[Haskell-cafe] Re: Are there any female Haskellers?

[Steve Schafer]

On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 17:32:57 +0200, you wrote:

>What's evil in being different?

The point is that people use _generic_ differences as a rationale for
discrimination against _individuals_. For example, in the US, it has,
until recently, been used as an argument against female firefighters,
because women, in general, have less upper-body strength than men, and
are therefore less able to manage the equipment used. But there are, of
course, plenty of women who have upper-body strength significantly above
average, as well as men whose upper-body strength is well below average.
So the appropriate basis for discrimination is, "Do you have the
strength to manage the equipment?" rather than "Are you a man or a
woman?"

So yes, there are generic differences between As and Bs (whatever
categories A and B may represent), but that should not be used as a
rationale for discrimination against individual As or Bs, because there
is nearly always substantial overlap between the categories in whatever
criterion it is that you're measuring.

-Steve Schafer