It completely slipped my mind that yesterday (Tuesday) was International Women’s Day. Bad feminist – no massage! Perhaps it is my disdain for mere days, weeks or months that celebrate such essences of living as women, the earth, nationalities, etc. that caused me to forget.
Regardless, it enrages me to know that the only two countries that have not yet given women the right to vote are Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. To think that I was born in Kuwait. I left, however, but a lot of affluent and well-educated women remain, disenfranchised yet strong.
Yeah, well, why look down on misogynist Arabian societies when we have our very own Larry Summers?
Yeah, well, why look down on misogynist Arabian societies when we have our very own Larry Summers?
Um, because women in the US are allowed to vote? And are not forced to attend segregated universities? And if Harvard were, say, to catch on fire, its female students (amazing!) probably wouldn’t be driven back into the fire to burn to death if they were not properly attired.
Oh well, what’s the lives of 14 young women compared to an imbalance in the gender proportions of tenured faculty at Harvard.
Dear Anon,
Sexism, even under the guise of sophistication and the western world, smells just as rotten. Blatant misogyny is much better than veneered and polished dual-standards.
The gender proportions of tenured faculty at Harvard speak to the true myth of gender equality in this country.
It’s like what I have to say to the current US administration – don’t call yourself a hero when you’re guilty of the same thing, just in another way.
Dear Sri,
Thanks for the comment. I trust my reply to your scientific (and most welcomed) email was well-received.
To cut and paste from that reply:
He still had no outright evidence to prove that socialization was not the case. “We should explore if there is a link to biological causes” only if we have exhausted ALL possible socialization-related and other causes (environment, schooling, teaching techniques for girls vs. boys) that don’t relate to the innate. Until then, his words are doing a great disservice to the community of women scientists. Granted, he didn’t say we are stupid, but as a woman, it stings that a man of his standing would resort to the biological fallback so quickly.
I can’t believe an otherwise intelligent woman like you (I browsed the archives) can make such a snap judgement about Larry Summers. Did you actually read the transcript of what he said, before deciding he’s sexist ?