Women’s Equality

Re “A Bogus Lesson From the ‘Boys at School,’ ” Voices, Feb. 26: Barbara Abercrombie thinks that “women’s libber” is a derogatory term. I beg to differ. I come from a line of strong women on my mother’s side. My grandmother was a legal secretary. When she married, at 31, in 1920, she was earning $5,000 (about $55,000 in today’s money) per year. Her boss was so afraid of losing her that he offered her $7,500 to stay. This so impressed her father that he sent one of my grandmother’s sisters to law school. My mother is a commercial real estate broker. “Women’s lib” was always a compliment in our family. At least on my mother’s side.

Paul D. Motzenbecker Jr.

University Park, Md.