Abstract
Egalitarianism is quite possibly the education buzzword of the eighties. Egalitarianism is belabored in the literature of late that it seems inconceivable that any person or institution with any degree of social responsibility has not yet acted to realign the programs and policies of our biased past. Yet many major social groups still remain disenfranchised in the current American cultural scenario. This commentary addresses the predicament of two of those groups-women and Native Americans. While seemingly unrelated, both groups share a common dilemma: their voices, their opinions and their expressions are not yet respected in the realm of art and history museums. Women consistently find little or no value placed on their artistic expressions, and Native Americans find their values and wishes utterly violated. While focusing on the plight of these two groups and the roles played by museums in determining the respect and value bestowed upon objects and people, let us not forget that there are many other groups whose work is mistreated or ignored and whose voices are not yet equally respected by those who dictate museum policy.
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