To the Editor:
Re “A Trailblazer Who’s Been Ready for Years” (Sports, Nov. 19):
The hiring of Kim Ng to be the general manager of the Miami Marlins and the first woman to be a general manager in any major men’s sport is moving. It is moving because not only is she female, she is also Asian-American.
Asian women are often forgotten in the labor market, and we’re less likely to obtain a management role. We carry the burden of the Asian woman stereotype, which includes being submissive or passive, characteristics that go against the grain of a great leader.
This burden is heavy at times, but with the announcement of Ng’s good news in this vicious news cycle, I feel a sense of renewed hope and optimism.
She won’t be the last.
Sophia Kim
Bayside, Queens
Women’s Unpaid Labor
To the Editor:
Re “Recession’s Toll on Women Points to a Lasting Setback” (front page, Nov. 18):
The pandemic has highlighted continuing inequities in responsibility for unpaid labor.
We’ve quantified the long-term health consequences for women of the combination of paid and unpaid labor. Our research findings suggest that women with caregiving responsibilities who were able to take time off from paid employment and then return to the workplace had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared with women who did not do so.
This raises the question of who is able to obtain protection from too many roles or time demands.
Income- and class-based health inequities will be worsened unless we change gender-based patterns in the types of labor that are formally rewarded and those that are not. We can use what we’ve learned from this pandemic to reshape gendered policies, practices and norms about what work is, and which kinds we value.
Emily Q. Ahonen
Yvonne L. Michael
The writers are public health researchers.
Why Continue in Afghanistan?
To the Editor:
Re “U.S. to Halve Afghan Force by Inauguration Day” (front page, Nov. 18):
After nearly two decades of occupation in Afghanistan by Western troops, NATO forces have to continue their mission “to train, advise and assist the Afghan security forces,” according to Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general.
Why must that training be continued by NATO, or American forces? One would think that the Afghan security forces would have been sufficiently trained after 20 years to train their own troops.
Perhaps a congressional investigation could answer that question.
Bob Ladendorf
Los Angeles
Still Keeping the Faith
To the Editor:
Re “This Is America” (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, Nov. 5):
I agree with Roxane Gay; the last four years did a number on my faith also. But it also did a number on my involvement in political discourse, in a good way.
Four years ago, I cast my first-ever ballot in the United States after the long road to becoming a citizen. I was sure that I was part of making history, electing the first female American president. What happened next I never imagined.
Tears were shed with close friends as the Trump presidency became a reality, but something else changed in me. I started taking part in protests and marches; I subscribed to The New York Times; I joined two book clubs, one focused on reading work from diverse authors and the other focused on riots and social change.
I started donating to political campaigns (and now know the names of most senators), and through honest conversation with my mother-in-law managed to take two votes from Donald Trump this election. I am ready to continue the fight, and so are many more of us out there.
Ed Farraye
Santa Monica, Calif.