---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 1995 14:01:03 -0600
From: Annette Berger <[log in to unmask]>
To: Multiple recipients of list IABS-L <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re[2]: affirmative action
 
          Can't help joining the fray on this one.  Someone recently
          asked me if I didn't feel like a token female at jobs I had
          in the mainframe computer industry beginning in the late
          70s.  I replied that yes, perhaps I was but I was not hired
          into entry-level positions without being qualified.  In the
          past they simply would not have let me in.  Once I was in, I
          had the opportunity to gain experience and build a track
          record that exclusion would not have permitted.  I say
          so what if one is a token?  Very rarely does it have to
          do with qualifications.  (For that matter, rarely are men
          hired just based on qualifications.  Even as I was being a
          "token" I saw less qualified white men given similar
          opportunities.  And, being let in had nothing to do with
          whether or not I faced discrimination on the job through
          benign neglect  or worse!)  As a high school grad in the top
          1% of my class,, I was not allowed to apply for jobs in the
          old days where they hired men who didn't even graduate.
          Give me a break!!  There needs to be some serious research
          on this difference between perceptions and reality.  Maybe
          someone can point us in the direction of some work???
 
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