European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 24, 1973, Darmstadt, Hesse                              Saturday november 24, 1973 the stars and stripes Page 9 army called grim for its women by Barbara Fulenwider staff writer Dir Stein Germany is the statistical picture of women employed by the army is pretty grim women s employment advisers were told at a Bascom seminar Here. Holly Hemphill a watchdog for army employed women said that How the army conducts its business every Day discriminates against women. Doa employs More women than any other Federal Agency except the Post of fice she said and yet its formula for Job assignments is if jobs Are policy level interesting and High paying they re for men if they have Little responsibility Are Dull and most importantly Low paying they re for  she told 50 Federal women s program Ftp coordinators at a recent meeting that 78 per cent of the women employed bythe army in White Collar jobs Are in grades one through six. The average is Grade for women is 4.9, and Only 2 per cent of thegs13s and above Are women she said. Director says woes rarely get into trouble1 by John Hart Ramstein Bureau Chie Ramstein Germany is Young women in the military rarely get into trouble. And require Little disciplinary action said col. Billie m. Bobbitt director of women in the air Force. They enlisted women. Have Well established social values said col Bob Bitt and historically Are no problems. They be got it All together and Don t react the same Way As enlisted men drugs Are not a problem among Young was she continued because they Are More  col. Bobbitt made the comments during an interview Here while in route to Washington following a nato conference for senior servicewomen. The idea of the conference was to seek greater opportunities for service women according to col. Bobbitt. She called it a Community International  at the conference col. Bobbitt said twas decided that women should share fully the obligation to defend their count Ries except in combat. She indicated that it May be some Tim before military women take their own roles in combat. The idea of women serving in combat just for the Sake of being equal with men i repugnant to our society she said. Other than in cases of National sur Vival american society and others  accept the idea of women serving in combat col. Bobbitt said. She said that from a pragmatic Point of View there Are physical disadvantages in having women in combat. For example if one combat Force had 50 per cent women explained col. Bobbitt and the opposition had All male strength there would be some obvious physical disadvantages tothe  there is also some concern about women becoming prisoners of War she added and i think that s a legitimate con col. Billie m. Bobbin  col. Bobbitt noted that one conference recommendation called for All approx. Private National and nato authorities Totake action to Widen the employment of women within their.  the air Force has no problems in recruit ing or retaining women according to col. Bobbitt. She said the air Force offer the Best option for women seeking a Ca reer. It s a fantastic Opportunity to Star with a Good salary room and Board medi Cal care and excellent  air Force enlisted women can serve Winall but five career Fields and officers in All but three she said. There Are hundreds of air Force jobs qualified women can perform col. Bobbit reported. She listed such technical jobs As maintenance engineering computer sciences weather space systems and com  efforts Are being made she said to recruit women lawyers doctors dentists optometrists and biomedical scientists. The problem col. Bobbitt stated Isth dearth of women seeking degrees and training in these career  passage of the equal rights amendment to the Constitution col. Bobbitt said if ratified by the states could have consider Able Impact on women in the armed forces. Not Only in terms of numbers but also in the standards of selection the kinds of jobs they will hold and whether they should attend service  the greatest opportunities for service women Are in the United states according to col. Bobbitt. There is no comparison with other countries. The air Force has More than 16,000 women on Active  in Safe there Are approximately 850 enlisted women 85 officers and 230nurses. According to col. Bobbitt the air Force estimates there will be about 44,500 enlisted women in its ranks by fiscal 1978.this will constitute More than half of the planned total strength of approximately80,000 women in All . Military services. Starting with fiscal 1973 the air Force has a quota of recruiting 8,000 women inthe age Range of 18 to 27. Each year there after the quotas Are expected to be in creased by at least 2,000 until the planned strength is reached. Col. Bobbitt began her military career in 1943 with enlistment in the Navy. Lookingback she said i never dreamed i would have achieved so  serving As was director now she continued is beyond what i thought pos sible when it All began for her with a Navy aviation engineering and maintenance Job. The thing that has impressed col. Bob Bitt is the aspirations Young women have for jobs and training. They re reaching out for it she said whereas there used to be some hangups and some  col. Bobbitt said there is no longer conflict Between a military career and being  she said women Are achieving much More As a result of  gs15 is the highest Grade held by women in the army