Workers. Revised, edi·
tions of the Handbook are issued biennially. See Appendix , p. 125, -for list of Women's
Bureau publications and bow they may be obtained.
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she feels she is contributing to her community and to society; and
that she is alive and a ware and growing so that she will be this
model for her children's growth that President Bunting has
mentioned.
Dr. Bunting: I am going to call first on Dr. Noble for her answer,
or to start the answers, to this tremendous question.
Dr. Noble: I would say that women certainly can find a great deal
of satisfaction in community volunteer work.
I would go further, however, and say that answers to this question
depend upon a good number of facets. One question which I would
throw back is: Is this woman a college graduate or is she someone
who has not been to college? Because I think the interests of women
differ, depending upon the amount of education they have had, and
the amount of work experience they had before the time of their
child-bearing years. If she is a college woman, I think there are
many associations with groups with which she had earlier affiliationsand these can be continued. There are also many volunteer responsibilities she can assume. Now that I have started the answers to
this question, I shall defer further comment until later in the
discussion.
Dr. Bunting: Do you want to go on from here, Mrs. Hyde?
Mrs. Hyde: I wonder if we could get some other opinions on this,
and try to attack it from the point of view of the woman who has
not had a college education. I mean-the woman who does not have
a college education and yet wants to be doing something useful for
the benefit of other people, as well as for her own personal growth.
Dr. Hansen: I should like to be bold enough to hazard this suggestion-that there is a tendency, perhaps, to underestimate the
quality of the responsibility involved in homemaking, and that if
this is done well, it could be considered a full-time vocation.
We see some of the effects of inefficient home management in our
schools, so that I would be inclined to say that here, first of all,
the woman, the mother, the grandmother should give her full time
and attention to doing an adequate, scientific, well-planned job of
maintaining the home as a resource for human development.
Dr. Bunting: Are there any other people who would like to comment on this point?
Dr. Davis: I would like to differ with this in part, if I may. Some
years ago we were quite surprised to learn that football players in
the Ivy League made better grades in the fall, when they came in
early and had to spend much of their study time in football practice,
rather than in study.
I believe there is a parallel in today's woman. There are certainly
many women who, like the football players, are more efficient and
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Left to right: Dr. Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr., Mr. Howard Coughlin, Dr. Jeanne
L. Noble, Dr. John P. Walsh, and The Honorable James T. O'Connell.
effective in their required activities if they are doing something else
that they really enjoy.
Certainly, many women overdo outside employment, but for many
of them I suspect that the chance to do creative work outside the
home has an important bearing on their excellence as homemakers
when their children are growing.
Dr. Bunting: I would like to second that. It may be that the degree to which a woman functions well in her home reflects the degree
to which she is doing some important and satisfying things outside
of the home. And I can only add that the mail that has come in to
me in the last few days from all over the United States- California,
the South, all over- in response to what I have said recently along
these lines, shows how often this is true.
A woman in California wrote and said that for 10 years she
wondered why her home was not bringing her more satisfaction, and
why she was not doing her homemaking job well. She finally decided
to take a job and immediately things started to go much better at
home. I have had letters of this sort from many people and, as is so
often the case, I think that we are wrong when we think sometimes
in terms of a dichotomy between these things- that the answer is
an implied contradiction.
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Would someone else like to say something on this subject~
Dr. Walsh: Dr. Bunting, I think it is important that we take a
look at what seem to be some of the economic conditions that tend
to force some of our young mothers to enter the labor force, and in
such a situation that we consider what can be done to preserve as
much of this wonderful home life as we can. Because there is concern about this, we might look at the possibility of part-time work
that is available for our young mothers.
I know we in this area are very much a ware of the fact that many
of our people who are in the clerical positions, secretarial positions,
and the like, are young mothers who have found it necessary to return
to work rather shortly after having their children and to start
building for their family's future.
Now, if this is so, I think we have a responsibility to provide some
way to keep people informed as to what kinds of part-time jobs are
available and how they might 'be obtained. 3 This would make it
possible, I think, for more of our young mothers to enter the labor
market and make a contribution, on a part-time basis, and yet maintain more of their home life than wouJd be possible if they had to
seek full-time jobs.
Dr. Noble: I would like to comment on Dr. Davis' statement and
yours, too, President Bunting.
Several factors are important in this matter as to whether or not
the family of the woman is attuned to her desires and what she would
like to do with her life. First, many women would never be happy
to remain all of their lives in the home. For them and for their
temperament, it would be better to combine a career and homemaking.
Second, it depends on the quality of the relationships among all
of the members of the family. I was interested in one of the papers
read at the recent White House Conference on Children and Youth
which said that it depended on the relationship between the father
and the children as to whether or not the mother could depend on
his help in order to go out and work. I think there are other factors
and it is difficult to give an either/or answer; it depends on the
woman, her I.Q., her training, her temperament, and the members of
her family, and how they would feel about her working outside of
the home.
Dr. Bunting: Mrs. Hyde, what would you like to say at this point~
3
Opportunities for part-time employment for women In all age groups are discussed In
a Women's Bureau report Part-Time Employment for Women (Bulletin 273; released in
June 19'60).
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Mrs. Hyde: I have several things I would like to address to Dr.
Hansen and to Dr. Walsh. First of all, I would like to say that I
think most of us will agree that with preschool children in the home
it is almost impossible to go out and get a part-time job. Therefore,
your satisfaction, if you are seeking it outside the family, must come
through some kind of volunteer work, which, I would think, could be
done on a very special basis. I know Dr. Hansen is a ware that a great
many women who do a poor job in the home are perhaps spreading
themselves too thin over a great many activities, and this is not
helpful.
On the subject of part-time employment, however, once one has children in school and can perhaps devote a half-day to some kind of
employment, this is all very well, but having looked for part-time
employment at some time I think it is extremely difficult to find. It is
very difficult to find unless you want to do it on a very low level, and if
one has any special training or a col1ege degree, Dr. Walsh, you want
to do something that is a little better than just clerical work, or to
serve as a waitress in some diner.
Now I would like to know where these opportunities for part-time
employment exist, because I have found them extremely difficult to
find.
Dr. Walsh: One area which I think will offer increasing opportunities is teaching. I believe more and more that professionally
trained people will be called upon to supplement teaching staffs as
lay readers. This can be done on a part-time basis.
I also see numerous opportunities for part-time work in the field
of nursing and in some of the other health occupations.
The opportunities are more numerous in the professional field, I
think-much more so than in the case of a person who, because of
economic necessity, must have a job and may lack previous training.
Here, the great problem is-going for an interview and saying "I am
looking for a job but I don't know what I have to offer."
Here we have a problem that I think our schools must attack earlier
in a student's life. Mr. O'Connell made this point very clearly-in
terms of the need for occupationally orienting some of our people at
an earlier age in high school so that they know what the job opportunities are and will be as they look to the future. They can then
develop their skills toward filling these future jobs.
Once people find a way to develop the kind of skills that they need,
we have, I think, some resources through one of the bureaus of the
Department of Labor for informing people of job opportunities that
are available; we then know what the labor market needs are.
If people have skills and they are able to balance their home and
their so-called work life, there seems to be no problem. In this con16
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nection, I think the District schools have offered a very important
course in their program. I think they call it the marriage course and
it is part of their vocational training program. One of the important
things girls learned through the course was how to plan a dual kind of
life-with the recognition that more and more of our women are
going to be both homemakers and workers. Students learned some
of the shortcuts that others have had to learn the ha.rd way.
Dr. Hansen: Mrs. Resh called this course the brides' course, and it
immediately attracted every girl in the school.
I want to be sure that my definition of the responsibilities of homemaking is clearly understood. I am not envisioning a cloistered
situation for the homemaker; she must be a part of the community
and should have many interests outside the home, and these may include working.
But to come back to the theme that I started with : Perhaps the most
important calling in the world of the professions is the management
of a home. The person in charge has tremendous influence upon the
order within the home, upon the development of people within the
home, and upon the community and the Nation as a whole.
So, I am simply making a plea-as we talk about opportunities
for women-to keep in mind that they must assume this ancient role
of being a mother, a homemaker, a guide, and an exemplar of moral
behavior; and that this should come first, and should be entered into
with great joy and expectation.
Mr. Jacobsen: Dr. Bunting, I have just been listening to some of
the questions and answers and I assume we are addressing ourselves
to a very small percentage of the motherhood population. I say this
as one who has been active in PTA and many of the other activities,
and as one who found that a PTA organization is extremely active
not just because some of the homemakers want to participate.
I find that the hospital corps are always seeking part-time people
to come and give them a helping hand; I find that when you come into
a community chest drive it is always difficult to get some of the homemakers to participate and to contribute actively to the organization.
It seems to me that if part-time volunteer work or paid work is of
interest to some women, that there are many opportunities, and that
these women just have to go out and seek them. In these times, a
woman can do more than say that she would like to do something.
Opportunities exist; there is a real need ; and I think that it is time
for some women to take the initiative toward active participation.
Dr. Bunting: I think that this is a very important point. Mr.
Coughlin, do you want to add something?
Mr. Coughlin: I think we have to recognize realities and pass over
the question as to the more desirable activity on the part of the women
in the home.
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We must recognize the fact that while the working force- the number of women in the work force-- is roughly 24 million, it is also true
that the majority of these women are married and that many are
working mothers.
I would like to add, as a member of the National Health Council's
health career project, that I have found that there are innumerable
interesting occupations in this field, which working mothers can fill
either on a permanent part-time basis or on a temporary basis, and
for which they can receive training through a variety of facilities;'
For example, there is the occupation of research assistant or technician. Additional people are needed very much in occupations of
these types.
Mrs. Hyde: If, as all of these statistics tell us, I am inevitably going to be a member of the working force in another 10 years, let us
suppose that I have no specialization and no college degree, and that
I have no training in any particular field. How can I now prepare
for this inevitable situation that I will meet 10 years hence? Where
can I get some training at this time that may be available to me part
time in the mornings or while my children are in school ?
Dr. Bunting: Dr. Gleazer, will you comment on this question?
Dr. Gleazer: First, I must give a little preamble because it seems
to me that so often in our country-in our culture-when we talk about
going to college, we are thinking in terms of a 4-year program leading
to a bachelor's degree. Growing out of the socia.l and economic needs
of the United States of America during the last 50 or 60 years, and
particularly over the last 2_0 or 25 years, there has emerged an institution that is very well designed, I think, to meet the need that you
present here, Mrs. Hyde, and that is the junior college. As long as
you are located within the community and you do have family responsibilities, I am thinking particularly in terms of the community junior
college.
These institutions, and there are some 400 of the community junior
colleges located across the country, are open from early morning until
late at night. You will find enrolled in these schools some two to
three times more part-time students than full-time students. You
can get training there as a research technician, and as a dental assistant; many of them offer programs leading to the Associate Degree in
Nursing. You can qualify there to take your State board examinations for Registered Nurse, and so on. And you can do this over a
number of years if you wish. In fact, I have been doing some com'Training Opportunities for Women and Girls (Bulletin 274) ts a new Women's Bureau
publication that describes the types of public and private training factltties that are
available, the training opportuntties tn various fields of work, and how interested persons
can get additional information.
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mencement speaking as have some of the rest of you during the last
few weeks, and I have been delighted to see the number of women who
are 35, 40, 45, 50, 60, 65, and on up, walking across that stage. Sol{le
of them have attended classes for several years, on a part-time basis,
but they have completed their degree requirements and they are now
able and ready to enter a vocation or occupation such as we have
mentioned.
Many of these institutions, by the way, have either very low tuition
or are tuition free. 5
Dr. Bunting: This is very important and pertinent. I will now
ask Miss Sheldon to ask whatever questions seem most important to
her.
THE MATURE WOMAN
Mis~ Florence P. Sheldon
Miss Sheldon: Thank you, Dr. Bunting. In speaking for the ma-
ture woman I should like to divide her group into two categories.
Let us take the mother who has been at home and has made a
full-time job as homemaker. When the youngsters weren't sick she
5 Dr. Gleazer later provided the following additional statement regarding the education
of women:
"Many opportunities for continu ing education are presently available to those women
whose families have grown and have become more independent, who have reached a point
in their lives when they seek new intellectual intereRts and· stimulation, and who may
also want to take up some form of employment to supplement the family income. The
variety and scope of such educational programs vary from community to community. In
some places, new organizations have sprung up to sponsor adult education.
"Where public junior or community colleges are established, women will find educational opportunities in evening, afternoon, or weekend sessions as well as in the regular
daytime programs.
"There is evidence, however, that women d-0 not take full advantage of all existing
opportunities. While many women sign up for courses in art, nursing education, dental
hygiene, and areas of a preprofessional level in medicine, law, and science, there are undoubtedly many individuals who have resisted their own urge to "do something worthwhile." How to reach and motivate these well-meaning persons is a job the U.S. Department of Labor and other agencies are tackling energetically. The potential wealth in
terms of self-fulfillment, personal satisfaction, anll inner security that can be derived
from continuing education is unlimited. From the national point of view, it is more important than ever that all our citizens strive for maximum use of their abilities and talents and that they be more alert to the isRues, problems, and promises. of the world around
them.
"Many community colleges, responding to the needs of their localities, have established
evening or weekend programs aimed at training and preparing workers for local industry,
bu siness, and professional areas. This kind of program is especially within the reach of
the homemaker who, at the height of her initial interest, has only limited time available
for study or who wishes to prepare herself in advance of when her schedule will become
more flexible.
"Whatever the reason for resuming their education, women- and men, too- can find
in most community colleges around the country (<n·er 400 now) continuing educational
opportunities to suit their needs.
"Over the next decade, as scores of additional community colleges are built around the
country, additional opportunities will be readily available for those who wish to take
advantage of them."
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did go to some PTA and other meetings. The children have now gotten
to the point where they have gone out into the world and she is left
with either an emotional or a financial need to go to work. Her question is: How can I get a satisfactory job at my age? Let us say her
age is between 45 and 55.
Dr. Bunting: Will you respond to this question, Dr. Robinson?
Dr. Robinson: I am afraid that this is one to which I can contribute
very little other than in terms of the experience of our own industry.
But that experience certainly builds on the comments of Dr. Gleazer.
I think the real problem here is not that the positions are not available,
but that the person comes without adequate training or skill, or e·xperience. If the person started with some experience which could be
redeveloped, this would help some. I presume that will lead to your
next question.
Miss Sheldon: That is my second question.
Dr. Robinson: It seems to me that in the first area-acquiring the
needed training or skill-this person should obtain some kind of
counseling a.t the YWCA or some similar organization or school.
Second, she should look for training opportunities in the junior community colleges or other institutes for special training-so that she
could meet at least the general entrance requirements that are established for various positions in most large industries and business
organizations.
Dr. Walsh: I would like to comment a little. The point was well
made by Dr. Robinson that training is an important aspect in breaking down the dual barrier for employment for the mature woman.
In the first place, we recognize the fact that older persons have
had so-called strikes against them in appearing at the employment
agency or the employment desk. But when that person can offer proof
of a developed skill or proven knowledge within a field, one barrier is
immediately broken. 6
With the obvious need that we have in some occupational areas
today, people are seeking those who are capable, those who have the
competencies that are needed. More and more the age barrier is one
that will disappear. We think of some areas today where the mature
woman finds employment with ease and many of the job opportunities
require but short training programs.
Let us think of the health field that was referred to a moment ago.
One of the great opportunities -that is open to the maturing person
is in the health field-in the areas of practical nursing and nursing
e To help the mature woman in her preparation for employment, the Women's Bureau
has sponsored Employment Opportunities Forums in many localities throughout the United
States. For more information concerning these Forums, and how they may be conducted,
write to the Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington 25, D.C.
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aid. Many of those enrolled in training programs across this Nation
in preparation for practical nursing careers are in the "mature
person" category.
This is a 1-year program, a combination of work in the school and
in a clinic where the person has the sense of participation right from
the very beginning. This training offers the possibility of a second
career, or even a first career, to the person who has given full time to
raising a family.
In terms of the length of the training period, there are many other
opportunities in a related field. We think of the whole field of
executive housekeeping in a commercial sense, not in the terms of the
home. The executive housekeeping field deals with the tremendous
range of services in hospitals, hotels, and motels, where direction must
be given to those who perform all the tasks involved in such services.
A great many other opportunities are available to people interested
in short-term training, such as PBX operators. There are many,
many training opportunities that can be explored, but once again I
think the clue is in finding what kinds of jobs are available.7 The
kind of counseling that was referred to is important, and one of the
things on which we will place more emphasis as we move on into this
wonderful decade of the Sizzling Sixties, is setting up the kinds of
guidance and counseling services-with Government support-that
will help people find out what the job opportunities are and what
kind of training is needed for them.
Dr. Bunting: Mr. Jacobsen, do you have some ideas on this subject i
Mr. Jacobsen: I would like to caution the mature woman at this
point that as she goes out to look for a job she must realize that she
has to retain her appearance, her alertness; she has to have a flexible
personality; she must realize also that she may possibly have to start
at a lower rate than she received during her earlier period of paid
employment. Also, she will be competing with numbers of young
women who have just come out of high school or college and who
are sharp in their skills. Even so, I think it is very important that
the mature woman have the opportunity to return-to get started.
American industries, once the woman is back on the job, have tuition
loan and refund plans through ·which she can go to night school.
In our company, for example, we pay tuition up to $275 a year as
long as she is taking a course at night school or college that is in
keeping with the work she is doing.
7 The Women 's Bureau publishes information on employment opportunities for women
in selected occupations and profession s, including new and expanding fields of work as
well as those where women traditionally are emplored. See Appendix , p. 125 for complete
list of Women 's Bureau publications related to this subject, and information on how they
may be obtained.
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I think that the mature woman must remember that she is in a
very competitive labor force, and that she must have something to
offer. If she has the techniques, the skills, the personality, I believe
that age is not a factor.
Dr. Bunting: Do you have something to add, Mr. Coughlin ?
Mr. Coughlin: In my particular field, we find that people are being employed with little regard to their age- and I'm now referring
to the mature age group- in some of the newer occupations created
by the electronic data-processing machines. In these cases, the training is novel to a certain extent- except that applicants should have
some sort of a background in business administration or accounting,
and not necessarily arithmetic or like subjects. I suggest that people
who are interested in these occupations should visit IBM or Remington Rand or similar firms which are in the process of training people
for the newer occupations now coming into being as a result of the
introduction of electronic data-processing machines.
Mr. Jacobsen: Dr. Bunting, may I say that the RCA is also in the
data-processing field. In fact, to give you some indication of what
we can expect in the next 10-year period, General Sarnoff, at a
recent stockholders meeting, pointed out that although we are a
billion dollar corporation at this time, within the next 10 years
data processing alone should be and will be a billion dollar operation
for RCA and more so for IBM.
Mr. Walsh: May I add one point to the comments on data processing? I think as we move into this computing area and take into
account the very changeable nature of data processing, that the
primary concern will be for the younger worker in that field rather
than the mature worker. The reason is that the changes will come
rapidly, the people will be expected t o be extremely flexible, and in
the course of a work Ffe there may be as many as a dozen changes
which will require flexibility on the part of the worker.
I think you will find that in looking for people to do data ·processing and computing work, it is the young worker who is wanted to
build the team.
Dr. Gleazer: I was intrigued by your mention of ages 40, 45, and
so on. It seems to me we need to give some thought to that.
I wonder at what age of maturity training is no longer effective?
I know a man who just recently completed his doctorate at 72 years
of age, and I think if a man can do this a woman ought to be ab]e
to do it. Let us not get too concerned about whether the age is 45
or 50. I think training can be effective during these years of growing
maturity.
Mr. Coughlin: May I add just one further thought which may
partly contradict what Dr. Walsh said? Recently, I represented our
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Government at a meeting in Germany dealing with the subject of
automation. In discussing the problem with many employer representatives, I found that these people are loathe to train young people
in these new automotive occupations because of the turnover in the
younger age groups, and are now setting their sights for older
people- where they can expect a certain amount of permanency.
Dr. Bunting: Miss Sheldon, would you like to comment on the
quality of experience that the mature woman has had?
Miss Sheldon: The mature woman needs to be told where she can
go for sympathetic counseling, because in many instances the personnel officer is a young person of 25 to 30 who thinks grandmother is
walking in looking for a position. Consequently the counselor's
approach is not as helpful as it might be. I would like to go on to
the other category-a woman who had some earlier years of experience in the business world. She was successful, yet she wanted to
be a homemaker and has been successful at that. But her interest
in the business world, the outside world, has always continued. She
now comes into the labor market and wants a little more than a
routine job; she has more to offer than such a job requires. Where
can she go? How can she get into something which will completely
satisfy her and use her potentialities which can easily be trained?
I am talking more about employment on a professional or managerial level, in a salary bracket which until now has not been open
to her. When she worked in the past she got promotions; now coming
cold from the outside it is hard to open the door. How does she
do it?
Dr. Bunting: Dr. Robinson, what does IBM do for this woman or
is it interested in this woman?
Dr. Robinson: I think we are interested in any woman who has
interest and talent, and is capable of doing the kinds of work that we
require, particularly in the data-processing field.
I assume we are talking now about the person who is not interested
in becoming a machine operator again, but who is interested in doing
programming or some of the other semiprofessional or professional
jobs.
Miss Sheldon: Yes.
Dr. Robinson: I made a brief study and found that there are very
few . applications from older women for this kind of work, and I
found that the reasons were threefold. One was the reluctance, as you
suggest, of the older woman coming in and finding herself in special
classes with groups of young girls just out of college or just out of
junior college, and perhaps finding it difficult after years of not being
in classroom work to keep up with the rate of training. This has
been part of the problem. Another difficulty stems from the require-
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Left to right: Dr. Carl F. Hansen, Miss Florence P. Sheldon (representing mature women); Mrs. James F. C. Hyde (representing young mothers), Miss
Emily Hanke (high school senior), and Dr. Bunting.
ments for these positions-requirements other than those of pure
intellectual ability. It is often necessary to travel extensively, and
this is a requirement which very often is not pleasing to the person
who still has a home base.
The people who are responsible for this phase of our work say that
retraining is the key. I was particularly impressed by Mr. O'Connell's remark earlier, to the effect that if a person has always had the
goal or objective of reentering the labor market at some point, the
solution is to start planning 5 or 6 years beforehand, taking courses
in the fields which will help to meet any intellectual obsolescence that
may have taken place. This is particularly true in mathematics and
other areas which are relevant to the highly technical work that is
required of the people we are discussing at the moment. 8
Dr. Davis: Two handicaps for this person were suggested earlier,
age and sex. There is certainly another handicap that is not peculiar
8 Dr. Robinson later added the following observation : " In the review of the problems of
older women in industry, for example, it should not be forgotten that the older man is also
confronted with discriminatory employm ent policies that either reduce his mobility or
seriou8ly hinder his reentry into the labor force. We mu st thu s seek a wider understanding and acceptance of the facts about the competence and productivity of older
workers, both men and women, while continuing to improve the relative opportunities of
the older woman worker. The recent article by Secretary Mitchell in The New York
Times Magazine Section provided an unusually clear and etrective statement of the general
lssue.
" I would predict that with the shortages anticipated in the labor force over the next
decade, business and industry will discover that some of their quaint inhibitions about
hiring women mu st be set aside. Adjustments were made quickly during World War II,
and some of the gains made by women during that period have been held. Business will
be equally pragmatic in the future and this time it may be hoped that an even larger
proportion o! the changes will become permanent.''
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to this group but is, I think, pertinent here: 80 or 90 percent of those
who seek jobs take the first job they find without comparing it with
any other job. It would seem to me that it is particularly important for the job seeker and for the guidance of counseling agencies, to
understand or know that the search for a job must be ingenious; it
cannot stop simply with a cursory review of the want ads, nor can it
consist entirely of going from door to door, from one personnel officer
to another. This is something that needs careful planning. Certainly
the notion of planning several years ahead is important, as is the
approach to the job market-getting professional help, relying on
friends and associates for leads, and the like.
Dr. Robinson: There is one other problem which I think has to be
considered, and this would be true both in the kinds of professional
work I was discussing, as well as in the office or office manager field,
and that is the problem of trying to derive some transitional experience so that the person again becomes accustomed to the life of an
office. A number of people have suggested. that as a part of the
transitional planning, opportunities to work with organizations such
as Office Temporaries can be a helpful experience in getting a person
readjusted to life within a business organization.
Dr. Bunting: Thank you. We are all hoping as these needs emerge
that the
omen's Bureau is taking careful notes, because some of
these are problems that they certainly can help us resolve.
Miss Sheldon: It seems to me the older woman is going around in
a circle. Business will take her, if she has the qualifications, but how
will she know what qualifications are needed in order to find the
positions? She is trying to break through a barrier which until now
has blocked her. In the years ahead she will be accepted but it is
discouraging for her to be interviewed here and interviewed there
and be told.: "Potentially you have the possibilities but you don't have
the training." Where can she go to find someone who will tell her
wha.t the market is, and what she should train for?
Again, this emphasizes the need for counseling and guidance. As
a homemaker this woman has devoted herself to her home. Now
she has ability, loyalty and energy to give outside the home. Where
can she learn how to put these qualities to the most fruitful use ?
Dr. Walsh: Today, we have at our fingertips knowledge of what
needs to be done; and that is-provid.e the information !
The employment outlook information that is put together by the
Department of Labor contributes greatly to this. The problem is,
it doesn't reach everyone and I think that the Women's Bureau might
well take this as a challenge in the years ahead to see that this kind
of information reaches the people who are in the categories we are
talking about. Whether the Women's Bureau would do it through
,v
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some service organizations or through the adult education programs
of schools, the junior colleges, the extension services of universities,
I don't know. But I think this would be a valuable service for the
Bureau to render. 9
If we can make the proper projections, and, we have people doing
it every day, those who read the journals can predict pretty far ahead
what people might be needed to do the jobs of the future. If we are
thinking of an educational program that would prepare the maturing
woman for her future role, it must be done in terms of at least a half
a decade ahead so that we can be ready to do it on a planned basis.
Dr. Hansen: If there's this much need for educational guidance
then the adult education departments of the school systems might well
consider organizing special courses and inviting the more mature
people to come in for membership to analyze under guidance the problems which are facing them .
. Dr. Gleazer: May I mention at this point that we have the U.S.
Employment Service for this function? I am interested particularly
in the functions of the professional placement service of the U .S.
Employment Service, and I know too that it wants to be ever more
useful.
Dr. Bunting: Thank you. I am now going to turn to Miss Hanke
and ask her to lead us to this important group that she representsthe young girl planning ,,a head and planning within the framework
we have been discussing. What would you like to ask the panel?
THE HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR
Miss Emily Hanke
Miss Hanke: Thank you, Dr. Bunting. The high school semor
that's graduating this year is faced with three alternatives. First
9 Among the many schools and colleges having adult education and counseling programs, are the following :
Douglass College (New Brunswick, N.J.), under a $25,000 grant from the Ford Foundation , is exploring ways in which college trained housewives can be retrained for professional careers. In the initial stages, the study is dealing only with the retraining of
women for positions in the field of mathematics. First steps in the program have been to
seek women mathematicians in 10 counties in northern New Jersey and to canvass potential employers to ascertain their anticipated needs for 1965.
The Alumnae Ad.v isory Vocational Committee of Barnard College, in the spring of 1960,
expanded the workshop which they had sponsored for 3 years and held a Seven-College
Workshop to explore the interests and problems of alumnae planning to reenter the labor
market. The Workshop combines group discussions and individual counseling. The goal
is realistic in helping participants to understand the problems they must meet in returning to work, and assists them in selecting and finding suitable employment.
'£he Woman 's College, University of North Carolina (Greensboro, N.C.), has a workshop
for counselors of girls in high schools or colleges, with preference given to those holding a
master's degree in guidance, counseling psychology , s tudent personnel administration, or
related fields. 'l'he workshop focuses on two areas: Psychological and sociological factors
in the vocational development of women in our contemporary society ; and trend s in the
educational attainment and employment of women , with particular reference to current
and anticipated sources of employment.
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she could go into the working world and take a job, or she can marry
and immediately enter the realm that Mrs. Hyde has discussed, or
she could continue her formal education by going to college or junior
college or business school.10
I would like the panel to discuss why a girl who can immediately
get a good job, either in the Government as a secretary or working
for a firm or in the field in which she is interested, should put off
the immediate security of the job and go to college?
Dr. Noble: I think if a high school senior has the intellectual capacity to go to college, she should go to college because this means that
she would fulfill herself in a job which would be commensurate with
her ability, and she would be able to give to our Nation the calibre
of work that the Nation needs. Also, I think that we must bear in
mind that all of the studies tell us that people with a college education eventually make more money than those who do not go to college,
and that their chances for doing a variety of jobs seem to be somewhat
better. 11
Dr. Gleazer: I would like to be controversial at this point. I think
it's unfortunate that we sometimes place emphasis upon the fact that
college graduates earn more money. I think there's entirely too much
emphasis on that idea these days and it is used as a bona fide reason
for going to college. We live in a culture which proclaims self-fulfillment and self-expression, and we should go ahead with education for
its own sake. We need to have this kind of self-fulfillment, and tied
in with that is a second reason emphasized this morning, namelyour society's needs for trained minds.
I like to think that people will acquire as much training and education as they can, because it broadens their base for decision making.
They can take advantage of more options as they move along in life
if they have a broad foundation. So, I would certainly say- that if
you can-go ahead with your education because the job that looks so
good now may not look as good as time goes on. This reminds me
of a visit to my old home in Missouri. We had what I earlier thought
was a gigantic lake in the backyard, and when I went home several
years later, it wa.s just a little pond. The pond had not changed, but
my view of it had, and I think the same thing sometimes applies to
these good jobs mentioned by Miss Hanke.
10 Wome n 's Bureau Pamphlet 7- Future Jobs for High School Girls- discusses the
variety of employment opportunities available for young women, and the training and
educational background required .
11 A Women's Bureau publication released in 1959- First Jobs of College Women (Bulletin 268) - gives detailed information about the kind s of jobs held by women who graduated from college in June 1957, a s well as their earnings and th e relation of work on th e
job to th eir college major.
