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....
...variety...
...However, the words of Beadle Bumble recently struck home...
...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...
...I was ready to accept that advice, but, unfortunately, another lawyer had dropped into the office...
...That won't hold water," he said...
...In this case, the drafters were at pains to emphasize certain empirical rules of evidence pertaining to 'ownership,' such as control of the checkbook...
...As evidence that some things have been clarified little in the century since Dickens wrote, I offer my recent experience with a government agency...
...corporation, so I could not give the government an unambiguous tally of shares and shareholders...
...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...
...The other words are only offered as ways of proving ownership when there is some doubt...
...I do business under my own name, not as a Fred D. Baldwin is a consultant on public program management living in Carlisle, Pennsylvania...
...In this case, I was "offeror," i.e., the bidder on a small contract...
...What counts in legal interpretation is not the layman's reading of a clause but the reading its drafters hint at...
...Finally, I did what I should have done in the first place...
...Operated is defined as actively involved in the day-today management...
...That position will never hold,'' she said vehemently...
...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...
...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...
...Honey," I said, "am I a woman-owwned business...
...I asked my wife...
...Bumble, "the law is a ass...
...Naturally, I was filling out a form...
...Controlled is defined as exercising the power to make policy decisions...
...In this case the government can show an overriding public purpose that entirely justifies the request for a simple question on business accountability...
...Or, to be more contemporary, a single...
...I'm somewhat shocked that you weren't required to be more forthcoming...
...It is, of course, very hard to know just what the law supposes...
...Even the word "owned" left me uneasy...
...Of course not, dear," she said...
...There the following line appeared: "Of-feror represents that offeror (is, is not) a woman-owned business...
...The issue of who exercises control within a marital relationship is a highly personal matter...
...My wife certainly has the power to make policy decisions and is actively involved in the day-to-day management of our household...
...At this point the lawyers all started talking at once, and I lost the drift of the argument...
...I am no stranger to government regulations, but I scarcely knew how to respond...
...If the law supposes that," said Mr...
...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...
...I said I was pleased to hear it put that way...
...There is ample evidence of the existence of a long pattern of discrimination based on sex...
...So that's what I told the government...
...I decided to ask her...
...The operative word here-used twice-is owned...
...Then a third lawyer joined the conversation...
...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...
...As luck would have it, I was near the office of a lawyer, an old friend who knows the government well...
...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 government has no right to ask you that question...
...I can't believe what I'm hearing," he said...
...Such questionnaires are not to be taken lightly...
...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...
...I did get the sense that the law might be, as Beadle Bumble went on to say, a bachelor...
...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...
...If your household passes those tests, the rule applies to you...
...A "no" answer, too casually given, would probably lead to other questions of the "Why not...
...In order to fashion remedies to eliminate that pattern, the government must collect adequate data...
...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...
...Exempted businesses may voluntarily represent that they are, or are not, woman-owned if this information is available...
...I should explain that I am a consultant by trade and often do business with the government...
...For the purpose of this definition, businesses which are publically [sic] owned, joint stock associations, and business trusts, are exempted...
Vol. 12 • September 1979 • No. 9
