To the Editor:
As a woman and a feminist I am disappointed with the reasons given by Danielle Moore '95 for her resignation of the Student Assembly presidency.
I do not fault her for failing to stop infighting in the Assembly; that task seems superhuman. I do not blame her for wanting to quit.
I do, however, object to her explanation that she stepped down because as a woman she is not "empowered" in that position.
Empowerment does not come in the form of respect and acceptance from the Assembly. Empowerment, for every man and woman, comes from within. You are empowered if you believe in yourself so strongly that you can forge ahead on your chosen path through all of the obstacles and insults hurled your way.
If women in the Assembly are not respected because of their sex, it is an outrage. But the solution is not to pick up your ball and go home. Stay in the game, work twice as hard as everyone else and speak out so everyone can see you have to work harder. It is a sexist world: scream about it, fight against it but don't run away and don't wait for someone else to "empower" you.
I wonder where we would be if the first women to enter boardrooms, operating rooms, and the Senate had resigned when they were not respected.
I wonder if Dartmouth would today be a coed school if the women who were harassed and insulted in 1972 had transferred.
It is from meeting hardship and challenges head on -- sometimes with success and sometimes with failure but always with determination and heart -- that women over the centuries have been able to empower themselves in the face of disrespect.