friday, november6, 1981
daily nebraskan
page 5
Unwed mothers . . .
Continued from Page 4
The schools, which have come under so much criticism
in recent years, are expected to deal with a child that has
been raised by a child, by a mother who has no parenting
skills and who herself may have had inadequate parenting.
Child-rearing is difficult enough for a mature adult. These
young mothers haven't learned most of what they need to
know about themselves, let alone about what it takes to
be a competent mother.
Interestingly enough, most of us have been at least
dimly aware of the things Norton is talking about. But we
have not made the connection between child-mothers and
the array of problems confronting Black America. The
tendency is to see the problems as almost solely the result
of racism.
Norton, now a senior fellow at the Urban Institute here
in Washington, is well aware of the crippling effect of
racism. But it doesn't explain everything. It seems reason
able to suppose, as she does, that at least a part of the ex
planation lies in the dismal numbers from the Census
Bureau.
She does see a glimmer of hope. "The evidence is that
the old stereotype of unmarried women having large num
bers of children, all of them on welfare, seems to be fad
ing. These girls don't necessarily go on to have many chil
dren. After the first baby, they clearly seem to be decid
ing that they don't want a lot more.
"That suggests that it would be more cost-effective,
not to mention more humane, to find ways of intervening
after the first baby to help the young mother make more
reasonable life decisions," she said.
Such intervention might include increased efforts to
get these young mothers back in school, or in some sort of
vocational training. But she also thinks it is important to
provide some structure for their often chaotic lives.
"It could be extremely useful if we could hook these
girls up with older, more stable women who could not
only help with babysitting and child-rearing instruction
but also give some structure to their lives," she suggests.
"Even if it was necessary to pay these women, it would be
cheaper than a lifetime of welfare .w
Clearly something has to be done. As Norton notes,
teen-age mothers are becoming the majority of black
mothers. If they are having most of the children, they
can't help but pass on the problems. That is not exactly a
recipe for racial progress.
(c) 1931 Th Washington Post Co.
President unknowingly aids ERA ooooooooooooooooc
emu ra cs o
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Chicago - When you ask people here to name the
single greatest recruiter in the checkered history of the
Equal Rights Amendment, they are likely to come back
with the same ironic response: Ronald Reagan.
The president and his henchpersons (if you will forgive
the expression) have raised the anxiety and the activity
level of people who might otherwise have passively watch
ed the moribund amendment slide to its deadline death
next June 30.
The new infusion of energy and anger in this unratified
state is palpable. It includes people who had been lulled
percent of banking officials and managers were women,
cludss people who had bought the notion that there were,
in fact, other ways to win equal rights. It includes people
who believe Reagan when he said he was for the E and R,
but not for the A.
But now with some help from the Presidential Recruit
er, we know what a difference a year makes. We have
heard a lot about these Other Ways to equality and learn
ed a lot of Other Lessons.
Other Way Number I: We can win equal rights through
executive orders.
We made some real changes in employment for women
under one executive order, the one called Affirmative
Action.
In the years between 1969 and 1981, women as
different as coal miners and bankers were allowed in and
up. In 1973, a mere .001 percent of the coal miners were
female. By 1979, 11.4 percent were female. In 1970, 17.6
percent of banking officials and managers were woman.
By 1980, women comprised 33.6 percent. In both cases, it
was the federal watchers who made the difference. Way
back then.
Other Lesson Number I: Executive orders are only as
useful as the executive.
Now, in the Reagan administration, the word is out
that Affirmative Action won't be enforced. That isn't red
tape they are cutting; it's the arteries of change.
Other Way Number II: We can win equal rights,
through the legislature, statute by statute.
Titles VII and IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are
Editorial policy
Editorials published in the Daily Nebraskan without a
byline are written by Tom Prentiss, editor for the fall
1981 semester. The name of any other staff member who
may write the lead editorial will be printed at the end of
the article.
Editorials printed in the Daily Nebraskan represent the
policy of the fall, 1981 Daily Nebraskan, but do not nec
essarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska, its
employees or the NU Board of Regents.
The Daily Nebraskan's publishers are the members of
the Board of Regents, who have established a Publication
Board to supervise the daily production of the newspaper.
According to the policy set by the regents, the content of
the UNL student newspaper lies solely in the hands of its
student editors.
Letters Policy
The Daily Nebraskan encourages brief letters to the ed
itor from all readers and interested others.
Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of
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The Daily Nebraskan reserves the right to edit and con
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Anonymous submissions will not be considered for
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ed only in exceptional circumstances.
Submit all material to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska
Union, 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588.
probably the best examples of statutes used to deal with
sex discrimination in education and on the work force.
They have helped make progress on such issues as sexual
harassment, unequal opportunities in college athletics and
discrimination in job hiring and promotion. Until lately.
Other Lesson Number II: A law is only as strong as its
teeth. One administration's incisors may become the next
administration's gums.
The Title IX guidelines about sexual harassment and
athletics are now being diluted with (George) Bush beer,
and anti-regulatory brew. The chance to sue in the work
place under Title VII will be slowed to a near halt by the
cut in investigatory staff at the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission.
Other Way Number III: We can use the judiciary to win
women's rights.
Over time, the higher courts have been extending equal
rights to women by their interpretation of the laws (See
Other Way Number II).
But not always.
Other Lesson Number 111: You can get to court
without a case. A judgment is only as predictable as a
judge.
It's no surprise that the Reagan administration, with a
solicitor general like Rex Lee, will be, uh, less than ardent
in its pursuit of sex discrimination cases.
Nor should it be a surprise when the Supreme Court
backtracks with regard to women's rights. Last term, the
court ruled, for example, that an Army ex-wife wasn't en
titled to any portion of her husband's military pension.
Her claim was, the Court said, ag.unst t4the national inter
est." All of these Other Lessons teach basically one fact:
The status of women is still fragile. What one Congress
giveth, the next Congress may taketh away. What one
president supports, the next president may undercut.
What one court interprets, the next court may re-interpret.
There is just no substitute for being protected by the
Constitution. There is no E and no R without the A.
So, with the help of Ronnie the Recruiter, our aware
ness is growing and our interest is escalating - just as the
time is shrinking. The final lesson would be to end up, too
late, with the biggest pro-ERA constituency in history . . .
on July 1,1982.
(c) 1981, The Boston Glob Newspaper Company
Washington Post Writers Group
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