But this is only one side of the coin. The other side is that Couric has benefited more than anyone because of her gender. CBS specifically made Couric’s gender an issue and sought Couric in part because she is a woman, which it thought would draw in more female viewers and in turn, help the program. While CBS will be unlikely to admit that Couric would not have the job if she was not a woman in the first place, this is a fair assumption. CBS implicitly acknowledges this. The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that CBS was hoping to draw younger, female viewers and that Couric has received a 2 percent increase in women age 18 to 49.

Furthermore, CBS spent huge sums of money conducting a large-scale public relations campaign to sell the public on Couric. Why? CBS hoped that a female anchor could push CBS to the front of the pack. There are always risks involved in switching news anchors and the structure of the program. The extensive public relations campaign CBS conducted shows that CBS was aware of these risks. CBS should recognize that the program failed and change something—the format, the anchor or the type of news it covers.

Instead, CBS has adopted the typical radical feminist attitude that has been so destructive on our culture: They get put in the game without the proper qualifications and then claim victim status when they cannot compete. Feminists take advantage of their gender to get ahead and then cry sexism when they are no longer propped up, try to play the game and fail miserably.

Unfortunately, this is the attitude that dominates college campuses today. For example, the Equal Rights Amendment is still a highly discussed and supported topic among female professors, especially those in women’s studies departments. They claim it will equalize men and women before the law. Realistically, these women want to pick and chose when their gender will be a factor. For example, they want women to have the same access to promotions within the military. Yet, when asked if they support drafting women into the military, they resounding reply “no.”

If women want the same opportunity to succeed, we should have the same opportunity to fail.

Couric more than benefited from her gender by getting the CBS news anchor job and CBS gave it to her expecting to benefit as well. CBS shouldn’t expect to receive bonus points on the Nielsen’s ratings just because it hired a female anchor. Rather than claim sexism, CBS should take responsibility for the failure of the CBS Evening News.