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October 27, 1986 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1986-10-27

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E

OPINION

Page 4

Monday, October 27, 1986

The Michigan Daily

- m

I Iq

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Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Vol. XCVII, No. 38

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.

Con tinn~ing ineniialitv

AS REPORTED by a University
Business School survey, the
number of women promoted to the
highest executive posts in business
is decreasing, indicating that deep-
rooted biases continue to handicap
women.
Women today are more visible in
all facets of the workforce. Many
have succeeded in breaking into
traditionally male-dominated fields.
But the highly publicized
achievements of women such as
Geraldine Ferraro and Sally Ride,
and the advances of women in the
corporate sector, have created an
ill-founded optimism regarding the
status of women's rights.
The more subtle inequalities
borne by women in business as
well as the needs of poorer,
Working women have been
verlooked by the media and
society. Occupational segregation
by sex and race continues to
characterize the job market. The
situation is reflected at the
University as well-the percentage
.f female faculty members is only
11.1 percent; in administration,
0nly three out of the 17 deans are
Women. Most women still work in
low-salaried female dominated
ields such as clerical, sales, health
service, primary educaton, and
actory jobs.
1 Working women earn on
kverage only 64 percent of men's
wages. The salary gap today is
.approximately the same as it was in
A1955. Attempting to explain this
Eiisparity, people often point out
hat women workers lack job
xperience and needed skills; so
hey are naturally confined to low-
aying occupations. Women do
am less than men because they
ave less work experience; but this
gument ignores the reasons for
he disparity and blames women
or their disadvantaged situation.
Instead, it makes sense to look
t the particular role of women in
gociety, and then to see how
:ociety has kept women from
:ntering the job market on equal
footing with' men. In World War
I, when women were needed in
ohe work force, both government
and private industry provided free,
- j
ClApt
THOSE WHO HAVE lauded the
recently approved South Africa
sanctions bill as a shining example
of humanitarian legislation may do
well to read it. The bill provides
that "No agency or entity of the
United States may engage in any
form of cooperation, direct or
indirect, with the armed forces of
the government of South Africa."
Such a statement is admirable. It
should be unnecessary. One
would like to assume that United
States agencies would not
cooperate with those who enforce

the repressive policies of apartheid.
But, indeed, United States agencies
do collude with the apartheid
regime. As much is admitted by an
explicit stipulation in the sanctions
bill allowing cooperation in
'activities which are reasonably
designed to facilitate the collection
of necessary intelligence."
United States intelligence

quality day care and set up special
training programs for women.
Now that unemployment poses a
serious threat , these programs
have been abandoned. Indeed, in a
campaign speech in 1984,
President Reagan commented that
there wouldn't be so much
unemployment if women weren't
working. Besides, differences
in work experience between the
sexes account for only one-third of
the wage gap between white
women and white men and
approximately one-quarter of the
earnings gap between black women
and white men.
Sex discrimination in job
evaluation systems and pay
structures is probably less
conscious than most people realize.
Job evaluation systems, used by
employers to determine pay scales
for various jobs in their
businesses, remain biased against
women. There is a perception that
male-dominated work is more
valuable than work traditionally
done by women - even though
the work of men and women is
actually of at least equal value to
the business. The contributions of
predominately male custodians to
the functioning of an office have
been recognized, whereas female
secretaries remain underpaid.
The concept of comparable
worth is an attempt to change this
imbalance. The proposal is that
jobs should be compensated
"according to the inherent value of
work, regardless of the sex of the
worker." The concept of
comparable worth has been
implemented by local legislators
around the country, but the idea
hasn't received significant support
by the Reagan administration.
Women have come a long way
in recent decades, but pay equality
remains distant. For the past six
years, the percentage of female
headed households living below
the poverty level has been in excess
of 40 percent. The goals of
comparable worth, combined with
better child-care facilities, increased
training opportunities, and support
networks for all women can help
redress the feminization of poverty.

LETTERS:
DSA
To the Daily:
In an interview with Peter
Mooney ("Pursell responds to
Baker, issues," Daily,
10/20/86) Carl Pursell stated
that Dean Baker had been
endorsed by the Democratic
Socialists of America. In the
televised debate of October 21
Pursell charged that the
Democratic Socialists of
America was a "party"
operating out of New York
(The Ann Arbor News,
October 22).
A spectre is haunting
Michigan- the spectre of the
Democratic Socialists of
America. It is high time that
democratic socialists should
openly, in the Opinion Page of
the Daily, publish their views,
their aims, their tendencies, and
meet this nursery tale of the
spectre of democratic socialism
with a manifesto of the
organization itself.
First, why all the fuss?
There exists in America a
tradition of willful distortion of
socialists politics by con-
servatives in the government
and the media. Americans are
taught that the only alternative
to U.S. capitalism is a dreary,
repressive Soviet style total-
itarianism. Anyone proposing
a more democratic, humane and
equitable alternative to our
current system is labeled a
starry-eyed dreamer or a
dangerous revolutionary.
These notions are not only
preposterous but they consti-
tute a good deal of what's
wrong with current, unin-
formed political debate.
Democratic socialist parties
in Europe have in fact suceeded
in creating societies as
prosperous as our own and at
the same time much less
troubled by social problems
such as unemployment, crime,
poverty and pollution. In fact,
every advanced industrial
democracy in the world
including Japan, Australia,
Scandanavia and the rest of
Europe has been significantly
influenced byademocratic
socialist parties and policies. It
is their record of success that
Pursell and his ilk are so
desperate to suppress.
Carl Pursell focuses upon
the "socialist" in DSA's name
while ignoring the word "dem-
ocratic" altogether. As demo-
cratic socialists we have a
strong commitment to demo-
cratic principles. Democracy
extends beyond the ballot box.
We believe in democratic
control of the economy.
Today, large corporations exert
control overmany peoples'
lives. Decisions to close or
relocate plants and to lay-off
workers are often made for
short term profits without
regard for community and
national interests. A few

