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iwsSSsS ;;.SVWV{! A $149.96 Value * ""I* mfrVz, illiftn aui#>I<aa1a IWIOn w»Ww»*Q"lv programnje^ DllUXf POfffAl NORTHWEST HERALD Section B FrKUy, ,ms Nation Closing the wage gap: equal pay Student victory State^Universlty of New York's students cheer this Week outside the headquarters of the SUNY's system after receiving words that the Board of Trustees adopted a motion to divest L'PI photo from companies with holdings in South Africa. Several students had occupied SUNY's business office earlier in the year, demanding divestiture. By Patricia McCormack United Press International NEW YORK - The drive for equal pay for comparable work has caused a controversy that has ev­ eryone from union leaders to econo­ mists arguing over whether the con­ cept is the right way to ease the gap between male and female wages. Today, women make just 64 cents for every $1 men earn. The way it often plays out in the job market is that positions in fields dominated by female workers (teachers, for ex­ ample) command lower pay than those mainly featuring males (po­ lice and firefighters). Proponents of comparable worth say the wage gap between men and women would narrow if jobs were rated according to the education, training and ability needed to per­ form them. For instance, nurses of­ ten earn less than sanitation workers. But, June O'Neill, economist with the Urban Institute in Washington, D C., says if pay equity-comparable worth became national policy, "it would be horrendous and cause cha­ os." The government would end up set­ ting wage scales for all jobs, she says, to make sure there's no sex- based wage discrimination. The re­ sult would be an administrative » . ; ' ' Improve the odds of getting a boy or girl By Arlena Sawyers The Detroit News • t » ' V • , J When Jim and Linda met and fell in love;back in 1969, their dream was ' to get married and have two chil- dren -^ a boy arid a girl. After 13 years of marriage, most of their dreams have Come true. * Jim'siiareer as a dentist is thriving, i, and th$y recently moved into a new o fame, [built on 37 acrels of land. Instead of a boy and a girl, they ^ have two beautiful daughters, ages 5 and 6.11 '• i Having weighed the financial and emotional responsibilities that go along with parenting, Jim and Linda r* have decided to have a third child. \ This time, however, they are not i..leaving the sex of their child to i chance. They have decided to use a ! scientific technique called "sperm . ^election," designed to give them an • 80 percent chance of having a boy. v". "Having a son is my desire," says Jim, with a grin. "I had a good ;Jtfelafrofiship~toTth my 'father when I h toas growing up. We use# to go hunt- "ing and fishing. I'd like some of that when I'm older. I have no qualms about dabbling with Mother Nature." m Linda says that as much as she :; loves her daughters, she would "be ju&t as happy" if her next child is a boy. The sperm selection technique, de­ veloped by California rancher and -Reproductive physiologist Ronald J. pricsson, calls for the separation of ^the Y chromosome-bearing sperm. 7 the sperm is filtered through in- ucreasingly thicker concentrations of albumin, a protein found in body fluids. v The Y chromosomes, which carry male genes, are usually heavier, stronger and swim faster than the female X chromosomes, and will move to the bottom of the solution. After discarding the weaker sperm that moves to the top, the remaining sperm is used to inseminate the po­ tential mother. Ericsson compares the process to a race in which the Y chromosomes emerge victorious. "It's like a marathon," he says. "You lose people along the way. Only a few make it to the finish line. The goal medal winners, I call them. Some physicians are bothered that I pour most of it down the sink. They believe that more is better. It's not the quantity, but the quality." The potential mother is artifically inseminated with the Y-chromosome rich sperm near the time of ovula­ tion. Ericsson says that out of 210 women who bore children using his method -- 167 -- or 80 percent -- had boys. The procedure has been pat­ ented, and Ericsson licenses its use under his company, Gametrics Ltd. It is being performed in 38 centers around the world and has produced thousands of healthy babies. < Ericsson discovered the technique 15 years ago while conducting fertil­ ity research in Europe. "We are getting better," he says. Ericsson says he is doing research on a method for selecting girl ba­ bies. The process also involves