and there Are Only seven women holding them compared to 2,085men with this Grade or above said mrs. Hemphill the army s special assistant forthe women s program aspect of equal employment Opportunity. Bascom employs 53 per cent women but 71 per cent Are in is one through six grades. There Are four women holding gs13 jobs at Bascom she said while there Are 160 men at Bascom at that level. Mrs. Holly Hemphill hepatitis shows increase among gis in Europe Heidelberg is the number of hepatitis cases has shown a disturbing in crease among american troops in Europe Over the past l�/2 years a medical com spokesman said. Evidence shows that the increase of. Hepatitis is specifically related to the use of contaminated hypodermic Needles by drug abusers who pass the virus from one to another the spokesman said. Principal reasons for relating hepatitis to drug use Are 1 it occurs in the same age group As those known to use drugs primarily under 26 years and has the same geographic distribution As the troop population 2 Many patients with the Dis ease admit use of or show evidence of shooting drugs and 3 a similar increase has not been noted in the remainder of the general population located in the Sam areas. Hepatitis an inflammation of the liver i evident in All body fluids and is transmittable by hand to Mouth Contact with infected food water body wastes and blood. Personal Hygiene such As hand washing i extremely important to break the Chain of hand to Mouth spread. Also use of another s razor or smoking utensils could be cause for spread of the disease. Hepatitis is frequently associated with jaundice. However Many cases occur wit serious liver involvement but without jaundice. The usual symptoms Are fatigue loss of appetite nausea or vomiting and generalized aching. Symptoms May not appear until weeks or months after exposure and the duration of illness is usually from three to four weeks. A significant number of patients will develop continuing or chronic liver disorders which May shorten life. There Isno specific treatment or preventive vac  would be drug shooter should real ize that he is risking his life when he shoots because of the drugs themselves and the danger of acquiring hepatitis the spokesman said. The army s problem has been at elastin the past that it s tried to ignore the out of balance situation of women s employ ment and claimed no corrections were Nec Essary she said. We can Hope for some real Progress inthe future because the army s top leadership is now facing the problem squarely and has proven that it s willing to improve mrs. Hemphill said. A year ago the army commissioned study on women in the army by an inde pendent firm. We have just receive copies of that study and its findings show that there is sex discrimination in the army today and that it s bound up in the entire personnel system she said. It showed that How we hire select for training promote assign work assess performance and potential All contain ele ments of discrimination against women she said. The study she said showed that the system of men in the top grades and women in the lower grades reinforces an perpetuates itself. No big difference she said it also found that there Are no significant differences Between men an women concerning Job motivation initiative performance or knowledge of the army s personnel system. She said the differences the study found were attitudes particularly in sex stereotyping. She said the study found that 60 per Centof the men in the army and 30 per cent of the women believe that men Are More aggressive logical objective dedicated and emotionally stable and Are better at Deci Sion making and planning have greater career ambitions and Are absent from the Job less. She said the study failed to substantiate any of these beliefs. Recommendations made the report stated that business As usual won t result in any upgrading of women in the  and to remedy this she said the report called for supplementing the internal Supply of women with women from outside the army. Because there Are Only 52 army women at gs14 and above any upgrading of those few would be insignificant the re port said. Part time jobs increasing the number of part time jobs. Recruiting not Only Young women but More mature women who May be re enter ing the Job Market. Placing a woman on every qualification and review panel. Keeping in touch with women who take maternity leave and encouraging them to return to their jobs so that training won the wasted. Changing the method of employee evaluation which currently is neither accurate nor free of  hiring More women instructors for training courses. Devoting More woman Power to the Ftp changing career counselling and train ing development programs. Appointing an army task Force to oversee the implementation of these suggestions. The report is highly critical of the army and very damaging in some of its findings mrs. Hemphill said. Someone at Headquarters suggested that it be Classi fied but there was no reason for  la take the criticism As it comes. Hard data she said that since the army gets the dubious achievement award for being the Federal Agency with the highest number of sex discrimination complaints filed proportionate to its work Force it s Ftp s Job to work to destroy antiquated attitudes about woman s place we want to barmy employees on the same footing with. Other army employees no More but certainly no less. It s the Law and it s Good