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PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1984, WHITBY FREE PRESS Zwhitby Voice of the County Town blished every Wednesday - Michael lan Burgess, The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitb Publisher - Managing Editor ýy resmeUtLs for vvrnwy resiaents. by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-61 Il The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, ont. PO. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. Registraîlon No. 5351 MICHAEL KNELL Community Editor CONWAY DOBBS Advertising Manager Second Class Mail Registration No. 5351- International Women's Day Committee take note Sexual discrimination against anyone is wrong In Monday morning's mail the Free Press received a press release from Durham Inter- national Women's Day Committee which more than just annoyed us. The committee was seeking our help in promotlng thîs year's International Women's Day Celebration that wlll be held on Mar. 10 in Oshawa. Whle this is an applaudable aim it was their attitude that irked us. Their final paragraph read: "Ail women and teenage girls are invited to participate for the whole day or some portion of the program, and local media are invited to send female reporters to cover the event. "Only women will be admitted, because one purpose of the program is to emphasize women's capab li eshand to foster self-esteem in a suppor- tive atmosphere." Toronto - an urban paradise Toronto is not yet New York, and we should be grateful for it. But if i can't see the writing on the wall, I can see the first hairline cracks in it, and I sometimes wonder how long we've got. Toronto is not simply Toronto's problem any more than New York's problems are entirely New York's. New York became top-heavy a few years ago. The complexity of municipal government and the stagger- ing burden of municipal services became too much for the city to handle with its own resources. New York went broke and had to appeal to the state and the federal government for help. New York got help, but it has never been enough. Cutbacks have been inevitable, and the results are evident in the bombed out parts of Harlem you see from the Connecticut trains, the crime rate, the ravaged streets, the school system, the spray- painted subway trains, the dirt, the decaying hospitals, and New Yorkers' attitudes. Toronto is an urban paradise by comparison, but the austerity programs are beginning to have an impact. Hospital services have been cut drastically, and it seems to me that the line-ups in emergency departments and the shortage of beds are becoming dangerous. Tat's partly provincial, and partly a federal problem. There are traffic jams downtown and traffic jams on the ex- pressway system, particularly the Don Valley Parkwày, angrily known as the Don Valley Parking Lot. That's partly municipal; partly provincial. The University of Toronto is in dire straits with old and crowded buildings, too few laboratory and technical facilities, too many students and not enough professors. That's partly pro- vincial; partly federal. The crime rate is edging up, and the police are a municipal problem. But you wonder how much the crime rate has to do with the police budget, and how much it has to do with the overall state of society and the economy. These are problems that should be addressed by ail three levels of government. The trouble is that ail the problems and ail the pressures are interrelated, and that once a city is on the skids, it is very hard to stop. I'm not sure whether Toronto is on the skids or not, but when a city's infrastructure begins to get strained the way Metro Toronto's is, it's time to take stock. This newspaper has rarely come across a more sexist statement. It appears to us that these ladies are sayng that it is nat alright for men to discriminate against women but it is perfectly alright for women to discriminate against men. Equal rights are for women only. It should be nated that the Whltby Free Press doesanot have a mfeale reporter sa even If It was our desire to cover this event it is not possible for us to do so. And because our publisher and editor are both male it seems that these ladies question our professional ethics without ever having taken othe time tadetermine our views on the issue of women's rights. A free society is one where alil of its members, irregardless of their sex, age, religion or ethnic origin, find the best means possible to establish a community where all treat their neighbours with a. true measure of justice and decency. We would like to point out that many men have worked to foster equality between the sexes and that in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms there is no clause that excludes women from edjoying the basic rights of ail citizens. While cases of sexual discrimination still abound in our society it is not by itself the Major problem faced by our society in terms of human relations. Racial and religious prejudices are still part of our collective psyche and they are just as vile as those shown against women. But the attitude displayed by the Durham Inter- i national Women's Day Committee Is just as bad as those shown by the mare chauvanstc men in aur community. Their attitude does flot pramfote harmony between the sexes, ln fact, It helps d rive in the wedge a littie deeper. The committee is painting ail men with the same stroke of the brush. It appears ta make ail men out to be sexist plgs, especiaily If they work for a newspaper. Our record shows that we support the concept of equal rights, obligations and responsbilities for all members of our society no matter what their sex Is. We also support such concepts as "equal pay for equai work", tougher iaws ta deal with sexual offenders,wbetter measures to deal wth par- nography, support services for battered and abused women and children, equal opportunity In the workplace and in education as well as a host of other desirable programs. Without these measures ail citizens lose a part of the freedoms that they should enjoy In a truly democratic society. The committee is apparently doing something but unless It accepts the support of ail like min- ded people, be they men or women, black or white, Moslem or Christian, their efforts shall be for nothing. No organization, least of aIl the Durham Inter- national Women's Day Committee, should discriminate against anyone simply on the groun- ds of their sex. ds 0f their sex. - .-