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point. The laws which mandated this government-run pension system were passed during an era when women were regarded to be nonwage-earning dependents of their husbands. How ever, the dominant pattern today is the two-earner family. Despite this fact of life, the outdated Social Security system does nothing less than discriminate against such couples by re ducing the benefits they receive by as much as 50%. That is, in rough figures: if one spouse earns $12,000 and the other nothing, they are entitled to $6,000 a year in Social Security; while if each spouse earns $6,000, they will retire on about $3,000 annually. Currently, much attention is being turned toward family- impact assessments of government policies. During his presidential campaign, Carter promised to respond to the needs of American families and to hold a White House Conference on Families during his tenure. The conference was originally scheduled for December, 1979. Only too soon the new administration realized that it had a hot political potato on its hands. What had started as a nice, quiet and apolitical operation suddenly grew into a major, potentially explosive controversy. The trouble began with heated debates about the very title for the conference. Conservative groups insisted upon calling the planned event ’’White House Conference on The Family" — for, in their estimation, only the one-wage-earner, two-parents-with- children unit constituted a real family. Their opposition felt ’’White House Conference on Families,” the original choice, was more appropriate — given the varied composition of families, from female — headed households to adults living with elderly and dependent parents under one roof. The good fight continued when Joseph Califano, Jr., appointed Patsy Fleming as director of the conference. A divorced woman with 3 teenaged sons, Fleming was formerly a Special Assistant to the Secretary of HEW. The Board of Advisors to the conference — composed of specialists in the fields of social planning and the family — found the appoint ment of Fleming a good choice. Not only was she a woman whose competence in the area was unquestioned, but her situation as head of household was very characteristic of a great number of American families. Others were far from pleased. Strongest among the critics were the leaders of the National Conference of Catholic Charities. Reverend Anthony Greeley called the Fleming appointment "incredible ineptness.” He was outraged that a divorced woman should head a conference on "the family.” As pressure on the administration mounted, Fleming was forced to resign and the conference was postponed until 1981 — well after the next presidential election. What can one make of this situation and the implications which issue from it? Well, for one thing, one can look to the statements of President Carter for some insight. When he spoke on the topic of family-related problems, he said: ’’American families confront growing problems. Two out of five marriages now end in divorce. One child in eight is born outside of marriage." Clearly, for Carter, the ’’pressures on the family” are perceived as pressures on marriage. On the other hand, Vice-President Mondale — who as a se nator served as chair of the Subcommittee on Children and Youth — had this to say about family pressures: "Juvenile crime is on the rise. The rate of illegitimacy has more than doubled in the past three decades (among, we might add, teenaged girls between the ages of 12 and 18). Suicide is a leading cause of ATTENTION CONTRIBUTORS TO THE UKRAINIAN MUSEUM IN NEW YORK! PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY CONTRIBUTION MADE AFTER JUNE 12, 1977 MAY BE DEDUCTED WHEN FILING YOUR NEXT INCOME TAX RETURN. THE NUMBER TO USE IS #13820916 EO-M-78-EO-7Q8. death among young people. And at least as many as 200,00 children are physically abused by their parents or guardians every year.” There is no doubt that family policy issues, like any other policy questions, depend upon the assigning of priority to certain aspects of a problem. Thus, if one is on "the family” side of the argument, the rising divorce rate is a far more calamitous tragedy than the across-the-board low-level incomes of households headed by women. In point of fact, the two-parent, one-wage-earner unit is often used as a cudgel to beat down women seeking positions in the labor market. The name of this tune is that, given the limited number of jobs, women should stay at home and not take work away from somebody’s father and husband. Needless to say, the singers of this song totally ignore the fact that many children, as well as other family members, depend on a female bread-winner for their support. The disagreement between "the family” and ’’families” factions is not one of semantics. Real life issues are at stake. For example, some people feel that women work outside the home because they do not love their families enough; others believe women take on the double role of wage-earner and housewife because they love their families so much that they want to provide them with a better standard of living. De pending on one’s point of view, family policymaking decisions would be slanted in very, very different ways. To take another example, tfare are those who insist that a child needs to have its mother at home — even when the child is in school. There are those who would argue that better parenting requires more fathering, and not more mothering. These different opinions might lead the first person to oppose such legislation as the ERA and the second to support swing- shifts, flexi-time and the 4-day work week for all employees, regardless of sex. As far as the proposed White House Conference on Families The Family is concerned, it is most difficult to predict what conclusions will be reached, at least as yet. After all, the way things have been going, there may be a different family in the White House come 1981. ПОШУКУЄ БРАТА! Ганя Савчак, роджена в Творниці почта Затварниця, пов. Ліско, воєв. Ряшів, шукає брата Івана 1923 р. родже ного в тому ж селі. Виїхав він до Німеччини на роботу в 1940 р. і досі не дав ніякої вістки. Просимо тих, хто знав би про місце його замешкання, або про його долю, прислати вістку на адресу редакції ’’Нашого Життя”. Our Life 108 Second Ave. New York N.Y 10003 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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