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Miss Hanke: I would like to ask if you are applying this to the
girl with average ability who may not be capable of going through
4 years of college?
Dr. Gleazer: That's a delightful question to put t o me. I believe
that in our educational system we need to recognize many kinds of
intelligence and we ought to provide appropriate programs to recognize these many needs. There is the skill of hand and the skill of
heart , as well as the skill of mind. I'm hoping that there will be
education al in stitutions that will recognize that most of us are average, and that they will not close the door to the average student.
For there are other factors to recognize-like motivation, maturity,
and the desire to get the job qone.
I have worked considerably with college students, and I have seen
some who ranked in the 99 percentile on our tests who were not
among our best students. There.'s nothing wrong with being average,
and I hope our educational institutions will have room for average
students.
Mr. Jacobsen: I think we have to recognize that even in this June
graduating class there are literally millions of high school graduates
whose parents do not have resources to enable them · to attend college
in the fall. I think there is great hope for the high school graduate
who will take typing with skills in the stenographic area; she can do
very well. I know right now that there is probably as much need
for competent clerical help in New York as there is for graduate
engineers, and the rate that is being paid to some of your top
stenographic people, and I'm sure Mr. Coughlin will agree, is rising
at a rapid rate. Industry is having to pay for the skills of the individuals because of the high competition and I think there's a real
opportunity for the high school graduate who will take additional
training in the clerical area.
Dr. Rob inson: If we accept this position, which I think is a realistic one for a great many young women, there are, nevertheless,
many opportunities within business and industry to continue their
training, so it doesn't necessarily mean a closed door to further
advancement. There is always the opportunity, of course, for very
effective on-the-job training in the secretarial field, and in many
related jobs. Many industries offer vocational classes in a ,,·ide
variety of subjects, not only those directly related to business but
also personal development-such as public speaking and effecti ve
writing. Finally, I think more and more industries are adopting
tuition refund plans-plans which enable the person who retains or
gains the interest in further education to continue that work toward
job improvement.
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In our own group, for example, there are about 145 women now
taking college work toward a bachelor's degree, and 45 percent of
this group happen to be young women under 24. So let us say that
the.re are opportunities to continue one's education even though it
may require more time.12
Mr. Coughlin:.. This attitude of the girl who thinks in terms only of
the immediate future and the possibility of taking what appears to be
a well-paid job at the moment, reminds me of our own experiences in
discussing the possibility of collective bargaining with unorganized
workers. We refer to these young people as "until" workers-they
are going to work until they get married or until they hn ve children,
or until the mortgage on the house is paid off, and generally until
they retire or die.
This is a shortsighted way of looking at the future. We must recognize the fact that two out of every five mothers in the work force today
have children in the school-age bracket. There are 2½ million young
mothers with children less than 6 years of age. I'm certain that in
most of these cases economic need brought about this situation, so that
in discussing the possibility of the future we must go beyond the
immediate future and look ahead.
The Department of Labor has projected figures which run through
to 1970, but at this time, approximately 16 percent of the girls working in the offices of this country are college graduates; half of these
women have had at least 1 to 3 years of college training; and these
figures are growing. Thus, if the young girl of- today thinks only in
terms of a high school education and the immediate prospect of a
well-paid job, she is making a very serious mistake because she, like
everyone else, can't possibly foresee the future.
Dr. Bunting: Dr. Davis, as a representative of an educational institution, do you want to say something to this young person? Should
she take a secretarial job or go on with further education i
1 2 Dr. R obin son l a ter a dded the followin g s t a tement con cerning his position on the problem of edu cation for th e young h igh scho ol graduate: " As a gener al proposition, I think
tha t ever y per son , ma n or woma n , should be given the opportunity for as much education
beyond high sch ool as he can profit by. Th~ a ttitude tha t th ere should be a double standard fo r young men a nd for young women unfortunately per sist s even in families where
th ere may h ave been a tra dition of high er education. As we ga in incr ea sing awareness of
the critical impor t an ce of our huma n r esources, we Rhould no longer tolerate such waste.
Moreover , we mu st give s pecia l a ttention t o the full develop ment of the tal ented and int ellectua lly gifte d individua l, our most valua ble single r esource.
'·M uch will depend u pon the u nder s ta nding a n d su pport of pa ren t s a nd t eachers, but
th e posi tive suppor t of publi c a nd p ri va t e agencies is a lso essentia l if sufficient r esources
are t o be a llocat ed t o meet the ed ucationa l r equirements of such individuals. In brief , if
a yo ung woma n with t he a bilities th a t wer e attributed t o h er in the ca se under discu ssion
has t h e choice of a job or college, it seems t o me t h a t there is only on e proper answercoll ege: If, h owever , for specia l r easons this is n ot possible, t h en certa inl y it is the responsibilitv of indu stry a nd government t o provide ways a nd mean s for her t o continu e
on a part-time basis."
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Dr. Davis: One point I believe has not been made clear about the
question "Can I do the work in college?" The classic Thurston
study of the 1930's showed that there is a wide variety of colleges
which, even though enrollment pressures are growing, will be able
for years to accept a variety of levels of ability. Certainly the girl
who is in the top half of her high school class will be able to find
colleges in which she could handle the work and do well.
Dr. Walsh: I think that Miss Hanke's question was whether she
should take the job immediately or continue her education. Is that
correct?
Miss Hanke: Yes; more education, or employment now?
Dr. Walsh: Educational plans beyond the high school level run a
tremendous gamut. In addition to the junior college or the community college, we have a number of technical institute programs,
industrial education centers, or posthigh school vocational programs
that offer the opportunity to prepare for entry into what is a relatively
high level occupation in the subprofessions or in the technical worker
fields.
Now, it seems to me that we have to give consideration to the entire
needs of our work force whenever we look at this woman in the
world of work in the years ahead. For several reasons, it is rather
futile for us to think that everyone will go to college. One reason
made quite clearly by Mr. Jacobsen, is that people just cannot afford
the cost.
There is an even more cogent reason than that, which is that the
colleges just cannot handle the people- the spaces just aren't there.
The third reason, of course, a very important point made by Dr.
Noble- is that people have to be equipped for higher education.
When we ask ourselves why people should follow the path that
permits them to reach their highest performance level, I think the
answer is that this will enable them to make their greatest contribution to society. To do this a p~rson must find the niche in which
he performs best-whether this be on an executive or creative level
or whether he is one of the millions of workers on whom, in spite
of automation, we must rely for the great bulk of this Nation's work.
We as educators ought to accept the responsibility of preparing programs that will help people attain their own individual best performance in whatever field i~ may be.
Miss Hanke: I would like to know what you think about the girl
who has an interest in science and mathematics. There has been increased emphasis on these subjects throughout the country, and in
the schools there has been increasing effort to get girls into the
science and mathematics classes. I wonder if a girl who has this
interest should acquire training to be a secretary in a science firm, or
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whether she should plan for 4 years of college and maybe a year or two
of graduate school, or even a Ph.D. in order to go into research?
Dr. Noble: By all means she should go ahead and get a Ph.D. if
she has this interest in science. She probably would be a poor secretary because she would be too interested in subject matter, and perhaps
frustrated over the fact that she was not able to qualify for a higher
level position.
I think studies tend to show that women who started out to be
doctors and who decided that they ·would be laboratory technicians,
regret that decision. Some girls tend to think that delaying marriage
for 4 years of college is a great sacrifice, but it would be better to
make this sacrifice and get the rigorous years of training while you
are young. There's nothing that says you can't have your Ph.D. by
the time you are 22 or 23 years of age, and certainly you are not too
old at that age to get married and have children.
Dr. Hansen: I should like to make this comment. It seems to me
rather unfortunate that there have been professions and types of work
that seem to be essentially for women. I don't know whether this is
traditional or psychological or biological, but don't we need to move
beyond this concept 1 And to think of women not only as secretaries,
but also to realize that they can be scientists or executives i I am
simply asking a question. I have no theories as to why, historically,
certain concepts have developed.
Dr. Bunting: I think you are asking a very basic question, and it
has to do not only with the vmage of a secretary, which can be so very
wrong, but also education and training for future development. I find
that the young people in our colleges have no notion of what the job of
secretary can lead to-with the proper training. 18
I think that we have a very narrow image of what a woman can do.
In a great many of these debates on all sorts of questions, the concepts
and conclusions concerning the definitions of various jobs and of
various types of peoples, and their potentialities and so forth, are
too narrow.
Dr. Hansen: It seems to me that while this is the fortieth anniversary of the Women's Bureau, it might be well to anticipate elimination of such an .organization, and come to the point of view that all
employment should be based upon merit and that there's no need for
such a bureau to advance the cause of women any more than there's
a need for such a bureau to advance the cause of men.
Mrs. Hyde: Dr. Hansen, you have just said that some fields seem
to be closed to women, or that women are not trying to get into them.
13 Opportunities for advancement through secretarial work are discussed in Women's
Bureau Bulletin 263- Employment Opportunities for Women as Secretaries, Stenographers,
Typists, and as Office-Machine Operators and Cashiers.
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Perhaps a function of the Women's Bureau is to help women get
into these other fields and perhaps the Bureau should continue to do
this work.
Dr. Bunting: I would like to ask a question: Is it your feeling
that the Women's Bureau could function more effectively in disguise?
Dr. Hansen: I should say many things are done best by indirection, but my hope would be that the necessity for such promotion would
disappear as we mature as a people and consider problems on the
basis of persons and personalities rather than on the basis of such
characteristics as sex or race.
Dr. Walsh: I think Dr. Hansen's point is well taken and, as a matter of fact, as we look over our occupational structure today, we find
a breaking down of barriers between women's traditional occupations
and the occupations in the space era.
For the most part our educational programs have produced flexible
people, making possible the advancement of women in all of the men's
fields, and I mean all of them. We find women employed today in
practically all occupations. We no longer let such obstacles as lack
of facilities be a deterrent to women in educational programs, and we
find them entering the field of technology with much force. And
this, we predict, will continue.
Dr. Noble: I think there is no evidence that we need to eliminate
the Women's Bureau or integrate it within the Labor Departmentwith the result that the problems of women would lose their visibility.
One of the primary functions of the Women's Bureau is to bring to
the notice of the whole world the employment and legal status of
women, and the special problems of women.
I did not respond to the mature woman's questions because I feel
so very pessimistic about this one area. I think business and industry
have not accepted the fact that these women ought to be returning to
work at the age of 45-50. All that business offers them in many cases
is clerical work of some strange and untidy sort that many of ·them
would not care for after having done an excellent job of bringing up
4 or 5 children.
Dr. Hansen : One comment I have to make to the maturing woman
is-that the teaching field is open and many of our finest teachers
come back to teaching after they have reared their children.
Miss Sheldon: What about industry? How can business and industry be convinced that it's a pretty good gamble to take the mature
woman and see what she can do? Education is fine, but industry is
perhaps the biggest field, has the greatest opportunities, and is being
more difficult to convince than any of the others, that it should accept
women on levels other than secretarial.
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Mr. Jacobsen: I share Dr. Noble's pessimism. I think we make a
mistake if we sit here and confuse the issue with platitudes. Maybe
the ladies of the audience want to hear nice things so that they will
leave here with great hope, but I have to admit that when it comes to
sitting in an employment office, and looking for a job in a managerial
capacity, you must remember that when you left the labor market, a
younger woman who stayed with the organization was promoted to
your position.
As I look at industry, the women who have key positions are not
women who dropped out at age 25 or 30 and came back at age 45 or
50. For the most part they are women who stayed with the organization and grew with it. I would say that the mature woman who
wants to come back in a managerial capacity must, first, have some
kind of ability which sets her above and beyond the individual whom
she is trying to replace and second, recognize that she would probably
have to be able to go to somebody in the organization who could give
her the "red-carpet" treatment. I just don't believe it is possible
right now for the average mature woman to find a managerial job by
going first to a personnel office.
Mr. Coughlin: I agree with Dr. Noble and Mr. Jacobsen that at
this time there is a great deal of discrimination when it comes to
hiring the older, more mature people. This discrimination results
not only from the thinking of individual employers, but also because
the hiring of older people would necessitate an increase in the cost
of health, welfare, pension, and insurance plans.
However, I think that much of this discrimination will be broken
down. Today, we are talking about women of the future. The Labor
Department tells us that because of the low birthrate of the 1930's, we
will in the future have a smaller work force of men in the 25-to-44
age group. It tells us also that by 1970, 55 percent of the women
between the ages of 45 and 54 will be working. Therefore, I feel that
management will not be able to have the luxury of refusing to employ
older women. 14
Mrs. Hyde: I would like to ask if industry ,,·ould consider that a
woman who has been extremely active during her twenties and thirties in community volunteer work-work which required that she
accept considerable responsibility-has had the kind of experience
that would help her get a managerial job at age 45 to 50?
Dr. Robinson: It would be helpful but I still think Mr. Jacobsen's
remarks hold true and that the person would have to meet the basic
f:kill · demands of the position she is applying for. If all of this
H Population and labor force projections for 1960- 1970 are given in considerable detail
in Manpower Challenge of the 1960's- a report of the U.S. Department of Labor. Coples
of this publication may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C., at 25 cents per copy.
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volunteer work has not contributed to the maintenance of her skills
and know ledge and insight into the technical requirements of the
job, I don't think it is very helpful.
Miss Hanke: I would like to ask a question that we did not cover
earlier. Should you plan on 2 years of college and then marriage;
or if you think you can survive 4 years of college, to accomplish that
objective and then get married-or perhaps continue education and.
work on a Ph.D.? Or should a girl marry right after high school?
Dr. Bunting: The whole question of education or marriage, or
education and marriage, is a fundamental question. I think the one
thing we all do know is that whatever other differences there are
between men and women- women plan their lives differently than
men do. This requires flexibility in education, in thinking through
guidance problems, and in considering the ways that women can contribute to the Nation's work outside the home.
I would like to place our focus on this question this afternoon, and
hope that we can think in terms of particular patterns that can be
helpful to women, and the ways in which women themselves can think
this through.
June 2-Afternoon Session
Today's Woman Prepares for Tomorrow's World
Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning, Author and Lecturer
Written Questions from the Audience, and
Answers by the Panelists
Special Stamp Honoring The American Woman
Presentation by The Honorable John McKibbin,
Deputy Postmaster General,
to
The Honorable James P. Mitchell, Secretary of Labor
The Honorable James T. O'Connell, Under Secretary of Labor
Miss Mary Anderson, First Director of the Women's Bureau
Mrs. Alice K. Leopold, Assistant to the Secretary of Labor,
and Director of the Women's Bureau
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Jwne 2, 1960-AfternoonSession
Today's Woman Prepares for
Tomorrow's World
Dr. Bunting: We have a tremendous number of questions from this
morning's audience, and the questions are still coming in.
Before reading these questions and asking our panelists to answer
them, we have the privilege of learning the thoughts of a very wise
woman, Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning, on the subject to which we
have been addressing ourselves-Today's Woman Prepares for T omorrow's World. It is an honor to introduce Mrs. Banning-a distinguished author, lecturer, and contributor to the public good.
Today's "'oman- Her Future Role in a
Changing Society
Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning, Author and Lecture r
It is useful to make this anniversary of the ·women's Bureau not
only a time for praise but also an occasion to discuss the fusion of
women's achievements of the past 40 years with the hopes, capacities,
and opportunities which they carry into the next decade. The diversity and the number of women's attainments up to now is a matter
of astonishing record. We have heard and shall hear more amazing
figures and gratifying stories of success.
But what do they add up to? vVhat do they give us to tie to? A
conference such as this needs a synthesis of its findings. Otherwise
we remember the wise remarks heard here at the sessions and we feel
the invigorating impact of personalities, but we will go away without
having staked out those fields of agreement which can be made into
bases for new departures. That is my present task. You in this
group supply the ingredients for the mental birthday cake we want
to offer to T oday's Woman. You will 3,lso give me the rPcipe and then
I shall try to bake it.
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Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning.
My preliminary summary must take note of some things which
are obvious. The first is that the social organization of free society
has been completely made over in the last 50 years. We do not live
as people did in 1910. It is commonly said that there has been more
change in the last half century than in the previous 500 years. The
physical changes in transportation, communication, and conveniences
have been spectacular. But there have been even more spectacular
changes in attitudes toward life. These have been brought on by the
wars, by the a wakening of social conscience-evidenced by the outpouring of wealth, energy, and thought in foundations for research,
health funds, community fund&--and by the upward trend of income
and inheritance taxes, which have made acquisition less re,varding to
the private individual.
These three things have marked the last 50 years and they ha.ve
made us in June 1960-both men and women-thoughtful; troubled
more or less, according to our temperaments; and well aware that
nothing in the present world is very stable. We are surrounded by
unfinished thought and speculation.
Both men and women meet the puzzled and puzzling world as best
they can but for various reasons, some good and some unfortunate.
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,ve do not appear to meet it in the same way. Our problems must be
joined in the end but they are presented to the sexes separately. A
"\Vomen's Bureau proves that the working woman still has a different
status and different needs from those of the working man.
That she will work in increasing numbers outside her home is
beyond question. It is beyond volition. Vast numbers of women need
to work for wages and salaries. The average girl who graduates
from college will work outside her home for 25 years. Girls with
lesser education may work far longer. This has become the pattern
of a woman's life, not only in the United States of America but in all
civilized and striving countries.
So we can assume that whether women will work outside the home
or in it has passed beyond choice. The majority will work in both
places. The girl of today therefore must be prepared for this. The
old argument of home-or-career has been settled in favor of home-ifpossible-al ways---the American woman has never been more interested
in homes and families-and in a paying job, which is very rarely a
career. The argument was resolved not by any defiance of sex, as we
once imagined it might be in the days of raw feminism. It was settled
by economic necessity, advancement in women's education, conquest
of disease, elimination of domestic drudgery, fostering of female talent,
and the simple fact that women are living longer. They are now
living so long that neither housework nor the bearing and rearing
of children can possibly absorb all their lives.
We have then a remodeled society, and what I think can fairly be
called a commitment of today's woman to work in it outside of her
home-for part of her life at least. Then we must give consideration to the opportunities for women, which are increasing. But we
must not blind ourselves to the fact that some opportunities seem to
be lacking, or stalemated, or refused to women.
On the credit side, today's woman is aided in several ways. First
is the increasing democracy in social life. The distincti<;>n between a
woman and a lady, that existed in 1910, has disappeared. Any woman
can be a lady now, no matter what her income bracket or the geography of her home. This was not always so. The disappearance
of the servant class has been a good thing not only for those who
manufacture household devices and comforts but for the general
self-respect of today's woman. Women weat the same kind of clothes,
even if the costs vary. The woman who cannot manage to cook or
defrost a meal is becoming rare--an oddity. Women are no longer
handicapped by artificial social barriers and it has lengthened their
stride.
Secondly, education for girls is on the increase. Mabel Newcomer
says that more colleges are now open to women than to men. We are
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37
also breaking ground toward educating adult women who have complete.d their years of childbearing and have free time-which happens
at an earlier age than formerly because of the trend toward early
marriage. We are only at the beginning of what must be done to
continue the stream of education through a woman's entire life. But
doubts about the value of women's education still exist.
There is still more emphasis on higher education for males than
for females, partly because women's jobs are so largely at the lower
paying levels of industry. But if ,vomen are to do what they can do,
they must get the education suitable to their abilities. This is going
to take time. Not all parents are convinced that it is necessary.
Young husbands are more apt to realize the necessity and wisdom of
higher education for women, but not all of them have this realization.
If we want higher level jobs for women and higher education is the
ladder to them, and if part of the task is convincing parents and
husbands of this, Jet us never lose a chance to do it-and do it as
pleasantly as possible.
Third among the new advantages is the fact that today a woman
is younger when she is older.
Fourth, because of the constant experimentation and search for
knowledge which goes on all around us, a woman's intelligence may
not be wasted even if she does not earn money; even if she has no
college education. There are new aids for the development and use
of a woman's intelligence-the visual ones of television, the night
schools, the public libraries. There is the great field of volunteer
effort in every community. There is the still neglected political field,
which needs woman's intelligence very, very badly.
We have put our emphasis in the past 40 years on a great spread
of jobs. Women were completely indispensable during the wars.
They have taken over in many levels of industry. Bnt where we
seem to have failed is in convincing men- and perhaps ourselvesthat the level of intelligence cannot be predicated for women any
more than for men, and that women's intelligence is not always at
a lower level than that of men.
Within the last few months I have been greatly interested and
more than a little disturbed by what seems to be occasional proof of
this. The Saturday Evening Post ran a series of articles which Elmer
Roper noted as one of the most encouragin g events on the contemporary scene. These articles, written by a number of scholars and
scientists, have now been published as "Adventures of the Mind.~'
Only one American woman, Dr. Edith Hamilton, is represented in that
volume-and one English woman, Dame Edith Sit.well.
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The New York Times and Life Magazine are currently running a
written debate on The American Purpose. A number of articles by
thoughtful men will debate this "Purpose." No woman is included
among the debaters.
I do not cite these omissions in any angry spirit of feminist denunciation. But I am puzzled. Whatever The American Purpose may
be, it is the mothers and the teachers of young children who must
implant it at the time it will take root in the young minds. In such
discussions, why are the intellects of our women college presidents,
our publicists and many others, unused?
Women's intelligence is still not respected. Yet the politicians
tell us that American women will be the largest force in the next
election. Then why are women not consulted at the highest levels of
thought?
This may be our fault. Perhaps we should have achieved this by
now. Perhaps it is not quite yet time. But our proper goals are
obviously still unattained. What I hope will concern Today's Woman
in Tomorrow's World is not her job or the multiplicity of her sisters'
jobs-the numbers of women who go to work every morning, not
ways to keep younger or to live longer, but ways to make the intelligence of women realized and useful in the modern world.
I wrote once that the achievements of women in time of war and
in time of peace are more than record. They are a display of the
inextricable weaving of modern woman's ambitions and hopes with
the progress of democracy. Women properly belong in freedom's
present great battle and the possible total war over its determination
to survive.
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June 2, 1960-Afternoon Session
Today's Woman Prepares for
Tomorrow·s World
WRITTEN QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE AND ANSWERS BY
PANELISTS
Dr. MARY I. BUNTING, Panel Moderator
Mr. HowARD CouGHLIN
Dr. JuNrns A. DAVIS
Dr. EDMUND J. GLEAZER, Jr.
Mr. LowELL B. JACOBSEN
Mrs. ALICE K. LEOPOLD
Dr. JEANNE L. NOBLE
Dr. ORMSBEE W. ROBINSON
Dr. JoHN P. WALSH
Dr. Bunting: We are very grateful to Mrs. Banning for her excellent summary and for all that she added to what was said this
mornmg.
Before turning to the questions that have come in, I would like
to mention an important fa.ct that I think helps one to understand
much of wha.t has been said, and it may be more important as we
go on. I refer to some of the research that has been done recently
by Elizabeth Drews, and others, which shows the tremendous differences in the aspirations of high school girls as compared with boys
"-hen you try to learn what they expect to do.
As you know, in our schools the girls do very well. Their a pti1udes are good, and in achievements th~y rank above boys in high
school. At that level, the bright girls are in the top quarter of the
class, and the bright boys are in the next quarter, and so on.
But when you talk to these girls about what they will do later in
-life, the answers from many of them are not very interesting. They
do think it is important to do well in school, hut they think that
what they are going to do with their education later on is not very
important.
I think we have to face the fact that although there now am many
educational opportunities for women, they are not always the kind
of opportunities that women need.
To a very large extent also, in spite of some difficulties in obtaining certain types of jobs, the competent woman can find the right
sort of job-in time. But, I think what we have to face more and
more, right now, is that not many women have planned their lives
so as to be able to make full use of their potentialities-to find
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the kind of satisfactions they will want and to do the kind of service
that they and society will want and need.
We have a grea.t many questions' from our audience and we cannot
begin to cover them all. I would like. to summarize some of them
and run down the list so that you have the ideas in mind as we handle
all of the questions that we can.
I think we should all be thinking in terms of what we can do about
these problems. For example, what can we do to help the young
girl plan for the life ahead of her? I find that even career women
talk rather differently to the young girl than they do to the young
boy-in directing attention toward what these children will be doing
in their later life. With all that we are learning about imprinting
ideas at an early age, this can be very important.
What are we going to do to help the high school girl? As Mrs.
Banning pointed out, she must be given every opportunity to go as far
as she can, so that one fine day, later in life, when she finds she wants
a job in industry, she won't be unprepared. But, if she really thinks
that what she is going to do in the future is not important, then she
won't plan ahead. I think there is a responsibility here to help
her plan right through so that she will go on with her education.
These are some points that were brought out this morning and will
comem agam.
What are we doing about the married woman? A great many points
were made this morning about the necessity for part-time jobs, and
I would back every one of these. But we have to think also about
part-time education which may fit very much better with the responsibilities of home.
What can industry do to help out? How much education and
training should industry take on? It is doing a great deal in this
direction, but more for men, I think, than for women. Who else,
besides industry, can assume some of this responsibility? What should
the Women's Bureau be doing?
These are some of the questions we want to discuss and we want to
think in terms of what we can do, whatever or wherever our position
in societY..
The first question is a comment on the panel discussion.
COMMENT: "The discussion is too much geared to the college
woman. The great majority of women workers and nonworkers are
not college graduates. It would be useful if the panel would: (1)
not downgrade the mental capacity and work contribution of the
noncollege woman; and (2) discuss the needs and problems of the
wide range of the great majority of American women who are working or who are obliged to work, not merely for self-fulfillment."
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Mrs. Leopold: I am in considerable agreement with whoever wrote
that comment since the facts that the Women's Bureau has been
working with for many years show that only 8 percent of the women
who are working today are college graduates. However, I disagree
to this extent: It seems to me that what college women are really
working for is acceptance of our achievement as individuals in our
own right. When this is accomplished by college women, it helps all
women who work.
QUESTION: Directed to Dr. Robinson and Mr. Jacobsen. "How are
your hiring practices with regard to older workers altered in those
States which are under the Fair Employment Practices Act and
which prohibit discrimination on the basis of age~"
Dr. Robinson: I can answer very briefly. Our hiring practices are
not altered at all because, with us, it is a matter of how capable a
person is, regardless of age. If a person can meet the tests that are
required for the particular kind of work sought, the person can be
considered eligible for work. In other words, neither age nor sex is
a barrier to a job.
Mr. Jacobsen: I would like to comment also, on one of the statements that Mrs. Banning made, that industry offers little opportunity
for women. I think this is incorrect. My comment applies also, I
think, to the statement we have just heard read, that the panel is
directing too much attention to the college graduate.
We have stated that one-third of the work force today is made up
of women. I would direct your attention. to the electronics industry,
the chemical industry, communications, and so on down the line,
which have more employment for women than for -men. 111 The production lines of many television and electronics firms, where finger
dexterity is called for, are .almost 100 percent female employees. Of
the 87,000 employees at RCA, more than half are female. Computer
and electronics industries will always need people who gather the
material to put into the machines. There will always have to be
people who can handle the small, detailed type of assignment; and
this will be done, for the most part, by women who have great finger
dexterity. In the area of transistors, also, women play an important
part. There are, in fact, a tremendous number of women, ·many of
whom are mothers, working in industry today; and I think they will
be an ever increasing part of the labor force. As far as the policies
of companies toward older women are concerned, it is merely one of
whether or not the person can handle the job.
16 A Women's Bureau publication ·released early in 1960-Caree-rs for Women in the
Physical Sciences (Bulletin 270)-describes the required educational preparation, job
possibilities, earnings, and other work factors invoked in employment in the fields of
chemistry, physics, geology, astronomy, and meteorology. See Appendix, p. 125, for list of
related publications, and information on how they may be obtained.
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Dr. Bunting: I would like to add that both at Douglass College,
where I was until this spring, and at Radcliffe, the top jobs that our
college graduates get in terms of pay are the jobs that the math
majors get in industry. 16
I think it is in these areas that women have been particularly
successful recently in getting part-time jobs. And although I think
there is increasing employment of women who are well trained, there
just are not too many women who have prepared themselves for these
positions. The opportunities for this group should certainly not be
overlooked.
Dr. Robinson: Women comprise about 10 percent of the total work
force in our organization, and of that group I suppose almost 75 percent are in the clerical or stenographic area. About 10 or 15 percent
of our women employees are in the plants, engaged in the kinds of
activities that Mr. Jacobsen described- largely in the operations requiring great manual dexterity. But, I think the growing opportunities in the professional fields should be mentioned.
I think you will find that there is relative stability in manufacturing employment, in contrast to the service industries and the field
of office employment. The same thing is true of areas requiring more
professional skills. I think our emphasis this morning was quite
appropriate in concentrating on the person of considerable skill.
There has ,been a lack of emphasis on the idea of encouraging
women to train for highly skilled jobs as a matter of national policy.
It seems to me we have to continue to emphasize both the development and the conservation of people of very special skills, and in our
company we are looking for anyone who has the required background
in problem-solving ability and, in some cases, in the fields of science
and mathematics.
There are areas of opportunities where the demand exceeds the
supply, and at the moment I think this is significant.
Dr. Noble: I am glad you added the last part of your statement
because both of you gave me the impression that·because women have
tremendous finger dexterity you are able to employ them in large
numbers. I also got from Mrs. Banning's comment that industry
has not been very creative about utilizing women in the decisionmaking echelon of companies.
I just want to add here that all of us look with pride to our Panel
Moderator's appointment as president of one of the most distinguished
1 6 Empl oym en t Oppo r t unities fo r Wome n Ma thematicia n s a nd Statis ticia n s is the subj ect of W omen ' s Bureau Bulletin 262. This r epor t n o t es the variet y of opportunities in
governmen t a n d indu s t ry for college t rai ned m a them a ticia n s a nd statis ticians, their earnings and working conditions , and possibilities for a d vancement.
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colleges in the world, but I think we are very much aware of the fact
that there are fower women in top policy-making decision areas in
companies, in education, or any place, than ever before in history,
and I think some of us had better continue to be feminists if we hope
to correct that.
