When Rita Beigh gets bored with software, she can live on awards for wonderful humor--GREAT post. In one period in my life, I earned a library degree (then, MLS)--and soon discovered how low librarian wages were; why? "The word" (which may, or may not, have been anecdotal) was that wages were far better comparatively before most librarians were women; certainly, one has heard this of many fields (where, indeed, Horowitz's hypothetical case has happened and lower salaries have become the norm). As I think most of us know, it goes beyond equal pay for same (or even equivalent) work. The tracking of women begins, now as in and before the '60s, even before grade school. The girls can wear pants instead of skirts now, and it's okay to have really solid leg muscles and be "fit", and yes there are women astronauts (and doctors, esp. as managed care drives pay down etc.), but the girls still hang back from math, for instance, and if there are women as well as men administrators (in some levels of, and within, companies), there are mostly women "administrative assistants." And it is expected still the woman will be the one lose most time off to take care of the children. This is obvious stuff, we all know all this, but, like car exhausts, it's still right out there. Paula
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