how was i this lucky?

[candyholic]

in sociology last year (aaaaaages ago, back when i was a mere sophmore), we talked about sexism and disparities in treatment with regard to gender...most of the stuff was rather nitpicking-ish, but there were some crazy statistics regarding pay differences based purely on gender. which is weird. it seems to be one of those Things That Are Left From

Comments

[sara_h_tonnen]

awww... i feel really bad for you.
right now, i'm sorta teaching math/computer programming... both of which are heavily male-dominated. But, the university of chicago does like an affirmative-action-type-thing (but they call it "community outreach".... i guess "affirmative action" is a dirty word). so they've made an effort to hire more female and minority teachers... and this year, all of the leadership responsiblities went to women. would this be better? or would you think to yourself, "gee, they're only letting me do Stuff cuz i'm a girl?"

eh, i dunno, i guess it just depends on the political environment. chicago is too liberal.

i take that back. fox chapel is too conservative.

[candyholic]

i think, to some degree, i would feel a bit uncomfortable if i thought i only got a position because i'm female. especially if other, more competent, people got shafted. i'm not a big affirmative action fan. when women/other minorities decide they want to start entering any of the mostly white-male-dominated fields, then Great. but i don't think anyone should reap advantages based on things they can't control.

so there's my affirmative action rant. in general, i think no one should get special treatment, whether preferential or otherwise. which is more open-minded-equal, if you think about it. and it is definitely sucking that i am The Girl.

fox chapel would certainly benefit from some serious liberalization.

[sara_h_tonnen]

well, what frequently happens is that when a qualified/intelligent woman enters something like mathematics or computers, she'll be the only female there. and i imagine that it would be really discouraging to be the only woman working with like 20 guys.

so, to get the point, i guess most girls in your situation would probably get discouraged and quit. which is very unfortunate.

[candyholic]

there's some irony for you. the girls that manage to reach a level of professional competency end up quitting because of emotional discouragement.

fuck that.

[randlepmcmurphy]

i am a lot more thoroughly anti-affirmative action than i used to be. mainly because of this book i have to read for pitt (in defense of elitism), which for the most part is not a lot of bullshit at all. i enjoy it a lot.

erm...male-dominated things suck. but i don't think affirmative action is the way to fix that. it just breeds resentment. women and minorities have to just stick to it -- get qualified, and fight.

all playwrights are male, by the way. all of them. except for tina howe and paula vogel. (ok, so maybe there are a couple others. but REALLY.)

why? don't fucking know. DIE, DIE.