Toward Closing the Gender Gap
Last week I attended a workshop on microaggressions held for faculty and staff on our campus. One of our department chairs observed that he was surprised that the focus of the workshop was linked to gender, race, ability, age, nationality, and religion. He had not previously made connections, he said, between “bad” or “unconscious” behaviors and the aforementioned vectors that in many cases structure critical aspects of our professional and personal lives. Our conversation reminded me of an earlier posting in which I alluded to the gender differential in university teaching positions in Music. Although microaggressions are not the only culprit, it is worth bearing in mind their impact on women and faculty of color in our departments and schools of music as they advance through the ranks.
