Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-06-23

WY ASHINGTON, June 18.-That sew
M eraI of the government depart
w ments, by discriminating against
married women in cutting down their office
forces, are, in effect, penaliZing marriage for
those who are already married, and making
it less attractive for those who might be, is
the claim of women here who are active IN
the movement to get women WORKING OPP
portunities equal to those enjoyed by men,
Miss Elsie Hill, of the National woman
party, states that several of the government
departments, which are now reducing their
payrolls, have issued missionaries 10 thelr
women employees in order to find out when
are married and which are single. A ques-
tionnaire sent out by the air service, OF
which we have copy, is evidently designed
to gain further information about the cir
cumstances of the married women. 1t asks
each of these to tell whether 5he is living
with her husband; if not, whether she IS
legally separated from him; whether the
husband is dependent upon her for support;
and whether any members of her immediate
family are employed by the government,
and if so, how much each earns.
Following the issuance Of these question
naires, Miss Hill states, a large number or
married women have been dropped from the
rolls of the departments, without regard to
their efficiency. In many cases, she says,
married women of long experience and es-
tablished value, have been dropped for no
other discoverable reason than that they are
married. At the same time, she says, the
civil service is holding examinations Tor en-
ployes of similar grade and kind.
The object of the various departments in
dropping married women from their rolls
is plain. They are compelled to drop some
employees and are eager to drop those who
will suffer least hardship as result. OBJ
Viously the married woman who has an en-
ployed husband is less apt to suffer from
the loss of her job than the single woman
entirely dependent upon her own resources.
Good Intentions
The women recognize this motive and its
practical Justification They realize that
the bureau chiefs are not trying to strike a
blow at marriage. But they claim that, in
effect, it is blow at marriage, and also at
the right of woman to work and be indie
pendent.
1t is this latter phase of the question
which chiefly interests the women polit1-
Clans AS far as the effect on marriage is
concerned they simply point out that the
same conservatives, who contend that Wom-
ans place is in the home, are often ;eeping
her out Of it. when, by measures like this
one, they destroy her earning capacity.
For the modern American woman gener-
ally works because she must She may also
work because she wants to do so, but it is
necessity far more than choice that has
brought women into the working world. In
American cities the number Of men who can
support a wife and children IN really ade-
quate way has been on the decline for a
long time, as both prices and standards of
living have risen, while salaries and wages
have climbed slowly after them. The de-
partments at Washington, like the offices of
other American cities, are filled with I'M
married girls between the ages of twenty
and thirty.
The feminists will tell you that these girls
are working because they love their indie
pendence, and that they would want to con-
tinue to work and be self-supporting even
though they married Unprejudiced OBJ
servers, on the other hand, have estimated
that an offer of marriage and support from