By RICHARD H. SHAPIRO
Currently completing his senior year in the School of Journalism, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, he has been a reporter and columnist for the Daily lllini for the past three years.

The first organized attempt by women to get more top state jobs for women

Talent bank for women

WILL MORE WOMEN be appointed to high level government positions under Gov.-elect James R. Thompson than in previous administrations? A talent bank for women interested in serving in state government has been compiled with the intent of providing a "substantive method" for getting women into the political system, according to Nina T. Shepherd, a trustee of the University of Illinois and chairperson of the nonpartisan task force that organized the talent bank.

The bank consists of resumes of 350 women interested in serving in executive and management positions of state government or on one of the state's boards or commissions. Not merely a list of qualified women, the talent bank has a greater significance. It's the first time women in Illinois have banded together to assert themselves into leadership positions. Not willing to wait passively to see if the next administration names more women to state government, these women have made a logical and organized effort to challenge the traditional political system.

A list of qualified women
The resumes were procured on a volunteer basis. Over the summer the task force sent out letters to approximately 50 women's organizations in Illinois. The idea of the talent bank and requests for qualified applicants was then publicized in the organization's newsletters. The task force directed its publicity to women in professions, business, labor and community organizations who have demonstrated leadership skills but have lacked access to the political system.

Now collected, the 350 resumes have been handed over to the new governor. Then there will be no justifiable reason, the task force believes, for not having a significant increase in the number of women serving in the new administration. "He is sort of on the spot and I love it," Shepherd said.

During his campaign, Thompson said the talent bank was a good idea, but he does not want to be confined to a single channel in the search for qualified women. He said he does plan to actively recruit women as well as blacks and other minorities.

The women on the task force
"Why hasn't there ever been a woman serving on the Pardon and Parole Board? Well, they say we didn't know there were qualified women. With this talent bank we are going to be able to send them a dozen Ph.D.'s in criminology," said Donna Schiller, president of the League of Women Voters in Illinois and a member of the task force. The other members of the task force are Carole Bellows, first vice president of the Illinois State Bar Association; Virginia Fiester, state president of the American Association of University Women, Yvonne Hirsch, state president of the Illinois Federation of Business and Professional Women; and Gwen Martin, Illinois director of the Communication Workers of America.

The idea of a women's talent bank was inspired last spring by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Michael Hewlett. He asked Shepherd for ideas to interest women in state government. She presented him with the concept of a talent bank, and he asked her to organize the project. Although Hewlett's campaign office did some of the clerical work involved in sending out letters, Shepherd still considers the talent bank a nonpartisan project. The only financial support the task force accepted was for postage on the letters, she said.

The credibility of project
Shepherd said she has accepted no contributions for two reasons. First, she did not want to raise doubts about the nonpartisan status of the project, and second, she wanted to demonstrate that women could initiate large-scale change without being obligated to male financial backers.

"The credibility and substance of these organizations represented by the task force, along with their long records of achievement and the fact that we have joined together, has made us a force that commands the respect and attention of decisionmakers," Shepherd said. Schiller came up with the same conclusion: "We are 52 per cent of the registered voters in Illinois today. The newly elected administration cannot afford to alienate us," she said. "If we don't see significant increases in the appointment of women, we will be able to document the discrimination and make a lot of noise."

The entrance of women into high level government jobs has been discouraged for centuries by the accepted notion that one of the prerequisites of an able decisionmaker was being male. Although there has been an accelerated erosion of this idea in recent years, there has not been a significant change in the ratio of men to women in the higher level positions of government. Of the 23 code departments in Illinois, only two women were appointed directors by Gov. Walker Women hold only 16 per cent of the board and commission posts, and of the 236 legislative seats in the 79th General Assembly, only 14 were women. The 80th General Assembly has 20 women — 4 senators and 18 representatives.

A share of the power
Shepherd is hoping that the monitoring of the talent bank, which includes lobbying on behalf of applicants and revising the bank continually, will be given by the governor to a formal governmental agency. If this is not done. Shepherd fears that the strength of the project will be greatly diminished. "The key to any affirmative action program is the effectiveness of the monitoring," she said.

Rep. Eugenia Chapman (D., Arlington Heights) believes that the talent bank is an "excellent idea," but she pointed out that the principles of the political system cannot be changed overnight. "If the key people of the campaign staff are white males, the chances of women getting appointed to key posts is slim even though they will have the names," she said.

Shepherd admits that the talent bank is "only a beginning." However, she is convinced that it marks a practical change in the future course of the women's movement in Illinois. "It has been difficult for women to confront power. However, we have learned that nobody gives it up. You have to keep the pressure on in order to take it away."ž

20 / January 1977 / Illinois Issues