Dr. Gleazer : This panel is discussing education and employment,
and even though we have given a great deal of attention to college
women, I think some of us this morning were trying to talk in terms
of post secondary training or educational opportunities, not necessarily meaning a program that leads to a baccalaureate, master's degree,
or doctorate. We are talking about training and education as these
would relate to employment, and one thing that has intrigued me is
the fact that many of the junior colleges of the country charge no
tuition whatsoever; many of them are within commuting distance of
the person's home; and yet we find two to three men enrolled for every
woman. Why is this?
It seems to me that this is a question that we must give our attention to. Here are opportunities for postsecondary education, made
just about as free as they can possibly be, and yet for some reason
or another women are not taking advantage of these.
Dr. Bunting : This confirms my hypothesis, which is that American
society doesn't really think it is very important for women to do
anything well. I leave this with you as a hypothesis; do you think it
is relevant to the discussion ?
Dr. Walsh : I would like to make a comment concerning the realignment of jobs in industry today, and the resulting opportunities
that are available to women who are prepared to take advantage of
them.
In this -era, when we find a considerable amount of manufacturing
in the space and missile area-aircraft, electronics, etc.-where much
emphasis is given to research and development, we discover an entire
restructuring of our industry groups.
When we take a look at the research and development groups today,
those that are involved in the new developments for the space era,
we find that the organization of such a group is almost equally distributed among four types of working people. This has been con. firmed in a number of companies across the country.
Approximately a quarter of the people employed are in the administrative and supervisory aspects of the program. This includes the
clerical staff. Another 25 percent, especially in research and development organizations, are employed in engineering activities. Still
another 25 percent are employed as technical workers, supporting the
engineering and scientist group. And the remaining 25 percent are
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production workers. This realignment has come about through the
advent of mechanization and automation in industry.
When such a structure exists, we find that we have tremendous
opportunities for women throughout the organization. In one organization I know of, 32 percent of the employees are women, mainly techmcians. W hy? Because they are trained in this field; because
organization had been set up to prepare people for these occupations.
Interestingly enough, that same figure-32-was the average age of
25,000 employees in this company.
So, if the newer companies are going to follow this pattern in the
future, it is obvious that many opportunities other than routine production work will exist for women.
These opportunities will be in the areas of the technical occupations
which support engineering personnel; they will be in those areas that
deal with testing and they will be in supervisory activities. In my
own field, which is trade and industrial education, we have a little
over 1¼ million people enrolled in training courses today under public
auspices. Approximately 19 percent of those people are women
training for industrial occupations. Of this group, many are employed women who have gone back to school for the purpose of upgrading their skills and their ideas so that they can do the work of
tomorrow, recognizing that they must have tomorrow's skills in order
to do the job.
So, I don't take a pessimistic view of new fields opening up for
women. I think this Nation offers opportunities to our people so that
they can get the kind of skills that we want and they need. I am
positive that the jobs are there, if the people will adapt themselves to
the needs of the future.
Because this is so, I place great emphasis on training and preparation for work outside of the college-centered career. If we say that
one out of every three workers in our 1970 work force will be a woman,
and that we expect her to be a college graduate, then I say it can't be
done. Compare enrollments in the colleges to that work force percentage, and compare the numbers of college graduates to it, and they
don't match. Count the classrooms, count the seating, count the professors, and it cannot be done without a great change in our educational system. I think that the majority of our people will find that
their prepar ation for their way of life will be outside of college.
Many of them are not financially able to go through college, and as
workers they are not necessarily happier if they are overeducated for
the situations in which they find themselves.
Mrs. Leopold: I want to disagree with Dr. Bunting's hypothesis
that the people of the United States don't put a high value on their
women workers, and I cite some findings in Women's Bureau publica45
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tions. We find that as technology changes so occupations change, and
it is the prognosis of the Department of Labor that in the next 10
years the most rapid growth in the employment of women will be in
the white-collar occupations, the professional and technical groups.
And, they will be women of ability who can meet the educational
requirements of the jobs; they will be mathematicians, statisticians,
scientists, engineers, -and technicians of various kinds in addition to
teachers, et cetera.
I want to comment, too, on Dr. Gleazer's very serious questionwhy are women not going to the junior colleges? One reason may
be the attitude of families who often feel that sons go to college
and daughters do not need to because they wi1l marry.
Dr. Davis: I would like to speak to part of that point~ though the
connection may not be obvious. I suspect that we spend a great deal
of time seeking what may be available and too little time developing
openings. We can work up much enthusiasm in conferences of this
sort. For a number of years, I have attended meetings of the
·women's Section of the National Vocational Guidance Association,
and have gone home with fresh enthusiasm for what women may be
able to do in the world of work. Yet, not so long ago, in developing
a new Master's Degree program at the Women's College, we polled a
number of personnel directors and asked them what jobs they could
offer women executives. And, very few of these people revealed
openings for persons with a master's degree in business administration.
Changing our tack, we invited a number of corporation presidents
to the campus for a series of conferences of this sort, and we found
t.hat we were developing new interests in hiring women for jobs. We
may simply follow trends, which are developed by technology, and by
the fact that in some instances women will work for less; this makes
the job market for them. I am not at all adverse to following trends
and using them to our ad vantage.
Mr. Coughlin: I have been giving a great deal of thought to the
suggestion that American society is responsible for the failure to
recognize that women have ability to hold higher echelon jobs. I
don't think that this is true. I agree with Mrs. Leopold, that the
fault lies elsewhere. There are even indications, if you study American life, that the fault may lie with the women themselves.
For example, women have had the right to vote since 1920, and we
do not have the number of women in political life that we certainly
should have, based on this principle of recognition of women.
In my own organization, we have various local unions throughout
the United States and Canada. Two out of three of our members are
women. However, if there is a contest for a higher office in a local
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union, whether it be business representative or president, and there
is a man and a woman running for the office, nine times out of ten the
,,-omen will vote for the man.
In the offices of our country, in taking up grievances on behalf
of women in the years gone by, I have found that women will not take
orders from other women but will take orders from men. This may
Le one of the reasons why_men are brought in to supervisory positions.
So I think the fault may be far more deep-rooted than it appears to be.
Dr. Noble: I agree substantially with Dr. Bunting's hypothesis.
I think, however, that there is an exception to it in the case of the
women's armed services. I have recently visited a number of military
installations and talked with some of the top generals and it was
interesting to me that all of them said they would like to have more
women in the services, to assume responsible jobs in supervisory
capacities over other men and women. And I think the armed services
negate the point that women dislike working for other women.
Women officers supervise men and women, and the young women don't
seem to complain that they would rather have male supervision.
QUESTION: Has the Women's Bureau made any studies or have they
any informa,t ion that would help solve the second-career problems for
the many women leaving the Armed Forces after 20 or more years of
miltary service?
Dr. Noble: I think they get excellent training in the services. And,
I know that one of the retired women colonels of one of the services
is now the executive director of the American Nurses Association. I
think the kind of training that they get in the services is easily used
in industry and in business and in education. So I do not know that
this is too much of a problem.
Mrs. Leopold: I agree with Dr. Noble that these women have a fine
background for moving into a new field. The contrary, however, is
true of the majority ' of the women in upper age brackets whom we
have seen a great deal of in our work, but the Women's Bureau is doing
something for this group. We have a full program which we have
been developing throughout the country. It is the brain child of Jane
Todd, Deputy Com.missioner of the New York Department of Commerce, who is in 01tr audience.
It is called Earning Opportunities Forums. These forums are
1-day meetings for women and for employers who believe that these
older women have valuable characteristics and skills which can be
renewed, and that they can be guided into a suitable job. I think that
this method of getting together the community, industry, and in some
cases the unions- helps the woman who really doesn't know what to
do about her future when she reaches a certain age.
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As for the women in the Armed Forces, of course they have much
more to offer because of their special training. And I wonder if the
young women of 1960, when they look for a job in 1980, will be so well
prepared by the colleges and the universities that they won't have to
face the same problems that the generation of older women face today.
Dr. Bunting: As long as people think that merely going through
college will complete their education, then nothing will help the
woman who drops out of the labor force for 20 years and then wants
to come back in.
We no longer use college as a yardstick per se in judging men's education. A man regards college as part of a continuing preparation
for the future. But, when it comes to a woman, we expect college
to get her ready for her responsibilities at home, for a job 20 years
later after the world has changed tremendously, and for all sorts of
other things. I think we must recognize that in a world that changes
as fast as ours does, education must be planned as part of adult life,
not just preparation for it. This presents a real problem for ·women
because of their home responsibilities. I think we have to have flexible
planning for women on the part of educational institutions.
Mr. Jacobsen: I am speaking for the National Broadcasting Company only, and we are a small organization so far as our total number
of workers is concerned. I have just made a count of key positions
that women are holding with our network. They are holding these
jobs not because they are women, but because they can do the assignment better or as well as any ·of their competitors. We have, for
example, a commentator, Pauline Fredricks, who has been with the
United Nations; the head of our reli'gio{is programs; the manager of
our educational programs; the associate producer on our Day Show;
the producer of our religious education program-all are women.
The head of financial operations for our radio network is a woman.
The talent coordinator who brings in talent for the Day Show is a
woman, as are the J>ersons in charge of costuming and make-up, our
information bureau, and our sales organization. The individual on
the west coast who does all of tµe casting for our network operations
is a woman. All these women are in key positions, at salaries in excess
of $15,000 a year. This is the situation in just one small industry.
But, women are not going to get these kinds of jobs if they just sit
back and say, "Why can't we get a top job?" They must meet the
requirements for education and training, and they must have been
with industry long enough to understand the job and to meet the
competition. When they have these qualifications, they will get the
jobs, and not before.
Dr. Davis: Dr. Bunting, I cannot resist coming in on this. None
of these jobs we have been discussing are jobs for which specific train-
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Left to right: Dr. O. W. Robinson, Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning, and
Mr. B. Lowell Jacobsen.
ing is acquired in college or in high school. I wonder if too frequently
women may not handicap themselves, because if they invest in a college education they think it must be for a particular aim-such as a
teacher's certificate or a degree in home economics. The real reason
for home economics should be, however, not so much to teach as to be
a good mother. Education, as has been pointed out, is not so much
preparation for some particular job, as it is a living experience in
itself, and in this view of it, I think we may have answers to some of
our questions.
Dr. Bunting: I think that is true, but I would like to add one thing.
I think many women haven't begun to take advantage of the fact
that since the family does not depend on them for its main source
of support, perhaps they may have freedom to do something original
that a man would scarcely dare attempt because of his responsibilities.
I think this is true in all sorts of fields and that women haven't begun
to do what they could.
QUESTION: How many of the men on the panel have women present
at their top level staff meetings? If they do not have women present,
is it because they feel that women's opinions at a staff meeting are
not as important in business as they are in the home?
Mr. Jacobsen: When you talk about staff levels, there are various
echelons of staff. Within the past 5 years, RCA, for example, has
placed a woman on its Board of Directors. On a lower level, we re-
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cently placed a woman in charge of all our employment activities.
I am sure that the women who hold the jobs I just mentioned attend
staff meetings when their particular assignment calls for them to do
so. In other words, it is their particular assignment in the organization that determines which meetings employees attend- not the fact
that they are men or women.
Dr. Bunting: I will add to that. Have you ever seen a man getting
ready to go to one of these top level meetings? He whisks in from
somewhere just before the meeting, and picks up a pile of material
that has been rather carefully prepared-probably by a woman. She
may not be at the staff meeting in one capacity, but she is there in
another. And I can tell you right now that I would not be here today
if my secret,ary were not holding down Radcliffe College.
I think that remarks were made this morning about secretaries
without an understanding of the responsibilities that they really have
or can have, and the kinds of decisions they make.
Dr. Gleazer: I should like to add something that relates to the
earlier remarks about staff level decisions. I work with about 600
community colleges and junior colleges in the various States. Some
400 of these colleges are publicly supported community colleges, and
this is where we have seen the greatest growth. These institutions
are enrolling about 600,000 students. 0nly 2 out of the 400 institutions are headed by women : Bonny Cohn at Charlotte, North
Carolina, and Pasadena City College in California.
It seems to me this is too small a pel'centage. If qualified women
could be found to head these colleges,.they would have an opportunity
to do a fine administrative job.
QUESTION: What is .the opinion of the panel regarding the advisability of a young wife working in order to support her husband
through his years of university study~ Should this be encouraged?
How does it affect a man's psychology and his feeling of
independence~
Dr. Noble: This is a very difficult question. Many medical students
and professional students get through their professional training
with the help of a working wife. One disturbing thought is: Must
she give up her own education? Case studies have shown that when
husbands get way ahead of their wives academically, it is very hard
on the marriage. The wife may find, when she _reaches her late 30~s
and 40's, that her husband is superior intellectually and has many
outside interests which she has been deprived of because her· entire
time has been spent on housework and raising children. She feels
inferior, and the situation can lead to serious family problems, even
divorce.
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I think the first consideration is whether or not the wife can keep
up with her husband and be a good companion to him after he has
finished all his training.
Mr. Coughlin: I think the wife's difficulty can be overcome if she
takes advantage of all of the educational opportunities in her
community.
QUESTION: Is there any relationship between the high rate of juvenile delinquency and the fact that some mothers are working?
Dr. Noble: The facts are inconclusive on this, so we cannot assume
that there is a significant relationship between juvenile deliquency
and working mothers. There are other factors which seem to be
much more important. For example, the quality of the relationship
between the children and the mother.
Another important factor is whether or not there is an adequate
mother substitute who can be with , the children while their own
mother is away. I think that there are other things that contribute
to juvenile delinquency that are much more important than whether
or not the mother works.
QUESTION: How compatible is education with early marriage?
Dr. Davis: The most important thing, of course, is that more and
more young women are getting married without interrupting their
education. I think that there is an implication here for the colleges.
In our graduate program, for example, we have for all practical
purposes abandoned the rigid residence requirements, with the result
that one may study during child-bearing periods. We are gratified
that so few are dropping out of college for this reason. N evertheless, dropouts for marriage are substantial.
Dr. Bunting: At both of the colleges I have been associated with
this year, the percentage of married girls who got Phi Beta Kappa
was relatively high. So some of the "young marrieds" are doing
very well, and some of them have children.
When I talk to groups on this subject, what I say depends upon
the composition of the group. To a college faculty group, I say,
"Married students have as long a future as their unmarried contemporaries; we must plan to help them meet it." If I am talking
to a group of girls, I say, "Be flexible about this matter; you are
not lost if you are not married when you graduate." There are many
ways of living. I would not trade for anything the 5 years of
bachelor girlhood I had after college.
Dr. Noble: I agree with those who say that if getting a husband
is a girl's only reason for going to college, she should go somewhere
else. And I agree with those educators who advise girls to take a
second look at giving up college in order to rush into marriage. In
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our anxious world we are very much in need of trained minds, regardless of whether these trained minds belong to men or women.
Mrs. Leopold: Dr. Bunting has suggested that I undertake the
almost impossible task of summing up what this panel-with its wide
variety of ideas, ideals, backgrounds, and theories-has said. I would
like to go back, if you will, to this morning, because the manpower
picture of the future, which Mr. O'Connell made very clear, is a
"girlpower" picture, too, and it was painted in a very interesting
way. He spoke of the economic and social needs of women in a
growing economy; Dr. Banning called it "in a changing world."
I feel that one of the important points which have come out of
our discussions is that each young woman, each married woman-including those with children-and each mature woman, is free to
decide on the course of her life in a free society, and that it is not
necessary that what she. seeks be exclusively in one direction or the
other. We are, we American women, quite capable of playing many
kinds of parts at the same time, and I think it is most important that
we maintain this flexibility to keep pace with the changing needs
of women.
Women need to know ways to keep informed; the places to go for
guidance, regardless of age; and where to go to get special training.
In our summing up we will try to emphasize this, and we will mention in the final printed report of the conference some. of our own
Women's Bureau material which will be ready by fall.
One of our newer reports, called "Training Opportunities for
Women and Girls," covers training programs and training plans for
women. It seems to me that this is something that we need to know
more about if the American woman is going to be ready for the
changing world.
Many people far from Washington want to know how to get information. They say: "It is very simple for a Washingtonian to get
information about job opportunities, training, etc., but what does
.the person do who lives some distance from Washington-in one of
the States, perhaps in a small town?"
We in the Women's Bureau have a large volume of correspondence
with people from all over the country. In addition, there is in the
Department of Labor the Bureau of Employment Security, an agency
which is very much concerned with keeping,the public informed about
such matters. The Bureau of Employment Security is affiliated with
the State Employment Services, which have 1,800 local offices. Any
woman wishing employment advice-which includes counseling, testing, job development, and placement-should know that she can get
assistance from well-qualified personnel at these local offices. I want
to tell you, too, that we in the Women's Bureau have been working
closely with the Bureau of Employment Security, and the affiliated
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State and local offices, to coordinate our activities related to the preparation of women for employment. 17
You will notice that you have in your kits our new bulletin on the
increasingly important subject of part-time work-where it can be
found, who works part time, what industries hire part-time workers
in large numbers, and where to go for advice about part-time
employment.
We have many other kinds of informational materials in the
Women's Bureau. We feel that our mandate is to help women of all
ages and at all financial levels. A woman does not have to be a college
woman to achieve success, and Dr. Bunting has made that very clear.
We have for example, a publication which received very wide acceptance. In fact, Congress liked it so well they gave us more money to
print and distribute greater numbers of them. This booklet is called
"Future Jobs for High School Girls," and it suggests many ideas
to the high school student who is trying to select an occupation or
career.
We also have many publications on the growing variety of job
opportunities open to women. One of these is our report "Careers for
Women in the Physical Sciences." We feel that there is a great future
for qualified women in these fields, and I believe you will find it
profitable to read this as well as some of the other literature I have
mentioned.
I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that I hope that
many positive, new ideas will come out of this conference. It seems
to me that the panelists have been emphasizing that the question of
attitudes must be given a great deal of attention. Parents, men and
women alike, are sometimes responsible for the point of view of the
young girl who does not feel that it is proper for her to look for a
job or a career. I think this needs further exploration. Through the
published report of this conference, which will give another opportunity to think about our deliberations here, we hope that we will be
able to share with men and women who were unable to be here today
the valued opinions and findings of our panelists and speakers, who
have so effectively developed for us the composite picture of "Today's
Woman in Tomorrow's World."
Thank you, Mrs. Banning, for a most provocative and interesting
speech. And my appreciation goes also to the panel, whom I know
you will all agree are wonderfully equipped to take the position as
experts. Finally I would like to express my deep admiration, affection, and gratitude to President Bunting.
17 The Women 's Bureau reaches the public by activities of its field staff' at State and
local levels ; through feature articles, news releases, radio and television programs, and
conference participation ; and by providing leadership. For example, to help older women
who seek employment, the Bureau, with the cooperation of other Bureaus of the Department, assists community groups in planning and holding Earning Opportunities Forums.
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53
Presentation of Stamp Honoring
The American Woman
The Honorable John McKibbin, Deputy Postmaster General
It gives me particular pleasure to take part in this memorable
ceremony, dedicating a United States Commemorative Postage Stamp
honoring the more than 63 million women in the United States.
The anniversary of the establishment of the Women's Bureau of the
United States Department of Labor, and this great conference on national and international topics under its sponsorship, have provided a
most appropriate setting for this well-deserved tribute.
I am sure I speak for all men in positions of responsibility when
I say we respect deeply and fundamentally the magnificent contributions of women to the welfare of our great Nation.
We realize, too, that women traditionally are the guardians of our
spiritual heritage and we know full well how tenaciously and how
effectively they fight evil when it threatens the foundations of our
free society.
During the past 18 months most women have joined with us in the
Post Office Department in the crusade against obscenity in the mails.
Their contribution has been vital to this program. I should like to
thank publicly all women on behalf of the Postmaster General, including many persons in the audience today who are helping this fight
against moral decay.
The many and varied accomplishments of women of the United
States are of interest not only to our own citizens, but also are of
particular significance to the women of all free nations who are achieving greater acceptance and recognition in the social, economic, and
political life of their respective nations.
The design of this stamp, by the noted artist Robert Sivard, pays
appropriate tribute to American women, who-as responsible citizens,
wives and mothers, and as workers in the business and professional
fields-have contributed so much to our welfare.
The center design, showing a mother and daughter with a book in
front of them, symbolizes guidance given to her children by the
Nation's 25 million mothers.
The smaller designs emphasize other activities conducted by women.
A public building symbolizes their partipation in government; a gavel
represents the work of 20 million women in 600 volunteer organiza54
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Left to right: The Honorable Arthur E. Summerfield, Mrs. Alice K. Leopold,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Miss Mary Anderson, and The Honorable
James P. Mitchell.
tions; the academic cap, diploma, and books call attention to more
than a million women in the teaching profession; the caduceus represents the half million women nurses, doctors, and researchers; while
the mask and violin pay tribute to those in the entertainment field.
A microscope honors women in science; and the design of a factory
pays tribute to the more than 22 million women in industry and
business, who make up one-third of the Nation's working force.
It is our hope that the widespread use of 120 million of these
stamps, which go on sale tomorrow in our 36,000 post offices throughout the country, will remind our own citizens and the peoples of their
nations as well, of the great contribution which has been made and
which is being made by American women to the sound growth of our
country.
As we dedicate this new stamp to the American woman, we not only
pay tribute to her past achievements but also we look ahead to the
future, confident that she and her sisters throughout the world will
play an increasingly important part in the enrichment of the lives of
all freedom-loving peoples everywhere.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present autographed
albums of these stamps to several distinguished Americans.
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The first album, of course, will go to the President of the United
States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Tomorrow morning at the White ·
House prior to a Cabinet meeting, Postmaster General Summerfield,
Secretary Mitchell, Mrs. Leopold, and Miss Anderson, will be received
by the President and he will be presented this album.
The next album to be presented this afternoon is to the Honorable
James P. Mitchell, Secretary of Labor.
Secretary Mitchell: Thank you very much, General McKibbin, distinguished guests, la.dies, and gentlemen. I am sure that all of us
in the Labor Department appreciate very much the Post Office
Department's presentation of this stamp and what it stands for.
We are particularly grateful to the Postmaster General and his
associates, and to the artist who created this stamp.
It is significant that we have with us on the platform today the
person who was in charge of our Women's Bureau when it was first
organized in 1920, and I take especial pleasure in welcoming Miss
Mary Anderson, who to us in the Labor Department of a later day
is the symbol of all that we have been trying to achieve in the Women's
Bureau for many years.
I think that the creators of this stamp, as General McKibbin has
so well said, have compressed into a very small space all of the things
we would like to say about the American woman.
Personally, I like the center piece best because here you symbolize
the mother, the friend, the nurse, the teacher, and that-to those of us
who hold this symbol dear-is, I think, the artistry in the creation of
this stamp.
As we look into the future, the role of women in our economy looms
large. It looms large in business, in the _professions, in the sciences,
and, indeed, across the board in all of the contributions that American
,vorking people will have to make to our economy. But over and
n hove that, the role of women looms large as the basis of our family
]ife, and I would hope that as we extol the progress of the Women's
Bureau and as we look forward to further contributions on the part
of women in America, to an expanded standard of living, that we never
forget the family. Because the family to us in the United States of
}\.merica is the foundation of our spiritual and our moral standards.
On my own behalf and on behalf of my associates in the Department of Labor, I am very gr.a teful for the thoughtfulness that Postmaster General Summerfield and you have given to this occasion, and
also for the symbol that it commemorates. Thank you very much.
Mr. McKibbin: The next album is presented to Miss Mary Ander~on, the first director of the Women's Bureau of the Department of
Labor.
I know that each and every. one of us will be happy to hear from
Miss Anderson.
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Mrs. Alice K. Leopold (standing) and M iss Mary Anderson looking at artwork
of commemorative stamp .
Miss Anderson: It is an honor to reminisce a little bit about the
Women's Bureau and its work, and its help and benefit to the working
women.
When I first came to Washington and the Women's Bureau was
created, we knew that working women's conditions were very bad,
that they only got the work that was the very worst that there was, and
very poor pay. Some of them got only about 4 and 5 dollars a week;
some of them got 10 cents an hour. Besides that, women worked 10
hours a day and sometimes 12 hours a day.
Now, when we think of what that means, and what we have todayof course it took a good many years to do it-but we now have a
law on the statute books enacted by the Federal Government, that
gives a minimum wage of $1.00 an hour to men and women alike.
The law specifies also that the workweek shall be no more than 40
hours, and tha.t means 5 days a week. That is a great thing and it
took, of course, some time to accomplish, but it is a great forward
step- particularly the fact that women get the same minimum wage
as men.
We feel that we have come a long way; we have done very much.
In the early days, there were very few colleges for women and few
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opportunities for their college education. Now, finally, we have 't he
colleges and the advantages of higher education because women realized that we must have equal opportunity to acquire these benefits.
And so, with opportunity for education equal to all, women are employed more and more in business and professional callings.
I could mention many other things but I will not take up your time
on that. I do say that we have still a long way to go, but we are on
our way. I want to thank Mr. Summerfield, the Postmaster General;
Mr. Mitchell, the Secretary of Labor; and Mrs. Leopold, the Director
of the Women's Bureau; for the honor that has been bestowed on
the women of the.United States and equally to all women.
Mr. McKibbin: Thank you very much, Miss Anderson.
The next album is for your hard working and dedicated chairman
of the past 2 days, the Director of the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor, Mrs. Alice K. Leopold.
Mrs. Leopold: Thank you very much.
Mr. McKihbin: We have an album here for a man to whom tribute
has already been paid by the Secretary of Labor, and I am sure that
Postmaster General Summerfield and all of us share in your complimentary remarks. We have an album for the designer of this
stamp, Mr. Robeirt Sivard.
J une ~Evening Session 18
Spotlight on Women of Achievement
Many factors have contributed to the success of Women's Bureau
programs over the years but few have left a greater impact than have
the constructive, dedicated, and selfless interest of individual women.
Actually, many of the Bureau's programs have _been- and are-a
direct reflection of the tireless efforts of women leaders whose concern has been the betterment of women's working conditions, the advancement of their opportunities for employment, or the improvement
of their civil and political status. Some of these women have, in
addition, achieved outstanding personal success in the business or
professional endeavors to which they have applied their talents and
training.
To honor these women leaders for their service in behalf of all
American women, as well as for their individual successes, the Director and Staff of the Women's Bureau planned as a special event of the
18 Music for the evening session of the conference was supplied through the courtesy of
Lodge No. 12, American Federation of Government Employees. Appreciation is here expressed to those who made this outstanding and effective program possible.
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Mrs. Alice K. Leopold.
conference banquet a feature entitled "Spotlight on Women of
Achievement."
Significant in its nature and purpose, the spotlight ceremony became even more meaningful because of the high caliber of the women
so honored. Among them were the great Mary Anderson, first Director of the Women's Bureau, and a number of women whose cooperation
with the Women's Bureau dates from the days of Miss Anderson's
directorship. Of Miss Anderson's contribution to the life and times
of America, Secretary Mitchell said: "Her imprint and her continuing
contribution have the marks of greatness. They will serve in years to
come as inspiration to all who care about people and better ways of
life for them. The Department of Labor is proud to honor Miss
Anderson on this Fortieth Anniversary of the Women's Bureau."
As the spotlight beamed on each Woman of Achievement, she was
introduced to the audience by name, and by affiliation or identification
of her particular contribution. The inspiring introductions to each
of these women were made by Mrs. Esther Van Wagoner Tufty, National Broadcasting Company Commentator and herself a "Woman of
Achievement," and Theodore F. Koop,,distinguished Director of News
and Public Affairs; Columbia Broadcasting System, Washington.
The spotlight feature symbolized the successes of representative
women who were present at the evening session, and also those who contributed to the conference, and others who could not attend because
of illness, distance, or other reasons-but who are in their own right
women of achievement.
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Address
The Honorable James P. Mitchell, Secretary of Labor
We are gathered here tonight to pay tribute to the Women's Bureau
and to celebrate its fortieth _b irthday. This is a time, I think, not to
look back down the path that we have thus far come, but rather to
look ahead to the way yet untrod, and to examine some of the things
that are important to our future as Americans.
We are entering into a new decade; a decade which will test our
beliefs and cause us to examine closely those institutions which have
brought us this far, to see whether the institutions or even the beliefs
which underlie them are .adequate to meet the challenges of today
and tomorrow.
The political genius of our people has, even in times of trial, furnished this Nation with a variety of means to achieve the purpose of
our society, and I believe that the central domestic issue in th~ years
before us will be whether or not we can demonstrate the same genius
for using the means at our disposal that we have in the past.
It seems that the evolution of our economic life is leading toward
larger concentrations of economic power within institutions-power
based not on the ownership of wealth but on the control of wealth.
These institutions are various: Corporations, of which 500 now
account for two-thirds of our total industry; pension and trust funds,
already totaling more than $40 billion and growing at the rate of $4
billion annually; labor unions, supported by 16 million members;
mutual funds, trusts, insurance and banking firms, and so on.
It has been estimated that. 50 million citizens are now sharing in
the profits of the 500 largest corporations, directly and indirectly.
Since 1952, the number of direct stockholders in public corporations
has risen from 6.5 million to 12.5 million.
In the United States more and more people are en joying greater
and greater degrees of wealth. At the same time, the control of economic wealth is concentrated in greater degree in our economic institutions, and in the hands of the managers, administrators and leaders
of those institutions.
Outside a free society, this might be a dangerous condition, but
inside a free society it has an opposite effect; it places in the hands of
private citizens both the power and the resources t o attain the social
and economi c goals they set for themselves.
A free society has ·w ithin itself the weapon to curb injustice that
might result from a selfish or blind use of economic power; that
weapon is the political po,ver that the people have reserved for
themselves.
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Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell.
We are all familiar with the use of political intervention--from
antitrust laws, on through the regulation of transportatjon and
broadcasting, to the regulation of labor-management affairs.
