NYMA:
Mother Always Said
Remaining silent, stewing in our silence: Argument teaches us that we are in a double bind of our own making. However, if we choose another path, if we invite another interpretation into our perception, how does that change the realities of women’s work? Can a different attitude toward the work or the situation significantly change our experiences of that work?
A daily, moment-by-moment reinterpretation is required. Can we do this? Yes. Is it easy to do? No. What does it do for us? It creates a space where we can 1) voice our concerns—I am not the only female academic who experiences work this way and 2) creates a site for change—because I am not the only one who experiences work in this way, I have a responsibility to acknowledge it, and change it, if only so that my experience with it will be more pleasant. Such change has the potential to create a more pleasant environment for others.
“To ask for money or fewer students or ‘a life’ only evokes the crass masculinist values of power and self-interestedness. The nurturer, then, must remain silent and thereby deny the contributions of and re-inscribe the invisibility of women’s work.” (Lil Brannon, 1993, p. 460)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The invisibility of women’s work in the academy
