Beadle Bumble, Meet the Feds
Baldwin, Fred D.
Fred D. Baldwin BEADLE BUMBLE, MEET THE FEDS Can a man be a woman-owned business? Having been married for almost 15 years, I could follow the arguments in Marvin v. Marvin with detachment....
...I decided to ask her...
...In this case, however, there is no doubt, for the controlling law is the Constitution itself, the Thirteenth Amendment to which prohibits 'slavery or involuntary servitude.' Your wife may manage, counsel, guide, control, monitor, evaluate, supervise, oversee, audit, or otherwise direct you, but she cannot own you...
...A minor character in Oliver Twist, the good parish beadle is remembered chiefly for his response to the assertion that "the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction...
...In this case, I was "offeror," i.e., the bidder on a small contract...
...I'm somewhat shocked that you weren't required to be more forthcoming...
...My wife certainly has the power to make policy decisions and is actively involved in the day-to-day management of our household...
...Finally, I did what I should have done in the first place...
...I do business under my own name, not as a Fred D. Baldwin is a consultant on public program management living in Carlisle, Pennsylvania...
...As luck would have it, I was near the office of a lawyer, an old friend who knows the government well...
...If the law supposes that," said Mr...
...variety...
...corporation, so I could not give the government an unambiguous tally of shares and shareholders...
...The government has no right to ask you that question...
...That position will never hold,'' she said vehemently...
...I said I was pleased to hear it put that way...
...I'll be glad to help you file a grievance, and I'm sure you regard establishing this principle as more important than expediting your contract.'' I was casting about for a tactful way to decline this help when still a fourth lawyer joined in...
...I was ready to accept that advice, but, unfortunately, another lawyer had dropped into the office...
...The other words are only offered as ways of proving ownership when there is some doubt...
...A "no" answer, too casually given, would probably lead to other questions of the "Why not...
...As evidence that some things have been clarified little in the century since Dickens wrote, I offer my recent experience with a government agency...
...For the purpose of this definition, businesses which are publically [sic] owned, joint stock associations, and business trusts, are exempted...
...In order to fashion remedies to eliminate that pattern, the government must collect adequate data...
...Of course not, dear," she said...
...That won't hold water," he said...
...Or, to be more contemporary, a single...
...Operated is defined as actively involved in the day-today management...
...Such questionnaires are not to be taken lightly...
...Naturally, I was filling out a form...
...The issue of who exercises control within a marital relationship is a highly personal matter...
...You should have claimed the protection of the Privacy Act, even though you are not among the classes of business organizations specifically exempted by the questionnaire...
...Even the word "owned" left me uneasy...
...At this point the lawyers all started talking at once, and I lost the drift of the argument...
...In this case the government can show an overriding public purpose that entirely justifies the request for a simple question on business accountability...
...If your household passes those tests, the rule applies to you...
...I asked my wife...
...Bumble, "the law is a ass...
...A "yes" answer would almost certainly put me on a mailing list for special surveys of the problems of the female entrepreneur in a male-dominated business world...
...However, the words of Beadle Bumble recently struck home...
...Then a third lawyer joined the conversation...
...In this case, the drafters were at pains to emphasize certain empirical rules of evidence pertaining to 'ownership,' such as control of the checkbook...
...Honey," I said, "am I a woman-owwned business...
...It is, of course, very hard to know just what the law supposes...
...There the following line appeared: "Of-feror represents that offeror (is, is not) a woman-owned business...
...I did get the sense that the law might be, as Beadle Bumble went on to say, a bachelor...
...So that's what I told the government...
...I am no stranger to government regulations, but I scarcely knew how to respond...
...There is ample evidence of the existence of a long pattern of discrimination based on sex...
...If our marriage were to be scrutinized as an economic arrangement, it would be found that my wife and I hold most assets in common...
...I can't believe what I'm hearing," he said...
...I wanted to avoid trouble but I also wanted to answer the question accurately, and I was motivated neither by chauvinistic attitudes nor by hopes of gaining a preferred status with the government...
...Controlled is defined as exercising the power to make policy decisions...
...You may certainly claim to be a woman-owned business," she said, "and you should insist on any advantages that may accrue from that fact...
...What counts in legal interpretation is not the layman's reading of a clause but the reading its drafters hint at...
...Exempted businesses may voluntarily represent that they are, or are not, woman-owned if this information is available...
...The form went on as follows: "A woman-owned business is a business which is at least 51 percent owned, controlled and operated by a woman or women...
...I should explain that I am a consultant by trade and often do business with the government...
...If we were audited, could I be sure that she did not have something squirreled away somewhere that would bring her share to 51 percent...
...The operative word here-used twice-is owned...
Vol. 12 • September 1979 • No. 9
