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From: kauff@neit.cgd.ucar.edu
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: The Equality of Men & Women
Message-ID: <10321@ncar.ucar.edu>
Date: 17 Feb 91 22:52:00 GMT
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Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org
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Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org


I heard a sound-bite (ie. not the whole story) recently wherein 
Molly Yard (?) had stated that if there were more congress-women then 
we probably wouldn't be at war now.  This suggests that women are 
mentally different than men, apparently by nature and/or by upbringing.

This raises a few questions about the equality of women & men.  I'm
interested in the "feminist" position on a few questions.  I use quotes
because presumably there are different schools of thought among feminists.

0) What are the main schools of though among feminists?  Perhaps each
   group will have a different answer to the following questions.

1) In what sense are women's thoughts and ideas *equal* to man's?  Is the 
   entire though process the same, or is the thought process different but 
   of equal value?

2) If the thought processes are different, is this an intrinsic difference
   or is it a learned difference?

3) To what extent do women want to be equal to men?  Perhaps men have
   an undesirable thought process (or vise versa).

4) If women's thought process is different than man's (whether by nature, 
   by upbringing, or consciously self-taught) does this imply that women 
   would normally be more or less qualified for certain jobs?

5) Do feminists want a fair chance at competing in today's (patriarchal?)
   society, or do they want to change society (to be more matriarchal?)?  
   Perhaps it's more desirable to change society than to adopt a thought
   process that works in current society.  Do the words "patriarchal" and
   "matriarchal" accurately describe the issues here?  How do feminists
   define the meaning of these words?
   
-Brian



-- 
"Folks want G-d to be just like them, only cuter."    - Robert Inman

nadel@aerospace.aero.org