Columnist's dismissal of pay gap unfounded

With regard to Stephen Miller's column "Sorry feminists," (Nov. 22 issue)-as the creator of the fliers he alludes to and her boyfriend-we can only say, "Sorry, Stephen." First off, the idea that legal equality is the end of the struggle would have rendered the Civil Rights movement superfluous after segregation was declared unconstitutional in 1954. But history tells us that it was crucial; that legal equality was not and is still not enough. Miller's claims that the pay gap gets smaller with adjustment for hours worked; yet even when surveys control for hours worked, level of education, type of work and years on the job, the pay gap remains substantial.

Second, Miller discusses men's entrance into more lucrative or hazardous fields. Even within such dangerous fields, women make less money. While Miller would deny their existence, female truck drivers make 76 cents for every dollar a male truck driver earns. A study in Sweden showed that female professors had to be 2.5 times as productive to receive similar ranking and esteem to their male colleagues. In a case study of transsexuals, women who became men almost invariably received a pay increase while men who became women earned less money after the operation. These studies are only the tip of the iceberg.

He also says that women only recently entered the work force, but women of color have been working outside the home for centuries. Furthermore, women are not responsible for the fact that they were systematically excluded from the workforce. Discrimination against women in the past does not justify it in the present. Similarly, due to the expectation that women will leave their professions to raise their children, women are often ignored for promotions.

It is not that they do not ask for raises. It is that people like you would prefer women to be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. You think that closing the pay gap would mean women giving up the joy of being home during their child's first years of life. We have a solution: You stay home and witness that joy. Or is that also an idea that you cannot stomach?

Amy Levenberg, Trinity '07

Aaron Johnson, Trinity '07