Letters: A milleniums-long battle of the sexes

Re “The myth of men in decline,” Opinion, Oct. 7

Cherry-picked statistics can’t substantiate the closing of the gender gap. That’s because historically prevalent patriarchal social structures have enabled men to relentlessly stack the deck against women. Not surprisingly, male-dominated societies have invariably assigned the male gender to their religions’ notions of God. Women consequently have remained at a fundamental disadvantage through milleniums.

Whether many of this country’s religious adherents will come to worship a Heavenly Mother anytime soon appears doubtful. How telling, then, that conservatives back a presidential candidate whose church bans female adherents from serving as its president, yet nothing precludes those women from seeking the nation’s highest office.

Lauri McCain

Nipomo, Calif.

While exposing some myths regarding women’s superiority as depicted in recent books with hyperbolic titles such as “The End of Men,” the Op-Ed article’s authors overlook the biggest factor that contributes to wage inequality: motherhood.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most working women will become pregnant at some point in their working lives. Despite laws designed to protect mothers from workplace discrimination, women — either pregnant or of reproductive age — continue to be negatively perceived in the business world.

Gender equality, though a topic for robust discourse, will be unachievable so long as women are the only humans that can reproduce.

Berta Graciano-Buchman

Beverly Hills

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