European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday october 28. 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 Dod issues new policy on civilian women More recruiting advancement required by Cunt Swift Washington Bureau Washington after a Call for bold moves to Advance civilian women employees in the lowest paying defense jobs the Pentagon has Given commanders and department Heads a new set of guide lines by which to hire train and promote. The new three Page directive on the department s Federal women s program says Dod policy is to have women in Middle and higher Grade positions in every department and Job Type in proportion to their numbers in the work Force. That Means just having a lot of women clerks with master s degrees in Low grades is not enough a program official said. The directive requires the assistant Secretary for Force management and person Nel to motivate commanders and depart ment Heads who Musi implement the program. Federal women s program Man agers Are their advisers. It requires recruitment and Advance ment programs that produce qualified women on selection lists at All Levels. And thai Means qualified women no tokens the official said. We re talk ing about women who arc Able to compete nol women promoted just because they re  she said the directive also opens the door to helping civilian spouses of military members find jobs. In the past spouses weren t permitted on the  she said. They were consid ered Loo Likely to be transferred. This recognizes he reality in the rest of the . That people Aren t staying in one Job and Homes trading for 20  the Call for bold moves came in a May i985 report on a series of catalyst conferences the department held from March to september last year. About 500 women look part in the meetings on concerns of older women civilian spouses of military personnel minority women women veterans and disabled women. The concerns of the groups were Simi Lar according to the conferences final re port managers Lack  to employing women fully and Sec them in stereotypes that slow advancement. Women need More Access to the training that helps department employees move up. There arc about a million civilian jobs in the defense department the program official said. Women employees have grown from about 290.000 to 372,000 in the last four years. But women Are 52 percent of the  the department s civilian women employees Are concentrated in grades Cis-8 and below keeping most of them from competing for Middle level and upper level professional positions she said. A Genera accounting office report last year found that women hold 75 per cent of the gs-6 average salary si7,800 a year jobs in the government while men hold 82 percent of the gs-13 average $41,000 a year jobs. Bold moves arc needed to bring about a change in the status of women in defense and to bring women into positions from which they can Advance by the competitive process the conferences report concluded. The directive requires equal Opportunity and civilian personnel officials to take the Lead in breaking Down barriers to hiring training and promoting women. Pos already have opened the train ing doors to lower level employees the program official said. Before clerks could take courses to be better clerks. Now they can take Auto mated data processing office manage ment administration. Clerks in the i Eder Al women s program can Lake management of equal Opportunity it depends on the Mission of the organi nation they work in not the Job they Hap pen to be in within the organization. It gives them a better idea of what the organi Matiun is doing and they can contribute More. Secretaries arc going to be asked to pick up other administrative tasks. That s going to free upper level managers to concentrate More on conceptual  Navy conference helped give impetus to new policy on spouse employment Washington is the new Reg Lalion that extends the defense depart ment s Federal women s program to spouse employment was shaped in part by a Confer ence sponsored Here by the Navy 18 months ago. An official of the department s Federal women s program said studies by the three services have convinced military leaders that spouse satisfaction with military life is crucial to retaining a trained and Well motivated fighting Force. Thus civilian spouses of military personnel were invited to Washington in May 1984 to take part in the second of five catalyst conferences designed to bring out the group s Spe Cial employment concerns. At the end of the conference the participants recommended that the defense depart ment take another look at personnel policies that make it Tough for spouses to get and keep jobs and to climb their career ladders. They suggested that spouses be permitted maximum leave without pay to avoid a break in service while travelling with a Servic Mem bar moving to a new assignment. Employed spouses Are faced with Breaks in service career interruptions periods of unemployment and starting All Over again at each location the conference report said. It noted what it called an inconsistent application of leave without pay policy. The defense department limits such leave to 90 or 120 Days while office of personnel manage ment regulations permit up to a year of it. Participants recommended that the area of consideration for civilian jobs be expanded to allow them to compete. They asked that opportunities for promo Tion of spouses be increased and that civilian Job openings be made known to spouses out Side the department As Well As to those already employed who want to move up. The participants said there is no Central Clearinghouse for information on employment training fellowships internships benefits child care retirement counselling and career transition. It is difficult for working spouses to plan ahead for a Job search at new assignment areas and to gain entry into the department of defense employment system the report said. The results often arc loss of career conditional civil service status