Working Women And Prejudice

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31306, 28 February 1967, Page 2

Working Women And Prejudice

Surveys had shown that children did not suffer when a mother worked—a bad mother did not become a good mother just because she stayed at home, Lady Barbara Littlewood, president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women, said in a message to all clubs.

“The trend for wives and mothers to work outside the home is growing throughout the world. Women form onethird of the world’s labour force, and about one-third of all women in the world work outside the home,” she said. The federation’s theme for 1967, “The Challenge of a Changing World in Employment” could not be more relevant to members; no time could be more topical for its discussion.

“In some countries, the increase of working wives and mothers is welcomed and every step is taken by society to help women to do justice to their dual role, Lady Littlewood said. “But in other countries—often those which claim to be •advanced’—prejudice persists. Employers and governments try to woo the married women back to work, with pleas that it is their duty to return.

“However, little is done to help them by providing nurseries for their children, parttime work for the mother of young children, tax relief to cover help employed in the home, or refresher courses for the women who need them.” Lady Littlewood suggested

that clubs study the International Labour Organisation’s recommendations on the right of the mother to work and measures to help her fulfil her dual robe. Members should see how far their government was putting the recommendation into practice. “There are many other aspects of employment for you to consider. There is the problem of waste of women's ability because of the prejudice which still exists against women at work. Women still find themselves debarred from promotion and training schemes open to men. “Many do not get equal pay for equal work—-even in countries where, in theory, they must do so by law, employers endeavour to get around the ruling by creating special grades of lower-paid work for which they recruit women,” she said.