Expand Your Mind: Culture and Women
by Miki Saxon
The effect of culture is extensive, but in some cases the ripples it sends out travel further than you would imagine. Such is that case in the culture of lies that surrounds the implementation of Title IX as it affected the unequal treatment of male and female athletes on college campuses. Rather than creating new women’s sports or, heaven forbid, reduce football teams, for the last 40 years many colleges have turned to “roster management.” Roster management is a fancy term for lying and cheating to make it seem as if you complied with the law.
Just as culture is the main reason people join companies it is also the reason they leave. Not just the overall culture, but the specific culture fostered by their manager. A new study shows that the majority of women leaving engineering do so because of the culture.
The sexist MAP in the medical profession is nothing new, but you would think that it might have changed a bit more over the last few decades. Nope. Dr. Lazar J. Greenfield, a top surgeon and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan Medical School, was forced to resign his position as president-elect of the American College of Surgeons because of his really stupid comments in a column he wrote in the organization’s newspaper. Among other comments he termed semen a mood enhancer for women. Good grief and shades of 1970.
I guess some things never change.
PS I’ve never added to a post once it’s published, but after reading this morning’s paper I’m making an exception today.
I guess it proves just how naive I am, but I honestly thought the days of it being a woman’s fault if she is raped were gone. How wrong I was.
Image credit: MykReeve on flickr
