BETWEEN THE LINES: WORKING FOR GENDER EQUALITY SHOULDN'T BE A JOB JUST FOR WOMEN

It seems that no matter where I turn lately, people around me are talking about issues of equality.

Granted, those aren't the words they use. But the topic is clearly identifiable. It's a topic that has come up in conversations both at home and work. References have been made in news articles written recently by the Associated Press and in speeches made by the president.

Even Ally McBeal, the main character from a prime-time show of the same name, worried about equality in the workplace and mentioned her fear of becoming the "face of feminism."

The claim wasn't too far-fetched because actress Calista Flockhart, who portrays McBeal, was featured on a Time magazine cover last year.

Is she the new face of feminism?

I worry about who becomes the face of feminism. Is it a true representation of women today?

Some people, especially those who like to use labels, would call me a feminist. A co-worker jokingly says I'm a "NOW kind of woman."

But I'm really not.

I think of myself as a strong-willed, self-reliant woman who will attempt to get the job done, regardless of whether or not a male offers help.

I'm not concerned about limiting myself to "female" duties around the house. As the only person paying my mortgage, all the housework from taking out the trash to clearing brush and digging up stumps in the yard falls on my shoulders.

In the office, my pay scale isn't quite as high as my male counterparts, but I produce just as much copy and work just as long. And in our newsroom, where the number of men and women are fairly equal, no one sex is relegated to running errands or making coffee.

But some women are forced to do those things just because they are women.

I wonder if women can have a career, hope for "real" love and wish for a life that extends beyond the boundaries of husband and home life?

Men are often defined by their jobs, where they work and what they do while women are defined by whether or not they have children and/or work outside the home.

My question is this: What happens when both parents work? Who drops the children at day care? Who takes a day off work when they are sick?

Too often that duty still falls to the woman. Maybe science has proven that she is better at nurturing and caregiving, but does that really mean that men can't do the job?

It's a question that plagues me.

As we approach the new millennium, people have suddenly realized that America still has some work to do if it intends to achieve a greater level of equality among the sexes.

President Clinton even mentioned how much work the nation still has ahead of it. In his State of the Union address, Clinton said we must try to fill in the income gap. Even in 1999, women are still earning less than their male counterparts.

As much as we talk about gender equality, it seems that things aren't as near to perfection as we'd like to think. It's really easy to look the other way and hope that someone else will come along to fix the problem.

But that is unlikely. If you really want something done, usually that means doing it yourself, and working toward gender equality shouldn't be any different.

~Laura Johnston is a copy editor for the Southeast Missourian.