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punch time clocks. It was this galling feature which gave me the impetus to look for another job. It was war time, and I secured a job as an investi gator for the U. S. Civil Service Commission in New York City. My last salary at the insurance company was $55.00 per week, and the man who was hired to replace me, received $150.00 per week. That was the way women were treated. The president of the company told me that I would always have an opening in the company if I wasn’t satisfied with my government job. However, I never went back. There were 100 investigators, but only 10 women. We received the same salary as the men, but were not given the good cases to investigate. After a year as an investigator, I was offered a position as an Attorney for the U. S. Civil Service Commission, in the Opinions and Regulations Unit. There I did legal research, and wrote opinions for the Civil Service Commissioners. It was a challenging position, but as soon as the war ended, the men came back to get their good jobs, and we women were out. I came back to Boston, and made the rounds of all the big law firms. My qualifications were excellent, I was told, but it was their policy not to hire women lawyers. They would be glad to give me a job as secretary, but would never send me to court. I found a lawyer who had a big collection practice. He said he might need a lawyer in the future, but at the moment, he needed a secretary more. So, in despera tion, I took the job, worked as secretary for two days, and then because it was a busy law office, I was needed in Court. He then gave me an office, and I went to Court every day. In Greater Boston, there are at least 20 district courts, 3 counties having Probate Courts and Superior Courts. I covered them all. Invariably ip the beginning, as I sat down in the Bar enclosure, a court officer would come to me and say, ’’Lady this is reserved for attorneys. Please sit in the rear.” I then had to assure him that I was indeed an attorney. I liked my job, but again, my salary was not comparable to those of men attorneys. So, one fine day, I just quit, and started my own practice, which kept me busy for many long years. As time went on, I qualified for admittance to the Supreme Judicial Court of the United States. I was a member of the Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers, and a group of us travelled to Washington, D. C. to be sworn in. Those were the days of the flower hats, the mink stoles, and orchid corsages. There were about thirty of us, and we did make a pretty pictures as we climbed the long staircase to the Supreme Court. As soon as we walked in the door, the Court officer, dressed in formal clothes, took one look at us and said “Ladies, where do you think you are going? This is the Supreme Judicial Court of the United States. It is not a place for frivolity. Kindly remove your hats, furs, and your flowers.” So, the hats, the flowers and the furs were put in the back row of the Court room and we marched down the aisle, were introduced to the nine justices of the Court by our State Senator, and took our oaths of office. When Edward J. McCormack, the nephew of the speaker of the house, was an Attorney General in Massachussetts, I was appointed an assistant to an assistant attorney general. There was a large staff of male assistant attorney generals but only two women. When one of them left, I was appointed in her place. The women’s salaries were much lower than the men’s salaries, and we were usually assigned to those positions which required a lot of hard work. I spent my time working in the Division of Trusts and Charities, and was in charge of all matters involving titles to land. When the four year term ended, I went back to my general practice. It was not easy for a women to build up a practice. I could not take my male clients to lunch, and talk over deals over lunch, or play golf with them at a private club. I had to be careful of not hurting a male client’s ego in giving him advice. When our Ukrainian refugees began arriving, I did a great deal of legal work for them. As time went on, I built up my practice, and at least 90% of my practice was with Americans. I handled Workmen’s Compensation Tort cases, did title work, divorces, and a great deal of Probate work, along with the preparation of Estate taxes, etc. Two years before I retired, I was offered a position as a special assistant district attorney in Suffolk County. I was reluctant to accept it because while I had some Criminal work I did not go out of my way to look for it. However, I did accept, and it was fun. I was assigned to the Misdemeanor session, and this opened up a new world,. I was in court every day, prosecuting cases. There were many women lawyers on the staff, and many women lawyers working as public defenders, and in the private practice of defending criminals. When I was retiring, the judge of the session, the court officers, and the assistant district attorneys, (all men) gave me a surprise luncheon. As I stood thanking them for the flowers and gift, two old ladies who had been sitting at a table nearby walked by our table, and one of them said ’’You must have done something very special to have all these men honor you.” She couldn’t begin to appreciate how I felt. I had arrived. I was ac cepted an equal, a lady lawyer in what now was no longer a man’s world. A n na C h o p ek Anna Chopek, who was a member of Soyuz Ukrainok in Boston for many years, has been extremely active in both professional associations and in Ukrainian commu nity life. A member of the Massachusetts Bar, the U. S. District Court, and the Supreme Judicial Court of the U. S., she was also a member of the Massachusetts Trial Lawyers Association. She held executive posts in the Massachussetts Association of Women Lawyers, and was president of the New England Fraternal Congress. In the Ukrainian Community, she was an executive with the Ukrainian Youth League of North America and the Ukrainian Professional Association. Anna Chopek was Supreme Advisor of the Ukrainian National Asso ciation for 24 years, and now has been Honorary Member of the Supreme Assembly for four years. She currently resides in Los Alamos, New Mexico. In memory of Olenka Sawycky, who died recently, to our great loss, I am making a donation to the UNWLA Scholarship Fund to aid Lidia Kelniar in Brazil in her continued education. Mary Dushnyck 20 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ, ВЕРЕСЕНЬ 1982 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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