Women of letters are needed

In “Letters, explained” (editorial page, Oct. 23) Julie Ryan Green, letters page editor, wrote: “Most of our mail, by the way, comes from men. Why? Do they have more time, or are they just more opinionated?”

Both statements are true, but in this particular case, time is of the essence. As soon as I read this, I immediately conjured an image of a woman’s average day. Most of today’s women work outside the home and also attend to the numerous chores that caring for family and household entail. Some mothers may also be pursuing an education, which means hurrying home to cook a meal, then dashing off to night school, then squeezing in class preparation during work breaks or lunch. But even stay-at-home mothers often don’t have a minute to call their own.

My favorite time to read the Los Angeles Times is in early morning. This quiet time is one of the highlights of my day. While reading a particular piece, I might be inspired to write to a particular journalist. But more often than not, I have to attend to household duties.

JOSEPHINE

BOTELLO GARCIA

Rosemead

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I am accepting your challenge to theorize why your editorial responses are top-heavy with male responders. I think many factors are responsible, but I will point out an obvious one revealed today on your Op-Ed page. Of your opinion columnists, four of 10 are female, and three out of nine of Monday’s letter writers are female. Yet for this sad statistic you are to be commended, for I checked the other two leading papers and found three of 21 Washington Post opinion columnists are female and one of eight at the New York Times are female. One conclusion to your question is simply the role -- or non-role -- of women in the opinion-setting department of newspapers. I’ll leave you with a question: Why is that?

ARLENE WIELAND

Bermuda Dunes.