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September21st,2015

TotheEditor:

Thepublicationof
thearticle
ManyPennwomennotdiscouragedbygenderdisparitiesacross
fieldsisuncriticalandmisogynistic.Wefirsttakeissuewiththemisleadingnatureofthetitle:
Manyinfactonlyreferstofourwomeninterviewed,andfailstosatisfactorilyrepresentthe
viewpointsofPennwomeninfieldsplaguedwithgenderdisparities.Whilewewhollysupport
theexaminationofthisissue,theauthorfailstociteasingleconcretestatistic,andinsteadrelies
ontheopinionsoffartoofewPennstudents.

WereachedouttoanadministratorintheComputerSciencedepartmentwhosupplieduswith
demographicstatisticsthatexplicitlychallengethemessageofthisarticle.Merely
30.57%of
ComputerandInformationSciencemajorsarewomen,andthisnumberdropsto29%forthe
minor.AccordingtotheSEASwebsite,U.S.UnderrepresentedMinoritiescompriseonly16%
ofSEASstudentsintheclassof2017,whileU.S.Bi/Multiracialcomprisesonly6%.These
numbersareindicativeofalackofrepresentationnotdiscussedinthearticlepublished,alack
thatcancreateenvironmentshostiletolearningamongstadiversepopulation.Ultimately,the
authorfailstoaccountforwomensdiverseexperiencesinvariousfieldsatPenn,andforthe
factthattheseexperiencesarecontingentonavarietyoffactorspertainingtoidentity.Andwe
havemorequestions:WhatpercentageofSTEMmajorsarewomenofcolor?Whatpercentage
ofWhartonstudentsarewomenofcolor?Whatdoesfacultyrepresentationlooklikeacross
theseschools?Whatdoestransgenderandnonbinaryrepresentationlooklike?

Additionally,thelanguageoftheintervieweesissexistanddemeaning.Thetermgirlsisused
sixtimestorefertocollegeagedwomen.Incontrast,guysisusedthreetimestorefertomale
Pennstudents,whileboysisneverused.Referringtocollegeagedwomenasgirlsis
infantilizing,andpreventswomenfrombeingtakenseriouslywithinacademiaandlarger
contexts.

Furthermore,theimplicationsoftheintervieweesstatementsaredisturbing.ShritamaRay's
commentthat"If[women]arenotrisktakersorveryindependentandwillingtodowhateverit
takestobesuccessful,itmightbealittlediscouragingyouhavetobeacertaintypeof
person,createsabinarybetween"capable"womenand"notcapable"womenwomenwho
havewhatittakesversusthosewhodon't.Thisquoteimpliesthattherearetaxonomiesof
women(strong,empoweredwomenwhocanignoresexismvs.weaker,morepassivewomen),
whichisasexistprojectinandofitself.Knesbachsassertionthat
Ithinkthejobsaregoingto
gotowhodeservesit,andwho'sthemostqualifiedforit,"
isimplicitlyprivilegedandracist.To
saythatjobsaregoingtothosewho"deserve"itandwhoarethe"mostqualified"istoignorea
historyandcultureofracism,sexism,andamentalityof"theboys'club"whereknowing
someonegetsyoufurtherthanbeingqualified.Andifa(white)womandoesgetthejob,we
cannotignorethefactthatonaverage,shewillearn78%ofwhatmenearnfordoingthesame
job,andthisdisparityworsensforpositionshigheruponthecorporateladder.More
disturbingly,awomanofcolorwillbepaid

evenlessthanthat
.
Thearticlesauthorobserves,

Thereasonsforthesegenderdisparitiesareunclear.ButSchwartzsowncommentaryinfact
refutesthiswhenSchwartzpostulates,Ithinkwhat'sdifferentisthatalotofgirlsdontthink
aboutgoingintoengineering.Thereasonsforthesegenderdisparitiesareappallinglyclear,in
thatwomenarediscouragedfromaveryyoungagefromenteringintoSTEMfields.

Themeritocracyis,forallintentsandpurposes,amyth.TheDPmustholditselfresponsible
forandinthefuturerefrainfrompublishingcontentthatfailstoaccuratelyanalyzethe
oppressivesystemsatplay.Feelingconfidentinthefaceofgenderdisparity,racialoppression,
anddifferenceinsocioeconomicstatusissomethingthatweapplaud,butignoranceofthese
realitiesisunacceptable.

Signed,
AmeliaGoodman
SarahZandi
AnvitaAchar
GinaDeCagna
AmelieDougherty
AliGreenstein
AlinaGrabowski
JoeyIbarra
DaltonKamish
PeterLaBerge
LaDonnaMarrero
SamanthaMyersDineen
SyraOrtizBlanes
JoshOSullivan
JulianOviedo
EmilyRush
ChloeShakin
CodySherman
AbbieStarker
DylanWhite

WrittenbyAmeliaGoodmanandSarahZandi

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