At Radcliffe, "Jubilation"
Radcliffe Institute fellow Christine Stansell has an interesting post over at Open University. (And you thought that was an oxymoron.)
Jubilation reigned at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study in Cambridge last week, where I'm a fellow this year. The new president of Harvard is an admired and appealing figure, beloved by her staff and garnering immense affection even from the visiting scholars who've only known her for six months. About three-quarters of the fellows are women, and fully aware of the ardor of what Drew Faust just accomplished. To jump through one hoop after another, ever higher, for six months!Stansell goes on to argue that, in academia, having children significantly decreases women's chances for tenure but actually
increases men's.
Statistically, each child of a man makes him more likely to get tenure. The brilliant young mother appears stressed out and underproductive. The brilliant young father, no longer the obnoxious young nerd he might have seemed when he was hired, now seems all the more human and charming for his (discrete) family responsibilities.
Huh.
My problem with that paragraph is that it posits statistical evidence, then introduces an anecdotal and highly subjective ("obnoxious young nerd") and absolutely unquantifiable generalization. If Larry Summers had made this kind of remark, what would the reaction be? Or are such arguments only offensive when they come from white men in positions of power?
