Suppose you sent out resumes to companies, all of them identical except that 50% had the name Brian Smith and the other 50% had the name Kathrine Smith. Which fictional person would get hired more often? Would it surprise you if everyone answered that the male counterpart would get the job more often?
Early this morning, I went to a lecture by Dr. Bernice Sandler on the "chilly climate" or sexual discrimination in the classroom. Now this isn't about blatant abuses like lewd jokes. Everyone knows those are wrong. But it was research on the more subtle differences in the treatment of males and females that got me thinking.
Take for instance the reception between female and male lecturers. A study found that the audience looked at their watches more often when a female spoke than when a male spoke. In discussions, females were interrupted more often and when questioned, they were trivalized. In a study of class participation, roughly 30% of participation was female. When this percentage was raised to 40%, the males felt threatened, i.e. they perceived that female class participation had increased to 90%.
There were many more such statistics. Have you ever wondered why there is a roughly 1:10 women to men ratio in faculty hired in most universities (sometimes the ratio is worse) even when the number of qualified people in either gender is about equal? Dr. Sandler gave out one possible theory--people like to hire clones of themselves. Academic circles used to be painfully elitist. The good old boys would bring in another good old boy through their connections. Nowadays, it still happens despite the struggle to hire more diverse candidates.
The predominantly male atmosphere is undeniably quite daunting. Even though there is no overt nastiness, someone once remarked to me that there was just simply too much testosterone. There are plenty of exceptions, but men usually use confrontational tactics when they want something done. This, people accept. But when women act the same way, they are labeled as "bitches."
This is not about being treated better. This is about being treated equally. I would never want to be sweet-talked to or slammed. I want the straight facts. And this is not just about education or job hunting. This subtle discrimination is everywhere. Many people have said that whenever a woman wants to buy a car, even if it's only for herself, she should bring a man with her to negotiate the deal because the dealer would be more pleasant bargaining with a man. It's a sad state of events when I can't even go to a car dealership by myself.
