Author: Women's movement too slow

By Josie Gingrich

Daily Staff Reporter

Although many people believe society has made great gains in the arena of gender equality, Virginia Valian disagrees.

"Women have problems in all of the professions," said Valian, a professor of psychology and linguistics at Hunter College in New York.

In a discussion with the same title as her book "Why So Slow: The Advancement of Women," Valian spoke about the causes and remedies of what she calls the slow progress of women to an audience largely comprised of professional women at the School of Education yesterday.

"For those of us concerned about equality and inequality in the workplace and academia, 'Why so Slow?' hits a chord," said Carol Hollenshead, director of the Center for the Education of Women, which co-sponsored the event along with the Center for Higher and Postsecondary Education.

Valian outlined data from several professions, including international business, law and medicine, to show that women are disadvantaged in many ways. For example, a study on men and women in international business fields found that "women's achievements and qualifications appear to mean less then men's," she said.

Most striking, Valian said, is the fact that women who have lived outside the United States and know a foreign language are paid less then women who do not hold those qualifications. In contrast, men are paid more for having those skills.

"When men go abroad, it's career preparation," Valian said. "When women go abroad it's not caring about a career."

Valian also discussed salary problems. "Women and men start out equally," she said, "but women quickly fall behind."

The reasons for these disparities, Valian said, are preconceived notions as to what men and women can accomplish. "We overrate men and underrate women," she said. "We don't see people as people. We see them as male or female."

But Valian put part of the blame on women for not asserting their rights nor recognizing that there is a problem.

"Women do not want to think they're at a disadvantage," she said. "Ambitious women want to believe in a just world because believing otherwise imperils their own chance at success."

Valian emphasized that remedies for this situation exist. "We need to develop valid and objective criteria for evaluating performance," Valian said. "We need to legitimate aspiring female leaders equally to males. ... It's an institutional responsibility."

"It was a very good lecture and very timely," said Tatiana Suspitsina, a Education second-year graduate student. "I wish more people would have come and listened. It's not only concerning women, but it also concerns men."

Suspitsina also expressed dismay at the state of women in the workplace.

"I think women often think that society has changed, and that's not true," she said. "It's very important to have quantitative data and statistics to prove discrimination still exists."

PETER CORNUE/Daily

Hunter College linguistics and psychology Prof. Virginia Valian speaks about the advancement of women at the School of Education yesterday.