Lectures by Barbara Grosz
Lectures by Barbara Grosz - "Women in IT" (4/14) & "Beyond Mice and Menus" (4/15)
These were two lectures that attended, last month, given by the Dean from Harvard. Both of them were quite good, especially the first.
'Women in IT', is a controversial topic particularly after Dr.Summers' speech. Dr.Summers suggested that Women are not good at scientific fields and expectedly, this generated lot of controversy in the academic circles. This lecture, "Women in IT" is a talk that is follow-up or an answer to that assertion. The speaker admits that the proportion of women in IT and scientific fields is low. But, that does not warrant a thought that women are poor at IT. In fact, the problems run deep, in a male-dominated society. (I'm personally very tempted to add here that there was not a single woman president in the 230 year history of the world's torch-bearer of democracy). The speaker motivated the audience to consider very deep about the problem. She asserted with basic facts, about the representative percentages of woman in various fields, which were pathetically low. Grosz also gave illustration of how a female basket-baller attacks her problems.
One of her experiments, having few men in a largely woman-dominated workshop had an impact on the male participants of that workshop. The men felt insecure and less confident and were unable to get their point across. This is how the women feel in our academic establishments. Though there might not be any open discrimination, there is invisible pressure on them that constrains their potential in various public gatherings and study groups.
The speaker has good commanding voice, spoke with confience, assertion and purpose, was informative and has maintained composure and clarity.
It was a good talk to have.
These were two lectures that attended, last month, given by the Dean from Harvard. Both of them were quite good, especially the first.
'Women in IT', is a controversial topic particularly after Dr.Summers' speech. Dr.Summers suggested that Women are not good at scientific fields and expectedly, this generated lot of controversy in the academic circles. This lecture, "Women in IT" is a talk that is follow-up or an answer to that assertion. The speaker admits that the proportion of women in IT and scientific fields is low. But, that does not warrant a thought that women are poor at IT. In fact, the problems run deep, in a male-dominated society. (I'm personally very tempted to add here that there was not a single woman president in the 230 year history of the world's torch-bearer of democracy). The speaker motivated the audience to consider very deep about the problem. She asserted with basic facts, about the representative percentages of woman in various fields, which were pathetically low. Grosz also gave illustration of how a female basket-baller attacks her problems.
One of her experiments, having few men in a largely woman-dominated workshop had an impact on the male participants of that workshop. The men felt insecure and less confident and were unable to get their point across. This is how the women feel in our academic establishments. Though there might not be any open discrimination, there is invisible pressure on them that constrains their potential in various public gatherings and study groups.
The speaker has good commanding voice, spoke with confience, assertion and purpose, was informative and has maintained composure and clarity.
It was a good talk to have.
posted by Balaji at 11:24 AM
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