Re: MentorNet (one woman's response)

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 12:19 -0600 10/11/02, Jim Green wrote:
> Are we now back to the question of racial parity in the NFL?
Affirmative action does not have to, and is not intended to, apply to
every aspect of society, only to those areas where discrimination
based on factors irrelevant to the position exists. Are there any
white football or basketball players who are not getting a fair
chance to play in the NFL or NBA  *because* they are white? I doubt
it. But there are pockets of discrimination even there. It is only
recently that there have been any black coaches in the NFL and not
much longer in the NBA. One example form a few years back is black
quarterbacks in the NFL--there weren't any. Some fought it and lost,
others switched. One switcher I know of was Gene Washington, a star
wide receiver with the 49ers for several seasons. As an undergrad at
Stanford he was on his way to becoming an outstanding quarterback,
black or white. But in his junior year, he switched to wide receiver
to improve his chances of succeeding in the NFL, where *no* black
player had ever served as a quarterback.

But it wasn't all that many years ago when there were no black
players in either the NFL or the NBA. Since Jackie Robinson broke the
barrier in baseball. But no one is arguing that white players are
being discriminated against in any sport. If there aren't a
representative number of white players there, it is because they have
freely chosen to put their efforts elsewhere.

Now, back to the subject. Are there barriers to women entering
physics? Just ask any woman now studying physics or who recently
earned her PhD. The only difference between now and a generation ago
is that now the barriers are more subtle. That makes them much more
difficult to combat. There are still colleges out there with nepotism
rules that prevent a woman from taking *any* position at a college
that employs her husband. That may have made a modicum of sense in
the 30s, when people were eating in soup kitchens and in many
families there were *no* breadwinners, but I think it cannot be
justified now. It remains difficult for a woman who takes time out to
have a child or two to get back into a college position. The
"re-entry problem" is a real impediment to women in science and
probably all the professions, but especially in science, where a
premium is placed on "remaining current." As member of a distinct
minority both as students, post-docs and junior faculty members,
women find themselves ignored or trivialized or both in many
departments (there are notable exceptions, and their number is
growing, fortunately, but not fast enough). The situation is clear,
when one looks at not only the numbers decline as one moves up the
academic ladder, but also the average age at which those who do get
promotions compared to the men who get similar promotions. Not only
do the women get fewer promotions, but they tend to be older than
comparable males when they do get them.

It is situations like these that call for affirmative action, not
getting more white players in the NFL.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.