1993_11 The Daily Collegian November 1993

              c
Op/Ed
%\)t Sail? Collegian
Monday, Nov. 8,1993
olumn
Women will
get respect
in 100 years
By Stephen I. Schlossberg
Guest columnist
T. : '	
One hundred years seems an
eternity to wait for equality of op¬
portunity.
.  But that's how long a United
States
women's ad-       :	
vocacy group
estimates it
will take for
women to gain
equity in the
nation's labor
force.
According
to the
Women's Re-
\ search and
Education In¬
stitute and
W.W. Norton
&Co.,iir',The
A**merican
Woman 1990-
91: A Status
Report:**
'    "ft is esti¬
mated that at
the    current      ^^^~^^^~
rates of
change, it will take women from
75 to 100 years to achieve com¬
plete occupational integration in
the workforce."
As the 21st century dawns.
Letters   .
women are playing increasingly
more important roles in workplaces
in America and elsewhere, but a
disproportionate share are still
locked in lower-paying jobs.
In America, black women, who
are more than twice as likely to be
unemployed as white women, face
greater   ob-
      stacles than
other women
in the
workforce. A
pernicious
"dual discrimi¬
nation.
The Inter¬
national La¬
bor Organiza¬
tion (TLO), a
specialized
agency of the
United Na¬
tions that next
year marks its
75th anniver¬
sary of striv¬
ing for social
justice
throughout
' the world,
~"*""""""""""""""™ sees a long
haul toward
achievement of gender equality.
The I LO estimates that, as con¬
ditions now stand, it' will take
nearly 500 years before women
and men are represented in equal
"It is estimated
that at the current
rates of change, it
will take women
from 75 to 100
years to achieve
complete occupa¬
tional integration
in the workforce."
—The American
Woman 1990-91:
A Status Report
numbers in the top echelons of
economic and political life world¬
wide.
U.S. and IL.O estimates of the
long march to equality are dis¬
heartening, and so is theTJLO re¬
port that women in most nations
hold between only lOand 30 per¬
cent of managerial positions and
less than five percent ofthe high¬
est-paid posts.
It is true that in the U.S., where
progress is being made toward
gender equality, a little more than
half the workers in professional
specialty occupations and justover
40 percent of workers in manage¬
rial jobs are women; but in con¬
trast, women account for four out
of every five of me lower-paying
clerical and secretarial jobs.
An equally distressing prob-
What happened to our state?
Dear Editor:
Fee increases have been a major
concern of the students on this cam¬
pus, and after reading Thursday's
article, in The Daily Collegian, it
looks as if it is going to be an even
bigger concern, not just for under¬
graduate students, but for graduate
students as well.
Wanting to be able to supply
more financial aid is good, but what
about those of us who are not eli¬
gible for financial aid? Where does
that leave us? Not able to go to
school in a couple of years!
From my understanding, a state-,
funded school is supposed to get its
funds from the state. "Well, I want
to know what happened to our state
and why should the money have to
come from the students? The state
legislature needs to take a long,
hard look at what is going on and
realize mat if fees keep going up,
there will be a lot of people unable
to receive a higher education!
Lisa Jones
lem confronting working women is
sexual harassment on the job. The
ILO estimates that one in 12 women
in industrialized countries is forced
out of work'' after being sexually
harassed. And, in sofhe surveys of>
working women, between 15 and 30
percent in 23 countries say they were "•
subjected to frequent and serious
sexual harassment.
Discrimination against women—
or anyone—is offensive and inex¬
cusable, the estimated time frame
forending it is depressing and unac¬
ceptable. Thecosttosociety-inthe
United States and in other industrial
and developing countries—isjustas
great as it is unjust
Clearly, the community of na¬
tions, equipped with their own fair-
employment laws, and ILO conven¬
tions on equal opportunity and equal
remuneration, which are like treaty
obligations when ratified by one of
the organization's 167 member na¬
tions, must move in their own soci¬
eties to eradicate all forms of dis¬
crimination.
' On the eve of the ILO's 75th
anniversary in 1994, we are^all
challenged to act with vigor,
through civil rights and human
rights groups, unions, employer
groups and all levels of govern¬
ment, to make equality of opportu¬
nity a reality in workplaces in
America as well as abroad.
Stephen I. SchJdssberg, former
general counsel ofthaAJnited Auto
Workers and Deputy under Secre¬
tary of Labor for Labor-Manage¬
ment Relations, is director ofthe
ILO's Washington Branch Office.
•Ebe Bail? Collegian
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