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The Role of Women in Society
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18554 |
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EDITORIAL
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| Issue
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4 / 1991 |
783 Words |
| Author
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Morton A. Kaplan
Editor and Publisher |
The special theme in this month's Currents in Modern Thought section deals with the role of women in the developed world. This is a topic of great importance for the development of American and other societies as we move into the twenty-first century.
There can be no doubt that the women's movement has had a great and desirable impact on the shape of contemporary society. It has made consciousness-raising something more than a cliché. I remember as a graduate student after World War II knowing that my female colleagues would have to look for jobs in women's colleges and not being offended by that fact.
It is true that I had a far greater worry that diverted my attention. It had been almost impossible for a Jew to get a job teaching in an American university, and the worst depression ever in the availability of college teaching positions was looming on the horizon.
My generation was inclined to accept discrimination as a fact of life. I was not outraged by the knowledge that my undergraduate university had only one Jew on the faculty (who had been a friend of its founder) and that my department chairman had advised me against teaching as a career because of the extant prejudice. I was simply determined to go ahead.
Enlightened individuals today believe that any type of discrimination is outrageous and that women should be allowed to compete on an equal basis with men for any positions to which they aspire. These sensible views can be detached from the extreme Marxist rhetoric and conspiracy theories that characterize some elements in the women's movement.
On the other hand, I disapprove of the propaganda that attempts to dictate that women must pursue careers. I have been lucky in that my career has been intellectually rewarding. But most jobs are not rewarding in any significant way. The assembly-line worker of whom Charlie Chaplin made fun in Modern Times found satisfaction in his job in real life because it permitted him to provide for his family, not because the task was inherently rewarding.
Although there are some tasks in society that are essential--president of the United States, for instance--motherhood and raising children are more important than almost all the jobs held by men or women. Jobs for which we--men or women--have a real vocation should be encouraged by school and society to pursue it. But those who lack this vocation, or who rank it
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