It's irrelevant - Edit 1
Before modification by DomA at 19/11/2012 03:48:25 AM
Daigian could well be lower than the 62.5% number RJ stated as we know the Tower has been weakening for centuries.
Daigian meets the current standards, if barely (if she didn't she would not have be allowed to pass the test for the shawl, she'd had remained an Accepted, constrained to remain in TV). RJ said only 32.5% of women are strong enough to meet them. It's possible the standards have been lowered at some point, though the AS seem to imply they did not (one of them mentioned at some point that despite the decreasing strength and the fact less and less candidates could meet the standards, they were not to lower them...) but 32,5% of women was the current state of things anyway (or RJ would have specified the number applied to a past state of things, not the current one...), and that forcibly includes Daigian at the minimal required level to be allowed to past the test.
My point being a combination of declining numbers and declining strength could easily lead to declining standards. Daigian was clearly dedicated to earning the Shawl, the AS may well have decided to lower the standard to keep numbers up. Obviously I'm in pure speculation territory, but Daigian could just as easily be an example of the decline of the WT as anything else. Ultimately it has little bearing on Bell Curves etc...
The context of the Q&A makes it very clear RJ was referring to the story's contemporary WT standards.