Panelists Examine Women's Role in Society

Jim Grossberg

Cavalier Daily

Cavalier Daily

1975-09-23

Cavalier Daily

Panelists Examine Women's Role in Society
By Jim Grossberg
Three women activists examined social and legal barriers facing American women in a panel discussion yesterday afternoon at the Law School.
Sponsored by the University Law Women, the forum centered on “Problems Confronting Women in Our Social and Legal Institutions."
Del. Dorothy McDiarmid (D-Fairfax), Lynn Edgerton who is director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU) Women's Rights project and Richmond delegate Phoebe Hall participated as panelists in the discussion.
“The stereotyped image of women is the single most important problem confronting women in our society,” Edgerton said.
While it is difficult to alter society's concept of women as "less capable," Edgerton said, the ACLU is actively involved in court litigation which seeks to secure women's constitutional rights.
Edgerton said the state ACLU has just suit to allow an 11-year-old Chesterfield County girl to play in a private football league receiving tax funds.
"Women are really at a financial in a marriage," according to Hall. Because women are not entitled to joint ownership of their husbands’ property and because they receive no compensation for the domestic work they perform, women are placed in an insecure position, she said.