E OPINION Page 4 Monday, October 27, 1986 The Michigan Daily - m I Iq -I 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. 0 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 eol-5ll Sad +kcd eco(cr km -Ukc SOIL jCAA i'st %v ii ~ Ko dv jlI now MvJC Alas\)ill of AA'vc !SociaiAslsJ knvowu vote& 1 Do I XXX. xx .," "' -. / i " ,. , U i 'I _________ I r.'