A group of the most highly-paid, privileged, and honor-laden women in history officially launched their screed against gender bias at Harvard yesterday. Harvard’s Task Force on Women Faculty presented its report on the university’s sexism to an adoring gathering of the school’s Standing Committee on Women. The event was drenched in irony, but few of the participants noticed.
Presiding were task force leaders Drew Faust, Dean of the Radcliffe Institute and Lincoln Professor of History; Barbara Grosz, Dean of Science at the Radcliffe Institute and Higgins Professor of Natural Science in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Marjorie Garber, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and American Literature and Language and of Visual and Environmental Studies, as well as Director of the Humanities Center and Director of the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts; and Evelynn Hammonds, Professor of History of Science and of African and African American Studies. Many of these women have made enviable careers bashing the sexist white male patriarchy while getting paid handsomely for it by that same patriarchy.
When I think about "feminists" like the ones MacDonald describes (as infrequently as possible), the term "pathetic whiners" generally comes to mind. It simply boggles the mind that anyone these days can take their petty complaints seriously.
There are real injustices and horrors in the world perpetrated against women for being women, but somehow, I just don't think Harvard should have to take the blame for them.
UPDATE: How about doing something about this? Or this?
UPDATE II: Free Thoughts has a story on some Iranian women who are making a difference. Are you listening, professors?
No comments:
Post a Comment