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Show President Nixon has a discussion on White House terrace with two of his most prominent women appointees: Cincinnati businesswoman Jayne Baker Spain, who is vice chairman of the Civil Service Commis- sion, and Pat Hilt, assistant secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. by Jack Anderson WASHINGTON, D.C. President Richard Nixon could have his way, American women would confine their activities to homemaking and forget all this talk of "liberation." Privately, he thinks all women should be like his mother, wife and If daughters. Nixon fully realizes, however, that times are changing. Today's women are better educated. The Pill has made childbearing a matter of personal choice, and technology has relieved women of household drudgery. With the new enlightenment and leisure, women are growing restive for a greater role in American society. Richard Nixon is finally beginning to tailor his politics accordingly. He blew into office on a waft of promises that he would bring women, into government and correct the wrongs heaped on American womanhood by the Democrats. His Administration, 4 Nixon said during his campaign, would to the great con"not be as blind tribution that women can make," and he issued an appeal for women to come forth. "I want you! We need you!" he ... proclaimed. of the way Now, three-fourthis Nixon term, through says he has made great strides toward fulfilling his promises. A number of women, however, emphatically disagree. After Nixon had been in office only a year, Congresswoman Florence Dwyer (R., N.J.) dispatched a scathing memo accusing him of doing "absolutely nothing of significance in the field of women's rights, responsibilities, and opportunities." Last year, Aileen Hernandez, then president of the National for Women, accused Organization Nixon of being "absolutely derelict" in fulfilling "all of those campaign promhe betrayed us. Neither he ises nor anyone in his Administration has ... done anything to help women." Wilma Scott Heide, recently elected president of NOW, told us the Nixon Administration is "an affluent white male club." ' The critics point to cold statistics to back up their charges. Changes in women's status are slight. For example, e make only women working about 60 percent as much as men, and a college degree for a woman will earn her a salary about equivalent to what a high school diploma will bring a man. full-tim- Few opportunities woman chooses to work for the government, her chances of climbing above the middle rungs of the career ladder are poor; women hold only about 1.5 percent of the top jobs. One recent study showed 36 government agencies including the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Commerce Department, and the Smithsonian Institution without a single If a woman in a executive position. At midpoint in his term, even Nixon admitted indirectly his record on female appointments wasn't above criticism. Although he claimed to have named "more than 200" women to advisory boards and commissions, only 27 had been appointed to executive posts. The President confessed that "we can and must do better." He promptly issued a directive to all executive departments and agencies commanding them to "develop and put into action a plan for attracting more qualified women to top appointive positions." He also requested plans for "significantly increasing" the number of women in mid-levgovernment positions and exhorted his chiefs to place more women on advisory boards and commissions. In June, 1971, the President boasted of progress. "This Administration is top-payin- g, el PARADE OCfOBCR 31, 1971 |