In response to Ms. Sally Ann Stanton,

     I suggest that she takes some courses in economics before she writes
     her disserataion.  Society rewards people based on many factors;
     financial risk, talent, and demand for that talent.  Focusing
     everything through the lens of gender is misleading and over
     simplifing, for one thing the economy (or society) does not make
     choices on a rational or logical basis.  For example, the time, energy
     and money devoted to women's fashions is considerably more than on
     men's fashions, and women's fashions can cost more.

     I suggest that she studies art history.  Art, tradionally has been a
     male pursuit.  Just ask Pablo Picasso, Arthur Fedler, Roy Lictenstein,
     Amadeus Mozart, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost and Alexander
     Calder!  How many people on this list can name more famous women
     artists than famous male artists?

     Lastly, I suggest that she studies anthropology.  Traditionally,
     societies value women because of their ability to bear childern.
     After all, men, particularly young men, are placed in the infantry or
     are sent out on hunting parties, where there chances of getting killed
     are higher than women who remain in the village.

     Before I get depicted as a neanderthal who spends his time hanging out
     in Hooters, I am not saying that everything is fair or as it should
     be.  As a Museum Professional, I certainly would like to make more
     money than I do.  However, I do get tired of academics whose
     scholarship is based more on the ideology they start with and ignores
     facts that may contradict their core beliefs.

     (These opinions are my own and do not necessarily represent the
     beliefs of my employer.)


     Alan Hawk
     National Museum of Health and Medicine
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