By John Pendergast

anadian Labour Con- s representative Shirley spoke at a banquet nized by the UPEI ension Department on ember 30, 1983. Other porters of the banquet uded the Public Service ociation, the Women’s isory Council on the us of Women, and the ses’ Collective Bargaining mittee.

he subject of Carr’s ch was violence against en. She quoted many istics and surveys in th America which in her nion meant that “women work, in their homes, king down the street, or ializing with friends run ery high risk of being tered or

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sexually as- ,

saulted”. However, only 2% of rapists in Canada are ever convicted.

Carr then spoke of the causes in society that are the

root of violence against women. First, she blamed the

reactionary' elements that physically or verbally assault women for , “buring their bras” or trying’to control their own bodies. '

Carr blamed sexism as another root cause and equated it with imperialism, racism, colonialism, and slavery.

Women, in Carr’s opinion, “still work under conditions not far removed from servi- tude”. For example, Carr

noted that it was only 52‘

years ago that ,the privy codncil recognized women as “persons”. “However,” said Carr, quoting a' leading

, ho, hp and a armloah of b00123 Despite the holiday season, UPEI students will face ‘ Grim Reaper this week as fall semester exams start on Friday, December 9.

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feminist, “women are still controlled economically through sex and sexually through economics’ ’.

Regarding sexual violence, Carr poured much scorn on the school of thought that blamed rape and wife battering on women because “they want to be vic— timized”. She quoted statistics that most women’s self-esteem may decline as a result of being frequently abused. This is the main reason for the increase of women drug _ addicts, alcoholics, and mental patients. According to statistics, the current pyschiatric population in Canada is 61% female and 39% male.

women’s lack r of self- esteem, according to Carr, could also be attributed to sex sterotyping. Carr accused

he etted Gem

Thursday December 8, 1983

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the media of being the major perpetrators of this stereo- typing. The favored female stereotype portrayed in the media shows a woman who is young, slim, beautiful, docile, stupid, and always sexually available. Therefore,

‘a woman’s worth is based on

her physical attractiveness. As she gets older, she be- comes more neurotic trying to conform to the image of Bo Derek.

The government also con- tributes to the abuse of women. For example, most western societies do not recognize spouse rape as a

crime. Pornography is pro- tected as an individual freedom. Nor do the govern~ ments of western societies provide adequate numbers of transition houses, day—care centres, and rape counselling centers.

In the workplace, women are locked into “job ghettoes” such as nursing, teaching, secretarial work, and sales. The average woman only earns 50°70 of a man’s wage. Many “women‘s” jobs will also be obliterated by the computer revolution.

Asa

solution of the

Garr speaks towomen 0n discrimination

problems that women face, Carr made two suggestions. First, women must become more aggressive in de- manding equal pay for equal work and stronger sexual assault laws. Second, a shorter work week should be legislated. This would spread available 'jobs to more workers. A guaranteed income could also lighten the economic burden. Manda- tory affirmative action pro- grams could give women access to a wider range of jobs, training programs, promotions, and information on technological change.

Soc./Anth. ~c§..,w

majors saved ’

By Carolyn Ryan

The UPEI Senate has voted to retain existing majors in Sociology and

Anthropology, at the same time giving official status to a joint major in Sociologyl Anthropology.

As its ninth meeting for 1983-84 on December 2, Senators discussed the issue at some length before voting on the controversial motion. The eventual decision was greeted with approval by students and faculty from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology who attended the meeting, unsure of the future of their discipline at UPEI.

Their anxiety had some foundation. The Academic Planning Committee, to whom the proposal of inte- gration had been referred at Senate’s Novembr 18 meeting, considered the pro- posal on November 28 but felt unable to advise Senate. Some APC members still agreed with their unanimous decision in October that there should be only a single joint major, arguing that two or three majors was simply too many in the Department. The committee came to a 5-5 split vote on the proposal, with two abstentions.

Much discussion followed APC chaiman Roger Black’s report On this situation.

Political Studies professor Gary Webster felt that Senate should consider the‘ recom— mendations of his colleagues in the Department of Socio- logy and Anthropology, since they would be more familiar with the consequences of having only one major in their disciplines. He pointed out that both students and faculty are unanimously opposed to the dropping of separate majors, and called for research by qualified

sociologists and anthropolo- gists outside UPEI into the justifications for having the joint majors.

School of Business Ad— ministration director J. J. Revell countered this by reminding Senators that all the Senate commitees which had looked at the matter had recommended the solitary joint major. Mr. Revell also sits on the APC.

Over the past five years, the average number of majors per year has been 4.2 in Anthropology and Sociology, said Ian Mac- Donald of the Extension Department, pointing out that it would be wrong to deny so many students the chance to follow their in-

tended ‘major. Student Senator Kent McKay agreed, predicting that students

Would go elsewhere rather than remain at UPEI to take a major they don’t want.

Dean of Arts Verner .lmitheram spoke at length on the merits of retaining the “two separate streams” of study, plus a joint major, a froposal which would in- )lve increased cross-listing 0‘" courses. The existence of tlree majors would allow students to choose streams sxitable to their career goals and accomplish easy transfers between the two programs. it would also integrate the work of the departments and p'ovide a useful basis for a future honours program.

He continued by pointing out that since the students, the faculty, the Faculty of Arts Curriculum Committee, and the Dean' of arts unre- servedly oppose the abolition of separate majors, a situaion where these people would be forced to follow or implement a single joint major would be highly

undesirable.

His main conclusions were that a proposal involving three majors would be academically sound and a workable response bringing peace to a formerly incom- patible Sociology and Anthropology faculty. The proposal would give students a choice and respect the ob— jectives, if not the recom- mendations, of the Adjudi- catory Committee, the Senate Review Committee, and the Academic Planning Com- mittee.

When Smitheram finished his presentation, Professor James R. Kelly of the Classics Department stated that a distributed description of Smitheram’s proposal accomplished inter- dependency between depart- ments so well that there was in fact little need for a joint major at all. Chemistry pro— fessor Glenn Palmer con- curred with this, saying that instituting another major would only add to the present “proliferation of 'degrees” at UPEI

However, when the motion to retain the existing two majors and add a third joint major in Sociology/ Anthropology came to a vote, it passed with a con- vincing majority. Students and faculty who had come to

had

observe broke into spon- taneous applause, and Sociology professor Allan MacDonald rose to thank Senate.

As the door swung shut behind those departing, Senators picked up their

agendas and went on with the next item of business.

A slightly anticlimactic air and a note on the secretary's notebook were all that re- mained of a dispute that had lasted for over two months.

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