The Cocktail Party Contrarian: This Woman Is Weary of Women’s Groups

Years ago, my alma mater invited me to join an alumni committee made up exclusively of women to talk about women’s issues. When I asked what “women’s issues” meant, I got a jumbled serving of the usual fare: women’s health, child welfare, education. I declined right away: It isn’t that these topics aren’t important; it’s that I don’t see them as concerns specific to women, or issues that are best tackled by someone whose lead qualification to address them is that she is female.