benefits and family income separation or disruption of family re lations diminished self image and confusion for the applicant. Because of the economic reality of the need for dual incomes the Quality of life and retention of military members often Are affected in an Advent  the participants told Federal women s program managers that much of the information was available at civilian personnel offices. But they said they were reluctant to go there because the offices often arc understaffed and unresponsive. They suggested that pos operate the Ca reer centers but with enough staff and fund ing to be Respo Sivc to men and women including handicapped persons. In 1972, to help alleviate the problem of spouse joblessness overseas the department started to give top priority to military family members in filling jobs abroad. Where possible . Citizen jobs were to be Given to family members of military men and women assigned in those countries. Two years later the Effort was expanded. Family members were allowed temporarily to fill jobs designated for local nationals if the country to country agreement permitted it. In 1980. The program received a setback when the Justice department ruled that giving fam ily members priority Over former Servic Mcm bars violated the veterans preference act. Despite the change the department Esti mates that 20,000 family members Are employed overseas under the program. In addition since 1973. Employees married to military members returning to an Active duly assignment in the United Stales have been eligible to Register for preference in of Laining Dod positions in the United slates under the department s priority Job placement program. Since 1982. Under an executive order signed by president Reagan family members who have worked two years in Federal jobs overseas have been eligible to be appointed to competitive civil service jobs when they return to the United Stales. Bush concerned7 about communist threat in Philippines Washington a vice president George Bush has joined those in the . Government expressing con Cern about the threat of a communist takeover in the Philippines. But Bush said in an interview with the associated press on Friday he can t be sure president Ferdinand Marcos will adopt the political and economic reforms Washington is urging on him. We Are concerned Bush said in the interview. I can t quantify that concern but 1 think that All the Leaden of the. Pacific rim countries have common ground on  obviously we do  want to see an unfriendly communist takeover there Bush said. Bush said the two american bases in the Philippines the naval base at Subic Bay and Clark a Are essential to american Security. He said the United slates should not be looking for alternative Sites As some members 01 Congress suggest. They Are so important that i think it is essential that we maintain them there and we Are not out looking for alternatives he said. Other administration officials including senior officials in the Pentagon and the state department have warned publicly that the communists could be in a position t seize Power in three to five years if present trends continue. The Pentagon has been exploring possible alternatives for us bases in the Region if the United Stales has to abandon the Philippines bases in the event of a communist takeover. Two possible locations that have received preliminary consideration Are Tinian and Guam. Neither is As ideally situated As the Philippines however and the Cost of mov ing the bases has been tentatively put at $8 billion. American officials estimate the size of the communist insurgency known As the new Peoples army at up to 15,000 fighters although Marcos disputes this figure and has said the threat from the insurgents is not nearly As great As Washington says it is. In an Effort to drive Home to Marcos american con Cerns and the need for economic and political reforms president Reagan recently sent sen. Paul Laxalt r-nev., As his emissary to meet with Marcos. Bush said he has discussed the Laxalt visit with Reagan. He said it in t known whether Marcos will make the changes Washington wants. But he said the administration is encouraged that Marcos gave Laxalt a Good hearing. I think he Laxdall did feel very Good about it Bush said. At least that s what he reported to us. The hearing was serious but 1 Don t know what to expect  Bush declined to say what changes Washington wants i m not going into an Agenda for another president on what he ought to  but . Officials have said publicly they want Marcos to Institute political reforms to help assure a free and fair election for president in 1987 whether Marcos seeks re election or not. Privately icy also want economic reforms to curb what they say is rampant corruption by Marcos friends Hal has hurl inc Economy and is alienating the business sector. Bush said he did t want to say How much of a danger the communists  lot depends on events he said. But i really think the situation merits att Nikon Pul it that  on other subjects. Bush said in inc interview he does t think China has offered nuclear cooperation to Iran As sen. Alan Cranston d-calif., has charged. I think i would have known Aboul it he said. Bush recently spent seven Days in China. He said China would justifiably be upset if the and minis ration tried to make major changes in the . China nuclear agreement now before Congress although he did l Rule out some minor changes to satisfy congressional critics. But basically when we have an agreement 1 think they expect us to keep inc  the administration need have no second thoughts about its decision to seize the egyptian aircraft carrying fleeing terrorists who killed an american on the cruise ship Achille Lauro. I be never been More proud nor More convinced that we did exactly the right thing he said. We simply can nol Sil Back and have our citizens murdered Ana have people think we arc not going to do anything Aboul  he predicted thai relations Wilh Egypt and Italy will return to Normal