COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	TECHNOLOGY AND WOMEN'S LIBERATION
C00016 ENDMK
C⊗;
TECHNOLOGY AND WOMEN'S LIBERATION


	First some comments  on the housewife's position  in society.
In  terms of the interest  of the work,  how hard it  is necessary to
work, and the  amount of freedom,  the position  of the housewife  is
somewhere  between the  30th  and  70th percentile  in  the scale  of
desirability  of  occupations.   This  is an  intuitive  judgment and
depends  on how  the  different  aspects  are weighted.    One  might
attempt to make  it more precise by observing  the choices that women
make between being a housewife and other occupations.  This would  be
difficult, but I don't think it would be a hopeless task.

	Since World War II, the  relative desirability of housewifery
has  declined relative to  other middle  class occupations.   This is
because working conditions  in many  other occupations have  improved
with the  increasing wealth of the  country while the present  set of
gadgets  that  improve the  working  conditions of  the  middle class
housewife  has  remained  stable.    Of  course,  the  percentage  of
housewives  who have the  middle class  home and  set of  gadgets has
increased,  and  the  housewives  from  groups  whose  position   has
improved are not complaining as much as the  others.  The position of
the  housewife in economic strata that could previously afford
domestic help may even declined.  

	All  this   has   reduced  the   relative   desirability   of
housewifery and led to an increased  demand for a better position for
women.   It  seems  to me  that there  are substantial  prospects for
improvement both through  reorganization of institutions and  through
technology but that this improvement will be slow.

	To  see this we  must consider  the options available  to men
and women  and also  consider  their relative  bargaining  positions.
Consider the following:

	1. The institution of  dating has an important effect  on the
psychologies  of men  and  women.   A  girl can  wait and  if  she is
attractive good things may happen to her.  It is not  inevitable, but
there is  grounds for  hope.  A  boy motivated by  sex, on  the other
hand,  knows that nothing  will happen  if he doesn't  act.  Learning
social initiative is  hard for him, but  there is no alternative.  It
seems  to me  that this  can account  for much  of the  difference in
initiative between teenage boys and  girls from which the  subsequent
differences in occupational  capability stem.  (It should  be pointed
out that much  less than half of men develop much initiative, but the
percentage of  women with  initiative is  much less).    It would  be
interesting to see where passive  male homosexuals stand in the scale
of occupational initiative; it might clobber my theory.

	2.  It has  been my  observation that  the dropout  from hard
science by girls in high school is not primarily  the fault of either
parents  or school.   It  is much  more the  fault  of the  values of
present teen-age-girl society.  Both boys and girls are  affected
more by  the ideas of  their peers than  by the official  policies of
the  educational institutions.  A  disproportionate number  of adults
with initiative come from separatist social groups where  the parents
prevent children  from taking their  values from their peers  or from
the schools.

	3. Getting  more women in higher positions in society depends
on breaking  this tradition.    One possibility  is batch  processing
rather  than   continuous.    Normally  a  school   is  a  continuous
institution.  Freshmen come  in at the bottom  and seniors go out  at
the top.   If the tradition is  regarded as bad, we  could experiment
with  a system wherein  a particular  school is filled  with freshmen
and no new  ones are admitted until  the first lot  graduates.  If  a
new desirable  tradition is successfully inculcated,  then continuous
processing  can be resumed.   This  idea might also  work in prisons.
Another possibility is to teach initiative directly.

	4.  Consider the  relative  bargaining  position of  men  and
women.  A  desirable man can get a woman  reasonably content to serve
him in the traditional way.  In  return she gets a good income and  a
social position  derived from his.   The  conditions of middle  class
life today are such  that if life is to be smooth and gracious, there
ought to be someone spending close to full time managing  the affairs
of  the  family,  running  errands,  chauffering  children,  cleaning
house,  getting things fixed, etc. In  principle, if husband and wife
both  want  to work,  this  labor  should  be  shared.    However,  a
desirable  man  can get  better  terms than  this,  and the  academic
community is full of cases where a man first marries an  intellectual
equal  and  then replaces  her  by  a  second wife  without  so  many
ambitions outside the home.

	5.  The women's lib  solution to  this problem is  to combine
propaganda about justice  with a  kind of women's  trade unionism  so
that men will no longer be able  to get such affable wives. This will
change  the situation somewhat, but will  not bring about substantial
equality, because  the change  in  bargaining positions  will not  be
large enough to do so.

	6. Greater  equality will be  achieved if the  amount of work
required to have  a nice home  with well brought  up children can  be
reduced to the point that a man who shares  the work equally with his
wife suffers no  disadvantage in his profession, and likewise a woman
who keeps a home going does not lose in her outside work.

	7. This  reduction  in  work  can be  brought  about  by  new
technology.  Specifically,   an automatic delivery  system can reduce
running  errands. A safe transportation system that  can be used by 6
year  olds  without  help  can  obviate  the  need  for  chauffeuring
children, safe  houses and personal  telephones can obviate  the need
for most babysitting,   a  more interactive and  educational form  of
children's   entertainment  than   television   can  further   reduce
babysitting,  any further  aids to  keeping a house  in order  in the
direction of the household robot can further reduce the work.

	8. Besides the gadgets,  a variety of institutional aids  are
necessary,  the   most  essential  of  which   is  the  much-demanded
widespread  availability of day  care centers.  The  problem with day
care  centers is  that  for  young  children, there  has  to  be  one
attendant for every four  children with present standards of care and
with  present  technology.  The  problem   will  be  much  eased   if
technology could  make it  possible for  one person  to take care  of
more  children.   I don't  know enough about  the problem  to suggest
definite improvements,  but I would  bet that  ways can  be found  to
reduce the amount  of physical work in  dressing, diapering, bathing,
feeding,  etc.   Besides  this,  ways can  be found  to  increase the
number of interesting and educational games  that involve interaction
with a  computer rather than  with humans.   Perhaps it will  also be
possible to  use the  computer to  structure situations  wherein  the
children co-operate  with each other  in order  to interact with  the
computer.

	9. It  should be noted that some  proposed solutions to other
problems will have a  negative effect on the opportunities  available
to women.  If  the convenience of operating a car  is reduced, then a
person  will  have to  live closer  to his  work.   Guess  whose work
people will live closer to?

	10. Whatever  improvements  are made,  there  will always  be
differences  in the  extent  to which  families choose  to  use them.
There will always be  women who choose to  make their families  their
main activity.   Therefore, the solutions adopted should  not require
universal   adherence,  and  experiments  of   all  kinds  should  be
encouraged and even financed.

	11. All  these  considerations may  rate only  contempt  from
those  who  consider  social  problems mainly  in  moralistic  terms.
Equality  is desirable, and if men would  only do the right thing, it
would be achieved.   Well as far as  I can see, mankind's  ability to
respond to purely moral  exhortation isn't improving very fast.  Most
moral problems that have gone away, e.g. chastity, have succumbed  to
technology not preaching.