After observing that:
… a quick tally of the authors represented on my syllabi (10 courses so far) reveals that 12% of the articles or books I was required to read were written by women. Now in my third quarter of a graduate program in International Studies, had I not actively sought out and read women’s work, my”education”would be comprised almost entirely of concepts and theories generated by men. …
What kind of mutiny would occur if men found themselves looking at a reading list comprised entirely of work from women in their discipline? How quickly would we call bullshit if an instructor tried to justify such discrimination by insisting that men had simply been marginal players in their societies and didn’t have much to say anyway? And do we, as women, perpetuate this outrage by acquiescing to the current and woefully inadequate patriarchal model of education?
(Via this blogger.) The Copyright Law book I use was written by four women, and the Trademark Law book I teach from has three women authors. My Intellectual Property Law textbook of choice was written by three men, and my Patent Law text was written by one man. That is the just the start of the inquiry though. Withing each textbook are excerpts from the writings of others, which would have its own gender balance or lack thereof.
–Ann Bartow
ETA: A friend gently and correctly reminded me that I’m not asking about race as well as gender, and I should be.
