Gender issues

Last week's post,  The "Crazy/Bitch" Narrative About Senior Academic Women , struck a nerve. After  tweeting  it there were immediate retweets, responses, and then it went viral. In the past six days the post has been viewed 37,000 times on my blog, published in the  Georgia Straight , picked up by the Chronicle of Higher Education, and I gave an interview today on Roundhouse Radio with Minelle Mahtani . I'm glad it generated discussion and spoke to so many women (and men). Many wrote that they saw their own experiences in the post and that it helped call out a larger pattern usually attributed to individual failings. A Tier 1 Canada Research Chair wrote that she felt broken and wanted to quit, but that my blog gave her strength: "I won't let them clip my wings." It's also discouraging to learn just how widespread this pattern is. People have noted it happens in all professions, especially male-dominated ones, where it pays to disparage and dista

When I was a graduate student there weren’t many senior women in my department. There were narratives about them that seemed unique to each woman: One was crazy – I never really understood why, but there were hushed rumours and we were warned to stay away and not work with her. She had some impressive publications, but they were informally credited to her co-authors. Another senior woman was a "bitch" – she was well known in her "narrow" area of feminist inquiry, but only because few had researched the topic and she'd landed upon low-hanging fruit. She got her job because the department wanted to hire her husband and she didn't deserve the position and knew it. The junior female faculty were seen more favorably – as up-and-comers, friendly, and good citizens. According to some senior men, though, some junior women had Achilles' heels that would stunt their success, such as the woman who had kids before tenure (her rookie "star" was sure to fade