Governor's Committee on the Status of Women

The objectives of the Governor's Committee on the Status of Women were: (a) bring together the varied information regarding the status of women in Utah and compile the accumulated data for constructive action; (b) identify the conditions which characterize women's functions in a democratic society in order to permit them to make a maximum contribution toward family, state, and national well being; and (c) propose implementing legislation to carry out the committee's recommendations.

Included were such areas as employment policies and practices relating to equal opportunities for women (including wages and benefits), new and expanded fields of employment for women and provision for adequate education and training, legal and tax status of women, political and civic responsibilities of women, and the needs and responsibilities of women in the area of community service.

At the urging of the Utah Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs and other organizations, Governor Clyde agreed to create an informal committee to study the status of women in Utah. The federation was charged with drawing up the objectives, procedures, and areas of study for the committee and with submitting a list of qualified people from whom the membership of the committee was to be selected.

Seven committee members, all women, were appointed by Governor Clyde to serve no less than one year from the time of organization (with a possible extension for a second term). One woman, referred to as a member at large, was designated as chairman of the non-partisan committee. The others were each designated chairman of one of six subcommittees and charged with studying a different area of concern--employment policies and practices, the legal status of women, political and civil rights and responsibilities, tax laws as they affect women, fields of employment, and services required for women.

Shortly after the committee was organized, the members decided that they could better function by combining their efforts in some areas of study. Therefore, employment policies and practices was combined with fields of employment while the needs and responsibilities of women was combined with services required for women. Each subcommittee was comprised of the chairman and at least two other individuals. Twenty-five subcommittee members participated in gathering material for committee reports.

A year following its initial organization, newly elected Governor Calvin L. Rampton decided that it would be in the best interest of the state to continue the committee until July 1, 1966. In reappointing the seven original committee members, Gov. Rampton charged them to submit the committee's first annual report by July 1, 1965, and its second annual report by July 1, 1966.

Although the committee had completed the research and writing on its second annual report by the deadline, the report wasn't printed until December 1966. Editorial assistance was provided by the University of Utah while financing was provided by the Utah Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs and by Utah State University.

Copies of the completed report, "Women in Utah," were mailed to high school and college libraries in Utah, to women's groups, to commissions on the status of women in other states, and to the Women's Bureau of the United States Department of Labor.

Two years after the informal Governor's Committee on the Status of Women was dissolved, Governor Rampton officially established a permanent Governor's Advisory Committee on Women's Programs (Agency #1760) by executive order.