Future is female? Not so fast

In response to the opinion piece by David Millard Haskell (Nov. 2), the fact that women outnumber men at universities does not mean the men are being pushed out. Rather, more young men are — wisely — going into vocational studies and the trades.

There are many people, both men and women, who are not eager to take academic studies. They want to be active and doing work that doesn’t require shuffling papers and writing reports.

And there is a lot of money to be made in the trades if one has the training. For example, I have three degrees, but my brother, who quit university and eventually started his own pool-building business, has probably earned more than double what I have over the span of our careers.

Women have a much harder time getting into the trades — perhaps not into training, but a harder time getting jobs, and once there, are often not “accepted well” by men.

And don’t forget the wage gap between men and women. Men still earn a big percentage more than women in almost all jobs and careers, a statistic that is well-documented but one that Mr. Haskell ignores.

As for the Cornell study published by the National Academy of Sciences, showing bias for female candidates over male candidates, I would guess that the ratio of males to females currently employed in those sciences and engineering faculties is now biased heavily in favour of the males.

Assuming that the Cornell findings are valid, then those faculties are probably trying to move toward some equity between their male and female staff.

I think, Mr. Haskell, that you would like to see us go back to a time when women knew their place (either in the home or in a nice little job), and men ran the world. Fortunately, we girls and women plan to keep on working toward equality in every way we can.

Gayle White, Regina