The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-08-18

BOake Carter
Equal Rights for Sexes
Do the Women Want Them?
View of Those Who Do Not

NOV is the time for all good
~ ladies to come to the aid
of their sex!
Their privileges are seriously
threatened by the Equal Rights
Amendment now before Con.
gress.
The amendment proposed
says this:
Men and women shall have
equal rights in the United
States and Territories and
Congress shall have the power
to enforce this article by ap-
propriate legislation.
The National Federation Of
eSs and Professional
Women is all for the amend
ment. The National League Of
Women Voters is all against it.
The latter declares that If it
is put into effect, it will mean
that women will lose the bene-
fits of mothers pensions,
dover rights, age Of consent,
support Of children and hus-
band and affect the status Of
real estate.
THE business women are those
- of the feminine sex who
want to be the equal Of men in
business. These are professional
women whose advancement Is
unlimited because they work in
specialized fields.
But there is another vast
group of women workerS-char-
women, mattresses, hotel cham
bermaids, laundry workers,
kitchen workers and others, who
are compelled to work for Q
living and whose chances Of ad-
vancement are nil compared to
the professional women in the
specialized fields.
It is against this latter group
that an Equal Rights Amend
ment would work a real and
harmful injustice. Under its
terms they would indeed lose
their pensions, their dover
rights and other benefits &C.
corded women under the law.
THE amendment would remake
u the face Of America and
revolutionize the American
woman'S place in the social and
economic picture of the coun.
try. It would, for instance,
make wives just as responsible
for debts as the husbands.
Again, almost every State in
the Union has a different set of
laws affecting women and their
privileges. An equal rights
amendment to the Constitution
would promptly destroy these
feminine advantages and hand
the Federal Government COM
plete control Of their lives.
There can be no argument
over the known fact that the
professional women in highly
specialized fields form a very
small minority group compared
to the other women voters in
the country.
THEY may be more articulate,
= as is the case with every
well-organized minority with
their propaganda machines, but
that does not make their case
any more just or fair.
The National League Of
Women Voters, to my mind, is
on the right track-but there
are hundreds Of thousands Of
women in homes, especially in
the poorer districts Of every city
and those isolated in rural Sec
tons, who have never even
heard of the National League Of
Women Voters.
TT is useless to suggest that the
L professional women and the
women voters get together. The
professional women are all quite
positive that they are he equal
if not the superior Of men in
brains and ability, and are quite
sure that their sisters, who don't
feel the way they do, are q
bunch Of Saps.
Therefore it seems to me that
it's up to the League Of Women
Voters to beat the Capable
Carries at their own game, by
first being honest enough to
frankly admit they prefer to be
females with privileges rather
than be the equal Of men with.
out privileges; and, second,
yoaLa fhapocaluas oIxx,o1,. I,,sE .