Intervention usually results when economic institutions-either
through incompetence, or wilful mismanagement and abuse of control-have not lived up to the responsibilities that society has expected
of them.
We have, in the United States of America, a rapidly growing society,
one with impressive needs and even more impressive wants. This
society will be looking to its private institutions to initiate and support
positive programs for social and economic advancement. Intervention by political power, toward meeting these needs and wants, has
the latent danger of sapping the vitality of private responsibility,
frustrating private initiative, and, most importantly, creating a drift
toward vesting government with more and more controls over private
affairs.
When political power and economic power are joined, as they are
in Russia, the results can be devastating to the ambitions of freedom.
At the same time, the vigorous and expanding society of tomorrow
will not hesitate, I believe, to exert its political power if the people
feel that needs and wants are not being met by private means.
That is one of the reasons why more has to be done in the private
sector to solve the social needs represented by the older worker, by
the minority group-and on down a long list of problems waiting for
remedies.
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I disagree vigorously with those who believe that government is
the only institution committed by nature to a forwarding of the common good.
We have estimated, at the Department of Labor, that the population
of the United States will increase to 226 million by 1975. The labor
force in that period will grow to 95 million, an increase of 23 million.
Eight million of that increase will be men and women over 45 years
of age.
At present, because of senseless prejudices and because of technical
changes, the older worker is often excluded from employment. He
finds that his age has .e rected invisible barriers around him, cutting
him off from participation in the active economic life of his society.
,vhose problem is this? Is it the problem only of the mature worker
himself, and one that he can meet only by recourse to his political
power?
In Jew York and in other States there are now laws on the books
that prohibit discrimination in employment because of age. It is possible, unless the managers and the leaders of our centers of private
economic power realize that this is their problem too, that a_ national
law might someday be on the books-and it ·will be there not because
the Federal Government is seeking control but because millions of
people, frustrated in their desire to join with society in an active way,
have demanded such control.
The fact that our economy will be called upon for a maximum response to meet domestic needs and international commitments makes it
plain that the maximum utilization of human resources is not a choice
but an imperative. And it is plain to me that business management
and labor unions h~ve prime responsibility to get this job done.
A corporation must exist for larger ends than the mere accumu1ation of profit, the production of goods, or the payment of wages. It
must also use its economic power to further national goals and serve
society's purposes. It can't do this if it has, for example, discriminatory employment policies in regard to minority workers. It can ~t
do this if color is made a condition of employment.
I think you will agree with me that the clamor for general use of
political power to meet social ends is based on a vote of no-confidence
in the ability, and the intention, of the private sector of our economy
to assume the responsibility.
I do not mean to give here the impression that the private and
public powers stand at opposite poles. On many of the social needs
of today they must join. Certainly the problems afflicting those areas
of chronic unemployment require such a dual approach-legislation
by government and action by the private. economy.
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The older worker, the minority worker, the area of chronic unemployment-add to these urban renewal, educational facilities, civil
rights, housing, and health. These, and many more, are problems of
total society, and total society solves them in its own way.
Last month, the first of ·w hat I hope will be many meetings took
place between labor and management on a national scale. The participants at this meeting reported that their discussions were amiable
and that there was agreement on the need to achieve harmonious
relations between labor and management. I know that all America
wishes them success in this endeavor.
The advantages of harmonious, continuous communication aside
from bargaining are, it seems to me, clear. Problems not susceptible
to bargaining can here be met-the impact of research and development on employment, any practices that may be detrimental to labor
or to management or to an entire industry, the impact of foreign
competition, and the maintenance of a high order of productivity.
I am sure that many other ideas come immediately to your minds
as well.
And I would hope, finally, that out of these industry conversations,
both labor and management will ~gree to the principle that owners,
workers, and consumers are all entitled to a fair share of the fruits
of increasing productivity. In line with my previous remarks, such
agreements would demonstrate that the public welfare can be forwarded by private interest.
It is my hope that eventually the bargaining table will become not
an isolated battleground upon which hereditary opponents meet infrequently for an often bitter Indian wrestle over the size of shares,
but that it will become the logical culmination of a continuously
developed understanding, where the public interest and the welfare
of industry find their formal expression and their most positive
fulfillment.
For example, it would be my hope that the subject of foreign trade,
and the effect of labor and management policies in our competitive
position in the world's markets be fully and openly discussed.
It may well be that the major American hold on overseas markets,
and the major grip on domestic markets, will rest squarely on our
ability to increase efficiency and to invent and develop new products
to the extent necessary to maintain both our high standards and our
competitive position.
This efficiency challenge falls in two places. One is upon our research and development enterprises, our scientists and technicians
and engineers who are called upon to devise better products and
ways of doing almost everything. Intellectual excellence in this
respect is a national economic asset.
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But it falls equally upon labor and management in this country.
For while efficiency can come from better machines and ne-w methods
and techniques, it can and must come equally well from the elimination of wasteful work practices. Many of these practices are rooted
in agreements or understandings between management and labor;
others are defended by labor as inherited rights; still others are the
result of poor management.
This is why foreign trade is one of the things that" conferees should
discuss at the labor-management conference convened at the request
of the President. It is one of the things that management and labor
in America must face up to-for we can no longer tolerate uneconomic practices that endanger our competitive position, either
domestic or foreign-and that eventually cost American workers
their jobs and American employers their businesses.
I do not think we will price ourselves out of markets, either here
at home or overseas, although we may lose some markets. I hope,
however, that we will never lose any market by default-because of
the failure of managers and workers in the United States of America
to come to an understanding that thleir interest in increasing productivity and stabilizing prices is the same interest, and that it coincides
with the national interest.
·It has always been the pride of our people that we have been
worthy of freedom. That is because we have turned power to the
use and the betterment of the individual; we have made free decision
and voluntary cooperation the touchstones of a system that serves and
honors the highest ends of society-the elevation of each man toward
wider horizons.
The issue before us is the old test of freedom with the new form3
of power. It is an issue we should meet with full confidence in our
private institutions, and in the ideals of reliance and service that
have brought us successfully to this new decade.
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The Contribution of American Women
to National and International Affairs
Mrs. Esther Peterson, Legislative Representative, Industrial Union
Department, AFL-CIO
PANEL
The Honorable Francis 0. Wilcox, Assistant Secretary of State for
International Affairs-Keynote Speaker for the Panel
The Honorable Jose A. Mora, Secretary General, Organization of
American States
Mrs. Oscar M. Ruebhausen, Chairman, Women's Africa Committee
Mr. Saxton Bradford, Deputy Director, Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Mrs. Lorena B. Hahn, United States Delegate, United Nations
Commission on the Status of Women
The Honorable George V. Allen, Director, United States Information
Agency
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The Honorable
Francis 0. Wilcox.
Mrs. E sthe r Peterson.
The Honorable
George V. Allen.
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J une 3 Session
The Contribution of American Women
to National and International Affairs
Achievements and Goals of American Women
Mrs. Esther Peterson, Legislative Representative
Industrial Union Department, American Federation of Labor
and Congress of Industrial Organizations
I am proud to be here today, and very happy to help celebrate the
anniversary of the founding of the Women's Bureau.
It is good to look back and go through early records of the hearings
to see the basis on which the Women's Bureau was frunded.
I am proud to see in these records that members of the labor movement, the Women's Trade Union League, the Consumer's League, and
outstanding women of the period raised their voices before Congr ess
and before the country-saying that we needed facts and stat istics
concerning conditions of women's employment; we needed a basis
for beginning to work toward setting standards for working women;
and we needed a Bureau for that p urpose.
Early issues of the Congressional Record show that there were
many calls for a specific Government agency to investigate and report
from time to time upon the conditions of working women in the
l nited States. Since then, much has been done and a great deal of
progress has been made.
You know, and we all know, that although the world depends
increasingly on ·w omanpower to turn its wheels, this is still a man's
world in the economic sense. Sex discrimination exists in industry
and commerce, as does discrimination because of color. Both have
e.conomic costs and both are indefensible.
In many countries women workers often were employed with the
deliberate intention of forcing down the wage level. After all, if a
young girl could be hired at half a man's wage, the male labor force
could more easily be brought to heel.
Women were the chief victims of a homework system so ugly that
it has finally been banished from this land. When the Women's
Bureau was founded in 1920, this practice was flagrant.
For example, during a project underway around 1930, I had to
visit the homes of working girls and I shall never forget-in Cam-
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bridge, Massachusetts-going up the stairs to meet a rubber worker
and finding a complete family sitting around a table at 10 :30 p.m.
putting bobby pins on cards. I remember a little child sitting there:
It was his job, as a 4- or 5-year old, to be sure that 30 bobby pins were
put on each card.
Also, I would see women putting strings through tags that were
to be put on the dresses that we bought in our stores. This was some
time ago, and it is due to the work of people like Mary Anderson
and others in the omen's Bureau that standards were set for home
work and this exploitation has largely been eliminated. Women with
feeling and social conscience raised their voices and said that these
things must not exist in our land. ·
We look back at those days with shock. But we must remember that
many of our sisters in many parts of the world are experiencing what
we experienced many years ago, and that to a large degree in many
places they have almost no paid job opportunity.
Women workers were among the victims of the great industrial
tragedies of our time. All of us here know the story of the Triangle
Shirt Waist fire, and of the girls maimed and killed in that needless
horror. It ,vas this industrial carnage, in fact, which gave impetus to
fire inspection laws and to the unionization of the garment workers.
The job of cleaning out firetraps hasn't been completed by any
means, even in the garment industry. In New York, the Ladies Garment Workers Union is still battling to enforce fire regulations and
to prevent repetition of the tragedy that has been repeated too many
times since the Triangle fire. It is women workers who are doing the
job and who make up the union's safety squads.
I have just come from a conference of the Communication Workers
of America, where the 25-hour workweek was very much discussed.
,,Then the Women's Bureau was founded, a 54-hour workweek w~
legal in the State 0£ New York and it was common practice to go far
beyond that. At the time, the Women's Trade Union Lea,gue was
fighting for the 48-hour limitation, for sanitation, for inspections, and
for limitations on night work at minimum wages. Improvements
have come, but even now, in 1960-and this is difficult to realize-there
are still millions of employed women in the United States with practically no limit set on the number of hours that they may be required
to work.
True, most of us work 40 hours a week, but the major progress we
have made has come because of the total progress of labor.
The passage in 1938 of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act,vhich applies both to men and women-called for a gradual reduction
of the workweek to 40 hours, and certainly was a landmark for all
working people.
,v
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I am spending much of my time these days on the Federal minimumwage law. Our objective is to raise the floor to $1.25 an hour, a.n d to
extend coverage to 7½ million people of the 20 million or so that
are excluded presently from the act. This would go a long way to
bring under the umbrella of Federal protection many unorganized and
unprotected workers. The largest number of these are women; women
who are working in restaurants, in hotels, in laundries, in cleaning
establishments, and in some telephone places.
Our Secretary of Labor has worked hard this year in focusing and
dramatizing the need of help for agricultural workers. We know that
it may be impossible this year to get such protection, although a great
deal of effort has been made. But this is an area that we will still
work for. It is one of the last areas of real exploitation that we have
remaining in this country.
At the risk of being somewhat out of order, I would like to put in
a plug for Federal action for the $1.25 per hour now. I would like
to do it on the basis of our sex, because the $1.25 wage floor and
extension of coverage will benefit women workers most.
Hearings before the Senate and the House show that a better living
standard can mean a great deal for the single women who must depend
upon themselves for support, and certainly for women who are supporting part of their family.
Right here in the District of Columbia, we know from the welfare.
reports that 69,000 families in the District are living on less than $3,000
a year.
Our relief bill is heavy. Even in the State of Pennsylvania, the
relief bill alone was $16 million a year. These are the people whom
I call the working poor: People who work for 40 hours a week but
who, in spite of working 40 hours a week, do not make enough money
to live on. These people are subsidized by the taxpayers in all kinds
of ways, not only relief payments but through delinquency and the cost
of many other ills.
The Department of Commerce now reports that the average family
income, from all sources, is $5,400 annually. This average means
that half of all our families have annual incomes below $5,400.
The average annual wage in the United States is $4,700. This
means that the great American Jiving standard is maintained chiefly
because the average family has more than one wage earner. More
often than not, that extra wage earner is also a wife and mother.
Most of the 23 million women in the labor force are married. This
added earning power buys clothing, education, music lessons sometimes, and housing and food. I need not tell this audience that women
work more often from necessity than from choice.
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Minimum-wage laws have especial significance to women because
of their numerical predominance in the lower paid jobs. Although
women may have the alleged protection of State minimum-wage legi slation-where such legislation exists- they frequently are ·w orking in
an industry, such as ·women laundry workers in the District of Columbia, that is not classed as interstate commerce. Therefore, the minimum wage for ,vomen in such jobs is the minimum rate set by a State
law or the local wage board and not the $1.00-an-hour minimum established in the existing Federal minimum-wage law. 1 9
Actually, there are 4 or 5 million persons, men and women, in occupations that are covered by St~te minimum-wage laws, and the hourly
minimum-,rnge rates established in these States range from a low of
15.6 cents in Arkansas to $1.50 in our new State of Alaska.
Of course, there are many States with no minimum-wage laws at
all. The hearings showed case after case: One, a laundry worker
receiving 85 cents an hour and working 56 hours a ,veek; ·women in
retail stores at 50 cents an hour with no limit on hours of work; maids
working in lush hotels in Florida for 60 cents an hour ; and many
others.
These are still crying, unmet needs. These people are largely the
unorganized, without the protection of Federal legislation, and without
the protection of union contract.
I have talked considerably here about minimum wages and you will
have to excuse me for it, but I feel an emotional involvement in thi s
subject. I look upon it as a battle for the welfare of women and
children.
The IQ and achievement tests show that there is little, if any, difference in intelligence betwen the boss and his b~·ight Girl-Friday. Yet
advancement in the white collar fields-to managerial or staff postsis limited chiefly to men. Women who get the interesting jobs and
the better paid jobs are the exception rather than the rule.
In blue-collar work, too, ·women seem to be held dmvn to the production level jobs. Usually, there are work areas which by custom, if not
by la,,·, are reserved for women. Relatively few women get the
skilled jobs no matter hmv qualified they may be, mentally and
physically.
19 A n ew publication , Minimum W age and the Woma n W orke r (Wome n ·-s Bureau Pamphl et 8) , t ell s brieflr and in plain lang uage how and wh y Sta t e minimum-wage la ws cam e
about, and how th ey operate, and of th eir impact on the worker , the e mploy er , and th e
community. A com p r eh e n sh ·e r eport, Wom en' s Bureau Bull etin 267, describes th e con cepts and con s tltutio nalitr of minimum -wage law s; lis t s th e indu s tries and occupation s
affec ted ; and pro vid es detail ed anal ysis of wage-rate prov is ion s effectiv e in individual
St a t es. See Appe ndix , p. 125, f or complet e list of Women 's Bureau publi catio ns on this
s ubj ect , and informati on on how they may be obtain ed.
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Organized labor has sought equal pay for equal work, and under
union contracts this equality is usually required. 20 The problem is
the limitation upon the kind of jobs available to women.
In the telephone industry, for example, the operators jobs are reserved for women. And, these jobs are gradually disappearing
because of increased automation.
This is hardly an isolated case, and I am not citing the telephone
or any other industry as a horrible example.
In passing through the country as I do, one can't help seeing case
after case where girls are laid off because of automation. Very often
when automation is taking place, where men and women are doing
practically the same thing, the traditional lower rate for women is
being read into the new wage patterns. We must watch this and we
must not let it happen. Unions are trying to prevent this discrimination against ·women but we are not all organized. Where there are
no unions, equal pay for equal work generally is a fiction.
Who does not know of an office where a woman does the same work
as a man but is paid at least $20 less than the man? The claim is that
the man must support his family and that his need is greater. For
many employers this is a convenient way of keeping the wage bill
down. None of us wants men's wages to be cut; all t_hat we want is
equality of treatment-equal pay for equal work-a goal highly consistent with democracy. We want this particular equality, but there
must be an awareness and consideration on the part of society of the
difference between men and women.
We want none of the kind of equality where women must perform
jobs beyond their physical capacity. A civilized society properly
offers special protection to prevent this exploitation. Let me say now
that organized labor wants no part of any kind of equal rights which
would destroy or weaken such protective legislation as we now have
on the books.
vVe need to do some large and original thinking on many of thesPproblems and we rightfully look to the Women's Bureau for technical
help and leadership in working out solutions.
The special role of women in society as homemakers and mothers
must certainly be realized even if it entails some obligations for the
employer or society at large. In Sweden these are called the social
costs of production. I was always amazed in Sweden at the willingness to experiment, to try to work out ways of meeting the problem.
20 Information on t he subject of equal pa y is gh-en in two Women's Bureau bookleti,;:
J<;qual Pay Primer (Leaflet 20-; r ev ised edition iss ued in March 1960) explains the basic
facts on equal pay f or th e use of pnso ns and groups seeking to know and u se the Information. Another r eport, Diges t of State Equal -Pay Laws (R evised as of March 1 , 1960) ,
provides df>taili,; of the coverage and adm ini stration of equal-pay laws In Individua l States.
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The government of Sweden sponsored a program whereby women
could go into homes and be mother substitutes on a day's notice or
less-with individual terms and conditions worked out later. These
women are employed by the community, on the recommendation of
the doctor or the ,ml fare person or the boss that someone is needed.
To vrntch these women being trained, these mature women that have
found new job opportunities, is a very satisfying experience.
Way up in Lapland, I remember visiting such a ·woman. I found
that she got an extremely fine salary and asked her about it. She
said, "This is my wilderness bonus. Up here I milk cows; I do whatever needs to be done."
Many countries are doing wonderful things and experimenting
,vith new ways. We need to try new ways and get new ideas. In
England, the women's volunteer services are very active-- serving
meals on ,Yheels for older people and providing other programs for
men and women. Many of these ideas are ,vorthwhile experiments
that ·we can look at and study.
The family, while changes have occurred, is still the basic unit of
our society, and none of us would change that. There should be recognition by industry, and by society at large, of a plan for maternity
leave. Unions are making an effort to win maternity rights and
benefits. And, progress has been made in some States, which nmv
provide maternity leave benefits. "'Ve must work at Federal and State
levels and through unions for programs in this field and we look to
you for assistance. 21
For some reason, some States discriminate against married women
in the case of jobless benefits. Obviously, if ,vomen work because of
need, they apply for unemployment compensation benefits for the
same reason.
I suggest that we need more education concerning the reasons why
women work in the first place-what is really back of their decision
or need to ,York. I think that if we had more diffused knowledge in
this field, perhaps ·we ·would have a corresponding enlightenment in
the approach to many of our social programs.
Two other problems that · we must look at are ( 1) part-time employment and (2) the number of older women who are joining the
labor force. We must insure that the older woman, who now lives
21 A major legislative advance was made In 1959 when the Congress of the United States
enacted a law prodding that the Federal Government shall participate In the cost of
health insurance, including maternity benefits for its employ ees. and their families. The
Women's Bureau r«:>cently rlcllea8Pd Its new Bulletin 272- Maternlty Benefit Provisions for
Employ ed , vomen- which d e,;crlbes mnternlty bPm,fit provl,;ions under voluntary and
leglslatiYe plan,; a,; well as th«:> _ approach taken In other countrle!-i a nd their types of
systems and coverage.
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longer than her mother and grandmother did, will be able to meet her
economic needs, her physical needs, and her social and spiritual
needs.
I recommend a reading of the McNamara Committee hearings 22 in
order to learn about the problems that older women are facing in this
country.
I cannot stop without mentioning the work of the International
Labor Organization, and the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions-which closely affect the lives of working women and
people all over the world. We believe with them that the problems
and interests of women as workers are generally indistinguishable
from those of men, and that they must be solved in the same manner.
Some problems may be different, but regardless of sex, both men
and women should have equal protection from dangers in work tasks,
and equal opportunity to develop their capacities and live a constructive life in the social and economic sense.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, which has
its headquarters in Brussels, has a Women's Committee that is working
especially to help women in various countries to organize toward
setting standards for working women. One thing many women can
do in such countries is to help create a climate of opinion that will
permit these standards to be achieved in all areas which are struggling
to reach a feasible economic level.
The ICFTU had a school outside of Paris in which I was fortunate
to teach, with 23 countries represented, where untrained women from
various walks ot life came to find out if they could develop stand_a rds
for women workers in their own countries.
American women, despite all the problems they still face, are the
hope of the world's women. In our Nation, we have achieved a
degree of emancipation almost unknown even in the advanced countries of the western world.
Mrs. Eleanor Rooseve]t, Mrs. Agnes Meyer, Marion Anderson,
Frieda Miller, Senator Margaret Chase Smith- to mention only a
few outstanding women of this Nation-stand out as symbols of
hope to women everywhere.
,,re need more women leaders in every field, and I do not exclude
labor. Ours can very much be a power for good. Our fight is that
of the ,vorld's children everywhere. It is the fight to rear strong,
healthy, and inte1ligent families. It is to give meaning to the affluence we know to be ours. It is to reach world understanding and
peace.
22
The Aged an d Aging in the United States : Hearings Befo re the Subcommittee on
Problems of the Aged and Aging, of the Committ~e on Labor and Public Welfare, United
States Senate, 86th Congress, 1st Session, June 16, 17. and 18, 1959.
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American women can be leaders in a great crusade. I know this
from my own experience abroad. Just as the world looks to this
Nation for leadership, so the world's women see the women of this
Nation as the pace setters. I think, and pray, that we will play a
more active leadership role in the affairs of this Nation, and the
world.
The Women's Bureau has been of great service in our fight. I congratulate it on its fortieth anniversary. I look to it for still more
leadership and greater accomplishment for women in the years ahead.
Activities of the United Nations
The Honorable Francis 0. Wilcox
Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization A ffairs
I am delighted to be here with you today to celebrate the fortieth
anniversary of the Women's Bureau. It has done a grand job in
encouraging and promoting the position of women in American life,
and we are all proud of its activities and its leadership.
I have been asked to talk about some of the developments in the
field of international organization which might be of interest to you.
And I would like to say at the outset that in the last 3 or 4 weeks
. there have been two questions that probably have been paramount in
most peoples' -minds. The first is, why did the Summit Conference
fail? And the second is, since it did fail, where do we go from
here?
I do not want to dwell on this at any length but I think it does
have a bearing upon the role of the l nited Nations in its quest for
world peace.
I think it is fairly clear that Mr. Khrushchev was responsible for
the collapse of the Summit meeting. He concluded that it was not
going to bring about the results that he liked, and under those
circumstances he preferred to have no Summit Conference at all.
There are other· factors which may have entered into the picture,
all of which, of course, are speculative. There undoubtedly was some
pressure from the Chinese. There were perhaps internal power
struggles going on within the Soviet Union itself which contributed
to the decision. There was a certain amount of discontent among the
military as a result of recent reductions in the Armed Forces in the
Soviet Union. Undoubtedly, too, the U-2 incident was a factor. I
think, however, that it was not a decisive factor in the fateful decision
that Mr. Khrushchev made. It did offer him a convenient excuse to
avoid doing something which he had decided he did not want to do.
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Now, as far as we in the United States are concerned, -we intend
to go ahead, to try to arrive at peaceful solutions of the vexing problems that face the world today. We hope that we can contiiiue to
make progress in the field of disarmament; in working out agreements in the peaceful uses of outer space; and in coming to solutions
to the difficult problems of nuclear testing. Insofar as the United
Nations is concerned, I think that there will not be a very significant
change in the role of that organization. It is true that since the
Summit collapse some people may place less confidence in summitry
as a method of international diplomacy, and have more confidence
in the normal channels of diplomacy, and in discussion~ within the
framework of the United Nations-as methods for resolving some of
our world problems.
The U-2 incident, I think, did illustrate the unique position of the
United Nations as a kind of safety valve where countries can let off
steam, or as a kind of shock absorber where conflicting interests of
the great powers can be absorbed.
It showed also, I think, the influence of the small powers in helping
to find peaceful solutions of difficult problems. In the United Nations
this past week, you saw a constructive proposal advanced by a number
of the smaller countries-members of the Security Council-which
brought the deliberations of the Council to a successful conclusion.
Now, our position in the United Nations, as I have said, will
remain very much the same as it has been. We think that international cooperation is a two-way street; we intend to do what we
can to take care of our part of this two-way arrangement, and to help
work out, as I have said, solutions to some of the difficult problems
which face us.
Having said that, I would like to turn briefly to the African scene
and the role of the United Nations there. I had the privilege of
spending 4 weeks in Africa recently and I must say that I was tremendously impressed by the very significant changes that are taking
place there. A new continent is emerging and we may well find that
the decade of the 1960's will be the African decade. I think that
what is happening there constitutes one of the most important developments of the 20th century. There is no longer a question, really,
of whether independence is coming; rather the question is-how
soon will independence come?
More sovereign states will be created on the continent of Africa during the next 10 years than have ever been created in a comparable
period of time in all of world history, and I hope that whatever
happens in the field of disarmament, or at possible Summit meetings,
we will not be so occupied and so absorbed in such events that we will
neglect the significant developments that are taking place on the
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Continent of Africa. I think it is inevitable that those developments
will have significant impact upon the United Nations in two ways.
In the first place, there is the tremendous growth of membership,
largely of African countries, in the United Nations. It would be my
guess that within the next 2 years 20 new states will emerge upon
the Continent of Africa and will become members of the United
Nations.
As a result, it is very obvious that these new states of Africa,
which would compose about one-third of the membership of the
United Nations, will play a much more significant role in the organization than they have in the past, and, I might add, a much more
significant role in world politics. It follows that the United Nations
will have to pay a great deal more attention to the African countries
than they have in the past. After all, the United Nations is made up
of independent members which as sovereign states are members of
the international community; and it has nothing to do, relatively
speaking, with territories that are either part of the mother country
or part of member states.
I think it might be we11 to keep in mind several possible activities
through which the United Nations could find a very challenging way
to express its constructive influence upon the African continent.
First of all, let me say just a word about this problem of increased
membership. Many people have expressed concern lest this growing
membership might inject into the organization an element of instability and uncerta.inty ; and that the smaller countries might tend to
band together to make decisions which are not in the interest of the
organization or the cause of peace.
I do not share that fear. I think the smaller countries will realize
that the United Nations was created primarily to protect their independence and their integrity, and I think it would be foolish in the
extreme for these countries to take irresponsible action which would
harm the organization designed to protect them.
Moreover, when you look at the roll of member states-all the way
from Japan to Tunisia and Morocco-you begin to realize that there
are tremendous differences in that group of states.
Japan differs much from Morocco; Pakistan is quite different from
Ghana, and if you compare these countries in terms of religion, historical background, tradition, culture, and language, you will find
that there are perhaps, more differences than there are similarities.
I should add, of course, that the only group of states that has consistently voted as a bloc in the United Nations is the Soviet Union
and its satellites. The Asian Africans, while they have held together
in some instances, have tended to vote independently on most of the
important political problems before the United Nations.
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But let me turn briefly to some of the things the United N atlons can
do in Africa. First of all, there is technical assistance. Wherever I
·went in Africa I was impressed by the fact that these new governments
will be in desperate need of trained technical assistants. In many
cases the mother country's experts and administrators will be leaving,
and there will be a great need for the kind of trained people who can
step in to help these new countries during their transitional periodwhen they will be working toward greater stability and greater
efficiencies.
Up to this point the United Nations has not extended very much
technical assistance to the territories of Africa for reasons which I
have already explained. This means that in the future the work of
the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, the Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization, the Food
and Agriculture Organization, and the other specialized agencies of
the United Nat ions, will have to be expanded in order to meet the
growing aspirations of these newly emerging countries.
I was very much impressed with what Mrs. Peterson said about
income levels and standards of living, and I could not help but think
of the contrast between our country and some others. I went through
countries in Africa where the average annual income per capita is
$30. And when one stops to realize that in some of these countries,
annual increases amount to about 3 _percent in production and 2 percent in population-and that the net gain, therefore, is about 1 percent a year-it means that these countries will be improving their
standard of living, in American dollars, roughly by about $1 a year.
Obviously, when you start at a low o_f $30 a year, you have to make
a great deal of progress to get anywhere within one generation.
That simple fact, I think, gives U:s a fairly clear notion of the
tremendous challenge which lies ahead for the United Nations and
its specialized agencies, which will be working to help raise the
standard of Ii ving of the African peoples.
There is another thing that can be done, in connection with the
United Nations. I said a moment ago that one of the great needs
in the African countries will be for trained experts and administrators. The United Nations has set up a new program, called
OPEX, for the purpose of finding technical experts to help these
newly emerging countries. I think that there are tremendous possibilities in this program.
It is important also to realize that the United Nations can help
some count ries achieve stability just by being there. We have seen
in Laos, for example, that the presence of a small group of United
Nations experts working to help develop the economy of the country
has contributed to the istability of that country. This was true in
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Jordan; it was true in Lebanon at certain times; and it is now true
in the Middle East, where the United Nations presence does have a
stabilizing influence.
I am hopeful, therefore, that in small countries which are newly
emerging, particularly in some of the Trust Territories of the United
Nations, that it will be possible to establish a small UN group which
will have this effect.
Finally, there is another way in which the United Nations can be
extremely useful. African countries below the Sahara have set up
their boundary lines in a rather ad hoc manner, without much regard
for ethnic considerations or natural boundary factors. The United
Nations can make a contribution by helping these countries proceed
peacefully toward a settlement of their boundary disputes.
It is very interesting to note the extent to which the influence of
the United Nations is expanding geographically. We all know of
the many ways in which the United Nations has had an influence in
the Middle East. We have seen the UN presence established in Laos,
where, as I noted earlier, it has a tranquilizing effect. Still more
recently, the Security Council took action authorizing the Secretary
General to see how he could be helpful in the South African situation.
He is planning a trip to Cape Town in July and we are very hopeful
that he can help work out with the South African Government some
constructive steps to improve the situation there.
