Office of the Historian

326. Memorandum From Mary S. Olmsted of the Ad Hoc Women’s Committee, Department of State to Chris Petrow of the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration1

Washington, October 7, 1970.

SUBJECT

  • Our Recommendations re Task Force Reports

Thank you for the time and trouble you went to in making our views known to the chairmen of the Task Forces about the role and [Page 724] status of women in the Department and the Foreign Service, and for your memorandum of September 30 reporting their actions.2

We were glad to see that certain of our proposals were incorporated into the reports. We were disappointed, however, that some of the Task Forces did not take up some of the basic recommendations which we believe must be adopted to assure full utilization of the resources of women over the 1970’s. We were particularly disappointed that Task Force I did not accept any of our recommendations in this important area of career management and assignments. Some of the other Task Forces appear to have underestimated the problems faced by women in the Department and the Foreign Service. They also apparently underestimated the discontent now existing among women in the foreign affairs agencies as well as its possibilities for adversely affecting the efficiency and harmony of the Foreign Service. We hope that this lack of understanding can be rectified by a strong statement, in the covering report, on the future role of women in the Services.

We are making these views known to Mr. Macomber.3

  1. Source: National Archives, RG 59, Office of the Deputy Under Secretary for Management, Management Reform Task Force Papers: Lot 74 D 394, Women’s Affairs. No classification marking.↩
  2. Not found.↩
  3. The second paragraph of the memorandum was included in Olmsted’s October 6 letter to Macomber. (National Archives, RG 59, Office of The Deputy Under Secretary for Management, Management Reform Task Force Papers: Lot 74 D 394, Women’s Affairs)↩