Web Letters: Who's Afraid of Judy Maccabee?

Subject to Debate

By Katha Pollitt

This article appeared in the July 21, 2008 edition of The Nation.

July 1, 2008

Write a Web letter about this article.

What's a Web Letter?

Web Letters are continuously published e-mails from real people, signed with their real names. No registration is required. Each article page on The Nation includes a Web Letters link.

Read the best Web Letters on this page.

We're committed to publishing your comments as they are received. We place a red star () on the best submissions and may edit your e-mail for length or content. Your e-mail address will not be published or shared with any third party without your consent.

If you prefer, you may submit a letter to the print edition only.

We look forward to hearing from you.

  • Pollitt unwittingly explains an issue that has distorted feminist thinking since the '70s--the fact that women make less than men in similar jobs. She explains that men are choosing not to study for the rabbinate because there are so many more lucrative career choices. Increasingly, women are choosing to fill this void to a point where Jewish seminaries are as much as 60 percent female. Pollitt is saying that the majority of men are driven by financial gain in their career choices, while women seem to be choosing careers that give them other kinds of satisfaction.

    If true, then even within the same field it seems likely men will work toward raising their income, and thus their job satisfaction, while women care more about other types of career rewards. Nothing wrong with this, except that feminists point to income disparity as proof of discrimination instead of proof that women may have a wider and more nuanced sense of career-derived self-worth and satisfaction.

    Barry Fast

    Bronx, NY

    07/07/2008 @ 3:16pm


Advertisement
Advertisement

Blogs

» State of Change

Obama Anoints Kaine, Praises (And Snubs?) Dean | Obama and Kaine signal they'll continue the fifty-state strategy, but why wasn't Dean in the building?
Ari Berman
Posted at 5:17 PM ET

» Altercation

Altercation 3.0 | Altercation takes up residence today at The Nation. In this incarnation, expect more music and movies and maybe a little less politics. But first, a word about Cass Sunstein.
Eric Alterman
Posted at 3:45 PM ET

» Editor's Cut

Obama Must Get Afghanistan Right | If he doesn't, the US will be stuck in another military catastrophe.
Katrina vanden Heuvel

» Capitolism

ET Come Home | Tom Friedman testifies on Capitol Hill on green technology
Christopher Hayes

» The Beat

Feingold's Outline for a Constitutional Presidency | In a letter to Obama, Constitution subcommittee chair seeks a commitment to end executive excess.
John Nichols

» The Dreyfuss Report

Panetta? Ummmmm... Well..... | Could Obama have made a weirder choice for CIA director? Here's why Panetta is doomed.
Robert Dreyfuss

» Act Now!

Allow Media into Gaza | Israel is encouraging abuses by preventing foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip.
Peter Rothberg

» The Notion

Hard Times Without Studs | One of Terkel’s former book editors considers a Studs-less world.
Tom Engelhardt

» And Another Thing

Bill Ayers Whitewashes History, Again | The Weathermen were not just a bunch of idealistic young people.
Katha Pollitt