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TRACY BROWN'S POST
John O'Brien (JOBRIEN@UCS.INDIANA.EDU)
Sat, 4 Jun 1994 18:53:47 EST
I feel obliged to answer Tracy Brown's post . . . first, I personally do
not indict the whole feminist academic sub-discipline . . . but I am trying
to make the point that was made once long past, "The good is oft intered with
their bones, the bad lives long after."
I also agree with Tracy that there are not enough women in academics in
general, and that the percentage that are is not representative of the
demographic make up of the total population.
However, as a firm believer in equal opportunity and non-discriminatory
hiring . . . I would like to point out that a large number of institutions
and social science departments have implemented policies of unspoken quotas
. . . effectively deciding pre-advertising that positions should be filled
by one gender or another, or one ethnic group or another. Such policies are
effectively institutionalized discrimination . . . since academic skills,
ability and experience (and so forth) cease to be the criteria for recruitment
and hiring . . . and gender (or some other criterion) does.
I would tend to agree with Tracy that statistics show that European descent
males still compose the majority of academic faculty and administration . . .
but would take issue with the statement that White Males dominate academics.
It would be somewhat more accurate to say that academics dominate academia . .
.without inserting the issue of gender or ethnicity.
As one of the most respected members of my own doctoral committee used to
say (Elizabeth Mullins, now deceased) . . . the problem with women entering
the workplace is that the workplace forces them to give up the unique and
badly needed qualities that go with being female, and force them to become
more `male' than the males in the workplace to be a success. I think there
is more than a grain of truth in Liz' comment.
So much the worse for everyone.
John O'Brien
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