I have tried to point out to you that the United Nations is not
losing influence at the present time; rather, it is gaining in the sense
that the challenges it faces are potentially very great, indeed. What
it can do in Africa, I have outlined very briefly, and the work that
it does with the underdeveloped countries throughout the world is,
I think, clear to most of you. Some countries prefer to get assistance
through the United Nations, rather than to receive it through bilateral channels. They do not like to get involved in a cold war
conflict between the East and the West, and they would prefer to
have relationship with an international organization which can be
helpful to them-such as the United Nations.
I sometimes think it is most unfortunate that we cannot resolve
more of our political problems, and occasionally I get a bit discouraged when it seems that the General Assembly has not worked
out a solution to a highly important political problem. Then I
remember that the United Nations has moved ahead in the technical,
social, economic, and humanitarian fields, and I am encouraged again,
because I believe that here they are making solid concrete progress
that is measurable and tangible, and for which the people of the
world are exceedingly grateful.
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I admit that it will not help very much for the United Nations to
guarantee delivery-through the Universal Postal Union-of your
letters to Afghanistan, or to assist in wiping out the scourge of
malaria in Latin America, if at the same time it cannot prevent a
nuclear war. I would admit that the first and primary responsibility
of the United Nations is to help maintain international peace and
security.
Nevertheless, I do think that the United Nations is accomplishing
a great deal in the social and economic field, and that it is laying the
permanent basis of international cooperation by encouraging activities among the nations-activities which will make it more possible to
have, later on, the kind of progress desired in the political fields.
So, I urge you to do all you can to support the great work of the
United Nations in, for example, the United Nations Children's Fund
activities, and in the Special Fund of the United Nations which is
used toward doing what the UN can to encourage the study of
natural resources in different countries and to find out what kind of
resources can be developed profitably for the peoples of those
countries.
In such an area of activity as refugee work and technical assistance, there is a whole host of specialized UN agencies with which
you are entirely familiar and which have my complete support. I do
feel, if I may repeat one of my previous comments, that it is in the
areas mentioned that the United Nations is making very tangible
progress and making progress in a way that is most encouraging to
those of us who want to see higher standards of living in the underdeveloped areas of the world.
In closing, I want to take the opportunity to pay my tribute
publicly to the outstanding job that Alice Leopold and Lorena Hahn
have done as representatives of our Government in the international
field.
Activities of the Organization of American States
The Honorable Jose A. Mora
Secretary General, Organization of American States
It is a real pleasure for me to be present on this auspicious occasion
and to extend to the United States Women's Bureau hearty congratulations upon the 40 years of fruitful efforts on behalf of working
women.
Mr. Wilcox has presented a brilliant picture of the United Nations
effort to maintain peace and security in the world, and its contribution for the betterment of international relations.
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As Secretary General of the Organization of American States, I
would like very much to off er you some remarks about our work. We
are very proud to say that the Organization of American Stares is
the older international organization working in the international
activities.
The OAS was founded in Washington in 1890. The first InterAmerican Conference was a union of the American Republics, and
over these 7 decades it has been developing very successfully. In
1948, in Bogota, Colombia, the structure of our institution was
changed and it was given the new name of the Organization of
American States.
In the meeting at San Francisco, when the United Nations was
found.ed, the Latin American and the United States Delegation
worked strongly to maintain our identity and our organization, and
to avert the absorption of all the hemispheric activities under the
United Nations Charter. Our organization is a regional organization comprised of 21 countries-all the Latin American Republics and
the United States.
The Organization of American States, of which I am the Secretary
General, has long enjoyed close relations with the Women's Bureau.
Indeed, Miss Mary Cannon, of the Bureau staff, at one time represented the United States on the Inter-American Commission of
Women, and we were very happy to have her visit us.
The Inter-American Commission of Women is a specialized
organization of the OAS, created to protect and advance women's
civil, economic, social, and cultural rights. So successful have been
its efforts in the political field, that women now vote in all but one
of the 21 American republics. 23
This most basic of rights having been achieved, the Commission is
now turning its attention increasingly to economic and social matters.
Among these I might mention working conditions for women and
strengthening the family institution. A seminar on this latter topic
is soon to be held under its auspices, perhaps in Caracas, Venezuela.
I am confident that,. in these new endeavors, the Inter-American
Commission of Women will meet with the same success that it has had
in the field of civil rights.
The Commission's increased emphasis upon economic and social
questions is characteristic of the Organization of American States as
a whole.
In earlier days, concern was largely with political matters, such
as the development of measures for the peaceful settlement of disz:i F·urther information on this subject is contained in the Women 's Bureau re port
Political Status of Women in the Other American RPJrnblics, February 1958 edition. See
Appendix, p. 125, for list of related Women's Bureau publications.
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putes between nations, the establishment of nonintervention as a
fundamental principle in relations between states, and agreement
that an act of aggression directed against any one American country
from outside the Hemisphere is to be considered an attack upon all.
Tensions still arise within our area, and threats may come from
without, but for the most part we need only to set in motion the
machinery which has been devised to resolve the situations satisfactorily. I have but to remind you of the case which arose with Costa
Rica and Nicaragua a few years ago, or the invasion of Panama in
1959, for you to realize how promptly and how effectively the OAS
can act in the maintenance of peace.
Today, however, there is an ever widening appreciation of the fact
that negative action, if I may so term it, is not enough: positive
measures must be taken to combat conditions which lead to unrest and
misuntlerstanding before a situation of tension is reached.
Thus, 8till in the political sphere, the OAS is currently giving much
attention to measures to promote increased respect for human rights
and, the effective exercise of democracy.
In another sphere, the OAS is faced with the problem-perhaps
the greatest of our day-of finding and putting into action measures
to speed up the processes of economic and social development in a
large portion of our hemisphere.
As you know, there is taking place in the world what has been called
a "revolution of rising expectations."
The peoples of the less highly developed countries have become
acutely aware that other peoples have achieved a standard of living
far superior to their own. They can see no reason why they too should
not be able to banish poverty, malnutrition, .and disease, and to enjoy
the material and spiritual advantages they see their neighbors possess.
· They want a change to come about, and they want it now. That is the
main problem in most of the underdeveloped countries today.
There is .a serious menace that, if a solution is not soon provided,
the tensions and pressures generated by the economic inequalities now
existing among the American nations will destroy the political solidarity of the Hemisphere.
The Organization of American States has therefore engaged in a
number of activities .aimed at accelerating the rate of economic growth
in the Americas. We have initiated studies with the purpose of setting
forth clearly the basic problems facing individual countries, and suggesting measures which might contribute to solving those problems.
For example, we have held meetings of experts in productivity and
labor relations; we have had an -active part in moves aimed at stabilizing the prices of basic agricultural products; we are lending our
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support toward the establishment of regional markets, such as the
recently created Latin American Free Trade Association.
In the last analysis, however, any plan for promoting higher standards of living resolves itself into a matter of education. Doctors,
nurses, and sanitary engineers are needed to improve health conditions.
Agronomists are needed to increase the production of food for a
population whose growth is so rapid as to have been called an explosion. Industrialization, which will provide jobs as well as goods for
that population, cannot take place without an a.rmy of technicians of
all types.
Sociologists are needed to prepare for, and to guide, the tremendous
adjustments which must take place. Nor can the arts, literature, and
music be neglected, since man does not live by bread alone.
The Organization of American States is striving to meet the training needs of our hemisphere in a variety of ways. This year, our
Program of Technical Cooperation celebrates its tenth anniversary
of existence. Under that program, more than 5,000 persons have
studied or done research-at centers established in different points in
the Americas-in economic and financial statistics, housing and planning, rural education, the improvement of agriculture and rural life,
the evaluation of natural resources, the campaign against foot and
mouth disease, the control of zoonosis, the planning and administration
of social-welfare programs, problems of iron and steel production in
Latin America, business administration, applied social sciences, and
still other fields.
In July of this year, the OAS will initiate a new program, its Professorship Program, which is aimed toward the improvement of
university instruction at the highest level. Under this program,
outstanding figures in the academic world will be sent to give courses
of lectures in their several specialties at leading institutions in countries other tha1,1 their own.
Two years ago, the OAS established a vast Fellowship Program
which takes advantage of the educational and research facilities existing in the Hemisphere. This program is planned to provide advanced
training in subjects important for the development of individual
countries. Emphasizing the inter-American aspect of the program,
study or research must be performed in a country other than t.hat
of the Fellow's residence. Some 456 Fellowships have been granted to
date; the ultimate goal is 500 a year.
This leads me to speak of another type of educational program that
the Organization of American States is carrying out-interchange in
music and the arts. These are perhaps the most easily accessible
means of communication between peoples.
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Music is often spoken of as a "universal language." In the belief
that only through appreciation of other nations' cultural achievements can there be true international understanding and friendship,
the Pan American Union sponsors a regular concert season, featuring
composers and performing artists of the Americas, usually those of
the younger generations. It is our plan, moreover, to follow the first
inter-American festival of contemporary music, held here in ashington in 1958, with others at 3-year intervals.
Art exhibits, chiefly the works of contemporaries, are held constantly at the Pan American Union, which also possesses a small, but
representative, permanent collection. It may interest you to know ·
that the exhibit presented during May featured the works of the
three women painters of Colombia. Indeed, women participate frequently both in our art exhibits and in our concert series.
Returning to our Fellowsh.ip Program, only about 5 percent of the
grants made thus far have gone to women, but in the case of certain of
the Technical Cooperation Projects, such as that in the administration
of social-welfare programs, a majority of those taking the course are
of the feminine sex.
I am confident that the proportion of women in technical and professional fields will show a rapid rise in years to come. Of all the
resources of the Americas, the one which requires development above
all others is our human capital-the talents and skills of our countries'
citizens.
In the face of our Hemisphere's needs, no abilities can be neglected.
Women must contribute along with men to the progress of their
nations. This has long been recognized in the United States. It is
being increasingly accepted all over Latin America.
Women, through their position as teachers, and through their professional and social associations, have long been leaders in efforts to
promote increased understanding and friendship among the American
republics. Today, they are called upon to play an equal part with men
in achieving what the Charter of the Organization of American States
defined as the historic mission of America-to offer to its peoples a
land of liberty and a favorable environment for the development of
their personality and for the realization of their just aspirations. I
am confident that, in our efforts to attain that goal, the women of the
Americas will not fail us.
,v
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Activities of the Women's Africa Committee
Mrs. Oscar M. Ruehhausen
Chairman, Women's Africa Committee
I am so pleased that Mr. Wilcox gave you so much background
information about Africa. His remarks place in perspective what I
want to say about a new committee...:..._the Women's Africa Committee.
This committee has stemmed, as most of such committees do, from a
need and from a natural instinct that women should work with each
other on unusual problems.
We are only a year old, and we are affiliated with the AfricanAmerican Institute. Strong enthusiasm for our organization developed about a year and a half ago, at another conference held by the
Women's Bureau. At that time, when members of the organizations
represented at the conference discussed their international work, it
became quite evident that separate organizations did not know about
the related work that others were doing. In fact, it developed that
three different organizations were working or planning to work on
the same project in Africa, and it was felt that this diffused effort
would have more meaning and strength if it were coordinated.
There are about 30 members of the Women's Africa Committee, and
some of -them are here today: Mrs. Leopold, Mrs. Hahn, Mrs. Peterson,
and Dr. Noble. We are not a "membership" group. Rather, we are
a small group that acts as a clearing house to give service to other
organizations who want to participate in the rapidly growing interest
in Africa and in the African scene. Whether you want African
students in your homes or want to help other African citizens who are
resident here, whether you wish to provide a scholarship for an African
student and have no idea how to choose the student, or whether you
plan to show Africans the operations and purposes of your own organization or to have programs on Africa: We are the central agency to
help you accomplish all of this.
One of the most useful experiences for the African visitor is to
see American organizations at work. And you will find that they ask
exactly the same questions as you do. They want to know : How to
get members? How to keep them? How to raise money? How to run
a board meeting? The African too wants to know all of these things.
As you know, we in the United States have an organization for
everything. We are highly overorganized some people say, but t_he
truth is that in this overorganization we have developed special skills
and techniques which are extremely useful to other countries.
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You will find that the African woman is a very exciting person.
She is thirsting for knowledge, and she comes from a society which
in most cases had not developed the wheel and is moving right into the
space age. The movement for freedom on the African continent has
given women there a real sense of power and a sense of responsibility,
and they are determined that they are going to take part in national
and world affairs. As I say, they have the same problems we do
except that their problems are bigger. In your town, perhaps what
you need most is a new hospital or a new school ; in Africa they need
everything. Yesterday, Dr. Noble mentioned some of the problems
that arise when a man goes on to get advanced graduate-school training and leaves his high-school educated wife way behind him. The
same problem exists in Africa, except that there the man has probably
graduated from Oxford or Cambridge or a United States University,
and his wife is illiterate. How do you close this gap~
We do whatever would be helpful. In some cases we have had
training centers, where we teach women how to hold a teacup, enter a
room, and engage in conversation. On the other hand, my last visitor
had graduated with honors ~rom Cambridge in England, and was a
most sophisticated and cultured woman with wide interests. You
can see that there are many aspects to the work that we do.
Today, with the growing interest in Africa, we find that many
local groups in the United States want to include a project on Africa
in their programs. The Women's Africa Committee has developed a
series of partnership projects where a group in the United States
can assist a group in Africa, and I am not talking about big projects
like $10,000 buildings. I am talking about little projects, such as the
collection of toys, books, sewing materials, or sewing machines, which
anybody in a community can collect.
I thought you would be interested in hearing a letter from Miss
Sylvia Gray, who received a shipment of sporting goods and equipment that we sent to an Arabian school where she teaches. Her letter
reveals some of the things that the teacher in the Arab world is up
against. Miss Gray writes:
"I came here in 1951 to take over the Arab Girl's School. Located
in the old Arab quarters-with 168 girls, 70 of whom absented themselves from school daily-the school building was gloomy and surrounded by narrow streets, with not even a square yard of grass. The
girls left home veiled and were escorted into the narrow streets and
shuffled to school, anything from a half hour to an hour late. Here
the old door swung open a foot to admit the children, and swung to.
Inside, lessons droned on until twelve noon and the escorts queued up
t.o remove their veiled· bundles. School was over for the day.
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85
Left to right: Mrs. Oscar M. Reubhausen, The Honorable Jose' A. Mora,
Mr. Saxton Bradford, and Mrs. Lorena B. Hahn.
"What of the girls, or should I say bundles? Back in their fathers'
houses unveiled they moved about in the women's quarters. What did
they do? Well, they went home. Did they cook? Some did, but
most had servants. Did :they sew? Sometimes. Did they read? No,
they had no books. And these were to be the women of the next
generation, wives and mothers; chattels without ambition and yet
some bright little, faces among them.
"To cut a long story short, despite struggles and opposition, we now
have one of the finest schools on the island built on 6 acres of ground,
well developed and planted into playing fields. Very few girls are
escorted now. They are trusted instead. Our roll stands at 669 girls
with very few absentees. There are 32 seniors, 6 of whom I hope will
go to the university; they are most promising. We have our own
teaching training center for girls who have completed 9 years of
education.
"The sporting e,quipment that you sent has brought wonderful
results. Last year we were runners up for the provisional net-ball
competition, won the junior physical education cup, and were champion
company for the girl guild cup contest in the province.
"This is most encouraging but there is still much to do. Over 700
girls are getting no education whatever, and my thoughts are always
with them. They will come yet, but the tide is slow.
"And how will I get them? That is the question. Well, at a
wedding I will meet the mother or the sister or a member of the
family, be invited in, see four or five unfamiliar little faces in the
woman's quarters-and then persuasion. They come, but only four
of the five; and that means another visit, and soon."
I think this is a touching story, and it demonstrates what has been
done and what we can do further. vVe have had appealing requests
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from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda; from every place in Africa. Some
want chairs-folding chairs; others need paperback books, toys, pencils, exercise books, and similar types of items. Because shipping problems are so difficult, and because transportation from this country is so
expensive, small amounts of money could be raised to purchase some
of the needed items near the scene of various projects in Africa.
This has been just a brief description of the activities of the Women's
Africa Committee, and how it can bring together those who need and
those who have. If any of you here are interested in knowing more
about this work, I shall be more than glad to go over it in detail, later.
Government Programs in Cultural Diplomacy
Mr. Saxton Bradford, Deputy Director
Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
U.S. Department of State
It is a pleasure to be here. I have been asked to talk to you about
our Government's programs in cultural diplomacy.
In almost every foreign country and, indeed, in most of the important localities in those countries, there is an American book, film,
and music library supported by you. There are American cultural
centers. There are American teachers in foreign schools. There are
American students in foreign universities. There are American art
exhibits, American dancers, musicians, players and athletes traveling
abroad. In t urn, our own schools are full of foreign students, scholars, and lecturers. ...
When you list all these activities jndividual by individual and country by country, they make a formidable total and even though the
Federal Government does not foot the entire bill, as in the case of
intergovernmental cooperation described by Dr. Mora, or in the case
of institutional cooperation, yet their cost to our Government is inching toward $100 million a year.
Still, this program of the United States Government is only a drop
in the bucket . What fills the bucket are the private and spontaneous
cultural and educational contacts of the American people with foreign
peoples around the world.
You have just heard one of those projects described by Mrs. Ruebhausen. The thing that differentiates the planned Government programs and the unplanned and spontaneous programs is the deliberate
aim of the Government as a matter of public policy. This aim is
toward mutual appreciation and understanding, these being the elements needed for genuine international cooperation.
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It is the theory of our Government that only international cooperation based on understanding can produce what is desired in the world.
In the past year or two an appreciation of this policy and these programs has swept the American people until now our Government
finds itself ·being crowded from behind. This is a welcome situation.
You are going to · accuse me of flattery or worse, but it is my experience, as a small cog in the bureaucratic machinery of cultural
diplomacy, that much of this popular impetus comes from women
and women's organizations.
I attribute this to the homemakers' type of insight into the nature
of those social forces which make for peace and progress. It is only
natural, and certainly fitting, therefore, that an increasing share in
the planning and execution of international educational programs
should be in the hands of women.
The art of human communication, as has been said this morning,
is basic to women and basic to this kind of work. And women, indeed,
have unusual skills in cultural diplomacy.
I chose a country almost at random, not a comfortable European
country, but Burma, and I looked up the record. Three women immediately stand out: Virginia Geiger, who is in the audience this
morning and who was an outstandingly successful cultural attache at
our embassy at Rangoon; Zelma Graham, creative director of the
United States Information Agency Library in Rangoon, the library
to which the Supreme Court of that country refers for legal guidance;
Maryjane Dunstan of Oakland, Calif., a Fulbright grantee professor
at the Teacher's Training College at Rangoon, Burma, who helped
revise their curricula and textbooks, and who traveled up almost to
the roof of the world in the Kachin country to conduct teacher
seminars.
The cultural services of our Government overseas are full of such
women. There are many here in Washington, too, like Mary French
in the State Department, who, covered with a wards and citations for
outstanding civic service, brings timely Government help to thousands
of individual voluntary projects in the international cultural field,
and at the same time brings outside help to Government programs.
And, of course, there is your own hostess and chairman, Mrs. Leopold, who has played an important role in the interchange of American and foreign leaders and specialists under the educational and
cultural exchange program. 24 This is an important role because it
enables foreign visitors to see -American women in their native habitat-one of the most stimulating factors in the international exchange
of ideas.
!M The development, operation. and evaluation of an educational and cultural exchange
program ii- given in the Women's Bureau report, Women Community Leaders from France
and Italy, Report of a Special Project, 1955.
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Many people are hard at work on the cultural interchange program. Although the money required to keep it going may be a
fraction of what we pay for chewing gum, still it represents a certain
sacrifice on the part of the taxpayer and we are all taxpayers. Therefore, the question of results is pertinent. What are we getting for
our money? I am convinced from personal experience that this is one
of the best things that can happen to the tax dollar. But here I prefer
to quote one of those traditional guardians of the purse, Congressman
Walter Judd of Minnesota.
He was speaking to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and
I quote:
"I honestly believe that the single most effective program we are
carrying out in those countries that are still free-and some of them
are already on the fence-ranging from Korea and Japan clear around
to Afghanistan, is the exchange-of-persons program; that is, we and
the whole free world get more benefit from the number o:f dollars put
into that program than from any other comparable program that we
have."
Now, cultural interchange outside the direction of the Federal Government responds to the needs and impulses :felt by the American
people and the people abroad. Sometimes this interchange is commercial in character, as in the exhibition o:f American motion pictures
and publications abroad, but to the extent that this satisfies a direct
human impulse it carries with it a precious quality.
I am speaking not only of the American desire to help, the kind
o:f help for Africa that you have just heard described, but I am speaking also of a will to learn; a hunger for the aesthetic and the intellectual; the spread of horizons through other languages and literatureall those gifts o:f this wide ·a nd diversified world which can make the
individual and even the race more understanding, more mature, more
likely to survive and to grow.
And it is in this vast and beckoning area that women, men and
women, :face a great new adventure, a new opportunity. And if I may
use that word just once more, a new challenge.
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
Mrs. Lorena B. Hahn
United States Delegate to the Commission
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, as you
know, was created upon the recommendation of the Human Rights
Commission in 1946. Its objectives and its terms of reference are
to wipe out discrimination against women due to sex.
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The recent session of the Commission on the Status of Women 25 was
one of the most exciting and worthwhile that it has been my good
fortune to participate in during the past 8 years. It was held in
Buenos Aires in Argentina and that is the second time that a Commission meeting has been held away from the United Nations headquarters. The previous exception was the meeting in Beirut,
Lebanon, in 1949.
The kindness and the generosity of the government, the many
women's organizations, and the people of Argentina will always be
remembered by the Commission members. The galleries were filled
to capacity at every session. Many Ambassadors and their wives and
the wife of the President of Argentina, Mrs. Frondizi, attended the
opening session.
Against this backdrop we began our deliberations. Major attention at this session was given to political rights, advisory services,
family law, and education. There seemed to me to be a definite trend
to give depth rather than breadth to the subjects on the agenda and to
our recommendations for future work.
At the outset of the session a resolution was presented by the Soviet
Delegate which dealt with peace and disarmament. This was clearly
outside the terms of reference of the Commission and after cop.siderable debate the resolution was defeated by a vote of 3 for the resolution-Russia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia; 14 against; and 1
abstention, Cuba.
Under the political rights item we noted that 71 countries have now
given women the vote. We were pleased to see that Switzerland is
moving toward universal franchise, Canton by Canton, in the same
way the United States did-State by State.
Emphasis was plaped on ways to equip women to accept responsibility and participate effectively in civic and political affairs. It was
agreed that one of the ways to prepare women for this was through
seminars held under the United Nations Advisory Services Program.
The UN has sponsored two seminars on participation of women in
public life. The first was held in Thailand for Asian women and the
second was held last year in Colombia, South America, for the women
of the Western Hemisphere. Another will be held in Ethiopia,
Africa, and in 1961 there will be a seminar in Romania-on family law.
After the first two meetings it was recognized that national and
local followup seminars were needed, with the use of expert help
25 Detailed information on this subj ect is given in the Women 's Bureau booklet- Report
of the Confer ence on the Statu s of Women Around the World , March 30, 1959. Al so, the
Women 's Bureau h as r ep r odu ced Mrs. H a hn 's r eport of the confer ence held in ArgentinaReport of the 14th Session of the Commission on th e Status of Women. Both of these
reports are available upon r equest to the Women 's Bureau, U.S . Department of Labor,
Washington 25, D.C.
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available from the United Nations upon the request of Governments.
Two kinds of followup conferences were discussed. A few delegates
wanted a large international conference but the majority felt we
should reach into the grass roots where the greatest help could come
to the greatest number of women. A resolution was adopted calling
for national and local conferences with United Nations help.
It had long been regretted that the Continent of Africa had never
been represented on the Commission. With many new countries gaining independence and since a seminar was to be held in Ethiopia, the
Commission felt that there should certainly be an African nation
among its members. We drafted a resolution expressing the hope
that one or more countries of Africa would request membership on
the Commission.
The major item on the agenda was a draft convention and a draft
recommendation on family law which dealt with three aspects of marriage: the age of marriage, the consent of the parties to the marriage,
and the registration of marriages. For the first time in the history of
the United Nations a recommendation and a convention on the same
subject were considered. The United States and a number of other
delegations hoped that the recommendation could be couched in broad,
general principles, and that the convention could deal with the specific
standards-thus prov1ding a way for all delegations to take a position
in favor of international progress in these fields-through one or the
other o:f the instruments.
The majority o:f the delegates, however, :felt that a recommendation
in broad terms would weaken the convention and they :feared that the
Economic and Social Council might be prejudiced in favor of a recommendation only if there was an imbalance in the vote for the recommendation. For this reason, both the recomme.ndation and the convention were phrased in specific standards, and both were adopted by
a vote of 10 for, none against, and 8 abstentions. The United States
abstained.
The new subject in family law for a study for the next session is
inheritance laws. In the education field, the Commission this year
discussed the subject of out-of-school education for women. The
reports from the 55 countries and the 47 international organizations
ranged all the way from literacy classes to those where people could
earn a degree, including credits at a university through the media o:f
television.
These programs, however, are primarily aimed to benefit the
woman who has not had formal education. In the more advanced
countries in Africa and Asia, only one-fourth of the :women have even
a primary education.
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The ways in which women could be interested in these classes were
illustrated. For example, in a number of English territories the
women still grind corn between two stones. Corn mill societies were
organized. The women would bring their corn to a center, and better
grinding methods were instituted. Extra time was used to give the
women lessons in cooking, sewing, and reading.
You will recall that during the last 5 years the Commission has
paid particular attention to the economic aspects of the status of
women. There was great interest in the report from the panel of
consultants on working women's problems in the international labor
organization which has recently been organized. Everyone spoke so
highly of the superb manner in which Mrs. Leopold chaired that
meeting.
In conclusion, I would like to make two observations about the
Status of Women Commission : First, that our studies have shown
that discrimination against women lies not so much in the law as in
the practice. Secondly, that the nongovernmental organizations are
responsible in large measure for the amazing gains that have been
made, and that society must look to them for continued and increased
activity, if the many remaining inequalities due to sex are to be wiped
out.
Today's Shrinking World
The Honorable George V. Allen
Director, United States Information Agency
I would like to offer my own congratulations to the Women's
Bureau on its 40th anniversary. America has seen great changes
since four decades ago-when American women were given the vote
and the Women's Bureau was established. The theme of your conference, "Today's Woman in Tomorrow's World," brings an even
deeper realization of the sweeping changes that have occurred in
attitudes and roles in our society since 1920. Now, women are involved in worldwide activities; not only with what is happening today
but also in the programs and plans to help make tomorrow's world one
in which our time can be used for peacetime pursuits~pursuits aimed
toward improved standards of living everywhere and a mutual exchange of knowledge and culture. For each of us has much to learn
from the other.
Perhaps it is fair to say that more American women participate in
international affairs than do women in most other countries, and the
ways in which they do this are endless. Aside from the contributions
made by women in official Government positions and as representatives of organized groups, many activities carried out by individual
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American women in their own homes have an impact on world affairs.
For example, when they vote; write to their Congressman or to friends
in foreign countries; send CARE packages, books, and magazines
overseas; contribute to scholarships for foreign students coming to the
United States to study; and a host of other activities.
In the field of international affairs, there is no decision that is so
important, in my opinion, as the new development which is taking
place in the conduct of foreign relations. I refer to the contacts being
made between peoples of different countries in the information and
cultural exchange field.
My own job concerns itself with considering other peoples's opinion
o:f the United States-often referred to in the language of the trade
as the climate of foreign opinion, or the overseas image of America.
And that image of America, which is very important in the affairs of
today's world, depends very much on the sums of individual images
made by Americans as they come in contact with foreign people.
This is why I want to talk about all United States citizens this
morning, and not just women.
Traditionally, nations have dealt with each other in a very limited,
strictly protocol fashion. One nation would select a small group of
people, call them diplomats, give them some striped pants, and send
them abroad where they would deal with an equally small group of
people in the capital city of the other country. That was the way
nations spoke to nations. If a diplomat got out of his channels and
started interfering in the affairs of the local country by dealing directly
with the people, he would very likely be rapped over the knuckles
severely, -and if it was an exaggerated case he was declared persona
non grata and sent home.
Things have changed a great deal, particularly in the 15 years
since World War II. Today, nations are busy trying to interpret
themselves to foreign peoples directly in every way they can. The
United States Government has set up a special agency-the U.S.
Information Agency-which is outside of the Department of State
at the present moment, but which is an outgrowth of activities of the
State Department. Through the USIA, we are trying to exchange
information and cultural activities with peoples of other nations in
order to build international understanding.
We do this in a variety of ways. We do it first and foremost
through the Voice of America radio program. Every day the United
States Government broadcasts to foreign countries in 37 different
languages. Radio Moscow, incidenta1ly, broadcasts in 50 different
languages. Red China is now ahead of us in the number of its international broadcasts. Nevertheless, we are doing our share in trying
to project news and information, and analysis of affairs in the United
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States and in the world, to foreign peoples. When we take a news
program, for example, and translate it into Russian and beam it on
powerful shortwave transmitters toward the Soviet Union, we are
obviously trying to leap over the boundaries of the Soviet Union and
right into the living room or the bedroom, or the cellar or wherever
a person may have a radio receiver, so that they can listen to our
programs.
Mr. Bradford has referred to the fact that we have U.S. information libraries around the world in about 165 or 170 cities. There is
usually an informational and cultural center, the heart of which is a
library. The United States has much better public libraries than any
other country in the world. The concept in national and international
affairs of bringing people and books together is something that we do
remarkably well.
When I was in Calcutta recently, I was told that that city of 3
million people has probably 100 libraries of one sort or another.
Every religious sect has a library, every college and university group
has a library, clubs have libraries and there is also the library of the
U.S. Information Agency. Everyone I talked to, including all the
local Indian authorities and officials, agreed that ours is by far the
most vital, and most used library in the city. It lends an average
of 500 books a day, and has an average daily attendance of between
1,200 and 1,500 people.
