Swiss university's ad for female-only prof applicants stirs controversy - but not much

Submitted by Mastodon on Sat, 2014-09-06 17:51

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Swiss university is taking the “exceptional” step of advertising a job specifically for women to boost gender diversity among staff.

The dean at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne said that it was able to make the “aggressive” move because the post is sponsored by industry.

But an official from the Swiss Federal Office for Gender Equality has questioned the legality of the situation.
...
“Typically, openings are not gender-specific. This is exceptional,” Andersen said, adding that specifying gender in a job advertisement is not possible for Swiss government-funded university posts.

Andrea Binder, head of the legal division of the Swiss Federal Office for Gender Equality, said that under Swiss law, the exclusive hiring of women can be justified in exceptional circumstances, such as employing staff for a women’s refuge or for the purpose of promoting true gender equality in certain positions.

But she added that in the case of public employers, the latter move must also have a “specific legal basis” and questioned whether industry funding made a difference to the legality of the Lausanne posting.'

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Comments

Next it's redheads. Then people under 5' tall. Then over 6' 4" tall. Then Muslims. Then Jews. Then... wait, no.

That'd be illegal.

But when dealing with gender and ethnicity, it's different. *Then* it's OK -- provided you're looking to hire anyone but men and at times, anyone but caucasians, preferably avoiding both in the same package. (At least here in the US; don't know about SUI.)

Where are the noble quotes from MLK, Jr. and others coming from the lips of self-proclaimed social justiciars these days? Silence. To be judged by one's character and/or abilities instead of skin color or pants contents? Nothing. Nada. Crickets chirping.

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Submitted by Matt on Sat, 2014-09-06 19:45

When people are appointed to academic positions without the proper merit (regardless of gender), they often become administrators (deans, chairs, NSF reviewers, etc.)

So if they do grant this position, in time, it is more than likely (there are always exceptions), this female professor will gravitate toward administration and teaching.

In teaching roles, these favored people promulgate teaching methods that favor their own group.

In administrative roles, they push for more programs to recruit their same group.

And the problem worsens.

Witness engineering education. A horde of academics in engineering education (I wonder which gender), is pushing more collaboration, more design (and less analysis), less individual work, and less strenuous math.

Now what is the outcome of that?

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Submitted by ThomasI on Sun, 2014-09-07 07:17

What you just described sounds awful, Thomas. In fact it sounds like the complete annihilation of all the things I like about STEM subjects. I like the challenging math, working on my own, and making sense of things.

I also don't get what gender ideologues are upset about. Nothing stops women from entering STEM if they desire to do so. Except for maybe, lack of necessary grades, but that clearly applies to males too.

The women in STEM don't have a problem with the gender make-up of the students and staff therein. On top of this, where I go to school, all my senior level math classes are about 50 percent female.

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Submitted by xtrnl on Sun, 2014-09-07 16:23