sperm separation, but calls for add­ ing a chemical called Clomid. Though this method is still in the "early clinical stages of develop­ ment," he says that tests indicate a 70 percent success rate. He pulls a test tube filled with sperm out of'his shirt pocket and hands it to a lab technician. "If we promised 100 percent and gave 25 percent, then we have failure, but if we promise 75 percent and give 75 percent, then it's not a failure." Jim, 35. and Linda, 34, tried the procedure last May at a clinic in Chicago without success. They will undergo the procedure again this fall at a sex selection clinic in Michi­ gan, where they live. They will undergo the procedure later this month at the Lathrup Vil­ lage clinic, which is headed by Dr. Ronald G. Zack, and is the first sex selection clinic in Michigan. Ericsson says that couples who request the procedure usually have at least one child. Because they want to limit the size of thier fam­ ilies, they want to increase the odds of having another child of the sex they want. "With the first child they don't care," Ericsson says, explaining why he doesn't think his method could ever throw off nature's way of balancing the sexes. "They don't want the biologist in the bedroom; the chances are one out of two. It's only after they have one or more children of the same sex that they give it a thought." Before proceeding with the tech­ nique, the couples are counseled, a medical history is taken and the women has physical and gynecologi­ cal examinations. For the next sev­ eral months, the woman's ovulation is determined by monitoring men­ strual cycles, basal body tempera­ ture and other examinations. The average couple who conceives does so after two or three insemina­ tions. The cost of the process in Michigan is $300 to $500, depending on the number of inseminations. The initial consultation fee is $100 and will be applied to the cost of the procedure for those who choose to follow through. Jim learned about the process of sex selection when he did a research paper on the subject as a student at the University of Michigan during Reforms needed in bilingual ed "By Thomas Ferraro United Press International I f WASHINGTON -- The administra­ tion Thursday called bilingual edu- v cation a failure and said it plans to propose statutory changes to give * non-English speaking students a bet­ ter chance to master the nation's language. Some members of Congress, de­ spite assurances to the contrary, im­ mediately questioned if the White v- House's real goal was to gut the 17- year-old Bilingual Education Act. The law requires schools to teach students in their native language 'until they reach a certain level of ' competency in English. Critics say often these children remain in courses taught in foreign languages and never learn English. Education Secretary William Ben- , nett said the administration wants to give schools greater flexibility so . they can place a greater emphasis , on English and give non-native stu­ dents a better chance to succeed in American life. "After 17 years of federal involve­ ment and after $1.7 billion in federal funding, we have no evidence that the children whom we sought to help • -- that the children who deserve our help -- have benefitted," Bennett < said. < In a speech prepared for delivery .Jin New York and released in Wash­ ington, Bennett noted that the high school dropout rate for Hispanic stu­ dents is about 50 percent -- double the national average. "This figure is as tragically high now as it was 20 years ago" before ^Congress enacted the first in a se- ,ries of progressively restrictive bi­ lingual education statutes, he said. "We in the United States cherish cour diversity and the local schools should be free - and should be ' encouraged -- to foster the study of "the languages and the heritages of their students in the courses they offer," Bennett said. However, he added, "The goal of any method should be clear: fluency in English." Word of the administration's plans began circulating on Capitol Hill late Wednesday, quickly prompting concerns by some members of Congress. "I hope the secretary doesn't try to gut the Bilingual Education law through regulation, because the last time the administration tried, Con­ gress rejected it," Rep. Augustus Hawkins, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, told The Washington Times. A spokesman for the Congressio­ nal Hispanic Caucus said the group Final Close Out Sale Tami's Juvenile Furniture 4605 West Route 120 - McHenry, III. 50% Off Ivorytktaf In