This story is multiplied in various other cities, not only in India, but
in various parts of the world. We use not only books, pamphlets,
literature, and photographs, but very often exhibits.
You might think that an exhibit would not be a very effective means
for governments to use in speaking to the people of other countries.
Yet the most important cultural effort in behalf of Soviet-American
relations that we carried out last year was an exhibit. Almost 3 million Russian people came to see our exhibit during the 6 weeks that it
was open. The eagerness of the people of Russia to find out about
the United States was, and is, amazing.
Though somewhat prepared for it, we did not fully realize the
determination of the Russians to use every opportunity to find out
about the United States. Part of this interest reflected a really
warm and interested point of view. And part of it was because the
Soviet Government, in its propaganda to its own people, has unwittingly built up the concept of the United States as the country the
Russians must catch up with. Their government says to the Russian
people: "We have got to work hard and make our 7-year plan suc1ceed so that we can turn out as much steel as the United States, and
as many automobiles and as many refrigerators." America is constantly being held up as the most advanced country in economic pro..
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duction and standard of living. At one point, you remember, Mr.
Khrushchev said to Mr. Nixon, "You Americans have achieved a lot
of things; there is no doubt about that, but never mind, we are going to
pass you by during our present 7-year plan and when we pass you by
we may wave to you and say, 'Good-bye,' or we may even beckon and
say, 'Come on, follow us now.' "
We had interesting experiences in trying to come into direct contact with the Russian people. The reason I dwell on this is because,
in the present international situation, it is obvious that the crux of
the problem is the relation between the United States and the Soviet
Union. In the present atomic age, so much depends on how these two
nations get along that perhaps the most important single activity that
we are undertaking is our effort to reach the people of the Soviet Union
directly. There are not many opportunities for doing this. I mentioned the Voice of America, but that has been jammed for 10 years.
It was unjammed for 6 months and now the jamming is going on again.
Nevertheless, the impact of trying to reach directly the peoples of a
foreign country is being made by our Government. What is the purpose of it? As Mr. Wilcox told you, I have served in the Foreign
Service for 30 years now-in Yugoslavia, India, China, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and elsewhere. And in every country my own experience
has been that people throughout these countries want peace.
I am sure that this is as true behind the Iron Curtain and in Soviet
Russia as anywhere else. People want peace, and it is perfectly simple
to understand why they do. They want to bring up their children,
give them a better education, and better opportunities than they had.
War would disrupt this process. War would put a stop to human
progress. And the thing that I ask myself as a member of the
Government, and I am sure you ask yourself the same question, is: If
people everywhere want peace, why don't their governments give them
peace? Of all the questions I ask myself, this is about the most difficult question to answer satisfactorily.
And the more I think about it the more I believe that the reason
peace is so difficult to achieve is because there is not enough international understanding among the peoples of the world to enable
the governments to bring about a rule of law in the world, instead of
a rule of national armies.
Today, international society is in almost as primitive a condition
as the at imal kingdom. I regret to say that the movement toward
building a rule of law in the world is in its most initial stages. And
people have got to work at this movement. There is plenty of hard
work ahead of us, which brings me to the subject of direct contacts
between the peoples of -d ~rent countries.
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The building of international understanding is, in my mind, perhaps the crux of the long-run task for those of us engaged in the
conduct of foreign relations. And I am delighted to have had the
opportunity to talk about this to you who represent women's great
organizations.
Many Americans bewail the condition of the world and say-if only
You cam do something about it,
I could do something about it!
through this new idea of people-to-people contacts.
There are 47,000 foreign students in American universities and
colleges today, far more than are studying in any other country. You
hear that the Russians are making a great effort to bring students to
Russia, and they are, but only for short visits. Compared with the
47,000 foll-time foreign students in colleges and universities of the
United States, there are 12,000 in the Soviet Union. Each of the
students who comes to our country can go away with a good or poor
impression, depending on his treatment here. For example, if he
meets with a racial problem, he can very easily go away with an embittered attitude toward us.
In Washington last year, a citizen committee council was established
to get in touch with foreign students in the universities around the
city of Washington. You would think that Washington would have
. done this a long time ago, but many communities are just now awakening to the many opportunities available for getting to know these
foreign students-such as planning special events for them and offering them hospitality during holiday seasons.
You ladies and the groups you represent can make a magnificent
contribution to better international understanding by urging Americans everywhere to learn how to behave abroad, so that the image of
the United States will not be tarpished by the behavior of American
tourists. If we can only make Americans realize that thoughtless
words and careless actions can do this country a great deal of damage,
we will be rendering a real service to our country.
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APPENDIX
Biographies of Speakers and Panelists
MR.
GEORGE
V.
ALLEN
Mr. George Venable Allen, a native of North Carolina, Director of the U.S.
Information Agency, is one of this country's outstanding diplomats. He accepted his present appointment in 1957 as a sort of "return engagement" since
previously, as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, he had carried·
responsibility for the Office of International Information before that office became an independent agency in 1953. In 1959, Mr. Allen was coordinator of the
American National Exhibition in Moscow. He has participated in a number of
international conferences, including the Moscow Conference in 1943; Conference
at Cairo the same year; UN Conference at San Francisco, 1945; and the 1945
Potsdam Conference. He chaired the UN Delegation at two United Nations
Economic and Social Council Conferences : Beirut, 1948; Paris, 1949.
At the age of 42, Mr. Allen, as Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Iran, was America's youngest envoy at the time. Later he served
as Ambassador to India and Nepal, Yugoslavia and Greece.
From the time he was a student at Trinity College, and working meantime as
a bookkeeper or in a cigarette factory, Mr. Allen decided on foreign service as
a career. Following graduation, he taught school and worked as a reporter
before attending Harvard University. There he received a master's degree
and the Charles Sumner Prize in International Relations. Then he came to
Washington, qualified for the U.S. Consular Service and began his first assignment as vice-consul in Kingston, Jamaica. Subsequent assignments include
Shanghai (China); Patras (Greece); Cairo (Egypt); and 8 years of service
in the Office of Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs, U.S. Department of State.
Miss MARY ANDERSON
Miss Mary Anderson, a great humanitarian, has devoted her life to safeguarding the labor standards and advancing the employment opportunities of the
working women of this country. With her acceptance of a job in the Woman
in Industry Sectio_n of the National Defense Advisory Committee, she began
a career in Government service which continued until ·her retirement in 1944.
She became the Assistant Director of the temporary Woman in Industry Service, which was established in the U.S. Department of Labor in 1918. When
this wartime organization was converted by Act of Congress to the Women's
Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, in June 1920; she was appointed its
first Director by President Wilson. Until her retirement 24 years later, Miss
Anderson was reappointed by each incoming President of the United States.
Since retirement from official Government duty, Miss Anderson has continued
her active interest in the economic and social status of women through participation in activities of voluntary service organizations.
Coming to this country -f rom her native Sweden in 1888, as a girl 16 years of
age, Miss Anderson did domestic work for 1 year, then found employment in a
shoe factory in Chicago. There she stitched shoes, sharing the unfavorable
working conditions with thousands of other women, and attended night school.
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Becoming convinced that only through unified effort could the problems she
encountered be lessened, she affiliated local shoe workers and, through sincere
enthusiastic appeals to voluntary groups -and social agencies, worked to overcome
prejudice and increase understanding toward women who must work. Miss
Anderson was elected President of the first women's trade union in the United
States; she was the only woman ever chosen to sit on the Executive Board of
the International Boot and Shoe Workers Union. As Supervisor of the National
Women's Trade Union League, with full power to negotiate in all matters, her
leadership ability was fully recognized.
MRs.
MARGARET . CULKIN BANNING
Mrs. Margaret Culkin Banning, of Duluth, Minn. is a distinguished author,
lecturer, and contributor to the public good. H er articles and stories dealing
with various aspects of American life have been published in leading periodicals; her numerous novels have been widely read for many years. She is a professional lecturer ; at one time she had a public service national hookup for the
National Broadcasting Co. She is a director of the National Council of Community Chests of America, a trustee of both the National Health and Welfare
Retirement Association and the National Fund for Medical Education; and is
member of the Commission on Education of W omen. She has served as chairman of Program Coordination for the National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs.
Mrs. Banning received special commendation and a medal for her activities in
War Loan drives during the war. In 1942, at the invitation of the British Ministry of Information, she visited" England to study industrial and home conditions.
Her book, "Letters from England," was published in 1943.
In her own State, Mrs. Banning is a trustee of the Community Research Council. She has been a trustee of the Duluth Public Library Board for a number
of years; also a director of the Duluth Community Fund. In 1934, she was
elected the first woman in the Duluth Hall of Fame, for outstanding public
service. She is member and pasf president of the American Association of University Women. A graduate of Vassar College (Phi Beta Kappa), Mrs. Banning
received training in social work at the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy.
At one time, she held a fellowship for research from the Russell Sage Foundation. In private life Mrs. Banning is Mrs. LeRoy Salsich. She has two children by a former marriage.
MR. S~XTON BRADFORD
Mr. Saxton Bradford, Deputy Director, for the past year, of the Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, came to his present assignment from the United States Information Agency where he had been
Deputy Director since April 1957. His present work is closely connected with
various operations of the Information Agency abroad.
Prior posts held by Mr. Bradford include: Information Counselor, U.S.
Embassy, Madrid; staff -member of the U.S. Political Advisor to Supreme
Commander, Allied Powers, Tokyo; Attache in the U.S. Embassy in Buenos
Aires. He served as a Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, during World War II.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State in
1941, Mr. Bradford had a total of 11 years experience as newspaper editor
of the States of California, Idaho, and Washington. This followed graduation
from the University of California in 1928.
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DR. MARY
I. BUNTING
Dr. Mary I . Bunting, native of Brooklyn, New York, and distinguished scientist
and educator, became president of Radcliffe College on May 19 of this year
and was elected a F.ellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
the same month. She served as dean of Douglass College 1955-59, carrying also
the titles of professor of bacteriology at Douglass and honorary professor at
the Rutgers Institute of Microbiology. During 1959, President Bunting was
chairman of the Commission on the Education of Women of the American
Council on Education ; she had formerly served as a member of the Council's
Committee for Scientific Personnel and Education of the National Science
Foundation.
After receiving a B.A. in Physics from Vassar College in 1931, a Nancy
Skinner Clark Fellowship permitted her to study microbiology at the University
ot Wisconsin, where she received her M.A. degree in agricultural bacteriology.
An Annie Gorham Fellow during 1932-33, she received her Ph.D. in agricultural
bacteriology and agricultural chemistry in 1934. Teaching positions followedincluding Bennington and Goucher colleges, Yale University, and Wellesley
College. Dr. Bunting has studied the genetics of Mycobacteria, supported by
the American Tuberculosis Association. She also has held a grant from the
Atomic Energy Commission in support of an investigation into the effects of
radiation on genetic mechanisms in Serratia. Her early papers published in
1939 and 1940 on micro-organisms serratia marcescens are considered pioneer
studies in microbial genetics.
Dr. Bunting holds membership in Phi Beta Ka ppa, Sigma Xi, Society of
American Bacteriologists, and the National Association of Women Deans and
Counselors. She was very active in community activities when living in
Bethany, Conn. , and in New Brunswick, N.J. Widow of the late Dr. Henry
Bunting, Dr. Mary I. Bunting is the mother of four children.
MR. How ARD Cou GHLIN
Mr. Howard Coughlin of New York City is now in his fourth term as President
of the Office Employees International Union, having served in that important
post since 1953. Upon the recommendation of Mr. George Meany, President,
AFL-CIO, he was appointed by the U.S. Department of Labor as a delegate to
the Advisory Committee on Salaried Employees and Professional Workers of
the International Labor Organization in 1954, 1957, and again in 1959.
Mr. Coughlin began his active participation in union affairs as a local union
president and business manager from 1937 to 1942. He then served as an
organizer f or the AFL for 4 years. In 1951, he became Vice President of the
Office Employees International. He served in that capacity until he was made
President by convention action.
DR. JUNIUS
A.
DAVIS
Dr. Junius A. Davis of Raleigh, N.C., is a well-known educator and psychologist. He has been Dean of the Graduate School of the Women's College of the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro since 1958, and is Professor of
Psychology and Education there. Earlier positions include: Director, Testing
and Guidance, Regents, University Sys tem of Georgia; Assistant Professor of
Psychology, Emory University ; Assistant Director, Counseling Service, Prince-
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ton, N.J.; Research Assistant, Horace Mann-Lincoln Institute of School Experimentation. He is the author of numerous studies in counseling, testing, and
prediction of success in college. Major research now in progress includes such
subjects as : relations.h ip of biographical factors to academic success; the relationship of institutional factors to student growth in ability to apply learning;
secondary school factors associated with success of college students.
Dr. Davis holds membership in a number of professional organizations; also
Phi Delta Kappa, Kappa Delta Pi, Sigma Xi. He was a naval officer during
World War II and later taught in the U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School
in Maryland. After receiving his B.A. degree from the University of North
Carolina, he took his M.A. in vocational guidance from Teachers College,
Columbia University, and his Ph. D. in counseling psychology from Columbia.
Dr. Davis is married; has two sons and a daughter.
DR. EDMUNDJ. GLEAZER, JR.
Dr. Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr., a native Philadelphian, now a resident of Bethesda,
Md., is a specialist in a very.important area of the American educational system,
the Junior College. He has been executive director of the American Association
of Junior Colleges for the past two years. When Dr. Gleazer was president in
1957, he directed a national program of public information for the Association.
Currently, he is also secretary of the American Council on Education. As editor
of the Junior College Newsletter and the Junior College Directory, Dr. Gleazer's
contribution to the field is greatly expanded. At the invitation of the American
Council on Education, he is the editor of the 1960 edition of the reference book,
American Junior Colleges.
Other offices Dr. Gleazer has held in educational organizations include President of the North Central Council of Junior Colleges and Secretary of the Joint
Committee of the Association of American Colleges and American Associa.tion
of Junior Colleges.
A 193_6 graduate of Graceland College, Iowa, Dr. Gleazer became its president
10 years later. He acquired graduate degrees in education at the University of
California, Temple University, and Harvard University.
MRs. LoRENAB. HAHN
Mrs. Lorena B. Hahn, as U.S. Representative since 1953 on the Status of
Women Commission of the United Nations, has won the confidence and respect
of women leaders from many countries, through working with them to advance
the economic and social status of women throughout the world. She was Chief
of Women's Affairs Dept., U.S. Army, in Germany in the early months of the
occupation, aiding in re-establishing the position of women in a free Government. In 1956, she completed a 2-month speaking tour in Germany, Denmark,
and Norway and a 6-week conference and speaking tour in Japan, Hong Kong,
and Thailand, for the Educational Exchange Program of the Department of State.
The year before, she completed a -4-month State Department-sponsored tour in
Africa and Asia, with official visits to Liberia, India, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria,
Lebanon, Israel and Turkey.
Mrs. Hahn is currently serving on the Board of the National Security Forum;
is a member of the Board of Managers, United Church Women. As former National President of the American Legion Auxiliary she made official visits to
each State and traveled throughout the Americas and Europe. She was decorated by the French Government with the Medal of Legion of Honor for unusual
service to veterans.
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In her home state of Nebraska, Mrs. Hahn was for 4 years a member and
chairman of the Nebraska Board of Control, which directed penal and mental
institutions, Child Welfare and Public Assistance programs. She is a member
of the Governor's State Committee for Refugees and in January of this year
received the Distinguished Citizen Award from Nebraska Wesleyan University.
DR.
CARL
F ".
HANSEN
Dr. Carl F. Hansen, as Superintendent of Schools for the District of Columbi·a
since March 1958, is widely known for his administration of this large and complex school system during a period of change and readjustment. From 1955 to
1958, he was Assistant Superintendent in charge of senior high schools and
prior to that was Associate Superintendent in charge of white elementary
schools and curriculum planning for all schools.
Before coming to Washington in 1947, Dr. Hansen served his native State
of Nebraska in the field of education. He was principal of Technical High
School, Omaha, where be had previously served as head of the Language Arts
Department and teacher of English. He came to Omaha from Grand Island,
where he coached debating and taught English. His first assignment was
teacher of English and Latin in the high school of his home town of Walbach.
Dr. Hansen received his A.B. and M.A. degrees from the University of Nebraska and a doctorate in education with a minor in comparative literature
from the University of Southern California.
MR.
B. LowELL
JACOBSEN
Mr. B. Lowell Jacobsen, Vice President, Personnel, for the National Broadcasting Company, has had a wealth of valuable experience and has made a
significant contribution in the areas of personnel and employment opportunities.
His responsibilities include the fields of labor relations, organizational planning
and management development, employment training, wages and salaries, and
personnel services. He is a past President of the Indiana Personnel Association and the Indiana Junior Chamber of Commerce. Before joining RCA Victor
in 1943, Mr. Jacobsen was employed in an executive capacity at the Continental
Can Company's ordnance plant, Terre Haute, Ind., and at Spiegel, Inc., of Chicago.
Mr. Jacobsen's positions with RCA, Victor Division, include those of Personnel
Manager in plants located in Bloomington and Indianapolis, Ind., and Home
Instrument Department, RCA Victor Division in the home office, Camden, N.J.
He was named Personnel Director of NBC in 1953.
A graduate of North Central College, Naperville, Ill., Mr. Jacobsen now
lives with his family in Revonah Woods, Stamford, Conn.
MRS. ALICE
K.
LEOPOLD
Mrs. Alice K. Leopold, Assistant to the Secretary of Labor and Director of
the Women's Bureau, has ·a n outstanding record of achievement in public
service, of national and international scope. In recognition of her contributions to the public good, she bas received many honor~he latest being the
Jane Addams Medal for Distinguished Service. In 1954, a year after coming
to the Labor Department, Mrs. Leopold was appointed advisor to the U.S. Del~
gation at annual meetings of the International Labor Organization; named
Chairman in 1956 of the first ILO Committee of Experts on Women's Employ564975 0--60-8
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ment to consider problems of particular importance to women. She was influential in the ILO Governing Body's decision to organize a permanent, tripartite
committee on women's employment. Last year, at the first meeting of the
Committee, she was named chairman. Foreign exchange programs, in which
Mrs. Leopold took an active interest, brought women leaders from many
countries-including Italy, France, and Russia-to the United States to see how
women here live and work.
Before appointment to the Labor Department post, Mrs. Leopold was elected
by her home State of Connecticut as Secretary of State. As a member of the
Connecticut Legislature she served on the House Labor Committee and was
influential in the enactment of equal-pay legislation and improvement of the
State's minimum wage law. Her work for the League of Women Voters, the
Red Cross, Parent Teachers Association, and other organizations in her home
town of Weston brought statewide recognition.
Mrs. Leopold was appointed to the President's Committee on Government
Employment Policy in 1959. Other active interests, expressed through membership on Governmental Boards and Committees and through affiliation with
various voluntary organizations, include the mature woman, advancement of
college women in the professions, labor-management relations, and recruiting
programs for teachers and nurses.
Honorary degrees received from various colleges and universities include:
Doctor of Humane Letters, Doctor of Social Science, and Doctor of Laws.
A Goucher College graduate, Mrs. Leopold is the wife of Joseph Leopold,
vice president of a New York advertising agency. They have two sons, one an
Army Lieutenant and one a Navy Lieutenant.
JAMES
P.
MITCHELL,
Secretary of Labor
Mr. Mitchell was appointed to his present Cabinet post as Secretary of Labor
by President Eisenhower on October 9, 1953. In this position he is chief labor
advisor to the President and the coordinator of all labor activities of the
Federal Government. He is responsible for the overall direction of the Department of Labor and for the enforcement of various labor laws administered by
it. In addition to his regular duties, he chairs the Inter-Departmental Committee on Migratory Labor and the President's Distinguished Civilian Service
Awards Board, and serves as Vice Chairman of the President's Committee on
Government Contracts. He is a member of the Cabinet Committee on Price
Stability for Economic Growth, the President's Committee on Employment of
the Physically Handicapped, and the Board of Directors of the American Red
Cross.
Immediately prior to his appointment as Secretary of Labor, Mr. Mitchell
served as Assistant Secretary of the Army in charge of manpower and reserve
forces affairs. During World War II, he was Director of the Industrial Personnel Division of the War Department, in which capacity he was responsible
for labor and manpower problems affecting Army contractors and for the administration of nearly 1 million Army civilian employees. During the War,
he also was a member of the National Building Trades Stabilization Board and
was an alternate member of the War Manpower Commission. In 1948, he
served as a member of the personnel advisory board of the Hoover Commission,
and went to Germany at the request of the U.S. Army to study the military
government's civilian employment program. In 1950, he was called upon by
the Army to study combat pay problems in Korea.
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Mr. Mitchell has also served as personnel relations advisor , Director of Industrial Relations and operating Vice President for several large concerns.
He was born in Elizabeth, N.J., on November 12, 1900. His father, the late
Peter J. Mitchell, was a trade journal editor. His mother, Anna Driscoll
Mitchell ( 80 in 1959), still lives in Elizabeth.
He is married to the former Isabelle Nulton of Roselle Park, N.J., and has
one daughter, Mrs. Francis Natchez of New York City.
MR. JoHN M. McKrnBEN
Mr. John M. McKibben, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa., was appointed Deputy
Postmaster General in November 1959, and before that was Assistant Postmaster
General for t he Bureau of Operations, U.S. Post Office Department. Mr. McKibben accepted his first Federal Government post in 1955. Prior to that, he
had been with the Westinghouse Electric Corporation from 1922, and was Vice
President of the firm when he resigned for Government service.
DR.
JOSE
A.
MORA
Dr. Jose A. Mora of Montevideo, Uruguay, as Secretary General of the
Organization of American States since 1956, is continuing a long and valuable
service on behalf of hemispheric harmony. He has won praise for his skill in
conducting the Council's activities and particularly for his part in bringing the
dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica to a successful ending. In Montevideo
in 1945, Dr. Mora became Director of the expanded Bureau of International
Institutes, Congresses, and Conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
took part, as advisor to the Uruguayan delegation, in the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace at Mexico City, and in the United
Nations Confer ence at San Francisco.
Other important posts which have been held by Dr. Mora include: Chairman
of the OAS Council, Chairman of the Uruguayan Delegation of the InterAmerican Conferences, Delegate of Uruguay to the Fourth Meeting of Consultation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics ; Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Uruguay to the U.S. Government in
Washington.
Dr. Mora received the degree of Doctor of Laws and Social Science from the
University of Montevideo in 1925.
DR. JEANNE L. NOBLE
Dr. Jeanne L. Noble, a native of Georgia, Assistant Professor, Center for
Human Relations Studies at New York University, is a distinguished educator
and journalist. She was formerly Guidance Counselor and Director of Freshman Orientation at the City College of New York; Assistant Professor of Social
Science at Albany State College, Georgia; Dean of ·w omen, Langston University,
Langston, Oklahoma ; and Research Assistant in Program of Guidance and
School Counseling, Board of Higher Education, New York City. She has been
a Visiting Professor during summer sessions at Tuskegee Institute and the
University of Vermont. For her book, "The Negro w ·oman's College Education,"
Dr. Noble received the Pi Lambda Theta Research Award in 1955.
Dr. Noble has contributed several articles to professional journals. She
recently completed a research study financed by a grant from the National
Institute of Mental Health, concerned with differences in concepts and attitudes
toward women's roles among a selected group of pre-adolescent girls. A text-
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book, co-authored with Dr. Margaret Ji'isher, entitled "College Education as
Personal Development," is scheduled for publication soon.
Dr. Noble is National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; a member of
the National Committee on Research Centers for Higher Education; the National
Community Relations Committee of the National Board of the Girl Scouts of
the U.S.A.; the Women's Committee on Africa and other national organizations.
She was educated at Howard University; Teachers' College, Columbia University, and the University of Birmingham, England.
MR. JAMES
T.
O'CONNELL
Mr. James T. O'Conuell, a native of New York City, is Under Secretary of the
U.S. Department of Labor. He participates with the Secretary in determining
the objectives, policies, and programs of the Department and in the absence of
the Secretary, acts in his place. He has responsibility for the general management of the Department and assists the Secretary in supervision of Assistant
Secretaries, and operating officials of the Department. Mr. O'Connell shares
responsibility with Mr. Mitchell for handling interdepartmental and international negotiations, and major Congressional and public relations.
The Under Secretary, at the request of the President, chaired a committee
which developed an effective program for Federal civilian compensation in the
Executive Branch of the Federal Government.
Mr. O'Connell entered active military service with the Army in 1940 with
rank of Captain and served 5½ years in labor relations and civilian personnel
work in the United States and in Germany. In 1945, he was awarded the Legion
of Merit, and was discharged in 1946 with the rank of Colonel.
Mr. O'Connell is a professional engineer with broad experience in both public
and private construction work. In the War Department, Depart ment of Labor,
and as Vice President in charge of industrial relations of a large corporation,
Mr. O'Connell has made an enviable record in the field of personnel administration and industrial relations.
MRS. ESTHER PETERSON
Mrs. Esther Peterson, a native of Utah, is an outstanding woman in the laborunion field. As Legislative Representative of the Industrial Union Department
of the AFL-CIO since 1958, she promotes better working eonditions both
through negotiation and legislative action. As wife of a Foreign Service Officer
of the U.S. Department of State, Mrs. Peterson lived in Brussels, Belgium, from
1952 to 1957, where she worked closely with the International Confederation of
E'ree Trade Unions on problems dealing with women's employment. While living in Stockholm, Sweden, from 1948 to 1952, she worked with the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions and represented the American trade union movement at various international conferences.
Mrs. Peterson began her active interest in union activities early in her career.
'l'rained as a teacher at Teachers College, Columbia University, after graduating
from Brigham Young University in Utah, she taught first in the Winsor School,
Boston; then in the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry.
Later, as Assistant Director of Education, Amalgamated Clothing Workers of
America, she assisted with organizing and other phases of union activity.
Mrs. Peterson is the mother of four children.
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DR. ORMSBEE
w. ROBINSON
Dr. Ormsbee W. Robinson of Granby, Conn., Assistant to the Director of
Executive Development, of the International Business Machines Corporation,
since 1958, is a well-known educator. He came to IBM in 1957 as a consultant
for the Executive Development Department. He is a member of the National
Planning Association, the Association of Higher Education, the American Association for Adult Education, and Vice Chairman of the Business Education Advisory
Council to the Business Education Committee of the Committee for Economic
Development. From 1955 to 1957, Dr. Robinson served as Chief of the Bureau
of Higher and Adult Education for the Connecticut State Department of Education. During this time he was also Executive Secretary of both the Connecticut
Council on Higher Education and the State Council on Teacher Education.
A graduate of Princeton University, Dr. Robinson received an MSS Degree
from the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, New School for Social
Research; M.A. and Doctor of Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. His positions as educator began in 1935 as instructor of high school
history and economics, Plainfield, N.J.; followed by instructor in ethics, Fieldston School, New York City. At Bard College, he was director of Admissions and
Public Relations for 4 years, then Vice President for 4 years-from 1950 to 1954.
MRs. OscAR M. RUEBHAUSE:N
Mrs. Oscar M. Ruebhausen of New York City is best known for her outstanding work as a volunteer in the field of international relations. Now Chairman
of the Women's Africa Committee, she is the UN observer for the Committee.
As member of the Board of Directors, League of Women Voters, she served as
UN observer for that organization from 1946 to 1959.
As a representative of the League of Women Voters, s'he has testified many
times before. the Congress in support of the Trade Agreements Program, foreign
economic aid, and UN appropriations. In 1959, Mrs. Ruebhausen was one of
the representatives of U.S. organizations who went to South America under
sponsorship of International Seminars, Inc., to consult with leaders from
seven South American countries. The only woman appointee, she served on a
60-member committee established in 1957 to advise the Department of Commerce
on trade policies with other countries. Other active interests include membership
on Board of Trustees, International House, and the U.S. Committee for the
United Nations Children's Fund. Mrs. Ruebhausen is author of the book "The
UN-A Candid Appraisal."
DR. FRANCIS ORLANDO
w ILCOX
Dr. Francis 0. Wilcox, a native of Iowa, Assistant Secretary of State for
International Organization Affairs since 1955, is a distinguished social scientist
and a specialist in international relations. Just prior to his present appointment he had served as Chief of Staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was a member of the U.S. Delegations at the UN Conference on
International Organizations in San Francisco, 1945; the first UN General Assembly in London, 1946, and at most subsequent meetings of the General
Assembly. He was also a Delegate to the Japanese Peace Conference in San
Francisco, 1951. At these Conferences, Dr. Wilcox showed outstanding leadership in international organization.
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Among his many affiliations, Dr. Wilcox is a member of the American Society
of International Law; the American Political Science Association; American
Association of University Professors; American Academy of Political and
Social Sciences and Phi Beta Kappa.
After receiving A.B., M.A., and Ph. D. degrees from the University of Iowa,
Dr. Wilcox received the degree of Doctor of Political Science from the University of Geneva in 1935. He became a Fellow of the Hague Academy of
International Law in 1937 and the same year was appointed associate professor
of political science, University of Louisville, Ky. He was also named chairman
of the University's Division of Social Sciences. Positions held by Dr. Wilcox
with the U.S. Government include: Associate Chief of the Division of InterAmerican Activities in the U.S. Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American
Affairs; International Organization Analyst with the Bureau of the Budget ;
Chief International Relations Analyst for the Library of Congress.
Dr. Wilcox served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, 1944-45.
DR.
JOHN
P.
WALSH
Dr. John P. Walsh, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., has been, since mid-1955, the
Director of the Trade and Industrial Branch, Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Prior posts include: State Director
of Vocational Education, State Department of Education, Concord, N.H.;
Director, New Hampshire State Technkal Institutes, Manchester and Portsmouth, N.H.; Director, Vocational and Adult Education, Public Schools,
Gloversville, N.Y.
Dr. Walsh received his B.S. in Industrial Education in his native city; his
M.S. at Cornell University; and he did advanced graduate work at Boston
University and received his Ph. D. at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. His industrial employment experience included positions at the
International Business Machines Corp., Endicott, N.Y.; and the Houdaille
Engineering Corp., at Buffalo, N.Y.
