Evening star., 1933-02-06
MARRIED WORKERS
CLAUSE REPEAL IS
URGED BY WOMEN
Economy Act Provision De.
nounced as Blow to
Feminine Rights.
MANY PROMINENT
SPEAKERS ARE HEARD
National Party Group Told in Let.
ter by Doak He Favors Equal
Opportunity in Service.

Repeal Of the married workers"
clause in the economy act and early
passage of an equal rights" amend
ment to the Constitution were advocated
in resolutions adopted at a mass meet
Ing yesterday afternoon under auspices
of the Government Workers Council of
the National Woman's Party.
Speakers from various organizations
enlisted in the fight to uphold women's
rights to paid employment, addressed
about 800 men and women assembled
in the Masonic Auditorium and de-
nounced the controversial clause in the
economy act which calls for dismissal
Of married women whose husbands work
for the Government.
Secretary of Labor Doak. who was
to have addressed the meeting, sent q
telegram regretting his inability to at
tend on account of illness. He declared
In his message, however, that he was
opposed to the marriage clause" and
favored equal opportunity" for every
man and woman in the Government
service.
Speakers Of Prominence.
The speakers included: Miss Maud
Younger, legislative chairman Of the
National Woman's Party; Mrs. Eleanor
Patterson, editor Of the Washington
Herald; Miss Jessie Dell, United States
Civil Service Commissioner; Representa-
tive Louis ludlow Of Indiana, and Mrs.
Harvey w. Wiley, president of the Dis
trict Of Columbia Federation of Wom-
ems Clubs. Mrs. Edwina Avery, chair
man of the Government Workers
Council. presided.
The purple, yellow and gold banners
used to picket the White House for
women's rights, the colors of the Ma
tional Woman's Party, decorated the
hall.
Miss Dell assailed the so-called "mar-
riage clause" as undermining the home
and threatening return of the "scan-
die, gossip and shame which, she
declared, always Is attached to the
secret marriages" which such legisla-
ton compels Since the money saved
to the Government through dismissals
Of married women is impounded into
the Treasury, she declared there Is no
resultant spread Of employment.
Mrs. Avery, in opening the meeting,
charged that the principal objections
to the act are that 1t tends to prevent
in the future, and is operating ''to force
women out Of the paid employment"
Attacks Women's Rights"
The marriage clause" Miss Younger
declared. Is a new attack on the rights
of women to earn their living. The
National Woman's Party is not con-
cerned with wage scales and working
conditions at this time she said, but
women are made the equals Of men in
obtaining employment. She reviewed
various acts passed by State legislatures
to indicate the trend Of legislation
seeking to oust women from their jobs
on account Of the depression.
Mrs. Patterson declared the clause In
the economy act was stupid, unfair
and unnecessary" and Joined In ad-
vocating its repeal.
From Representative Ludlow. who in
troduced the equal rights" amend
ment in the present Congress the
women received a pledge to offer 1t
again in the next Congress and If
necessary carry the fight to the White
House. Ludlow pointed out that de-
velopmentS in industry, as well as the
depression, make it increasingly diff
cult for women to get paying jobs and
that these conditions demanded united
action by all women organizations.
Mrs. Wiley warned that women are
in industry to stay" and added that
she did not see what marriage has to
do with employment, one way or the
other. Eighty-six per cent of the
women in the United States are "still
In their homes" she declared, yet
legislators fear that the United States
Is going on the rocks" because Of the
numbers Of women who are going into
outside employment
At the close Of the meeting, resolu-
tions urging repeal of the married
workers" clause and urging adoption
OF an equal rights" amendent were
adopted.