Questionnaire Asks About Lives, Concerns

Angela Perez, who suffers from cerebral palsy, is distributing a government questionnaire for working women among other disabled employees. So far, she has handed out about 200 survey forms and received 50 responses.

“Disabled women are not usually thought of as workers,” said Perez, who works with a New York City YWCA mentor project.

The survey, launched by the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau, asks working women about their lives and their concerns.

Women’s Bureau director Karen Nussbaum said she hopes the results will help shape future government policy on working women.

More than 1,000 businesses, unions, publications and organizations are printing and distributing questionnaires in a massive grass-roots effort. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Braille.

It asks women to describe their lives and their jobs and asks them what problems they face.

Among the other questions:

* How do you feel about your job overall?

* If you could tell President Clinton one thing about what it’s like to be a working woman, what would it be?

* (List the) changes that might provide you with a better workplace.

In Aurora, Colo., at the Fantasy Hair Design salon, customers are being asked to fill out the questionnaire while they wait.

The Body Shop chain of beauty product stores has printed the questionnaire in its catalogue and is distributing the survey to customers.

The West 47th St. Salon and Day Spa in Kansas City, Mo., worked with the mayor to declare a Working Women Count week.

And in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the questionnaire was placed in the paycheck envelopes of each female government worker, the Women’s Bureau said.

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Questionnaires should be returned by Aug. 31 to: U.S. Department of Labor, Attn: Working Women Count!, 200 Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210. For information about the questionnaire, call: (800) 347-3741.