The Foreign Service Journal, September 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2021 17 50 Years Ago Right On! W ith Circular Airgram 3745, of August 11, 1971, the three foreign affairs agencies announced policies designed to offer full equal- ity of treatment to women employ- ees, whether married or single. There will be no further ques- tioning of women applicants about marital status or intention to marry, and this subject will not be included in performance evaluations. Women earlier required to resign from the Foreign Service because of marriage will be given opportunities to re-enter. If two Foreign Service employees marry, and both wish to continue working, each may retain regular status, if available for world- wide assignment, and the agencies will make every effort to assign hus- band and wife to the same post in appropriate positions. Couples will be consulted on alternatives when ideal assignments are not available. The AFSA Board of Directors congratulates State, AID and USIA on these progressive new poli- cies. We will all watch to make sure they are faithfully implemented in the fine spirit in which they were written. The AFSA Board congratu- lates Elizabeth J. Harper and her Women’s Program Committee, and the Women’s Action Organization and its President, Mary Olmsted. —Editorial, Foreign Service Journal , September 1971.