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From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: net.women,net.politics,net.social
Subject: Re: Discrimination against women and statistics
Message-ID: <1035@ames.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 5-Jul-85 18:43:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: ames.1035
Posted: Fri Jul  5 18:43:10 1985
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From Cheryl Stewart (oddjob!cs1):
>>[Will Martin explains the advantages he believes his wife enjoys because
>>she doesn't have to work]
>>Sounds to me like she got a pretty good deal out of this...

>      "Women's culture" is as much of a trap as "ghetto culture".
>Continuing to argue that *their* women don't *want* to get out of the ghetto
>(because it's oh-such-a-gilded ghetto), the male chauvinist swine on this net
>are only flaunting their role in reducing what should be a spiritual and 
>personal relationship (marriage) to a mere economic decision, social agreement
>and civil contract--sort of like legal, licensed prostitution, Will.

	I think there are two issues in danger of being confused, here.
Women *do* suffer discrimination against them in the job market, and
are frequently underemployed as a result. This is patently unfair, and
is a particular hardship on women who are raising a family alone. But,
if a woman is in the fortunate position of not needing to work, and also
feels no desire to work, what is wrong with that? Is it your position
that such a woman must be a victim of brainwashing by our male-dominated
society? Is it not possible for two people to be sanely happy together
even though they choose to play contrasting roles in their relationship?
Must the Puritan ethic of measuring everyone's worth by their material
achievements become the standard for everyone?

-  From the Crow's Nest  -                      Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
                                                Moffett Field, CA
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