Wife-power moves into job
by Lynn Young
Newsweek Feature Service
NEW YORK-One of the
world's greatest untapped
natural resources is skilled
wife-power. But with rare
exceptions both employers and
employment agencies are
failing to mine this
mother-lode of talent and
ability.
"They stay home whenever
Junior gets the sniffles," says
one employer.
"They're used to giving
orders, not taking them," says
another.
"They get pregnant and
quit," says a third.
THAT'S NOT THE way
things look around Newtime,
lite., a pioneering New York
City employment agency
which specializes in finding the
right job (managerial or-
Bryn Mawr offers
trips to Spain, France
Bryn Mawr College is
sponsoring two summer
programs abroad, one in Spain
and the other in southern
France.
The programs, offering
intensive work in significant
aspects of the culture of each
country, begin in mid-June and
will continue for six weeks.
The Institut d'Etudes
Francaises in Avignon is now in
its eleventh year. The program
is designed primarily for those
who expect to engage in
professional careers requiring a
knowledge of France and
French living.
The Spanish program, the
Centro de Estudios Hispanicos
in Madrid, is now in its seventh
year. It integrates academic
study and immediate
experience through a
Lincoln symphony
by Linda Larson
The word "thriving" best
describes the Lincoln
S y m p hony Ore hest ra , Louis
Babst, business manager, said
Thursday in an interview.
"The cultural climate in
Lincoln is good," he said. "We
have managed to keep our feet
on the ground, our bills paid
and we're now in our 46th
consecutive season."
Babst said this was many
more consecutive seasons than
most orchestras could claim.
The typical audience for the
Lincoln orchestra is
conservative and goes for
standard music, Babst said.
"We do play contemporary
music, but so far we haven't
gone into rock," he added.
This hasn't kept the young
away from the orchestra's
concerts, according to Babst.
All tickets for the last
University of Nebraska concert
were sold out.
"You would be surprised at
the number of young people
who realize the value of good
music," Babst said. "Young
people are alert and
well-trained. They really know
the score."
The youth appeal of
orchestras has been increasing
in the last few years and one
can see why if he looks at the
schools, according to Babst.
The University of Nebraska
has an excellent music school
and good professors, he said.
This greatly affects the desires
and tastes of the students,
technically skilled) with the
right hours (usually 9:30 to
3:15) for the right woman (in
most cases married with
school-age children).
"These women really want
to woriv," says Newtime
co-founder Ina Torton. "They
don't want to be strictly
housewives and they're dying
for the kind of a job that will
make their lives more
interesting."
A few' employers are
beginning to get the idea.
David Hood, personnel director
of the J.Walter Thompson Co.
ad agency, regards this type of
employe as "more mature and
emotionally more stable" than
most. "Their lives are more set
and the chances are they will
stay longer with the same
firm."
NEWTIME MAKES a firm
point that the women they
combination of course work,
study excursions, tutorials,
independent work and family
living.
Classroom .work is
supplemented with lectures
given by scholars in art,
literature, history and the
social sciences. At the end of
the six weeks there is a period
of free travel when students
may arrange practical projects
in their own fields, particularly
in art and archaeology.
A limited number of
scholarships are available for
both programs. For
information regarding
admission, write to the
Director of the Centro or the
Director of the Institut at Bryn
Mawr College, Bryn Mawr,
Pennsylvania, 19010.
Babst said.
"When you think of Lincoln
you have to think of the
perimeter," he said. "Interest
from many schools is
growing."
Nebraska Wesleyan has a
new music school and is
upgrading its staff of
musicians, according to Babst.
He also mentioned Doane
College in Crete and Concordia
in Seward as having excellent
music departments.
"There are 85 organ
students at Concordia this
year," he said. "That's really
amazing.
"Music activities in the
public schools have also had a
great effect on young peoples'
interest in good music."
Babst said the Lincoln
Symphony Orchestra members
were of high caliber and that
many are from the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln.
"We have 80 members
compared to 90 members in
the Omaha orchestra," he said.
There isn't much difference,
even though the Lincoln area
has about 150,000 people
while the Omaha area has
400,000, Babst added.
"Omaha uses 20 of our
first-chair men (regular players)
while we get only two from
them," he said. "This is the
first year we have been classed
as an urban orchestra."
The Lincoln orchestra has
many visiting artists, according
to Babst.
"We try to get them on
their way up," he said. "We
sent out for jobs are not
"part-time" employes with all
the built-in derogation that
particular term implies.. Nor is
the agency interested in placing
its clients in secretarial
positions. The only difference
between its people and regular
employes is that they work a
five-hour day (with only 45
minutes off for lunch) instead
of a seven-hour day.
