Affirmative Action Ruling

A pat on the head and 10 steps backward. That’s what the Supreme Court has handed women. Where did we go wrong? I thought the idea was supposed to be that men and women with equal qualifications be given the same considerations for employment, advancement and pay.

Now we are supposed to accept the fact that a woman may be hired for a job for which a man may be more qualified and that this, according to your editorial, will “. . . undo generations of discrimination that consigned women to lowly jobs and kept them there.”

What this will do is take the dignity and respect from thousands of women who have earned promotions to top positions and will now be thought to have been given the jobs because (pat, pat) they are women.

The decision is not a victory for women. It is an embarrassment. The Supreme Court has handed down a decision that makes a mockery of women’s rights and is an injustice to men.

JOANY T. LANE

Los Angeles