SEPTEMBER 2024 | 35 THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, attorney-general, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction and state examiner and inspector.”7 State Question 302 – addressing the qualifications for elective officers, including allowing women to run for office – was adopted in a 1942 general election thanks in large part to Ms. Wheaton’s tireless efforts.8 As a response to Ms. Wheaton’s successful quest to acquire the rights for women to hold state offices, an article in a Tulsa newspaper on Oct. 21, 1942, described her latest achievement: S’elp’us, gals, it’s enough to try a woman’s soul. You may run for president of the United States – if you can persuade F.D.R. to give up – but, by golly, down here in Oklahoma they won’t even trust you to run for state examiner and inspector – probably for fear you’d get elected. That’s what makes folks like Norma Wheaton plenty mad, and when Norma gets mad, you can bet there’ll be fireworks.9 In response to the article, Ms. Wheaton said, “It’s not that I wanted to be governor. I just resented women not having the right to be.”10 Ms. Wheaton’s efforts on behalf of women were certainly monumental, and it was never unusual for the “silver-haired and bespectacled” lady to get fired up over laws that were partial to men, speaking “like a business woman with a lawyer’s flair for the dramatic.”11 After women had won the right to serve on juries, a 1963 Tulsa Daily World article tried to get Ms. Wheaton to commit herself to whether she thought men or women made the best jurors. In response to the question, Ms. Wheaton said: “I can’t see any difference between the two, except that maybe women give more attention to details. Sometimes this is good. Sometimes it’s not. Women certainly know the value of the dollar, speaking of women handing down a verdict in civil cases as opposed to criminal ones.”12 In the 1970s, her efforts became focused on getting the Equal Rights Amendment passed in Oklahoma.13 Ms. Wheaton’s involvement in the legal community demonstrated that not only could women practice law, but they could also hold responsible positions in legal organizations previously held primarily by their male counterparts. Her proficiencies in all areas furthered women’s efforts to attain equal status with men in the legal profession. In 1946, Ms. Wheaton received some much-deserved recognition when the male attorneys of Tulsa “recognized her competence as a lawyer and leader and elected her the first woman president of the Tulsa County Bar Association.”14 She would also be the first woman on the OBA Board of Governors, then called the Executive Council, serving from 1966 to 1968. Ms. Wheaton belonged to the OBA when, in 1934, “a group of Oklahoma City women formed the Women Lawyers Club of Oklahoma which became the current Oklahoma Association of Women lawyers.”15 After the establishment of the organization, it was decided there would be a monthly publication, The Citator, to keep members informed about happenings in the legal community. Ms. Wheaton was named editor of The Citator. She was also a member of the American Bar Association’s Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.
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