To the Editor:
Re “Women’s Colleges” (letters, Sept. 27):
A letter writer’s comparison of women’s colleges to all-white or all-male schools does not note an important point: Men and whites hardly need help to achieve equal opportunities in education.
While women have made great strides toward equality, we still live in a society that pays women less and prevents our advancement to positions of leadership and authority.
Graduates of women’s colleges are more likely to overcome these barriers than women who attend coed schools.
I am a proud alumna of Mount Holyoke College. I would love to see a day when women achieve full equality with men, but until that day arrives, I fully endorse the continued existence of colleges for women only.
Amanda Davis
Astoria, Queens, Sept. 27, 2006
Note from AnalPhilosopher: Two things. First, where is the evidence that women are paid less than men for the same work, where "same work" means same degree of responsibility, same duties, same degree of difficulty, same exposure to risk, and so forth? Second, how exactly does "society" prevent women from advancing to "positions of leadership and authority"? Last time I checked, we had a female United States Supreme Court justice, several female United States senators (including one who is said to be a serious presidential candidate), many female United States representatives, and many female governors, mayors, professors, and corporate executives.
For example,
http://stats.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2003.pdf
I did a paper on occupational sex discrimination and one of the things I found was that women were not recruited into politics the same way men were.
Sure, women can do the same jobs men do, but the theory is they are somehow selected out - either by their own choosing or because of societal factors.
The fact that they are underrepresented is hard to argue against, because the numbers are there. The reasons for the disparity are where the arguments begin!
What exactly is "equal". I know the Webter's dictionary definition, but what is the real world definition? In order for someone to be my equal, wouldn't they have to have the exact same life experiences as I do? Would they not have to attend all the same schools and take all the same classes that I did? Wouldn't they have to have my same personality? My wife and I got into a huge debate on this, and I stumped her. That is hard to do, as she is smarter than I am.
Isn't there research to suggest that men and women think differently, have different brain structures and have different wants when looked at as groups? Women have different bodies than men, could this not impact experiences, expectations, attitudes and resumes? Think about it this way. If I took your arms and legs from you, would I not change your world view because I also change how you interact with the world? Would I not change what your personal hierarchy of importance is if you suddenly became quadraplegic?
Amanda Davis' points are what I come to expect from people who enter liberal arts institutions. The liberal art attitude is: Everybody is equal, even if we continually demonstrate that this is not so.
Do not assume that I think that criminal prejudice does not exist. I believe it does. I just do not think Amanda has discovered the relevant factors in its causation or its relevant identifiers.