Ann, Carol and Betty are real women. Only their names have been changed.
These women, and thousands like
them, found that although society (and
their husbands) encouraged them to stay at
home and care for their families, they are
now being penalized for not having
"worked." They are learning, too, that
their volunteer efforts, once extolled as
essential to maintaining the community,
provide no Social Security or pension
These women never worried about
such things. They expected to reap the
benefits of years of hard work in the
Typically, they are in their middle
year, full-time homemakers dependent
on another family member's paycheck.
Unlike other workers, they have no built-
in protection against total financial disaster. They are ineligible for unemployment
benefits or other pensions because their
work was in the home and unpaid; they do
not receive Social Security benefits because
they are too young. They are ineligible
for welfare programs if they are able-
bodied and their youngest child is over
18. Because they lack saleable skills and
have no "recent paid work experience"
they have great difficulty re-entering the
job market. They may find themselves
discriminated against because of sex, age
and even appearance.
Their homemakers' roles have led
them to identify career goals in relation
to their husbands and their experiences
and educations seldom have related to their
own talents and skills. They are members
of America's "new poor."
An important first step in helping
displaced homemakers is to recognize
that their problems have national implications. Through the efforts of the Alliance
for Displaced Homemakers (ADH), of
Oakland, Calif., a national network of
centers for displaced homemakers are being
developed. Laurie Shields, ADH National
Coordinator and Tish Sommers, National
coordinator-NOW Task Force On Older
Women, have shown that displaced home-
makers exist in every state of the union
and are of every race, creed and color.
Forty-seven states have rushed pell-
mell into enacting no-fault divorce laws.
Only nine of those recognize the contribution of the homemaker as a factor to consider in economic arrangements at divorce.
The growth of no-fault divorce* without
concurrent changes in provisions for division of property, alimony and child support, has eroded the economic protection
of dependent spouses and children, which
has always been minimal.
The changing status of the family,
the national tendency towards mobility
and rootlessness, the physical separation
of nuclear families from the traditional
extended families, the poor employment
opportunities for women of all ages,
ageism, sexism and a depressed job market
have all combined to leave older women
unprotected and ill-prepared to deal with
their middle years alone.
Passage of state and federal displaced homemakers legislation is also
important. ADH points out that such
legislation should call for the creation of
multipurpose service centers offering peer
counseling, evaluation of native or acquired
skills, job training and job placement,
health education, legal counseling services,
financial management services and outreach and information services relating to
existing local and federal programs.
In addition, displaced homemakers
legislation should mandate the creation of
new jobs—innovative avenues to decent
salaried employment coupling the special
skills of the former homemaker with unmet social needs of the community.
The widow of today faces the same
individual problems of yesterday's widow.
But because women tend to outlive men,
there are far more widows than ever before. Department of Labor statistics indicate that there are over 12 million widows
in this country. Their median age is 56.
THE DINNER PARTY
By Charlotte Moser
Queen Elizabeth I, Emily Dickinson
and an Egyptian pharaoh are coming to
dinner and California artist Judy Chicago
is throwing a $35,000 party for them.
A leading figure in the women's art
movement and author of Through the
Flower, Chicago has designed a room-size
equilateral triangular table, 140 feet on a
side, with places set for 39 honored women
guests from history.
Some 50 women aje working in
Chicago's Santa Monica studio firing porcelain dinnerware, embroidering napkins
and painting plates for the three-year project, The Dinner Party, which received a
matching $17,500 grant from National
Endowment for the Arts last summer.
It is scheduled to open at San Fran
cisco's Museum of Modern Art in late
and then circulate around the country.
Called "a reinterpretation of the Last
Supper," it will be permanently housed in
either Washington, D.C. or California.
The subject matter of The Dinner
Party is women's culture and history. Beneath the table, a floor of hand-made tiles
will be inscribed with names of 999 women
who have made an impact on history. Each
place setting will include a 14-inch porcelain plate, porcelain chalice and flatware.
A cloth runner and napkins embroidered
in keeping with the era of each guest will
complete the table.
All the designs have been made by
Chicago but the craft work-traditionally
seen as women's work—is being done by
her associates. It's an effort to incorporate
the idea of women as artists through history-through the power of their personalities, their social awareness as hostesses
and nurturers, and as craftspeople.
Mary Ellen Conway
The Susan B. Anthony Gavel Given to
the driving force who helped create the first
International Council of Women in 1888, it
honors those early advocates of women's
rights who took the movement out
of the kitchen and onto the streets.
Now you can honor that
spirit with this handsome reproduction of Ms. Anthony's original,
now in the Smithsonian Institution.
Carefully crafted by Stieff in
rosewood, sterling and an ecologically acceptable substitute for the original ivory, the
inscribed faces mark the occasion and
admonish the user to note that "Order is
Heaven's first Law." And the
wide sterling band, marked
with both the Smithsonian
and Stieff hallmarks, is perfect for engraving.
gift box included.
The Susan B. Anthony Gavel
Part of the Smithsonian Series by StiefT.
Foley's Department Store Regal Touch
All Stores 458 Greenspoints Mall
The Stieff Company, 800 Wyman Park Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21211
DAILY BREAKTHROUGH NOVEMBER 20, 1977 PAGE 27