Stor« Cribs. Play Pens. Cradles. Dressing Tables. Car Seats. Strollers. Swings. Toilet Seats. Hi Chairs. Rockers. Bouncers. Walkers. Toy Boies. Booster Seats. Single Beds. Dressers. Chests. Lamps. Toys. Hampers. Desks. Crib Accessories. Bedding. Hundreds of Items. Stop In, Enjoy The Sovinft , Early Savings For Christmot Shoppers -- 10 Days Only -- September 20 to September 29 11:00 AM to 7 PM Daily Liquidated by Miller Auction Service Rockford, I I I . Store Number -- 815-385-1423 the 1960s. He and Linda say they didn't think about it again until they read about the procedure in a news­ paper article shortly after the birth of their youngest daughter. He says that they contacted Gametrics in California, which supplied them with a list of clinics. "It's very much like a gynecologi­ cal exam," says Linda. "It's pain­ less; I didn't feel anything. It took about three hours to separate the sperm, a few minutes for the artifi­ cial insemination and I had to lie on the table for 20 minutes afterward;" Adds Jim: "It's more expensive in time, but it's not a casual commit­ ment on anybody's* part. It's worth every bit of it." Ericsson predicts that as his pro­ cedure becomes more popular, it will be employed for other purposes besides family planning. He believes that families with histories of cer­ tain sex-linked disorders, such as color-blindness and hemophilia, which primarily affect males, could benefit. Though the procedure will pro­ duce a boy 80 percent of the time, Ericsson always reminds patients they still have a 20 percent chance of having a girtT Patients who undergo the process must sign a release stat­ ing that they fully understand their chances of having a child of the sex they prefer. (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.) - nightmare and incredible red tape. O'Neill squared off against New York labor leader Victor Gotbaum in a debate before the Women's Fo­ rum Inc. in New York recently. They were joined by female execu­ tives from industry, education, com­ munications. and social service agencies O'Neill, also a consultant to the Federal Civil Rights Commission, asserts that enforcement of the Civil Rights Act is the way to fix wage discrimination based on sex. She says she prefers a free market sys­ tem based on supply and demand within constraints of federal laws which prohibit paying men and women different wages when they do the same work. The supply and demand part is responsible for high salaries for computer systems designers (de­ mand exceeds supply) and much lower salaries for clerical workers (supply exceeds supply). Labor unionists and some femi­ nists are among those in opposition to O'Neill's stand. Gotbaum. who is executive director of District Coun­ cil 37, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, the nation's largest mu­ nicipal workers' union, claims the free market system is not a prim­ rose path. The comparable worth- pay equity crusade's the way to go, he maintains. The municpal workers' union has won pay equity funds from legisla­ tures on behalf of workers in several states, including $41 million ear­ marked in the Washington State budget to settle a pay equity law suit on behalf of state workers. •If the free market system was a primrose path, there would be no problem." Gotbaum said. "My prob­ lem is that certain parts of the free market are discriminatory and exploitative. "You have to ask yourself -- what * has the free market created when women are paid 64 cents to the man's dollar? 1 don't want to knock the free market, but parts of pie scene it has created ate terribly negative." he said. Speaking as a trade unionist on the New York scene for some 20 years. Gotbaum said the sex-based pay discrimination is the reason New York city has a dearth of appli­ cants for thousands of vacant school teacher jobs - a field dominated by females. "But when vacancies are adver­ tised for the police or (Ire ment, dominated by mi there are 150 applicants because of the htgh pay said. "This is the most of discrimination." Gotbaum said many women work­ ers, including his $40,000-a-year sec­ retary, deserve more and that unions, in part, are to blame toy turning their backs on the needs of , , , women workers such as librarians' and clericals over the years. "In a male chauvinist society (the labor movement) came on some of the trappings," tie "but we're coming out of it." FALL RED RASPBERRIES & TBRDTSAPI READY FOR PICKING I Fnit it eur, harry in fir best piekiai ortk TUE., THUR., SAT. 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