S L Forsburg <forsburg at nospamsalk.edu> writes
> 2) the discomfort level of older men mentoring younger women. They
> are awkward and uncomfortable, as if they are always waiting for the
> women either to cry or make a pass at them. MUCH easier for
> them to put their efforts behind young men, whose style of
> interaction they are familiar with. No difficult in communicating
> there, since they are both reading from the same manual. Since
> most senior faculty are men, this is a HUGE problem.
Yup, I find that older men can work around this, but only if you help
them.
Old men were told this by their fathers and grandfathers, that women
will cry, be driven mad with desire, or accuse them of making advances;
they were taught that women need to be protected from the turmoil of the
world. Even my husband, (who is only in his 30's) was told by his father
that women melt in the rain, and need to be dropped off directly at the
door when there is water in the air.
They can be taught the foolishness of this advice, but in positively
accepting women students they are walking in strange territory, strange
to their upbringing, and strange to the profession. Even if they try
their best to communicate with the women who were never expected to be
their colleagues when they grew up in the segregated society of
theirchildhood, it's something that the women need to help them with.
> 3) the walking-on-eggshell phenomenon--"women can't take criticism",
> so we just won't give it to them, or "anything I do, women will
> accuse me of harrassment" so we just won't interact with them.
