Micro-Inequities: 40 Year Later April 21, 2013

There’s a good discussion of micro-inequities over at Psychology Today, cross-posted on NewAPPS. The post starts with the history of the concept, then moves on to adducing examples of micro-inequities (drawn from What is it like to be a woman in philosophy?), and to drawing connections with implicit bias research. It’s worth the read.

Here’s a taste:

Rowe noted that micro-inequities often had serious cumulative, harmful effects, resulting in hostile work environments and continued minority discrimination in public and private workplaces and organizations. What makes micro-inequities particularly problematic is that they consist in micro-messages that are hard to recognize for victims, bystanders and perpetrators alike. When victims of micro-inequities do recognize the micro-messages, Rowe argues, it is exceedingly hard to explain to others why these small behaviors can be a huge problem.

Thanks, S!

Central APA: meeting up? UPDATE ON MEETING February 18, 2013

There,s another important meeting on Fri evening, so we’ll meet up on Thurs, when the beer is free! Let’s head for 8:30 to 9, at the reception, near the beer!

——–

The program is, I hope you will think, remarkedly diverse. It’s got some wonderful speakers on analytic philosophy, feminist philosophy, and critical race theory/Black Experience. On one count I figured we had 20 main program sessions on black experience. I doubt that’s quite right, but there are a lot, relatively speaking.

And inevitably some important concerns have been left out.

Rachel McKennon and I have communicated about getting some of us together. Some people can’t make Thurs evening, so let’s meet at the reception(aka “smoker”)on Friday. It starts at nine. How about meeting up at 9:30, near the place where one buys beer?

I’m thinking of “us” as FP commenters, and others who are interested in diversity, the state of the profession, etc.

What do you think?

The Ivory Tower has a lot of stairs and no ramp January 28, 2013

I’d encourage everyone to go and read the post we put up at Disabled Philosophers this morning from Raymond Aldred, a graduate student with muscular dystrophy. The kind of barriers Ray faces in the profession are immense, and – I suspect – largely invisible to your average non-disabled philosopher.

It’s not that hard January 18, 2013

We’ve had a lot of discussion here about accessibility at conferences – what it looks like, how to make it happen, and barriers to achieving it. Organizing an accessible conference can seem intimidating. How can you figure out what to do? How can you anticipate the myriad accessibility requirements you might encounter? How do you even know where to start?

But as we’ve emphasized here before, often times the most important thing about organizing an accessible conference isn’t making sure that you accommodate, in advance, the accessibility requirements of anyone who might attend your conference. (This is at best very difficult and at worst impossible – since it can sometimes be the case that the accessibility requirements of different disabilities conflict.) Rather, what can often matter the most is that you indicate – publicly and clearly – that you want your conference to be accessible, that you are aware that there are issues about conference accessibility, and that you want to do the best you can to make you conference disability-friendly. Then you invite your participants to tell you about how the conference might be made more accessible for them, and you go from there.

So I was delighted to see this page on the 2013 Bellingham Summer Philosophy Conference website. The conference organizers say:

The BSPC is committed to accommodating people with disabilities. (This is one reason for the relatively physically-undemanding schedule involving just three paper sessions per day.) We don’t have it all figured out yet, but are eager to learn and adapt in this regard. If you have concerns about being able to attend the conference, please email Ned Markosian at bspc2013@gmail.comto discuss possible accommodations. (For example, if it turns out that you are unable to attend the conference physically, there is the possibility of Skyping in to the conference.)

Something as simple as this – clearly publicized on the conference website – can make a huge difference for disabled academics thinking about whether and how they might attend such a conference.

 

Amy Ferrer (APA Executive Director) on Diversity in Philosophy December 4, 2012

An important and encouraging post on diversity in philosophy by Amy Ferrer, the APA’s recently hired Executive Director, who is currently guest blogging over at Leiter Reports.

Resources related to climate November 5, 2012

I have been very encouraged as of late by the efforts described on the What We’re Doing About What It’s Like Blog, as well as by the number of signatures on the petitions in support of the Gendered Conference Campaign (both our own, as well as Eric and Mark’s). It’s wonderful that so many philosophers are actively supportive of greater equity within the discipline. I thought it might be useful, then (for myself, if no one else), if we started putting together a collection of resources related to climate issues (ideas, data, examples, strategies, etc.). There are already resources all over–some more collected, some more scattered– here and elsewhere; this is intended to be just a bit of organizing.  I know I’ve missed a lot so, please, do add more in the comments! (List after the jump.)

What to do about an icy climate? October 23, 2012

A reader on this post asks an excellent question, and I’m hoping others who are wise will have some useful thoughts. The question is what to do when faced with a really awful environment in one’s department, which includes denial that there is a problem. Is a climate survey useless? What are other first steps one could take?

Improving the hiring process October 5, 2012

Amy Olberding has a great post over at What We’re Doing on ways to improve hiring processes, and how Oklahoma is trying to do so. I’d urge everyone to have a look!

How to be an ally: a case study October 4, 2012

We’ve talked before about the tricky issues that arise when the well-meaning, gender-aware male philosophers triy to figure out how to be an ally to women in the profession. As a case in point, a male philosopher writes:

I’m teaching a grad seminar this semester made up of 9 men and 1 woman. I’ve noticed already that the woman tends to talk a lot less than most of the men and to be much more hesitant about putting forward ideas in class. I don’t want to let the men dominate the discussion, and I want to make sure the woman feels that the atmosphere in the class is safe and welcoming for her. But I really don’t know how to go about it. I worry that if I make special effort to ask her for her opinion or encourage her when she speaks, she’ll feel like I’m singling her out or coddling her – which could of course have exactly the opposite effect of the one I intend.

I’m sure a lot of philosophy professors – male and female – have found themselves in similar situations. What’s a well-intentioned professor to do?

Facebook Group for LGBTQ Philosophers October 2, 2012

Rebecca Kukla writes: “I just started a facebook group for LGBTQ-identified philosophers. It will only be cool if it has lots of members. Please get in touch if you’d like to join, and please have others – particularly grad students – friend me and let me know they are interested. It is a ‘secret group’ so no one can see it on your timeline. Anyone who self-identifies as a philosopher with a nonstandard or marginalized sexual or gender identity or orientation of any sort is welcome.”

It’s open to all philosophers, including students, but at the moment it’s not open to allies. If you’d like to join, find Rebecca on FB and send her a request!

Update: Apparently there’s more than one Rebecca Kukla on FB. She writes: “I list myself as at Georgetown, in Washington DC, and my facebook profile pic is a Hello Kitty version of Alex from Clockwork Orange.”