News

“Custody of the Children to the Mother

is Not An ‘Award’

it is a 'Sentence'.”

Ruth Krueger; Director of Economic Assistance; Dakota County, Minnesota

 Source:

National Organization of Women (NOW)

Testimony provided to Congress in Washington DC, in support of child support laws in the early 1970’s.

"American Child Support System", by Ruth Krueger, Page 76

Ruth Krueger has responded to the posting of this quote and has asked CPR to quote from her book in context or take it off of the CPR website.  We fully respect her request and have printed this e-mail, verbatim.

It was never our intention to take anything out of context. We believed the quote would be read in light of the times (as indicated on the site, early 70's) and that people could gather their own conclusions (based on the timeframe) to be consistent with the rest of the reported testimony. 

However, we will include the other paragraphs just as requested, verbatim.
 

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As received from Ruth Krueger; Director of Economic Assistance; Dakota County, Minnesota

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-----Original Message-----
From: Krueger, Ruth [mailto:Ruth.Krueger@CO.DAKOTA.MN.US]
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 4:55 PM
To: info@cpr-mn.org
Subject: Contact / Information for CPR:

 

Please put the quote from my book in context or take it off your web site.  Thank you.

What my book actually says - and I quote verbatim:
 

"The National Organization of Women (NOW) saw the problem as the oppression of women in the marital courts, compounding similar discrimination against women in the labor market, where women earned from 49 to 59 percent of what men did. "  [Then there is a block quote as follows:]
 

A divorced mother, a guardian mother with children, knows the children will be better provided for financially by their father. He has a wider choice of jobs, more pay for the same work, and more chances for quicker promotion than she has. Given these discriminations in the courts and in the labor market, custody of the children to the mother is not an 'award" it is a sentence."
"Congress, Senate, Committee on Finance, Hearing 25 September 1973, 178.