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Conference Advisory Committees
The Women's Bureau is indebted to many individuals and groups
who helped in the planning of the conference. Among them were
members of four major advisory committees representing educational
groups, industry and labor, international organizations, and women's
organizations. Listed below are the names and affiliations of those
who attended preliminary planning meetings.
International Committee
Miss Virginia Geiger, Women's Activities Adviser
United States Information Agency
1776 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Miss Chloe Gifford, President
General Federation of Women's Clubs
1734 N Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
Mrs. Ann Johnstone
Johns Hopkins School of International Studies
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Md.
Mrs. Graciela Quan, 0 hairman
Inter-American Commission of Women
Constitution Avenue and Eighteenth Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Irene Sandifer, Member, Board of Directors
Carrie Chapman Catt Memorial Fund
1026 Seventeenth Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Murray Schott, Director, Washington Office
American Association for the United Nations, Inc.
1420 New York Avenue, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Pauline Tompkins, General Director
American Association of University Women
1634 I Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
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Industry and Labor Committee
Mrs. Margaret F. Ackroyd, 0 Ide f
Division of W oreen and Children
Department of Labor
83 Park Street
Providence 2, R.I.
Miss Carrie Lou Allgood, Executive Secretary
Minimum Wage and Industrial Safety Board
400 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Washington 1, D.C.
Mrs. Helen Berthelot, Legwlator Representative
Communications Workers of America
1925 K Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
Miss Miriam Civic
Division of Research Studies
National Industrial Conference Board, Inc.
460 Park Avenue
New York 22, N.Y.
Miss Lena E. Ebeling, Director of Personnel
Sherwin-Williams Company
101 Prospect A venue, NW.
Cleveland 1, Ohio
Miss Dorothy H. Foster, Training Director
Woodward and Lothrop
F Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Miss Kathryn N. Fox, Manager,..Professional Office
U.S. EIJ)_ployment Service for the District of Columbia
1000 Sixteenth Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
Miss Esther F. Johnson, National Secretary Treasurer
American Federation of Government Employees
900 F Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Esthe~ Peterson, Legislatfue Representative
Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO
815 Sixteenth Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
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Miss Louise T. Pike, Administrative Assistant to the Bank Manager
· (President of Bank Women's Club of Washington, until March 1960)
National Bank of Washington
Fourteenth and G Streets, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Miss Hattie M. Smith, Personnel Manager for Women
Scott Paper Company
Chester, Pa.
Miss Jane Todd, Deputy Oommissioner
State of New York Department of Commerce
342 Madison Avenue
New York 17,N.Y.
Education Committee
Mrs. Hurst R. Anderson
The American University
Massachusetts and Nebraska Avenues, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Miss Dorothy Arnold
Goucher College
Towson, Baltimore 4, Md.
Mr. John D. Connors, Director
Education Department, AFL-CIO
815 Sixteenth Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Hazel Davis, Associate Director
Research Division
National Education Association of the United States
1201 Sixteenth Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
Dr. Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr., E xecutive Director
American Association of Junior Colleges
1785 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
Mrs. Kathryn G. Heath, Assistant for Special Studies
Office of Education
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Washington 25, D.C.
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Dr. Kathryn L. Hopwood, Dean of Students
Hunter College
New York, N.Y.
Dr. Althea Hottel, Dean of Women (former)
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pa.
Miss Alice Gore King, Executive Director
Alumnae Advisory Center, Inc.
541 Madison Avenue
New York, N.Y.
Miss Virginia R. Kirkbride, Director of Women's Activities
George Washington University
2029 G Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Miss Carolyn North, Assistant to Director
Commission on the Education of Women
American Council on Education
1785 Massachusetts A venue, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Josephine E. Renshaw, M.D.
Washington Hospital Center
110 Irving Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Mary S. Resh, Program Specialist
Trade and Industrial Education Branch
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Washington 25, D.C.
Dr. Mary Louise Robbins, Professor of Bacteriology
School of Medicine, George Washington University
2029 GStreet, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Eunice Roberts, Associate Dean of Faculties
Indiana University
Bloomington, Ind.
Miss Margaret Stevenson, Execu.tive Director
Classroom Teachers Division
National Education Association of the United States
1201 Sixteenth Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
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Miss Julia C. Thompson, W a,shington Representative
American Nurses Association
711 F ourteenth Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Andrew G. Truxel, President
Hood College
Frederick, Md.
Women's Organizations ·C ommittee
Miss Grace B. Daniels, National President
Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc.
2012 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.
Washington 6,- D.C.
Miss Dorothy C. Guinn, Emeorutive Director, ad interim
National Council of Negro Women, Inc.
1318 Vermont Avenue, NW.
Washington 5, D.C.
Mrs. Olga Margolin, W ashinr,ton Representatilve
National Council of Jewish Women
1637 Massachusetts A venue, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Miss Margaret Mealey, E wecutive Secretary
National Council of Catholic W omen
1312 Massachusetts Avenue, NW.
Washington 5, D.C.
Mrs. Robert J. Phillips, PresUent
League of Women Voters of the United States
1026 Seventeenth Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
Dr. Marguerite Rawalt, International Ohairmam
Public Affairs and Status of Women
Zonta International
1801 Sixteenth Street, NW;
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. James Austin Stone, Mem,ber
National Public Affairs Committee
Young Women's Christian Association of the U.S.A.
Seventeenth and K Streets, NW.
Washington, D.C.
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Mrs. Wallace Streeter, V we President
General Department of United Church Women
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
1751 N Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Dr. Pauline Tompkins, General Director
American Association of University Women
1634 I Street, NW.
Washington, D.C.
Mrs. Mildred Wells
General Federation of Women's Clubs
1734 N Street, NW.
Washington 6, D.C.
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HIGHLIGHTS
The Past-1920
Today-1960
81/4 million women workers.
22½ million women workers.
The average woman workersingle and 28 years old.
The average woman workermarried and 40 years old.
Less than 1 out of every 5 workers
was a woman.
More than 1 out of every 3 women
a worker.
About 1 out of every 3 workers is
a woman.
Largest occupations for women
(in order):
Factory workers; private-household workers; farm workers;
stenographers, typists, and secretaries; teachers; saleswomen.
Largest occupations for women
(in order):
Factory workers; stengraphers,
typists, and secretaries; privatehousehold workers; saleswomen;
teachers; waitresses and cooks.
This listing shows the increased
importance of the stenographic
group and saleswomen, as well
as the sharp decline among farm
workers. However, a variety
of other occupations have been
gaining in importance for women-nurses and other professional health personnel, office
workers of many kinds, research
workers, technicians, librarians,
social workers, and specialists
in food and home management.
Less than 1/3 million women enrolled in college.
Almost 1 ¼ million women enrolled in college.
Degrees granted to women:
16,642 Bachelor's
1,294 Master's
93 Doctorates
A tota I of 1 8,029 degrees.
Degrees granted to women (estimated):
132,000 Bachelor's
23,600 Master's
1 ,000 Doctorates
A total of 156,000 degrees-almost 9 times the number in 1920.
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The Future-1970
30 million women workers.
The average woman worker-married and
Except for teen-age girls and women over
will be a worker.
40 years old.
65, about 2 out of every 5 women
About 1 out of every 3 workers will be d woman.
Further expansion in the employment of women in occupations in which they
have long been established, such as teachers, office workers, librarians,
social workers, home economists, nurses, laboratory technicians, medical
and other health workers.
Greater opportunities for women with the required ability and educational
qualifications as mathematicians, statisticians, scientists, engineers, technicians of various kinds, and higher level office workers with training in
the use of electronic data processing and other business machines.
Over
2 million women enrolled in colleges.
Degrees granted to women:
234,000 Bachelor's
45,000 Master's
1 , 700 Doctorates
A total of
280,700 degrees-almost twice as many as in 1960.
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WOMEN IN THE POPULATION AND LABOR FORCE : 1920-PROJECTED 1970
14 Years and Over
36 ,190,000 _ _ _ _ _ __,,
I Populat ion I
1920
-------------1
1930
-----------1
1940
57,103,000 .....__ _......_........._ _ _ _ _....
1950
__
1960
_ _ ____, 22,548,000
64,074,000 - - - - - - - - - - - -
M.;,h
44,013,000
50,549 ,000
___,
16,512 ,000
1970
Projected
Source :
U.S. Department of Commerce , Bureau of the Census ;
U.S. Department of Labor, Bu re au of Labor Statistics.
CHART 1
The number of women in the labor force has increased more rapidly than
their number in the population.
In 1920, 23 percent of the women were in the labor force; in 1940, 26
percent; and today, 35 percent.
Though population growth has been the basic factor in the tremendous
rise in th.e number of women workers, other factors such as national emergencies and high levels of production and employment since World War II
have contributed significantly to this development.
MEN AND WOMEN IN THE LABOR FORCE: 1920- PROJECTED 1970
( 14 Years and Over)
Percent of oil workers
80
78
76
1920
1930
1940
Source: U . S. Department of Commerce , Bureau of the Census.
1950
1960
1970
March
Projected
U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics .
CHART 2
The proportion of women workers in the labor force has increased markedly
since 1920.
In 1920, the approximately 8¼ million women workers represented 1
out of every 5 workers; in 1940, the 13 million women workers represented
about 1 in 4 workers; today they represent almost 1 in 3. It is expected
that they will represent 1 in 3 by 1970.
Early retirement from the labor force of older men and the trend toward
higher educational attainment of the younger men are factors which have
contributed to the changing proportions of men and women in the labor
force.
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DISTRIBUTION OF WOMEN IN THE - CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE:
1920-60
Number of Women in the Civilian Labor Force
8,229,000
10,396,000
13,840,000
18,063,000
1930
1940
1950
22,516,000
100
45 years
and over
80
25-44
years
60
40
under
25
years
20
0
1920
1960
(March)
Source: U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Cen sus.
U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
CHART 3
Important shifts in the age distribution of women workers have taken place
since 1920, partly because of the changing age composition of the population and partly because of the higher labor force participation rates of older
women.
The proportion of women over 45 years of age in the labor force has more
than doubled since 1920.
The proportion of young women under 25 in the labor fo rce has declined
to less than half during this period.
The proportion of women in the labor force from 25 to 44 years of age
has remained relatively stable.
As a result, the median age of women workers has risen from 28 to slightly
over 40 in 1960.
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MARITAL ST A TUS OF WOMEN IN THE LABOR FORCE,
1920-59
Percent
Percent
100
80
80
!Si ng l e
132%
j Sing le
60
60
J49 %
unkn own
54 %
40
40
1920
Source.
1930
1940
1950
1959
U.S. De p artme nt of Commerce , Bure au of the Census.
U.S. D e pa rtme nt of Labor, Bure au of Labor Stati sti cs.
CHART
4
The trend toward early marriage, the increasing tendency of women to
1
seek paid employment, and changes in women s occupations account for
the striking increase in the proportion of married women among women
workers.
The rise has been especially rapid since 1940, and has been accompanied
by a simultaneous decline in the proportion of single w omen workers .
564975 0 -60--9
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117
OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS OF EMPLOYED MEN AND WOMEN:
MARCH 1960
7
6
5
4
3
2
Millions
0
2
4
5
6
7
9
7
I
Clerical Workers
I
Op eratives
I
Service W orkers \ except household J
I
Professio nal Worker s
I
Private Household
I WOMEN I
~
Sales Workers
Mananagers, Officials, Proprietors
Farm Laborers, Foremen
q-
Crafts me n, Foremen
Farmers, Far m Mana gers
Laborers \ex cept farm , mine)
I
Source.
U. S. D ep a rtment of Labor, Bureau of Labor St~ti stic s.
CHART s
Women tend to work in different oc~upations from t hose in which men work .
While they constitute more than two-thirds of the clerical workers, there are
few women among the craftsmen, farm managers and workers, and the unskilled laborers.
Some of these differences are undoubtedly due to differences in the
nature of the work, its requirements and its suitabi lity or attractiveness to
women, but others persist largely because of conventional attitudes toward
women and work.
Women tend to remain concentrated in a few occupations.
While they
represent more than one-third of the professional workers, most of them are
teachers or nurses. There are still relatively few women among the scientists,
engineers, physicians, lawyers and other professional groups, though their
numbers have been increasing in these o~cupations.
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DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYED WOMEN, BY MAJOR
INDUSTRY GROUP: MARCH 1960
Percent
Services, ( finance, insu ranee ,
real es tate , business,
personal , p rafessional)
40
Trade
Manufacturing
Private Household
Public Administrat ion
Transportat ion , Communication,
Public Utilities
Agriculture
Construction
Minin g
Forestry , Fisheri e s
Source : U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
CHART 6
Women workers are highly concentrated in the rapidly growing service
industries . These include finance and insurance services, as well as personal
services; many women work also in retail trade and in manufacturing.
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EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF WOMEN IN THE
LABOR FORCE: 1940-59
(18 TO 64 YEARS OF AGE)
P~;e-;..:..:n:_t- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ P e r c ~ ~ t
IELEMENTARY I
I HIGH
SCHOOL
I COLLEGE I
I
40
40
~ 1940 *
30
~
1952
~
1957
30
l!!il!i 19 59
20
20
10
10
0
0
Les s than
y e ars
5
1-3
5-8
y e ars
years
Sou rce: U. S. Deportment of Labor, Bureau of Labor Stati stic s.
y e ars
*Note:
years
4
or more
years
Data on educationa l attainment not available prior to 1940.
CHART 7
The educational attainment of women in the labor force has risen significantly.
Today, almost three-fifths of the women workers have at least a high
school education. About two-fifths had a high school education 20 years
ago.
Today, only 3 percent of the working women have less than
schooling; 20 years ago, 6 percent had less than this.
5
years of
Today, a larger proportion of women workers have completed at least 4
years of college than 20 years ago, but the rela1 ive increase has been much
smaller than that for high school graduates.
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RESIDENT COLLEGE ENROLLMENT: 1920-58
Mill ion
3.5 ..
3 .0
►
0
Men
Im Women
2.5
►
2.0
1.5
1.0
►
.5 ►
o~
I
ml
1919-20
DI
1929-30
DI
1939 -40
.
1949-50
1957-58
Source: U.S. De po rtme nt of Health , Educa tion , and Welfa re ,
Office o f Education .
CHART 8 {above) CHART 9 {below)
More and more women are attending and graduating from institutions of
higher learning .
Since 1920, enrollments of women in colleges and universities have almost
quadrupled . The number of baccalaureate degrees granted to women
during the same period has multiplied more than 7 times.
The increases in enrollments for men, however, have been even greater
during most of this period . The percent of women enrollees in the total,
therefore, dropped from 50 percent in 1920 to 30 percent in 1950, when
many veterans took advantage of the educational aid made available to
them. Since then enrollments of women have again increased at a faster
rate than those of men, and they now represent more than one-third of the
total enrollments.
BACHELOR 'S DEGREES EARNED: 1920-58
Thousand
350
D
Men
300
~
Women
200
0
Cb
191 9-20
1929-30
1939 -40
1949-50
1957-58
Sou rce: U.S. De po rtme nt of He alth , Education , and Welfa re ,
Off ice o f Education .
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LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN, BY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, MARCH 1959
(18 Years of Age and Over)
Percent
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Less Than
5 Years
5-7
8
Years
Years
Less Than
4 Years
Less Than
4 Years
Years
Source : U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
4
or More
Years
CHART 10
Chances that a woman will seek paid employment tend to increase with
the amount of education she has received.
In March 1959, more than one-half of the women in this country with a
college degree were in the work force as compared with somewhat more than
one-fourth of the women who left school prior to or on completing the 8th
grade.
MEDIAN INCOME OF WOMEN, BY EDUC--ATIONAL ATTAINMENT, 1958
( 14 Years of Age and Over)
Median Income (In Thousands of Dollars)
5
College
4
College
High School
LJ
,'
Elementary
0
8
Years
4
Years
El
4
Ye ars
--5-or-M-or_e._
Years
Source : U. S. Department of Commerce , Bureau of the Cen su s
CHART 11
Education is an important determinant of the average income of women.
One-half of the women who had completed a year or more of graduate
study had incomes of at least $4,381 in 1958. This was 1 ½ times the
median income of women 4-year college graduates; more tha11 2 times that
of high school graduates; and almost 5 times that of elementary school
graduates.
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Educational Attainmenit of Women in Seleded Occupational Groups:
March 1959 ( 18 Years of Age and Over)
Selected occupational groups
Professional workers ___ ______ _______ _
Managers, officials, proprietors _______ _
Clerical workers ____________________ _
Sales workers ______________________ _
Service workers (except household) ___ _
Operatives ____ _____ ____ _____ __ ., ____ _
Private-household workers ______ _____ _
Percent Distribution
Less than
Some college High school high school
education
education
graduation
22
73
5
19
40
40
17
65
18
12
43
42
29
6
63
24
2
72
14
80
3
Source: U.S . Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Education strongly affects a woman's occupation.
Nearly 3 out of every 4 women in the professions have had some college
education.
The vast majority of women in clerical, managerial and sales occupations
have had at ieast a high school education.
Most of the women employed in service occupations or factory operations
have had less than a high school education.
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40 YEARS OF PROGRESS IN LABOR LEGISLATION
AFFECTING WOMEN WORKERS, 1920-1960
. 1 In
In 1960
1920
Minimum Wage
13 States, the District of Columbia
33 States, the District of Columbia
and Puerto Rico had minimumwage laws.
and Puerto Rico have minimumwage laws designed to set a
floor below which wages may
not fall.
Equal Pay
20 States have equal-pay laws
2 States-Michigan and Montana-had equal-pay laws.
which establish the policy of
equal pay for equal work without discrimination because of
sex.
Maximum Hours
Maximum-hour laws were in ~ffect
in 42 States, the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico.
In 11 States, the District of
Columbia and Puerto Rico, the
law set a maximum of 8 hours a
day, 48 hours a week, or both.
Maximum-hour laws, applicable
to women workers in one or more
occupations, are in effect in 43
States and the District of Columbia.
In 24 States and the District
of Columbia, the law sets a
maximum of 8 hours a day, 48
or less hours a week, or both.
Day of Rest
12 States and the District of
22 States and the District of ColumColumbia had laws which required a day of rest in each
workweek.
bia require at least one day of
rest in every 7-day workweek.
Meal Period
19 States and Puerto Rico had
25 States, the District of Columbia
laws requiring a meal period of
specified duration for women
workers.
and Puerto Rico provide that
meal periods of specified duration must be allowed women
workers in one or more industries.
Night Work
1 5 States and Puerto Rico had
12 States and Puerto Rico prohibit
5
laws prohibiting the employment of adult women at night in
specified occupations.
States regulated nightwork for
adult women.
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nightwork for adult women in
one or more occupations;
15 States and Puerto Rico, by
maximum-hour provisions or by
specified standards of working
conditions, regulate nightwork
for adult women.
Publications of the Women• s Burea_µ
Following is a list of bulletins, pamphlets, leaflets, and other published material issued by the Women's Bureau during the period 1918
through July 1960.
Publications marked with an asterisk ( *) are out of print, but can
be seen in many public libraries and university libraries.
Publications for which prices are quoted may be obtained from
the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office,
Washington 25, D.C. Orders for these items should be accompanied
by check or money order payable to the Superintendent of Documents.
Copies of other publications listed here are available upon request to
the Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington 25, D.C.
Bulletins
*1. Proposed Employment of Women During the War, in the Industries of
Niagara Falls, N.Y., 1918. 16 pp. 1919.
*2. Labor Laws for Women in Industry in Indiana. 29.pp. 1919.
*3. Standards for the Employment of Women in Industry. 8 pp. Four editions, 1918, 1919, 1921, 1928.
*4. Wages of Candy Makers in Philadelphia in 1919. 46 pp. 1919.
*5. The Eight-Hour Day in Federal and State Legislation. 14 pp. 1921.
*6. The Employment of Women in Hazardous Industries in the United States,
1919. 8 pp. 1920.
*7. Night-Work Laws in the United States, 1919. 4 pp. 1920.
*8. Women in the Government Service. 37 pp. 1920.
*9. H ome W ork in Bridgeport, Connecticut. 35 pp. 1920.
*10. Hours and Conditions of Work for Women in Industry in Virginia. 32
pp. 1920.
*11. W omen Street Car Conductors and Ticket Agents. 90 pp. 1921.
*12. The New P osition of Women in Amer_ican Industry. 1'58 pp. 1920.
*13. Industrial 0 :'POrtunLties and Training for Women and Girls. 48 pp.
1920.
*14. A Physiological Basis for the Shorter ''' orking Day for Women. 20 pp.
1921.
*15. Some Effects of Legislat ion Limiting Hours of Work for Women. 26 pp.
1921.
*16. State Laws Affecting Working Women. 51 pp. Charts and maps. 1921.
Superseded by Bull. 40.
*17. Women's Wages in Kansas. 104 pp. 1921.
*18. Health Problems of Women in Industry. 11 pp. 1921. Superseded by
Bull. 136.
*19. Iowa W omen in Industry. 73 pp. 1922.
*20. Negro W omen in Industr y. 65 pp. 1922.
*21. Women in Rhode I sla nd Industries. 73 pp. 19>22.
*22. Women in Georgia Industries. 89 pp. 1922.
*23. The Family Status of Breadwinning Women. 43 pp. 1922.
*24. W omen in Maryland Industries. 96 pp. 1922.
*25. Women in the Candy Industry in Chicago and St. Louis. 72 pp. 1923.
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*26. Women in Arkansas Industries. 86 pp. 1923.
*27. The Occupational Progress of Women. 37 pp. 1922.
"'28. Women's Contributions in the Field of Invention. 51 pp. rn23.
*29. Women in Kentucky Industries. 114 pp. 1923.
*30. The Share of Wage-Earning Women in Family Support. 170 pp. 1923.
*31. What Industry Means to Women Workers. 10 pp. 1923.
*32. Women in South Oarolina Industries. 128 pp. 1923.
*33. Proceedings of the Women's Industrial Conference. 190 pp. 1923.
*34. Women in Alabama Industries. 86 ,p p. 1924.
*35. Women in Missouri Industries. 127 pp. 1924.
*36. Radio Talks on Women in Industry. 34 pp. 1924.
*37. Women in New Jersey Industries. 99 pp. 1924.
*38. Married Women in Industry. 8 pp. 1924.
*39. Domestic Workers and Their Employment Relations. 87 pp. 1924.
*40. State Laws Affecting Working Women. 53 pp. Charts and maps. 19'24.
Superseded by Bull. 63.
*41. Family Status of Breadwinning Women in Four Selected Cities. 145
pp. 1925.
*42. List of References on Minimum Wage for Women in the United States
and Canada. 42 pp. 1925.
*43. Standard and Scheduled Hours of Work for Women in Industry. 68 pp.
1925.
*44. Women in Ohio Industries. 137 pp. 1925.
*45. Home Environment and Employment Opportunities of Women in CoalMine Workers' Families. 61 pp. 1925.
*46. Facts About Working Women (based on Census statistics and studies of
the Women's Bureau). 64 pp. 1925.
*47. Women in the Fruit-Growing and Canning Industries in the State of
Washington. 223 pp. 1926.
*48. Women in Oklahoma Industries. 118 pp. 1926.
*49. Women Workers and Family Support. 10 pp. 1925.
*50. Effects of Applied Research Upon the Employment Opportunities of
American Women. 54 pp. 1926.
*51. Women in Illinois Industries. 108 pp. 1926.
*52. Lost Time and Labor Turnover in Cotton Mills. 203 pp. 1926.
*53. The Status of Women in the Government Service in 1925. 103 pp. 1926.
*54. Changing Jobs. 12 pp. 1926.
*55. Women in Mississippi Industries. 89 pp. 1926.
*56. Women in Tennessee Industries. 120 pp. 1927.
*57. Women Workers and Industrial Poisons. 5. pp. 1926.
*58. Women in Delaware Industries. 156 pp. 1927.
*59. Short Talks About Working Women. 24 pp. 1927.
*60. Industrial Accidents to Women in New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
316 pp. 1927.
*61. The Development of Minimum-Wage Laws in the United States, 1912 to
1927. 635 pp. 1928.
*62. Women's Employment in Vegetable Canneries in Delaware. 47 pp. 1927.
*63. State Laws Affecting Working Women. 51 pp. 1927. Superseded by
Bull. 98.
*64. The Employment of Women at Night. 86 pp. 1928.
*65. The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of
Women. 498 pp. 1928.
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•66-1. History of Labor Legislation for Women in Three States. 133 pp. 1929.
*66-11. Chronological Development of Labor Legislation for Women in the
United States. 173 pp. 1929.
•67. Women Workers in Flint, Mich. 79 pp. 1929.
•68. Summary: The Effects of Labor Legislation on the Employment Opportunities of Women. (Reprint of Chapter II of Bull. 65) 22 pp. 1928.
•69. Causes of Absence for Men and for Women in Four Cotton Mills. 22 pp.
1929.
•70. Negro Women in Industry in 15 States. 72 pp. 1929.
•11. Selected References on the Health of Women in Industry. 8 pp. 1929.
•72. Conditions of Work in Spin Rooms. 39 pp. 1929.
•73. Variations in Employment Trends of Women and Men. 141 pp. 1930.
•74. The Immigrant Woman and Her Job. 179 pp. 1930.
*75. What the Wage-Earning Woman Contributes to Family Support. 20 pp.
1929.
*76. Women in 5- and 10-cent Stores and Limited-Price Chain Department
Stores. 56 pp. 1930.
•11. A Study of Two Groups of Denver Married Women Applying for Jobs.
10pp. 1929.
*78. A Survey of Laundries and Their Women Workers in 23 Cities. 164 pp.
1930.
*79. Industrial Home Work. 18 pp. 1930.
*80. Women in Florida Industries. 113 pp. 1930.
*81. Industrial Accidents to Men and Women. 46 pp. 1930.
•82. The Employment of Women in the Pineapple Canneries of Hawaii. 28
pp. 1930.
*83. Fluctuation of Employment in the Radio Industry. 63 pp. 1931.
*84. Fact Finding with the Women's Bureau. 35 pp. 1931.
*85. Wages of Women in 13 States. 211 pp. 1931.
*86. Activities of the Women's Bureau of the United States. 13 pp. 1931.
•87. Sanitary Drinking Facilities, with Special Reference to Drinking Fountains. 26 pp. 1931.
*88. The Employment of Women in Slaughtering and Meat Packing. 208 pp.
1932.
•89. The Industrial Experience of Women Workers at the Summer Schools,
1928 to 1930. 60 pp. 1931.
•oo. Oregon Legislation for Women in Industry. 37 pp. 1931.
*91. Women in Industry: A Series of Papers to Aid Study Groups. 79 pp.
1931. Superseded by Bull. 164.
*92. Wage-Earning Women and the Industrial Conditions of 1930. A Survey
of South Bend. 81 pp. 1932. See Bull. 108.
*93. Household Employment in Philadelphia. 8 pp. 1932.
*94. State Requirements for Industrial Lighting: A Handbook for the Protection of Women Workers, Showing Lighting Standards and Practices.
6 pp. 1932.
*95. Bookkeepers, Stenographers, and Office Clerks in Ohio, 1914 to 1929.
3 pp. 1932.
*96. Women Office Workers in Philadelphia. 1 p. 1932.
*97. The Employment of Women in the Sewing Trades of ConnecticutPreliminary Report. 13 pp. 1932. ( See Bull. 109.)
*98. Labor Laws for Women in the States and Territories. 67 pp. and charts.
1932. (Revised by Supplement in 1933.) Superseded by Bull. 144.
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*99.
•100.
•101.
•102.
*103.
*104.
*105.
*106.
"'107.
*108.
*109.
•110.
*111.
"'112.
*113.
*114.
*115.
*116.
•111.
*118.
*119.
•120.
•121.
*122.
*123.
*124.
"'125.
*126.
•121.
*128.
*129.
*130.
"'131.
*132.
*133.
J
The Installation and Maintenance of Toilet Facilities in Places of Employment. 86 pp. 1933.
The Effects on W omen of Changing Conditions in the Cigar and Cigarette
Industries. 184 pp. 1932.
The Employment of Women in Vitreous Enameling. 61 pp. 1932.
Industrial Injuries to Women in 1928 and 1929 Compared with Injuries
to Men. 33 pp. 1933.
Women Workers in the Third Year of the Depression-A Study of 109
Students in the Bryn Mawr Summer School. 13 pp. 1933.
The Occupational Progress of Women, 1910 to 1930. 87 pp. 1933.
A Study of a Change from 8 to 6 Hours of Work. 14 pp. 1933.
Household Employment in Chicago. 62 pp. 1933.
Technological Changes in Relation to Women's Employment. 39 pp.
1935.
The Effects of the Depression on Wage Earners' Families: A Second
Survey of South Bend. 31 pp. 1936. See Bull. 92.
The Employment of Women in the Sewing Trades of Connecticut:
Second and Final Report. 45 pp. 1935. See Bull. 97.
The Change from Manual to Dial Operation in the Telephone Industry.
15 pp. 1933.
Hours, Earnings, and Employment in Cotton Mills. 78 pp. 1933.
Standards of Placement Agencies for Household Employees. 68 pp. 1934.
Employment Fluctuations and Unemployment of Women, 1928-1931.
236 pp. 1933.
State Reporting of Occupational Disease, Including a Survey of Legislation Applying to Women. 99 pp. 1934.
Women at Work. 60 pp. 1933. Revised 1934 and in 1939; See Bull. 161.
A Study of a Change from One Shift of 9 Hours to Two Shifts of 6 Hours
Each. 14 pp. 1934.
The Age Factor As It Relates t o Women in Business and the Professions.
66 pp. 1934.
The Employment of Women in Puerto Rico. 34 pp. 1934.
Hours and Earnings in the Leather-Glove Industry. 32 pp. 1934.
The Employment of Women in Offices. 126 pp. 1934.
A Survey of the Shoe Industry in New Hampshire. 100 pp. 1935.
Variations in Wage Rates Under Corresponding Conditions. 57 pp. 1935.
