Fort Wayne women, 1973-1974

              .. -----..... _. -,
Seventy-five companies said that marital status had no
bearing on their hiring practices. One has a pol icy against
hiring both husband and wife, and four regarded married persons
as more stable and responsible than their unmarried counterparts.
Fringe Benefits
This group of questions was devised to determine the extent
and qual ity of various fringe benefits available to male and fe­male
'employees. Eighty-nine companies said there was no difference.
in benefits for men and women; seven -said that there was, and
three pointed out that maternity leaves and pregnancy benefits
were for women only. Of the sixty companies with pension plans,
one stated that women are not included.
In hospitalization benefits, 87 provide maternity benefits,
77 hernia, 64 medically recommended vasectomy, 64 mental illness,
and 38 medically recommended abortion.
Tuition refunds and other formal education programs are an
important source of training and upgrading for employees. Over
half the companies responding have such programs; about 576 men
and 295 women participated within the year. Nearly half the com­panies
surveyed have apprenticeships and training programs,
through which an estimated total of 382 females and 205 males
were trained in the year. It should be noted, ho\~ever, that 232
- of these women and only 14 of the men came from one company which
counted, for purposes of this survey, on~the-job orientation ses­sions
as constituting a training program. In the 32 companies
having supervisory or management training programs, 172 women
and 145 men were reported to have participated during the year.
Affirmative Action
An important indicator of employment practices is the
existence and enforcement of an affirmative action program, gene­rally
required of companies holdin§ public contracts. In the
survey, employers reported holding 25 federal, 10 state, 4 county,
and 8 city contracts. Fifty-six of the firms responding have
affirmative action programs currently in force; only 16 of these
programs were started before 1970.
The questions asking for specific affirmative action goals
yielded this: 15 reported specific goals for hiring or promoting
women into white collar or managerial positions; 5 planned to
hire wome~ into blue collar jobs; 8 called their employment prac­tices
for women "fair" as they are; and 2 referred to plans to­ward
changing the attitudes of male employees.
When asked about their success in accomp1 ishing their goals
for women, 25 companies gave positive responses, 4 negative, and
15 noted "some progress. 1I
Role of Mayor's Commission
On the question of how the Mayor'S Commission on the Status
of Women might be of assistance, the majority of respondents in­dicated
little or no knowledge of the functions, goals, or re­sources
of the Commission. Those responding affirmatively, how­ever,
suggested 1) that the Commission could furnish advice, guid­ance~
and timely data relative to improving the status of women,
such as providing examples of other companies' successful pro­grams
and serving as a source of ready information regarding
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