From: justin@hp750.ccs.uky.edu (Justin Sullivan)
Subject: Re: SEXISM--CHANGING?
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 07:05:08 GMT

cheung@CAM.ORG (Shirley Cheung) writes:

>I have been following up the sexism issue on the net for days now. And
>there's an intriguing question that has been bugging me. Given the fact
>that most Japanese women are now VERY well educated, how can they bear to
>have a salaried position less than men. Are they stupid or something?
>Don't the companies look for QUALIFIED workers regardless of the basis of
>gender. In fact, the gender issue here is totally irrelevant to the
>productivity of one firm. Why are people still be that TRADITION?

Hello again (did my previous article get through?) 
Don't take it so hard.. Women make less than men, but blacks make A LOT
less than anyone else (in America, of course). This has been discussed
(in a sense) before, and I think most responses pointed to the fact that
QUALIFICATIONS get you farther in Japan then they do in America (where you
either have to know someone or you can forget it).

I'm wondering if people aren't paid (starting salary-wise) according to their
perceived level of maturity (a prime indicator of someone's capability)..
Anyway, tradition is good.. I wish things on this side of the Pacific were more
'traditional.' Why, in my day, you didn't have elementary schools with 
'designated smoking areas'! (and I'm not that old..) You didn't have blacks
that riot and beat up white people, and you didn't have women demanding
legal and social favoritism. I guess we just don't know what we have until
it's gone.. <sigh>

>As the world is getting smaller and smaller, as more information regarding
>to the social situation of both the Western and the Eastern countries, I
>like to know how long will the Japanese society take in order to achieve
>sex-equality. 

As long as it took the South to integrate the public schools.. FOREVER,
and then, you'll need armed escorts to walk them around. :)

>I know that the Japanese women are the most brilliant people in the world.

Now wait just a minute.. I might agree that JAPANESE PEOPLE are the most
brilliant in the world, but you're walking on thin ice when you insist
that Japanese women are the most brilliant.. One could argue that if they
aren't willing to fight for equality, they're not so smart after all.
(Then again, certain historic groups might have been better off if they
hadn't insisted on equality.. Maybe.. Maybe not.)

Perhaps if you were to offer some proof that Japanese women are the smartest
people in the world, you might have a more inspiring argument.

>How can they be so closed-minded and let others to decide their own future
>and also let them to DEPRIVE their RIGHTS in the workforce?? In my
>opinion, I strongly believe that if there's a GREAT (1-2million) of women
>who are willing to initiate some drastic actions in Japan (demonstratio,
>petition, etc.), the society will accelerate in a faster pace. 

Well, I didn't engineer the human species, so I don't know why, BUT..
Females are the weakest breed. Why do women let men treat them like sex
objects and throw them around like property? Because they can (and because
women frequently enjoy the attention, but that's another story.. :)
I REALLY hope it's not like this in Nihon, but in America, this is especially
true BECAUSE: 1) we eat too much red meat :) and 2) most men let the little
head do the thinking for the big one (if you catch my drift..) Some people
have proved a connection between the two (believe it or not).
Besides, if you and every woman you knew petitioned for better treatment,
they would probably laugh and tell you to get back to work..
Frustrating, isn't it?

>Sadly, there are so few Japanese women on the net which makes me almost
>impossible to understand them. Do you know any women who wants to talk
>about this issue with me?

They're probably at home raising the next generation of Japanese
geniuses (male AND female, I'm sure).