Judith -- I really do think we are both working for the same goals, and as
with any attempt to change society you need people working within the
current system to make incremental changes and you need people with a
bigger vision.  I also think that legislation may change people's behavior,
but that it does little to change people's attitudes, which is why we still
constantly struggle for an appropriate education for our son Peter, even
though the ADA and the IDEA and PL94-152 have been in place for years, and
why African Americans still struggle with rampant discrimination and hatred
by Euopean Americans and why female college athletes still don't get near
the funding and support that male college athletes do.  While trying to
establish an on-site day care center at my university, we struggled against
every conceivable obstacle the administration could put in our way.  One of
my colleagues took me aside and said "Kathy, you'll never be successful as
long as the top administrators don't believe women belong in the academic
workforce in the first place."  And it took more than 10 years, and a
gradual shift of women into a few key administrative posts for the day care
center to finally become a reality.  I am well aware of the power
differentials that impede progress on these issues, and I am glad that
there are people working to change by-laws and change legislation and
slowly slowly chip away at obstacles.  But I also think that the current
power differential is upheld and supported every time people go along with
it.




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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:
[log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html

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