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From: crm@cs.duke.edu (Charlie Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Re: Countering discrimination your children will face
Message-ID: <12872@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 1 Aug 88 15:03:02 GMT
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[In the discussion of whether to allow a girl to choose whatever
field she wants or to encourage to go a less traditional route...]


   I disagree. What if you had a girl who did well in math and science,
   but did exceptionally well in, say, languages? Wouldn't it be better for
   her to become a scientist/engineer with an interest in languages than
   a linguist who knows Stokes' theorem? Besides, how do you know that her
   performance in math/science isn't affected by the very fact that she
   is a girl? - how can you tell if that is a natural tendency or not?

   Caroline Lambert
   caroline@polya.stanford.edu		clambert@sun.com

NOoooOOo!  Why is it better?  Because engineers get paid Big Bucks,
while linguists don't?  Because engineering is "better" for political
reasons?  Because she's a female and therefore *shouldn't* go into
traditional female-dominated jobs (assuming linguists are more likely to
be female rather than male, for which I have no evidence)?

How do you know if her natural tendancy toward math/science has been
affected by geing a girl?  Damnfino.  But I *am* pretty certain that if
someone is exceptionally good at something and is pressured --
"encouraged" -- into doing something they are not good, it is equally
evil whether the person is male or female, talented in math, science,
linguistics or cooking.

If the liberation of women has any meaning at all, it means freeing
women to choose to do what they like best and are best at, without
outside pressure to make a choice specifically based on sex.

Charlie Martin (crm@cs.duke.edu,mcnc!duke!crm)