This arrangement, of course,
represents a savings (usually
about 30 per cent) in salaries,
which management is bound to
consider attractive. Indeed, the
agency finds its clients
generally more interested in
fulfillment than in wages.
"The last thing these
women ask us is how much
they'll rike," says Mrs.
Torton. "This is a shame
because they've come to
believe their abilities aren't
worth very much on the job
market."
MOST OF THOSE who turn
up at Newtime married long
before they had a chance
to make significant progress in
careers of their own. But the
agency believes that many-by
virtue of the experience gained
while they were out of the job
market-have actually improved
their qualifications.
"A woman may have run
her local PTA, performed
executive functions in a dozen
different groups, organized an
entire community," says Mrs.
Torton. "And yet, when you
ask her, she'll say she has no
experience."
Both Mrs. Torton, 35, and
Joan Baeder, 28, were veteran
employment-agency placement
officers and mothers as
wellwhen they founded
Newtime last year. In fact, Mrs.
Torton herself was a part-time
worker with a husband and
three children to take care of
at home.
"There was tremendous
pressure at the office," says
'thrives'
couldn't afford many of those
who come here if we had
waited a few years. The
number of guest artists coming
to Lincoln will compare with
any city in the United States."
Babst said the orchestra was
financed primarily through
ticket sales and patron
donations. A small amount of
federal help with childrens'
concerts is received through
the Nebraska Arts Council, he
said.
plus EfiEflllS and DoHanciEj
Omc&a Civic Assd.
sa., Dec SfSs C:C3 P.M.
PRICES $4.00. $5X9. $4.63
TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
OMAHA CIVIC SDH CJTICE
Mrs. Torton. "People used to
look at me when I went home
early as if I were getting away
with something. But I was like
most mothers. At 4 o'clock,
my mind began to wander back
home and I started to worry
about whether the kids had
gotten home from school
safely."
SOME OF THE women who
telephone Newtime wonder
whether the service has some
part in the women's liberation
movement. Usually they ask
the question in a way that
shows they do not understand
what either the movement or
NU offers social
An interim session course in
law and social welfare will be
offered on both the Lincoln
and Omaha campuses of the
University of Nebraska Jan.
3-14.
The purpose of the course is
to help social workers relate
more closely to the law.
Dr. Daniel Katkin, from
New York's State University at
Buffalo, will conduct the
course. Katkin is trained in
both law and criminology with
Activities . . . I
Continued from page 1
follow a review anu
recommendations by CSL.
Although he agreed that
part-time students should be
allowed, to participate in
extra - curricular activities,
Magrath said, "I do, however,
have a reservation regarding the
participation of part-time
students in government
functions."
The CSL motion allows
each organization within the
University to set its standards
for participation except for
limitations based on race, creed
or national origin.
in cultural capital
The orchestra gives five
children's concerts a year,
according to Babst. Two of
these cost the children 50 cents
while the other three are free
to elementary school children.
These concerts are funded
through the Musicians
Recording Trust Fund.
"Everytime you buy a
record, two cents goes into this
trust fund," he said. "The fund
is federally supervised and the
money is given back to locals
MAIL ORDERS ACCEPTED
AMri All Mall
toa Offi. la
Omk. NW.
market
the acencv is all about.
"We are part of liberating
women, but neither of us
belongs to women's lib," says
Mrs. Baeder. "But we do think
it's terribly liberating to go to
work-and that ultimately it will
help out a marrige, not break it
up."
The husbands of the two
founders of Newtime do not
share the qualms of some of
the agency's callers. One of
them thinks the idea of women
working five hours a day is
'beautiful." The other
gleefully adds: "In a few years,
they're going to support us
all."
law course
a B.A. with honors in
psychology in 1965 from the
City College of New York, a J.
D. degree in 1968 from
Columbia University and a
Diploma in Criminology in
1969 from Cambridge
University in England.
Registration for the course
is due Dec. 15 through the
University of Nebraska
Extension Division, 511
Nebraska Hall.
CSL . .
I Continued from page 1
have a hearing before the
Student Tribunal.
At a preliminary interview
with Student Affairs, the
student, if he admits to
misconduct, has the choice of
allowing Student Affairs to
determine any sanction or
asking the Student Tribunal to
recommend a sanction.
Although it has been the
practice to inform students of
their right not to answer any
questions at the interview,
Gierham said the policy isn't
written down. The report
provides that the student must
be informed of his rights.
all over the United States
based on their membership.
"We can only spend this
money for salaries for our
musicians," he added.
Babst said the musicians
have their own personnel board
which holds tryouts to decide
who will play. The Symphony
Association selects the artists
and has control over who the
conductor is but some
agreement with the musicians
must be reached, he said.
OrJ.rt to CM Act
4 CoK.I Ar
41102. ImIm
PAGE 10
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1971
