Thursday, May 03, 2007
Women at the Helm
From what the AP and the Crimson report on yesterday's gathering of female Ivy League presidents, the conversation was pretty banal and Oprah-like.
From the Crimson: “Give voice to the fullness of who you are, including the fact that you are a woman,” said [Judith] Rodin.
"It is much too early to declare either victory or defeat," Ruth Simmons said, according to the AP.
Drew Faust, as seems to be her norm, listened but said nothing of particular interest.
Nonetheless, the Crimson ran a photo that, I think, has more power than anything these women said or didn't say. It's simply the five of them sitting around a table. When was the last time you saw a group of five powerful people...and all of them were women?
Crimson photo by Natasha L. Coleman
From the Crimson: “Give voice to the fullness of who you are, including the fact that you are a woman,” said [Judith] Rodin.
"It is much too early to declare either victory or defeat," Ruth Simmons said, according to the AP.
Drew Faust, as seems to be her norm, listened but said nothing of particular interest.
Nonetheless, the Crimson ran a photo that, I think, has more power than anything these women said or didn't say. It's simply the five of them sitting around a table. When was the last time you saw a group of five powerful people...and all of them were women?
Crimson photo by Natasha L. Coleman
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Except for Ruth Simmons, all of these leading women engaged in quite a lot of self-congratulation about themselves and the Ivy League. Being there rather than doing things seems to be the order of the day.
The picture suggests that no one expected this event to be about agendas. At different kinds of events they'll each and all prove themselves people of action.
To everything there is a season: a time to cast away women in science, a time to gather women scholars to-ge-eh-ther.
SE
PS. Richard, I haven't watched much Oprah, at least since I turned 17. Can you explain to me, then, since I know little about the show, how your link of these famous academic women with the most famous woman in television isn't sexist?
To everything there is a season: a time to cast away women in science, a time to gather women scholars to-ge-eh-ther.
SE
PS. Richard, I haven't watched much Oprah, at least since I turned 17. Can you explain to me, then, since I know little about the show, how your link of these famous academic women with the most famous woman in television isn't sexist?
Oh, dear. SE, you may or may not be a woman, but if you don't know Oprah, you are certainly an academic.
Oprah is one of the most powerful women in the world, and in that respect, it's hardly sexist to compare other women to her. She is infinitely more powerful than any of these five Ivy League presidents, that's for sure.
However, much of her talk show has a self-help, warm and fuzzy focus that appeals to millions (though not particularly me). That's what I was referring to.
Oprah is one of the most powerful women in the world, and in that respect, it's hardly sexist to compare other women to her. She is infinitely more powerful than any of these five Ivy League presidents, that's for sure.
However, much of her talk show has a self-help, warm and fuzzy focus that appeals to millions (though not particularly me). That's what I was referring to.
I think I knew what you meant about the fuzzy self-help-ness. But without having been there I don't see how you can assert that so sweepingly of the whole conversation. You seem to be linking all female power to Oprah-style power, and then imbuing the resulting Pangaea with 'fuzziness' as its prime characteristic -- which is to say, effeminacy, sentimentality, and talk-show unseriousness.
But maybe you've drawn a fair conclusion about the event itself, so I'll back down here.
By the way, anon: a 17-year-old boy watches Oprah because he spends a lot of time after school doing nothing but watching TV. Then he goes to college and learns about other kinds of female power! But then again I might be retrofitting some memories -- when did Oprah go on the air? Maybe I was 25 doing that....
SE
But maybe you've drawn a fair conclusion about the event itself, so I'll back down here.
By the way, anon: a 17-year-old boy watches Oprah because he spends a lot of time after school doing nothing but watching TV. Then he goes to college and learns about other kinds of female power! But then again I might be retrofitting some memories -- when did Oprah go on the air? Maybe I was 25 doing that....
SE
I actually attended the event. I didn't think it was soft and fuzzy, at least not once they turned to substantive issues. When they were talking about access to higher education, K-12 schooling, government interference with universities, the use of the bully pulpit, and other such issues, they made a lot of sense, and even inspiring at times. More on the substance and less about their egos --in that way different from what a similar forum would have been with Summers (though not necessarily with other male presidents).
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