Employment in Hotels and Restaurants. 105 pp. 1936.
Women in Arkansa s Industries. 45 pp. 1935.
Employment Conditions in Department Stores in 1932-33: A Study in
Selected Cities of 5 States. 24 pp. ' 1936.
Women in Texas Industries. 81 pp. 1936.
Hours and Earnings in Tobacco Stemmeries. 29 pp. 1934.
Potential Earning Power of Southern Mountaineer Handicraft. 56 pp.
1935.
Industrial Injuries to Women in 1930 and 1931 Compared with Injuries to
Men. 57 pp. 1935.
Employed Women under N.R.A_. Codes. 144 pp. 1935.
Industrial Home Work in Rhode I sland, With Special Reference to Lace
Industry. 27 pp. 1935.
Women Who Work in Offices : I. Study of Employed Women. II. Study
of Women Seeking Employment. 27 pp. 1935.
Employment Conditions in Beauty Shops. 46_pp. 1935.
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*134.
"'135.
Summaries of Studies on the Economic Status of Women. 20 pp. 1935.
The Commercialization of the Home Through Industrial Home Work.
49 pp. 1935.
•)136. The Health and Safety of Women in Industry. Revision of Bull. 18.
23 pp. 1935.
*137. Summary of State Hour Laws for Women and Minimum-Wage Rates.
54 pp. 1936.
*138. Reading List of References on Household Employment. 15 pp. 1936.
,:,139. Women Unemployed Seeking Relief in 1933. 19 pp. 1936.
*140. Reemployment of New England Women in Private Industry. 118 pp.
1936.
~=141, Piecework in the Silk Dress Industry. 68 pp. 1936.
*142. The Economic Problems of the Women of the Virgin Islands of the United
States. 24 pp. 1936.
*143. Factors Affecting Wages in Power Laundries. 82 pp. 1936.
*144. State Labor Laws for Women. 93 pp. and charts. 1937. Superseded
by Bull. 156.
*145. Special Study of Wages Paid to Women and Minors in Ohio Industries
Prior and Subsequent to the Ohio Minimum-Wage Law for Women
and Minors. 83 pp. 1936.
"'146. A Policy Insuring Value to the Woman Buyer and a Livelihood to
Apparel Makers. 22 pp. 1936.
*147. Summary of State Reports of Occupational Diseases, with A Survey of
Preventive Legislation, 1932 to 1934. 42 pp. 1936.
"'148. The Employed Woman Homemaker in the United States; Her Responsibility for Family Support. 22 pp. 1936.
*149. Employment of Women in Tennessee Industries. 63 pp. 1937.
*150. Women's Employment in West Virginia. 27 pp. 1937.
*151. Injuries to Women in Personal-Service Occupations in Ohio. 23 pp.
1937.
*152. Differences in the Earnings of Women and Men. 57 pp. 1938.
*153. Women's Hours and Wages in the District of Columbia in 1937. 44 pp.
1937.
*154. Reading Li_s t of References on Household Employment. 17 pp. 1938.
*155. Women in the Economy of the United States of America. 137 pp. 1937.
*156. State Labor Laws for Women. As of Dec. 31, 1937. 16 pp. 1938.
Part I. Summary. As of Dec. 31, 1940. 18 pp. 1940.
Part II. Analysis of Hours Laws for Women Workers. 45 pp. 1938.
See also Bull. 202.
*157. The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America. January
1, 1938. United States Summary. 89 pp. 1941. Separate reports
for each State and the District of Columbia.
*157. The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America. Summary
I. 16 pp. 1943.
*157-A. The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America. Cumulative Supplement, 1938-1945. 31 pp. 1946.
*157. The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America. Revised
as of January 1, 1948. United States Summary. 105 pp. 1951.
Separate reports for each State and the District of Columbia.
*157-50. The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America as of
January 1, 1948. Reports and Summary for the Territories and Possessions. 77 pp. 1951.
129
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
*157-Revised. The Legal Status of Women in the United States of America.
January 1, 1953. United States Summary. 103 pp. 1956.
Note: The sales stock of Bull. 157-Revised is exhausted; single
copies are available upon request to the Women's Bureau while limited
supply lasts. A revision of this bulletin is currently underway.
Copies of latest revised reports for individual States and the District
of Columbia are available from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office. Prices of these separate reports range from
10c to 15c.
*158. Unattached Women on Relief in Chicago, 1937. 84 pp. 1938.
*159. Trends in the Employment of Women, 1928 to 1936. 48 pp. 1938.
*160. Industrial Injuries to Women and Men, 1932 to 1934. 37 pp. 1938.
*161. Women at Work: A Century of Industrial Change. Revision of Bull. 115.
80 pp. 1942.
*162. Women in Kentucky Industries, 1937. 38 pp. 1938.
*163. Hours and Earnings in Certain Men's-Wear Industries:
1. Work Clothing, Work Shirts, Dress Shirts. 27 pp. 1938.
2. Knit Underwear, Woven Cotton Underwear. 10 pp. 1938.
3. Seamless Hosiery. 8 pp. 1938.
4. Welt Shoes. 9 pp. 1938.
5. Raincoats, Sport Jackets. 29 pp. 1940.
6. Caps and Cloth Hats, Neckwear, Work and Knit Gloves, Handkerchiefs. 22 pp. 1939.
*164. Women in Industry: A Series of Papers to Aid Study Groups. Revision
of Bull. 91. 85 pp. 1938.
*165. The Negro Woman Worker. 17 pp. 1938.
*166. The Effect of Minimum-Wage Determinations in Service Industries: Adjustments in the Dry-Cleaning and Power-Laundry Industries. 44 pp.
1938.
*167. State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders: An Analysis. 34 pp. and Charts.
1939. Two supplements. 1939, 15 pp., 1940. 1940, 13 pp., 1941. Superseded by Bull. 191.
*168. Employed Women and Family Support. 57 pp. 1939.
*169. Conditions in the Millinery Industry in the United States. 128 pp. 1939.
*170. Economic Status of University Women in the U.S.A. 70 pp. 1939.
*171. Wages and Hours in Drugs and Medicines and in Certain Toilet Preparations. 19 pp. 1939.
*172. The Woman Wage Earner: Her Situation Today. 56 pp. 1939.
*173. Standards for Employment of Women in Industry: Recommended by
Women's Bureau. 9 pp. 1939.
*174. Job Histories of Women Workers at the Summer Schools, 1931-34 and
1938. 25 pp. 1939.
*175. Earnings in Women's and Children's Apparel Industry in the Spring of
1939. 91 pp. 1940.
*176. Application of Labor Legislation to the Fruit and Vegetable Canning and
Preserving Industries. 162 pp. 1940.
*177. Earnings and Hours in Hawaii Woman-Employing Industries. 53 pp.
1940.
*178. Women's Wages and Hours in Nebraska. 51 pp. 1940.
*179. Primer of Problems in the Millinery Industry. 47 pp. 1941.
*180. Employment in Service and Trade Industries in Maine. 30 pp. 1940.
*181. The Nonworking Time of Industrial Women Workers. 10 pp. 1940.
130
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
*182.
*183.
*184.
•185.
*186.
•187.
*188.
*189.
*190.
*191.
•192.
•193.
•194.
*195.
*196.
*197.
Employment of Women in the Federal Government, 1923 to 1939. 60 pp.
1941.
Women W orkers in Their Family Environment. 82 pp. 1941.
Occurance and Prevention of Occupational Diseases Among Women, 1935
to 1938. 46 pp. 1941.
The Migratory Labor Problem in Delaware. 24 pp. 1941.
Earnings and Hours in Pacific Coast Fish Canneries. 30 pp. 1941.
Labor Standards and Competitive Market Conditions in the CannedGoods I ndustry. 34 pp. 1941.
Office Work and Office Workers in 1940:
Introduction. 4 pp.
•1. Office Work in Houston, 1940. 58 pp. 1942.
•2. Office Work in Los Angeles, 1940. 64 pp. 1942.
•3. Office Work in Kansas City, 1940. 74 pp. 1942.
•4. Office Work in Richmond, 1940. 61 pp. 1942.
*5. Office Work in Philadelphia, 1940. 102 pp. 1942.
*Ch.art. W omen Office Workers: Salary Rates in Five Cities, 1940.
2 pp. 1942.
1. Women's Factory Employment in an Expanding Aircraft Production
Progr am. 12 pp. 1942.
2. Employment of Women in the Manufacture of Small-Arms Ammunition.11 pp. 1942.
3. Employment of Women in the Manufacture of Artillery Ammunition.
17 pp. 1942_.
4. The Employment of and Demand for Women Workers in the Manufacture of Instruments-Aircraft, Optical and Fire-Control, and
Surgical and Dental. 20 pp. 1942.
Recreation and Housing for Women War Workers: A Handbook on Standards. 40 pp. 1942.
State Minimum Wage Laws and Orders. 1942: An Analysis. 52 pp. and
charts. 1942. See Bull. 247.
Reports on employment of women in wartime industries :
1. W omen's Employment in Air,.raft Assembly Plants in 1942. 23
pp. 1942.
2. W omen's Employment in Artillery Ammunition Plants, 1942. 19
pp. 1942.
3. Employment of Women in the Manufacture of Cannon and Small
Arms in 1942. 36 pp. 1943.
4. Employment of Women in the Ma chine-Tool Industry, 1942. 42
pp. 1943.
5. W omen's Employment in the Making of Steel, 1943. 39 pp. 1944.
6. E mploying Women in Shipyards. 83 pp. 1944.
7. W omen's Employment in Foundries, 1943. 28 pp. 1944.
8. Employment of Women in Army Supply Depots in 1943. 33 pp.
1945.
9. W omen's Wart ime Jobs in Cane-Sugar Refineries. 20 pp. 1945.
Women's ,,,.ork in the War. 10 pp. 1942.
Your Questions As To Women in War Industries. 10 pp. 1942.
Women Workers in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. 15 pp. 1942.
"Equal Pay" for Women in War Industries. 26 pp. 1942.
" ' omen Workers in Some Expanding Wartime Industries-New Jersey,
1942. 44 pp. 1943.
131
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
*198.
Employment and Housing Problems of Migratory Workers in New York
and New Jersey Canning Industries, 1943. 35 _pp. 1944.
*199. Successful Practices in the Employment of Nonfarm ,vomen on Farms in
the Northeastern States, 1943. 44 pp. 1944.
*200. British Policies and Methods in Employing Women in Wartime. 44 pp.
1944.
*201. Employment Opportunities in Characteristic Industrial Occupations of
Women. 50 pp. 1944.
*202. State Labor Laws for Women with Wartime Modifications, Dec. 15, 1944.
*202-I.
Analysis of Hour Laws. 110 pp. 1945. See Bull. 250.
*202-II.
Analysis of Plant Facilities Laws. 43 pp. 1945.
*202-III. Analysis of Regulatory Laws, Prohibitory Laws, Maternity
Laws. 12 pp. 1945.
*202-IV. Analysis of Industrial Home-Work Laws. 26 pp. 1945.
*202-V.
Explanation and Appraisal. 66 pp. 1946.
203. Medical and Other Health Services Series. The Outlook for Women:
203-1.
As Physical Therapists. 51 pp. Revised. 1952. 20c.
203-2.
As Occupational Therapists. 51 pp. Revised. 1952. 20c.
*203-3.
In Professional rursing Qccupations. 80 pp. Revised. 1953.
203-4.
As Medical Technologis ts and Laboratory Technicians. 54 pp.
Revised. 1954. 25c.
203-5.
As Practical Nurses and Auxiliary Workers on the Nursing
Team. 62 pp. Revised. 1953. 40c.
*203-6.
As Medical Record Librarians. 9 pp. 1945.
As Women Physicians. 28 pp. 1945.
*203-7.
203-8.
As Medical X-Ray Technicians. 53 pp. Revised. 1954. 25c.
*203-9.
As Women Dentists. 21 pp. 1945.
*203- 10.
As Dental Hygienists. 17 pp. 1945.
*203-11.
As Physicians' and Dentist s' Assistants. 15 pp. 1945.
Trends and Their Effect Upon the Demand for ,vomen
*203-12.
Workers. 55 pp. 1946.
*204. Women's Emergency Farm Service on the Pacific Coast in 1943. 36 pp.
1945.
*205. Negro Women War Workers. 23 pp. 1945.
*206. Women Workers in Brazil. 42 pp. 1946.
*207. The Woman Telephone Worker. 38 pp. 1946.
*207- A. Typical Women's Jobs in the Telephone Industry. 49 pp. 1947.
*208. W-0men's Wartime Hours of Work-The Effect on Their Factory Performance and Home Life. 187 pp. 1947.
*209. Women Workers in Ten War Production Areas and Their Postwar Employment Plans. 56 pp. 1946.
*210. Women Workers in Paraguay. 16 pp. 1946.
*211. Employment of Women in the Early Postwar Period. ·w ith Background
of Prewar and War Data. 14 pp. 1946.
*212. Industrial Injuries to Women. 20 pp. 1947.
*213. Women Workers in Peru. 41 pp. 1947.
*214. Ma,ternity Benefits Under Union Contract, Health Insurance Plans. 16
pp. 1947.
*215. Women Workers in Power Laundries. 67 pp. 1947.
*216. Women Workers after VJ-Day in One Community-Bridgeport, Connecticut. 34 pp. 1947.
*217. International Documents on the Status of Women. 113 pp. 1947.
132
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
218.
Women's Occupations Through Seven Decades. 257 pp. 1947. 55c. See
Bull. 253.
*219. Earnings of Women in Selected Manufacturing Industries, 1946. 14 pp.
1948.
*220. Old-Age Insurance for Household Workers. 17 pp. 1947.
*221. Community Household Employment Programs. 70 pp. 1948.
•222. Women in Radio. 30 pp. 1947.
223. Science Series. The Outlook for Women in :
*223:-1. Science. ( General introduction to the series.) 78 pp. 1949.
223-2. Chemistry. 62 pp. 1948. 20c.
*223-3. Biological Sciences. 87 pp. 1948.
*223-4. Mathematics and Statistics. 21 pp. 1948.
*223-5. Architecture and Engineering. 85 pp. 1948. See Bull. 254.
*223--6. Physics and Astronomy. 32 pp. 1948.
*223-7. Geology, Geography, and Meteorology. 48 pp. 1948.
*223-8. Occupations Related to Science. 30 pp. 1948.
*224. Women's Bureau Conference, 1948. The American Woman-Her Changing Role as Worker, Homemaker, Citizen. 207 pp. 1948.
*225. Women's Bureau Hand'book of Facts on Women Workers. 1948. See
Bull. 255.
*226. Working Women's Budgets in Thirteen States. 41 pp. Revised. 1951.
*227. State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders, July 1, 1942-July 1, 1950. Revised
Supp. to Bull. 191. 65 pp. 1950. Multilithed Supplements. See Bull.
247.
228. The Industrial Nurse and the Woman Worker. 48 pp. 1949. Revision
of Special Bull. 19. 15c.
*229. Occupations for Girls and Women-Selected References. 102 pp. 1948.
23~1. Women in the Federal Service, 1923-1947: Trends in Employment. 79
pp. 1949. 25c.
230-11. Women in the Federal Service: Occupational Information. 84 pp.
1950. 25c.
*231. The Outlook for Women in Police Work. 29 pp. 1949.
*232. Women's Jobs-Advance and Growth. Popular version of Bull. 218. 88
pp. 1949.
*233. Night Work for Women in Hotels and Restaurants. 56 pp. 1949.
234. Home Economics Occupations Series. The Outlook for Women:
*234-1. In Dietetics. 77 pp. 1950.
234- 2. As Food-Service Managers and Supervisors. 54 pp. 1952.
20c.
235. Social Work Series. The Outlook for Women in :
*231>-l. Social Case Work in a Medical Setting. 55 pp. 1950.
231>-2. Social Case Work in a Psychiatric Setting. 56 pp. 1950. 25c.
235-3. Social Case Work with Children. 69 pp. 1951. 25c.
235-4. Social Case Work with Families. 80 pp. 1951. 30c.
*235-5. Community Organization in Social Work. 37 pp. 1951.
235-6. Social Work Administration, Teaching, and Research. 79 pp.
1951. 25c.
*235-7. Social Group Work. 41 pp. 1951.
235-8. Social Work. General Summary. 93 pp. 1952. 30c.
*236. Wo.µien in Higher-Level Positions. 86 pp. 1950.
*237. Women's Bureau 1950 Handbook of Facts on Women ·workers. 102 pp.
1950. See Bull. 255.
*238. Part-Time Jobs for Women-A study in 10 cities. 82 pp. 1951.
564975 0 - 60---10
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133
239.
240.
241.
*242.
243.
*244.
245.
246.
247.
248.
*249.
250.
*251.
252.
253.
254.
*255.
256.
*257.
258.
259.
260.
*261.
262.
263.
264.
265.
266.
267.
Women Workers and Their Dependents. 117 pp. 1952. 30c.
Maternity Protection of Employed Women. 50 pp. 1952. 20c.
Employment of Women in an Emergency Period. 12 pp. 1952. 5c.
1942 Handbook of Facts on Women Workers. 121 pp. 1952. See Bull.
255.
Report of the National Conference on Equal Pay, March 31-April 1, 1952.
25 pp. 1952. 15c.
Womanpower Committees During World War II-United States and
British Experience. 73 pp. 1953.
A Short Term Training Program in an Aircraft Engine Plant. 11 pp.
1953. 10c.
Employed Mothers and Child Care. 92 pp. 1953. 30c.
State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders, July 1, 1942-March 1, 1953.
84 pp. and Charts. 50c. (Multilithed Supplements.) See Bull. 267.
"Older" Women as Office Workers. 64 pp. 1953.
The Status of Women in the United States, 1953. 26 pp. 1953.
State Hour Laws for Women. 114 pp. 1953. 40¢. Revision underway.
Progress Toward Equal Pay in the Meat Packing Industry. 16 pp. 1953.
Toward Better Working Conditions for Women. 71 pp. 1953. 25c.
Changes in Women's Occupations, 1940-1950. 104 pp. 1954. 35c.
Employment Opportunities for Women in Professional Engineering. 38
pp. 1954. 20c.
1954 Handbook on Women Workers. 75 pp. 1954. See Bull. 261.
Training Mature Women for Employment. 46 pp. 1955. 25c.
The Effective Use of Womanpower- Report of the Conference, March 10
and 11, 1955. 113 pp. 1955.
Employment Opportunities for Women in Professional Accounting. 40 pp.
1955. 25c.
State Minimum-Wage Order Provisions Affecting Working Conditions,
July 1, 1942 to June 1, 1955. 1955. 45c.
Employment Opportunities for Women in Beauty Service. 51 pp. 1956.
25c.
96 pp. 1956. See Bull. 266.
1956 Handbook on Women Workers.
Employment Opportunities for Women Mathematicians and Statisticians.
37 pp. 1956. 25c.
Employment Opportunities for Women as Secretaries, Stenographers and
Typists. 30 pp. 1957. 20c.
College Women Go to Work: Report on Women Graduates, Class of 1956.
41 pp. 1958. 30c.
Employment Opportunities for Women in Legal Work. 34 pp. 1958.
20c.
1958 Handbook on Women Workers. 153 pp. 1958. 45c. See Bull. 275.
State Minimum-Wage Laws and Orders, July 1, 1942, to July 1, 1958.
Part I-Historical Development and Statutory 'Provisions. 31 pp.
and charts. 1958. 75c.
Part II-Analysis of Rates and Coverage. 142 pp. 1959. 60c.
Add~ndum to Part II. Puerto Rico. Analysis of Rates for Local Trade
and Service Industries, July 1, 1942-October 2, 1958. 18 pp. 1959.
20c.
Revised page~ for insertion in Part II available on request to the
Women's Bureau.
134
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
268.
First Jobs of College Women-Report on Women Graduates, Class of
1957. 44 pp. 1959. 35c.
269. State Minimum-Wage Law and Order Provisions Affecting Working
Conditions, July 1, 1942 to April 1, 1959. 141 pp. 1959. 70c.
270. Careers for Women in the Physical Sciences. 77 pp. 1959. 35c.
271. Careers for Women in Retailing. 52 pp. 1959. 25c.
272. Maternity Benefit Provisions for Employed Women. 50 pp. 1960. 25c.
273. Part-Time Employment for Women. 53 pp. 1960. 30c.
274. Training Opportunities for Women and Girls. (In press.)
275. 1960 Handbook on Women Workers. ( In press.)
Special Bulletins
*1
*2
*3
*4
*5
*6
*7
*8
*9
*10
*11
*12
*13
*14
"'15
*16
*17
*18
*19
*20
Effective Industrial Use of Women in the Defense Program. 22 pp.
1940.
Lifting and Carrying Weights by Women in Industry. 1941. Revised.
1946. 12 pp.
Safety Clothing for Women in Industry. 11 pp. 1941.
Washing and Toilet Facilities for Women in Industry. 11 pp. 1942.
Women's Effective War Work Requires Time for Meals and Rest. 4 pp.
1942.
Night Work for Women and Shift Rotation in War Plants. 8 pp. 1942.
Hazards to Women Employed in War Plants on Abrasive-Wheel Jobs. 6
pp. 1942.
Guides for Wartime Use of Women on Farms. 11 pp. 1942.
Safety Caps for Women in War Factories. 8 pp. 1942.
Women's Effective War Work Requires Good Posture. 6 pp. 1943.
Boarding Homes for Women War Workers. 6 pp. 1943.
*Supplement: Wartime Reminders to Women Who Work. 8 pp. 1943.
Choosing Women for War Industry Jobs. 10 pp. 1943.
Part-Time Employment of Women in Wartime. 17 pp. 1943.
When You Hire Women. 16 pp. 1944.
Community Services for Women War Workers. 11 pp. 1944.
The Woman Counselor in War Industries: An Effective System. 13 pp.
1944.
Progress Report on Women War Workers' Housing, April 1943. 10 pp.
1944.
A Preview as to Women Workers in Transition from War to Peace. 26
pp. 1944.
The Industrial Nurse and The Woman Worker. 47 pp. 1944.
Revised and repr inted as Bull. 228.
Changes in Women's Employment During the War. 29 pp. 1944.
Leaflets
1 The Women's Bureau. Revi sed. 1955.
1 ·w hat Job is Mine on the Victory Line ? 6 pp. 1943.
2 Equal Pay F acts. Revised. 1957. 5c.
*3 Recommended Standards for Employment of ~·omen. 1950.
4 State Minimum-Wage Laws. Revised. 1959. 5c.
*5 Working Women and Unemployment Insurance. 1949. 5c.
*6 Jury Duty for Women. 1953. Supplement as of Nov. 1956.
*7 Job Training for Women and Girls. 1951. 10c.
8 After H igh School, What? 1954. 10c.
5c.
135
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
*9
10
*11
12
13
*14
*15
*16
*17
Your Job Future After College. 1952.
Publications of the Women's Bureau. Revised. 1957.
Why Do Women Work? 1951.
Hiring Older Women. Revised. 1954. 5c.
Memo on Job-Finding for the Mature Woman. Revised 1958. 5c.
Women's Chances for Advancement. 1952. 5c.
The Shortage of Young Women Workers. 1953. 5c.
Occupational Therapy as a Career. 1953. 5c.
Publications of the Women's Bureau on Employment Opportunities for
Women. 1954.
What's New About Women Workers? Revised 1957. 5c.
Negro Women and Their Jobs. 1954. 10c.
Equal-Pay Primer-Some Basic Questions. 1960. 10c.
What Are Your Legal Rights? 1955.
What a Community Can Do To Train Mature Women for Jobs. 1955. 5c.
New Teachers for the Nation's Children. 1955. 15c.
Minimum Wage and the Woman Worker. 1955. Revised; See Pamphlet 8.
How to Conduct an Earning Opportunities Forum in Your Community.
1956. 15c.
Employment of Women College Graduates-Class of 1955. 1956. 5c.
Job-Finding Techniques for the College Woman. 1956. 10c.
Is Math in the Stars for You? 1957. 5c.
Memo To Communities Re The Nurse Shortage. 1958. 5c.
Young Women of the Year-A report on the class of 1956 . . . their employment after college. 1958. 5c.
From College to Work. 1959. 5c.
Science Futures for Girls. 1959. ( In press.)
18
19
20
*21
22
23
24
25
*26
27
28
29
30
31
32
Pamphlets
1
2
*3
4
5
6
7
8
Job Horizons for the College Woman. 53 pp. 1956. 25c.
An Idea in Action: New Teachers for the Nation's Children.
20c.
What Social Security Means to Women. 26 pp. 1957.
Women in the Federal Service, 1954. 15 pp. 1956.
Help for Handicapped Women. 1958. 52 pp. 40c.
Nurses and Other Hospital Personnel. 27 pp. 1958. 15c.
Future Jobs for High School Girls. 64 pp. 1959. 40c.
Minimum Wage and the Woman Worker. 16 pp. 1960. 15c.
37 pp.
1956.
Miscellaneous Unnumbered Publications
Women in the 80th Congress. 4 pp. 1947.
Women in the 81st Congress. 7 pp. 1949.
Legal Status of the American Family, May 1948. '2fl pp. 1950.
Women in the 82d Congress. 7 pp. 1951.
*Bibliography on Maternity Protection. 57 pp. 1951.
Women Member:s of the 83d Congress. 13 pp. 1953.
Planning Services for Children of Employed Mothers. 1953. 62 pp.
~'Bibliography on Employment Problems of Older Women. 88 pp. 1954.
Women of the 84th Congress. 19 pp. 1955.
*Employment After College: Report on Women Graduates, Class of" 1955.
1956.
Careers for W omen in the Armed Forces. 45 pp. 1957.
Employment Problems of Older Women. 83 pp. 1957. 30c.
136
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
33 pp.
Government Careers for Women. A study of salaries, etc. 69 pp. 1957. 45c.
*Spotlight on Women in the United States, 1956-57. 46 pp. 1957.
Women Olf the 85th Congress. 19 pp. 1957.
Political Status of Women in the Other American Republics. 18 pp. 1958.
Digest of 1959 State Legislation of Special Interest to Women Workers. 17
pp. 1959.
Conference on Status of Women Around the World. Sponsored by the American
Association of the United Nations of the Capital Area and the Women's
Bureau. 26 pp. 1959. Supplement. 9 pp. 1959.
State Labor Legislation Affecting Women. Joint Conference ,b y rational Consumers League and Women's Bureau. 43 pp. 1959.
1959 Summary of Sta,te Labor Laws for Women. 14 pp. 195,9.
Women of the 86th Congress. 41 pp. 1959.
Digest of State Equal Pay Laws. Revised as of March 1, 1960. 23 pp. 1960.
Every:b ody'sTalking About Trained Workers for the Future. 8pp. 1960.
Programs and Services of the Women's Bureau. 16 pp. 1960. 20c.
State Labor Laws Affecting Women-Highlights of 1959 Enactments. 3 pp.
1960.
40 Years of Progress in La·b or Legislation for Women Workers, 1920-1960. 4
pp. 1960.
Facts on Women Workers. 4 pp. I ssued periodically.
Family and Property Laws. Separate reports for selected States.
Summary of State Labor Laws Affecting ·w omen. Separate reports for each
State. Revised regularly to take account of legislative changes.
137
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
International Publications on the Status of Women
United Nations
Following is a list of selected United Nations publications relating
to the sta:tus of , women. These publications can be obtained, at the
prices noted, from the International Documents Service, Columbia
University Press, 2960 Broadway, New York 27, N.Y.
Advances in the Recognition, Exercise, and Observance of Women's Rights
(1955.1.19) . 15c.
Annual Sessions of the Commission on the Sta tus of Women.
Session, 1947 to date. 15c to 25c each.
Report for each
Convention on the Political Rights of Women ; History and Commentary
(1955.IV.17). 25c.
Legal Status of Married Women (1957.IV.8). 75c.
Nationality of Married Women (1955.IV.l). 50c.
Political Education of Women (1951.IV.8). 25c.
The Road to Equality (1953.IV.4). 15c.
1957 Seminar on the Civic Responsibilities and Increased Participation of Asian
Women in Public Life (1957.IV.10). 50c.
Women and Technical Assistance (1958.1.21). 35c.
Equal Pay for Equal Work (1960.60.LV.4). 75c.
Organization of American States
Reports of the Inter-American Commission of Women, and other
publications of the Organization of American Sta.tes, may be obtained
from the Publications Office, Pan American Union, Washington, D.C.
0
138
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Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
AN ACT TO ESTABLISH IN THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR A
BUREAU TO BE KNOWN AS
THE WOMEN'S BUREAU
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That there shall be established in the Department of Labor
a bureau to be known as the Women's Bureau.
SEc. 2. That the said bureau shall be in charge of a director, a woman, to be appointed by the President, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall receive an
annual compensation of $5,000. 1 It shall be the duty of said
bureau to formulate standards and policies which shall
promote the ,velfare of wage-earning women, improve their
working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance
their opportunities for profitable employment. The said
bureau shall have authority to investigate and report to the
said department upon all matters pertaining to the welfare
of women in industry. The director of said bureau may
from time to time publish the results of these investigations
in such a manner and to such extent as the Secretary of
Labor may prescribe.
SEc. 3. That there shall be in said bureau an assistant
director, to be appointed by the Secretar_y of Labor, who
shall receive an annual compensation of $3,500 1 and shall
perform such duties as shall be prescribed by the director
and approved by the Secretary of Labor.
SEc. 4. That. there is hereby authorized to be employed by
said bureau a chief clerk and such special agents, assistants,
clerks, and other employees at such rates of compensation
and in such numbers as Congress may from time to time
provide by appropriations.
SEc. 5. That the Secretary of Labor is hereby directed to
furnish sufficient quarters, office furniture, and equipment
for the work of this bureau.
·
SEc. 6. That this act shall take effect and be in force from
and after its passage.
Approved, June 5, 1920.
Public Law No. 259, 66th Congress ( R.R. 13229).
1 Amount increased by Reclassification Act of March 4, 1923, as amended
and supplemented.
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