Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!ucivax!gateway From: mccoy@casbah.acns.nwu.EDU (Jim Mccoy) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: Sexism (against women) Message-ID: <1991Mar12.203302.8672@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> Date: 13 Mar 91 18:44:00 GMT References: <513Go7_c@cs.psu.edu> <1991Feb8.165736.24726@aero.org><1991Mar5.120658.7987@ora.com> <9103072251.697@mydog.UUCP> Reply-To: mccoy@ils.nwu.EDU Organization: The Internet Lines: 50 Approved: tittle@ics.uci.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: zola.ics.uci.edu In article <9103072251.697@mydog.UUCP>, gcf@mydog.UUCP (Gordon Fitch) writes: |> |> In <1991Mar5.120658.7987@ora.com> mg20+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Paul Greelish) writes: |> | A very simple (series of) question(s): |> | |> | How much sexism (against women) do people perceive there to be |> | nowadays? What form does it take? What kinds of people perpetrate |> | it? |> |> Almost all of those who populate the U.S. Senate, the House of |> Representatives, the Supreme Court, the Federal Judiciary, the |> Executive, the corresponding state, county, and municipal offices, |> the management of the Fortune 500, the upper echelons of the |> military and Academia, and the system administration of all these |> computers we write on, are male -- and you gotta ask these |> questions? I think that your analysis here is slightly flawed. Please remember that no one (male or female) just leaves business school and starts work as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. No one starts out at the top. Getting there takes years, even decades of hard work. If you consider the fact that women were not considered for any sort of power position (management, or any other position exercising significant power over others) 40-50 years ago then it is not surprising that there are very few of them in upper level power positions. When women first entered the workforce they faced oppresive levels of sexism and they were openly discriminated against. Once women began to be accepted in the workforce (60s and 70s) they still faced discrimination, but the possibility for real advancement existed. Again, there is no reason to expect them to be instantly moved into high level positions, but as time progressed women have been able to move up the corporate ladder. Each successive generation of women in the workforce builds upon the advances of those who preceeded them and establishes a foundation for those who will follow. While the final jump to the top may be more difficult than some of the middle levels, it is inevitable. It just takes time. (As a sort of disclaimer here, I should note that as long as women are barred from combat duty in the US military they will probably never occupy any positions of authority.) jim -- Jim McCoy | "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm mccoy@acns.nwu.edu | having an old friend for dinner." #include | --Hannibal Lector