60 Minutes | Female Pilot

Jan 20, 2002

60 Minutes | Female Pilot Sues Over Muslim Garb I don’t normally watch 60 Minutes, but tonight’s stories interested me greatly. I’d read about Col. Martha McSally and the U.S. military’s insane, unfair policy toward American servicewoman in Saudi Arabia. While American servicemen can go off base in regular dress—blue jeans and collared shirts—women must dress in a full black dress and head covering. And women must be accompanied by a man. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I learned all about respecting other traditions, but to take away an American’s rights because of a despotic regime that is too afraid to let its own people be really free is not right, or just. Another story on tonight’s 60 Minutes episode was about Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift, who has engendered much discussion and debate because of her attempt to balance her role as mother to three children. While I don’t know much about Governor Swift’s job performance, her story did raise questions about family leave, stay-at-home fathers and working mothers. In the end, tonights 60 Minutes illuminated an America that still does not treat women equal to men. Hurray to the Afghan women throwing off the chador, and hurray to Martha and Jane for their own struggles for freedom.

Anton Zuiker ☄