I am embarrassed for your paper that editorials such as the recent “Gender equity still a farce” are still being offered to the public as serious commentary.

It makes no contribution to public knowledge and furthers needless antagonism between unthinking readers.

You state: “More than half the world’s population is female.”

What can that possibly have to do with female faculty in the U.S.?

Are you saying that women in Rumania should be considered for a teaching position here?

You state that: “More than half the United States population is female.”

Are women under 16 years of age to be counted as possible faculty members?

You say, “More than half of Iowa’s population is female,” but only a small percent have the requirements to be considered for higher academic positions—a P.h.D degree!

The fact is that the “population pool” from which educators can be chosen is far smaller than the total population, and if your editors do not know this they should not be writing editorials on this issue.

I will paraphrase your comments as to gender equality, using the examples of sports and politics.

“More than half the people in the U.S. and Iowa are female, by virtue of the population pool, shouldn’t half of the professional athletes in the highest paid group be female?”

Unfortunately the athletic abilities of men usually exceed those of women, and professional salaries are paid from the gate receipts of those who want to see them perform.

“More than half the people in the U.S. and Iowa are female. By virtue of the population pool, shouldn’t half of the Iowa representation in Washington be female?”

I would agree with that, but there is something else involved.

Women are about 52 percent of the population, and if they all voted for women, all of our state senators and representatives in Washington would be women, but they don’t!

In fact right now we have no women in Washington, and I have to believe that the major problem is that enough women do not vote for women!

Suggestion: Find someone who has taken Statistics 101.

Ask her what a “lurking variable” is, and have her review anything you print that has to do with statistics.

David Crawford

Graduate Student

Iowa State University