#women in the workforce
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Feminine Sleuth Gets State Post
In May, 1945, 37-year-old Evelyn Hazelton was appointed the first woman agent of the Minnesota State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. “The fact she is a woman isn’t going to keep Mrs. Hazelton from performing jobs that are usually entrusted to the male agents of the bureau,” a Minneapolis Tribune article said. Evelyn was expected to attend classes with male agents on fingerprinting, firearms, judo, photography, and recognizing and preserving evidence. While trained for every type of police investigation, she was to concentrate on cases involving women and girls. Evelyn began working as a stenographer for the department in 1938, becoming familiar with case records, agent reports, and criminal investigation procedure. At night she studied law at the Minneapolis College of Law. She worked as an investigator for the Bureau for several years before returning to office work in state government. She retired as secretary of the US General Services Administration in the 1970s and died in 1976 at the age of 68.
Photo of Evelyn Hazelton from the Minneapolis Newspaper Photograph Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
First Mailwoman in Minneapolis
In January, 1945, 25-year-old Evelyn Scheldrup was hired as the first female mail carrier in Minneapolis. Hired as a substitute to fill war-time letter carrier shortages, Evelyn lugged the 50-pound mail bag on various routes through the coldest and snowiest months of the year. She dressed in her own clothes–slacks, sweater, and a jacket or fur coat with a mailman’s hat, depending on the weather–and frequently came home soaked from snow. She was the only woman hired by postmaster John R. Coan during the manpower shortage that year. After suffering a serious knee injury from a slip on the ice, she was reassigned inside the post office as a clerk that spring.
Following WWII, cities didn’t start seeing many female letter carriers again until the early 1960s when president John F. Kennedy ordered federal appointments and promotions be made without regard to sex. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson amended the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit sex discrimination in hiring in the workplace at large. The number of women letter carriers in cities nationwide jumped from 104 in 1960 to 3,500 in 1968. In 2007, women carriers represented about 40% of the workforce.
Read more about women mail carriers on the USPS website.
Photos of Evelyn Scheldrup from the Minneapolis Newspaper Photograph Collection in the Hennepin County Library Digital Collections.
The new Cato 2018 Paid Leave Survey of 1,700 adults finds that nearly three-fourths (74%) of Americans support a new federal government program to provide 12 weeks of paid leave to new parents or to people to deal with their own or a family member’s serious medical condition. A quarter (25%) oppose establishing a federal paid leave program. Support slips and consensus fractures for a federal paid leave program, however, after costs are considered.
The survey found 54% of Americans would be willing to pay $200 a year in higher taxes, a low-end estimate for a 12-week federal paid leave program. However, majorities of Americans would oppose establishing a federal paid leave program if it cost them $450 a year in higher taxes (52% opposed) or $1,200 a year in higher taxes (56% opposed), the mid-range and high-range cost estimates respectively.
These low-, mid-, and high-range cost estimates are based on the most high-profile federal paid leave program proposed to date: The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act (FAMILY Act).
The survey also did not ask questions about what paid leave policies Americans would like to see offered at private companies. Instead, the Cato 2018 Paid Leave Survey focuses on what people think about establishing a government-provided paid family leave program at the federal level.
Paid parental leave provides workers with financial compensation during temporary absences following the birth or adoption of a child. Private companies often provide paid leave and the federal government mandates 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave, but recently policymakers and advocates have become dissatisfied with the status quo.
Proponents of federal intervention argue that the private market does not or cannot provide sufficient paid leave. Moreover, proponents believe government supported leave would improve labor market outcomes and reduce gender and labor-market inequality.
However, the evidence that suggests otherwise…
First, ample data show that the private market provides paid leave at rates about 30 to 50 percentage points higher than proponents claim. Private paid leave provision has grown three- or fourfold over 50 years and continues to grow. This trend indicates industry is responsive to employee demands.
Second,workers may not be better off under federal paid leave and may be worse off. Government intervention provides new incentives, and individuals are likely to adapt accordingly. Evidence suggests government supported leave may result in wage or benefit reductions, female unemployment, or reduced professional opportunities for women.
Government intervention is also unlikely to correct gender or labor-market inequality in ways proponents desire. For example, families may respond to the policy by increasing women’s household work contributions relative to men’s. Redistributive effects of government intervention are likely to harm workers.
Policymakers should not adopt paid parental leave policies. Instead, they should consider improving workers’ lives through reforms that increase economic efficiency, remove barriers to flexible work, and increase choice.
