Women and Credit

In the past, credit accounts for a married couple 'were often listed only under the husband's name. If a woman was widowed, divorced, or simply wanted credit in her own name, she had no credit history to show her reliability for making payments. Many women have been denied credit because they could not prove their ability to handle credit.

passed

Congress has passed two Federal laws that help women solve their credit history problems: The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex or marital status in any aspect of a credit transaction; and the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which protects consumer privacy and makes certain that a credit bureau will accurately report a person's credit history.

To assure yourself that you have on accurate credit history on file, you can:

-start building a good record by opening an account with a local store or service;

-make certain that t hastories of the accounts shared by you and your ausband are reported in both

names;

-make sure you indicate on the application whether or not you want to share the account with your husband (if you do, the credit or will report information in both names, not just your nusband's), and

-ask your creditors to change vou: name on all your

accounts.

If you believe that you have been unfairly denied credit, you can:

-request the specific reason that your application was turned down. I! it was rejected because of a credit bureau report, ask the name of the credit bureau;

-give the merchant any information you have showing you to be a good credit risk;

-visit the credit bureau to find out what information they reported about vou. I you do this within 30 days after their credit report was used to deny your application, you will avoid paying a service fee for this information;

-ask the credit bureau to reinvestigate the information they have about you, if you believe it is inaccurate. Have them put the results of their reinvestigation into your file: and

-report any unfair or discriminatory practices to your local and state consumer protection offices. Send a copy of your complaim to the Federal Trade Commission. Your letter may help reveal a pattern of discrimination requiring action by the Commission.

Ohio Report Vol. 4, No. 6

Women Apprentices

Women in apprenticeships are beginning to make a small but significant dent in the number of apprentices in registered programs. About 3.3 percent of those entering registered programs in 1977 were women. This compares with 1.7 percent in 1976, 1.2 percent in 1975, 0.9 percent in 1974, and 0.7 percent in 1973.

Apprenticeship statistics by occupational groups, sex, minorities, veterans and state are available from the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training, Washington, D.C. 20213.

Ohio Report

Vol. 4, No. 6

Women will not be free until we can control our means of reproduction,

Diane Schuller/Milwaukee

Nestle's Does It Again

(He say)-he Infant Formula Action Coation. or INFACT, reports that the Nestle's Compair ha done it again.

Theoalition says that in addition to continuin to sell infant formula to women in Third Work. countrie: who don't have the steril facilities to prepare the food supplement for their babies, the company has also been selling another product r claims special food for the prevention of infan diarrhea.

!

INFACT says that on a recent tour of Guatemala and Honduras, two researchers found that Nestle was selling a product called "Nestoban" which claus to prevent diarrhea. Nestoban, says INFACT, sells fo: $2.20 a can, which only lasts a two-monthold infar: eight days.

INFANT says that not only is Nestoban an expensive purchase for Hondurans, who carn less than $500 a year, but ironically Nestle is promoting a pro duct to prevent the very diarrhea its special infant food formula causes under unsterile conditions.

INFACT nas been boycotting Nestle's because they say the company's promotion of baby foods abroad unethical.

Researcher de-Laskered

(Her Say)-A research scientist with the Nationa Institute of Mental Health is charging that she may have been overlooked when the recent 1978 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research was handed out,

The Lasker Award, which is considered to be the forerunner for the Nobel Prize, was given out this year to three male scientists who worked on the discovery of naturally occurring opiate for pain kil. ing) compounds in the brain.

Candace Per worked as a graduate student searcher for Solomon Snyder of Johns Fioplan University, one of the recipients of the award. She claims that she did much of the major research and follow-up work for which Snyder received credit, and that she in fact initiated the opiate work before Snyder did.

Pert feels she was overlooked both because she was a graduate student working under Snyder, and perhaps because she is a woman. When Pert confronted Snyder with her feelings, he attempted to convince the Lasker Foundation to name Pert in the award. The Foundation, however, refused. Twenty-eight Lasker Foundation winners have gone on to win Nobel Prizes.

WOMEN &HEALTH

HEW's New

Tightened Guidelines

on Sterilization

New regulations Trom the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, replacing runes published in 1974, make the following changes in standards that will govern and limit federal funding of sterilizations: An HEW approved com.m lom, clearly and simply spelling out the nature and consequences of the operation in a language the patent she or he) under minds, mus be used I! W. I june certifica

tion b. medical personnel Corved, both in waring and

it! The patient has re al at explanation of

the operation, adv, e about alternative forms of birth control, and a surange that no der

be lost a sterilization o refused

benefits wif

The waiting period between consent and ster Ization must be at least 30 day, rexcept in cases of premature delivery and Cinerpen A abdominal surgery). Previous regulations required only a 72-hour waiting period.

te duzatron being

To reduce the chance chosen ander duress, a consent may not be obtained Tron, anyone in labor of childbirth under the in Huence of alcohol or other drug, orking or ob taining an abortion.

-Interpreters must be provided where there are language barriers, and special arrangements must be made for handicapped individual

-Federal funding will not be available for hysterectomies performed for sterilization purposes Patients undergoing hysterectomie for medical reason must be advi ed orally and in writing that sterility wil result, for the operation to be financed WILD HEW Jundy

וי

1.de

A distinction between opent: (methically in dicated) and nontheraperan dy planning) sterilization is elimina and aguar Is are appired uniformly to all ede ta -i ederal funding wit sterilizations for individual rectional facilities. :]].. rehabilitative facilitie

-¦he prohibition again) pay for sterilizations of dividual and those und

be availabl for nationalizee in Or ¦ pita! 01 other

using te lera, funds to Bantaliv incompetent in is continued. --A Consent expires in 15 day, the mental in competence that rules our derization must have been declared by a court; an individual must be given opy of her or hie co went form, and an individual may bring a witney 1. The consent information, ses Ms. Magazine Women's Health pare February, 1979

SIONS

Crib Death Prevention

(Her Say)-Resear.her at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have apparently found a way to save infants from e, death. Usually victims of the syndrome die in their sleep without crying out or struggling. Although there is apparently more than one form of crib death, doctors believe that many of the babies who succumb to it simply stop breathing.

Now doctors at Massachusetts General say they have been using alarms that blare when infants stop breathing. The alarms provide an almost foolproof way, they say, to summon help for a child suffering from the "sudden infant death syndrome."

Crib deaths claim the lives of 10,000 babies in the U.S. each year. It is believed to be the single biggest killer of children between the ages of two weeks and one year.

March, 1979/What She Wants/Page 11