Re: Equalizing Advantage

From: edequity@phoenix.edc.org
Date: Fri Feb 18 2000 - 17:01:45 EST


Amber DeWine said on 2/17/00 9:02 AM
"How about the fact that there are more male dropouts than women, and that
women make up more of the student bodies of most institutions of higher
education. What has the "equity" movement done to equalize this?
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Ms. DeWine,
Could you share your references for the above statements?

I think that you have chosen to ignore a concept that has been presented in
the past--male privilege, more specifically, male White privilege. A good
beginning reference is an article by Peggy McIntosh. I am assuming that
others on this listserv have either investigated/explored or experienced
this concept to some degree from the responses I read.

I am not condemning you for not reading up on the subject, but it just
seems that whenever someone says yes, you say no. I do not understand why
it is inconceivable to you that our society has unspoken rules that hold
many institutions together? Many of these rules leave people out and give
advantage to others. For the most part, the rules benefit men. Many of
these rules exist without anyone challenging them.

For me, the equity movement is challenging many of these unspoken rules.
What are these unspoken rules doing to benefit you that creates angst when
a body of evidence challenges them? I believe that people tend to support
what benefits them to some degree. Like the saying goes, if it works,
don't fix it. So what is working? The current system does not work for me
or others whom I advocate for, so I want to change it.

Elaine DeBassige D'Amato
edebassi@mcrel.org



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