Women Play Part In Party Convention

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31772, 31 August 1968, Page 2

Women Play Part In Party Convention

Of more than 5000 delegates and alternatives to the Democratic National Convention, nearly one in five is a woman. The women are helping to provide party leadership and working to further women’s rights in the United States.

The largest single event for women during the four-day convention was a luncheon held last Tuesday with the theme, “A Salute to Women of Action, Yesterday and Today.” Six women were honoured for exceptional contributions to their communities and to the Democratic Party. Among them was Mrs Eileen. Foley, the Mayor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Women also appeared before the convention platform committee, which drew up a document giving the party’s

positions on major national issues.

The president of the National Organisation for Women (Mrs Betty Friedan) sought equal employment opportunity for all women, paid maternity leave for working women, tax deductions for home and child care expenses; . equal education rights for women, housing and family allowances for women in poverty on equal terms with men, and the right of women to control their own reproductive lives. Mrs Friedan pointed out In her appearance before the committee that women usually out-voted men in the Presidential elections and that “they expect more than token attention in the party platform.”

Two women who spoke at the convention were Miss Katherine Peden, a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from Kentucky, and Miss Betty Furness, a special assistant to President Johnson for consumer affairs. (U.S. Information Service).