Happy Anniversary! It was one year ago this week (Feb. 5) that New York Times ‘Styles’ reporter Alex Williams waltzed into Chapel Hill and gave his depiction of the life of a UNC woman.
His article was troubling, to say the least. After four days of “researching” in Chapel Hill, Williams concluded that the slanted enrollment statistics for women in college meant we faced a considerable disadvantage finding mates on campus. But I couldn’t help but think something altogether different: a few more percentage points in college enrollment, and women will have solidified the beginning of the end of men. Evil laughter followed.
Sadistic, I know. But while some were overwhelmed by the 60-40 female-to-male ratio at UNC, I only saw a giant leap for womankind. Now I’m no Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Audre Lorde, but as a fellow woman, I’m more than happy to see the seesaw slant in the other direction. Yes, there are concrete social side effects. Williams made sure we all knew it. But a year later, I’d like us all to try and see things my way.
Statistically, we’ve been surpassing our male counterparts in physical representation on the college campuses for more than 30 years, and for every two men who will receive a Bachelor of Arts degree this year, three women will do the same.
Historically, women have had their fair share of contributions to world order. So where’s all the confetti?
UNC’s own Sallie Walker Stockard was the first woman to dawn a Carolina blue graduation robe in 1898. In 1921, Edith Wharton was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Shirley A. Jackson was the first African-American woman to graduate from MIT in 1968. Dr. Sally Ride was the first woman to go into space. Toni Morrison was the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature. And Marilyn vos Savant was listed in The Guinness Book of World Records for having an IQ of 228, the highest recorded in history. Did I mention the 15 women represented on the most recent Forbes Fortune 500?
These don’t even begin to truly acknowledge the accomplishments made by women since the passing of the 19th Amendment. And yet we enabled Williams, whose idea of researching and interviewing in no way accurately reflects all of the voices of women at UNC. And considering the recent advocates for gender-neutral language and altering the ideology of gender roles, articles like these only add more fuel to the gender fire.
So a year after all the hoopla, Alex Williams is still a journalist and women at UNC still reign supreme numerically.
It’s still his job to write stories that will land him a spot in a $2 copy of the Times and it’s still our job to earn that coveted diploma. Ultimately, we’re back to where we started. But maybe this time we’ll start with a different state of mind — one that doesn’t involve catty banter about how unfortunate we women are to be in such a dilemma. I’m in the majority for once and I’m going to bask in it.
