Adam Ingram’s op-ed in last Wednesday’s issue of The Daily Campus (“Students should be aware of women’s rights movement,” Oct. 6) interested us because it touches on a topic about which we are planning a conference to be held on campus next spring.

Mr. Ingram notes that this year, American women earning college degrees will outnumber their male counterparts by a 3-2 margin. (American women have been outnumbering American men who graduate from college since the early 1980s.) We wonder about the implications of this demographic fact. Are the professions changing as women enter them in ever greater numbers? Do women still face obstacles (such as the infamous glass ceiling) as they pursue their careers? How are things changing for men already in the professions, and others aspiring to join them? Will a greater number of women at any rank in professional life bring about social changes—and if so, what kind?

We thank Mr. Ingram for bringing the issue to the attention of The Daily Campus readers. We hope that many of them will join us on Saturday, March 26, 2011, as we explore these issues with academics, local professionals, and SMU alumni representing law, medicine, engineering, the corporate and political worlds and the clergy.

Sincerely,

Professor Anne Lincoln, Sociology

Dean Peter Moore, Dedman College

Professor Beth Newman, Director,

Women’s and Gender Studies