Shapiro, NYT's Collins Talk Women's Progress

Barnard College and The New York Times came together yesterday evening to celebrate the culmination of Women's History Month in a forum entitled "American Women and their Progress: What We've Learned so Far."

Held in the lower level of Barnard's Millicent McIntosh Student Center, the panel discussion featured five distinguished professionals including Barnard President Judith Shapiro, City University of New York Professor Carol Berkin, Times editorial page editor Gail Collins, 20/20 correspondent Lynn Sherr, and The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership co-founder Naomi Wolf.

Shapiro began by stating that it was "time to take stock of the progress" made by women, and proceeded to give a series of statistics. Among these were the recent decrease of the wage discrepancy between men and women--now 76 cents earned by a woman for every dollar earned by a man--and significant increases in the number of medical, law, and business degrees earned by women. She declared these and other facts "milestones testifying to [women's] strength."

But Collins stressed that these achievements were not enough. She spoke of the need to "reach out to women in other countries" who have not yet been included in the ongoing "arc of progress" of the feminist cause.

Wolf agreed and said that such a need would necessitate directing western resources and efforts toward war-torn areas such as Sierra Leone that are plagued by what she called a "vast sexual holocaust." She cited a statistic issued by the International Rescue Commission claiming that between 10,000 and 15,000 women have been captured and systematically raped by soldiers. Wolf said that her attempts to have high-ranking members of the media report on this situation were met by claims that "audiences didn't care."

Carol Berkin, a professor of American history at Baruch College and The Graduate Center at CUNY, maintained that any further progress would have to encompass "historical constructions" unique to each individual or culture, such as origins or backgrounds, and "social arrangements," including class and gender differences.

Wolf eventually introduced the topic of political activism into the discussion. While Sherr focused on the importance of placing women in positions of power and influence, Wolf extolled the potential influences of lobbying and agitating. She said that policy initiatives such as national childcare services are essential for further progress. Both panelists said that the unequal division of childcare responsibilities between men and women is a constant limitation placed on women.

Shapiro made the point that another obstacle put before the feminist cause is "sociological illiteracy" or a narrowness of views which is the result of the highly individualized nature of modern living. Part of transcending this illiteracy is being able to admit that upper-middle class American women are not necessarily always the paradigm or standard to which women of other cultures must be compared. She acknowledged Berkin's previous point concerning diverse historical constructions.

All five panelists agreed that, though women have come a long way, there is still much work to be done. As Collins said, women's history is a conglomeration of deviations and tangents and does not have any clearly linear progression. The speakers echoed that the uncertainty of the future allows the young women of this and subsequent generations to shape it in any way they please.