Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

I am writing you regarding your article called ​Unconscious bias: most women believe

sexism still exists but most men disagree​, that focuses on sexism as a general topic. I ​appreciate

your effort to bring awareness to this topic and openly discuss what most Americans have

avoided for a long time; being sexist. Women are constantly being disregarded in a workplace

and many times, their salaries differ greatly from those of men even though they have similar

duties. One of the fields in which this is very dominant is the filmmaking industry. Generally,

even in cultures that are less conservative about male and female roles, this phenomenon is quite

dominant. It is important to note that throughout the history of The Golden Globes, not much

diversity has taken place, and many times female lead roles are not given enough credit for what

they do. This year alone, not a single female director was nominated. This goes to show how our

society has been and will be if nothing is done, confined within the mindset that females should

not get the same credit as mean or that their salaries must differ from men. I like that in your

article you highlight the issue in a bigger spectrum rather than just the workplace aspect. For

instance, you also mention the bigger picture, rather than just the difference between salaries.

Moreover, you interview people to get their perspectives on the issue as well as give your

personal opinion on it, although I do acknowledge that is might be biased because of the fact that

you are a female and the topic can actually take over someone's emotions.

I also strongly agree with the point that you made about women themselves also being a

part of this and appreciate you wanting to acknowledge it as a woman. I believe that all of this
started with us; women. If we learn to settle with it and not advocate for ourselves, men will not.

As females, we have now learned to live with it since it is so prominent in our culture. Women in

the field of science are constantly being underestimated because they are ‘too smart to be doing

science’ or not able to handle complicated topics. Furthermore, I believe that this problem

generates from the earlier ages when women were taught that their duties were to keep the house

clean, cook, and raise their children.

The next step, after recognizing the problem, is to actually take action. In my opinion, we

need more people to wake up and see that sexism is still a barrier for women and that each of us

has a role to play in removing it. Simply agreeing that women make strong leaders, that gender

diverse teams produce stronger results and make better decisions in business, science, politics,

education and beyond, or that gender equality is morally right is not enough. For change to

occur, we need men and women committed to confronting sexism wherever it may take place.

Sincerely,
Xheni Alibashi