Page 143 - ThePhoenix1997-98

COMMENTARY Wednesday, April 1, 1998 - Page 7 Women's History Month: It's Not a Bad Idea The month of March is the accomplishments of women Megan Martin discusses Women have also been ex- known as Women's History and their contributions to soci- some of the reasons for pected to forego careers and be a month for women. Month. I once heard a woman ely. satisfied with getting married With all these things consid- complain about having a month What are some of the reasons Women's History Month. ered, women have a lot to deal and raising a family. with, and having a month to cel- set aside to honor women. women are buried by {he history Even today, after much ebrate our hard-working and I am not sure whether or not of men and treated as inferior? Yes, there are some notice- progress, women are still ex- long-suffering sisters does not she really meant it or whether Is it the fact that women are able physical differences be- pected to deal with double stan- seem so bad. she was just in a bad mood, but the ones who give birth? I think tween men and women, but dards and unfair treatment in The above are just some rea- the statement really bothered giving birth is a pretty honor- these differences do not make the work place. me. able act, and I am sure most men men any better than women or Double standards include sons I can think of as to why No self-respecting woman do not envy women the pain of women any better than men. such things as it being "okay" women are and have been dis- wants to be singled out and childbirth. When you get right Women and men are just differ- for men to sleep around, but if criminated against. I am no ex- are probably so there oth- pert, looked up to for 31 days out of down to it, where would any of ent, and different does not mean women do it, they are sluts. superior or inferior. in the "For every Bill Clinton, there is a way There are differences express "Women s History Month gives everyone women men and Benazlr Bhutto of whom we know little their emotions, too, but this a chance to learn more about the should not be a basis for judg- about. " ment, either. accomplishments of women and their Once again, the two differ- contributions to society. " ent ways of expressing emotion 365. Women want and deserve us be if a woman had not given are different, not necessarily to be equals in the eyes of his- birth to us or to our ancestors? better or worse. tory and the world on all days. Could it be physical differ- Because of rmsperceptions, Unfair treatment includes re- While the results of our an- In point of fact, however, ences between males and fe- women have been treated as cestors' misconceptions are de- every day is white man's day, males? property of men, as inferior to ceiving smaller salaries than moralizing, what is past is past, in some jobs. male counterparts and until such a time as women Seems like a pretty lame ex- men, and as weaker than men. Many women, even those and grudges should not be held. are acknowledged as equals, cuse because one cannot judge with careers, are often left with We live in a society full of Women's History Month is not two completely different beings There have been some ex- the majority of responsibility intelligent people; we should be such a bad idea. on the same scale. No two men ceptions, such as Japan before for raising children. able to right some of the wrongs For every Bill Clinton, there are judged on quite the same the samurai period, where Talk about stress. Women of- of the past and put women in is a Benazir Bhutto of whom we scale, so women and men should women have been considered ten work two jobs because of their "proper" place, alongside the need for such men and make know little about. Women's not be judged on the same scale the equals of men, but there are this. One is difficult enough. months as Women's History History Month gives everyone in' relation to physical appear- not too many of these excep- but two? There are not too many a chance to learn more about ances and actions. tions. better reasons for setting aside Month disappear. Letter to the Editor I found Anne Butler's edito- and presentations - Quark Express plications, many companies have rial on the Windows-Macog and/or Adobe PageMaker for post- a collection of unique applica- wars to be quite entertaining. As ers and newsletters - Adobe tions that are specific to their par- you may know, I worked in the Photoshop and Illustrator for com- ticular business needs. corporate sector as an informa- puter graphics - and Macromedia So, the question that gradu- tion systems analyst for a num- Director for multimedia composi- ates will be asked during the job ber of years, and now I teach tion. interview is not "What kind of courses in the social effects of All of these widely used appli- computer did you use?" but information technology, so I'm cations run equally well on both the rather, "Have you ever used the familiar with the near-religious MacOS and the Windows operat- (blank) software package? No? fervor thai can overcome people Well, how long do you think it as they defend their favorite would take you to learn how to brand of computer. "The most important use it?" The best way 10 answer I wonder, though, if it might this question is to point out that not be worthwhile to present skill that employers you have used many different some information as to the kinds are looking for in kinds of computers and software of computer skills that employ- applications in college, and that ers look for when they interview new college recent college graduates. graduates is the you are very experienced in the Perhaps surprisingly, the kind art of mastering new systems. of computer that you use in col- ability to adapt to So, you see, a good college lege is not very important to pro- should provide its students with spective employers. They are new software a. mixture of different kinds of much more interested in two environments. " computers, operating systems, things: what kinds of applications applications and hardware de- software do you know how to vices. Although the process of use, and how quickly can you ing systems, and since both oper- learning how to use all of these learn to use a software applica- ating systems use the same kind of different things can be frustrat- "H.,., RelaX. I' .. just looking for d1rect1ons." tion that you have never seen menu/mouse/desktop interface, ing and even annoying, it is also before. there really is no particular advan- one of the more valuable skills Do you have an opinion to state, or a Of the two, the first is least tage working on one brand of com- that you can take with you when you graduate. small comment to make on a Phoenix article? important. A relatively applications puter or another. important skill that number of computer The most Don't keep it to yourself, write a letter are used by the majority of U.S. employers are looking for in new Sincerely, Richard W. Dillman graduates to the editor. businesses. Word These are: Microsoft college to new software environ- to Department of Communica- is the ability Office; for word process- adapt Send your letter on a Macintosh disk through ing, Excel for spreadsheet calcu- ments. Although most everyone tion lations and PowerPoint for slides uses the same major software ap- campus mail. or e-mail us at phoenix@wmdc.edu