powerful executives make
decisions affecting the whole
economy. In addition, these
same people have dispro-
portionate influence on gov-
ernment policies. Real democ-
racy requires a more equitable
distribution of power in our
society.
Clearly, Carl Pursell's red-
baiting tactics play on
ignorance and fear of the
unknown, in this case, of
democratic socialism. He
emphasizes the DSA's endorse-
ment of Baker knowing that
many have no idea what this
means and will assume that
Baker has some sort of
Communist link. Pursell is
deliberately trying to confuse
voters.
We object to Pursell's
attempt to connect DSA and
Baker to Soviet expansionism.
The Soviet Union is not

clar fie
nation of the United States.
DSA works within the
Democratic Party to promote
progressive ideas and candi-
dates. This year the Ann Arbor
local is supporting Dean Baker
for Congress, Lana Pollack for
State Senate and Perry Bullard
for State Representative. In
fact, Bullard and city council
members Lowell Peterson and
Jeff Epton are DSA members.
On the national level, DSA
members include U.S. Con-
gressman Ron Dellums, actor
Ed Asner, Gloria Steinem,
Manning Marable and Barbara
Ehrenreich. We are a nice
group of people, and it hurts
when a knee-jerk reactionary
like Pursell throws our name
around as though it were an
insult.
Voters of the Second
District unite! You have
nothing to lose but an
unprincipled Reaganite, and
Dean Baker to gain!.
IMPAC sup;
To the Daily:
Tonight at 7 p.m., Involved
in Michigan Political Action
Committee (IMPAC) will be
holding a mass meeting in the
Michigan League Henderson
Room to organize students
who would like to work on
Election Day on the campaigns
of Congressman Bob Carr of
E. Lansing and Pontiac and Ed
Feighan of Cleveland. We will
be sponsoring free rides to
Cleveland and the
Lansing/Pontiac area on Nov.
4 for those willing to phone
bank, canvas house to house
and drive elderly people to the
polls to turn out the voters for
these two Democratic
Congressmen.,
IMPAC will support
candidates for federal office
who: 1) demonstrate a moral
commitment to the survival of
the State of Israel, 2) recognize
Israel's strategic value to the
United States, 3) support
economic and military aid to
Israel and 4) commit
themselves to the security of
Israel and to further peace
efforts in the Middle East.
In 1984, IMPAC sent 40
students from Ann Arbor on
vans to the Chicago area to -
turn out voters for then Cong.
Paul Simon, a strong friend of
Israel, in his race to unseat
Sen. Charles Percy, the
Chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee
who voted a number of times
against aid to Israel. The
students knocked on doors,

its

platform

. . democratic socialist
and city council member,
Lowell Peterson

. .. Ed Asner, actor and
DSA member

-Regina South, U of
M DSA Co-Chair
-Jim Blevins, U of
M DSA Co-Chair
-Paul Meyer,
National Executive

ports pro-Israel
made calls and drove elderly and
disabled people to the polls-
helping to provide the 1 %
margin of victory for Simon in
that crucial Senate race. While
we might no have made THE
difference in that race, IMPAC
MADE A DIFFERENCE. If
you can't make the meeting
tonight and would like to join

Committee of DSA
Youth Section
-Jonathan J.
Bhushan, U of M
College Democrats
President
- October 22
candidates
us on Election Day, call Lisa
at 996-4350 or Jeff at 665-
4754.
-Lisa Bardach, Jeff
Parness, Sandy Hauser,
Gary Chapnick, Andrea
Jaron, Susan Sherman,
IMPAC Executive
Council
October 25

Diminishing faculty

To the Daily:
Undergraduate education at
Michigan is failing, according
to President Shapiro, because
of an "increase in the relative
size of the student body." In
saying that, Mr. Shapiro is
intending to deceive us.
What does "the relative size
of the student body" mean?
That students are bigger these
days than they used to be? No,
the "relative" Mr. Shapiro
refers to is the size of the
faculty - and the faculty has
shrunk by nearly 20 percent
since Mr. Shapiro became
president.
Faculty shrinkage is
responsible for the increase in

the size of classes - not the
size of the student body. And
faculty shrinkage has not been
accidental. It was ordered by
Mr. Shapiro as part of his
absurd "smaller is better" plan.
The idea was that fewer faculty
- those who remained after
shrinkage - would make more
money than they would have
otherwise. Accoording to Mr.
Shapiro's values, if we make
more money we won't
complain - money is much
more important than eduaction.
In speaking of "the relative
size of the student body" Mr.
Shapiro intends a lie.
-Bert G. Hornback
Engish Professor
October 15

I

Can you draw? Do you want to depict
political or cultural criticism? The Daily is
looking for people with cartoons, collages
and other graphic works. Call 747-2814.

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arthied

I, 4

VIE'ar

Nelson Mandela was handed over
to South African security forces by
the CIA. Mandela was forced
underground in the fight against
apartheid when his African
National Congress was outlawed.
He was reportedly on his way to a
surreptious meeting with a CIA
officer when he was arrested. The
CIA exposed Mandela in return for
information about South Africa's
planned development of the
apartheid system.
This collusion between U.S. and
South African agencies would be
more palatable if it was only a thing
of the past. The odious
relationship, however, continues
unabated. This summer, it was
revealed that the United States
National Security Agency, at the
behest of South Africa's
government, regularly monitored
communications channels used by
the African NationalC nnoraes

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