(no subject)
When Justice O'Connor announced her retirement, I did as most of us probably did and wrote some letters to my elected folks. Since I know that el snail mail takes a while, and no one was sure how quickly Bush would come forth with a replacement, I also e-mailed the body of the letter to all of them through their websites.
While at the site for Senator John Warner(R-VA), though, I noticed something else and decided to send a letter to them about that, also.
I've noticed on your e-mail form that you have several options for titles. However, when you have options that identify two senders, you assume a man is the only one who can be addressed as "doctor" or "admiral" or "sergeant", because you only have "Dr. & Mrs.", "Admiral & Mrs.", and "SSgt. & Mrs." as your option for couples sending a joint e-mail. If you must have options for more than one person to send an e-mail together, I must insist that you do it equally and fairly, and add the counterparts of "Dr. and Mr.", "Admiral and Mr." and "SSgt. and Mr." as options in your drop down menu. ...[H]ow do you think a woman who is a doctor feels when she sees your office assume that if there is a doctor in the family, it must be a male? It looks as if you were stuck in the 19th century. Please update your site accordingly or get rid of the option to send joint e-mails.
Thank you,
[signed]
Not even a week later, I get a short but sweet e-mail.
It has been updated.
Have a nice day.
Mrs. Robin Caldwell
System Administrator
Senator John Warner
Technically, they did not add a "Dr. and Mr.", which was the one I thought most likely to occur (personally, I have no idea if there even ARE any female admirals), but I appreciate the expediency in which they acted, and the fact that they actual listened to a constituent for a change.
Now if only we could get them to listen to the age-old arguments for equal pay, childcare, health care or a myriad of other things that shouldn't have to be fought for.
While at the site for Senator John Warner(R-VA), though, I noticed something else and decided to send a letter to them about that, also.
I've noticed on your e-mail form that you have several options for titles. However, when you have options that identify two senders, you assume a man is the only one who can be addressed as "doctor" or "admiral" or "sergeant", because you only have "Dr. & Mrs.", "Admiral & Mrs.", and "SSgt. & Mrs." as your option for couples sending a joint e-mail. If you must have options for more than one person to send an e-mail together, I must insist that you do it equally and fairly, and add the counterparts of "Dr. and Mr.", "Admiral and Mr." and "SSgt. and Mr." as options in your drop down menu. ...[H]ow do you think a woman who is a doctor feels when she sees your office assume that if there is a doctor in the family, it must be a male? It looks as if you were stuck in the 19th century. Please update your site accordingly or get rid of the option to send joint e-mails.
Thank you,
[signed]
Not even a week later, I get a short but sweet e-mail.
It has been updated.
Have a nice day.
Mrs. Robin Caldwell
System Administrator
Senator John Warner
Technically, they did not add a "Dr. and Mr.", which was the one I thought most likely to occur (personally, I have no idea if there even ARE any female admirals), but I appreciate the expediency in which they acted, and the fact that they actual listened to a constituent for a change.
Now if only we could get them to listen to the age-old arguments for equal pay, childcare, health care or a myriad of other things that shouldn't have to be fought for.