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COMMENT

Heyl Can't you smie! Women and status in philosophy

Babete Babich

What s the status of women phosophy today?

Before askg this queson s mporta to recall

that whe oe speaks of status oe speaks of presgeor value. Quesos of aus have ohg, by ature

to do wh 'trut objectve or otherwse at stake are

maters of ower ad respectWho s he top phlosopher toda? How about heto hree? To sa wth lvig ames we mght hnkof Chare Taylor or Aladar Macntre or StanleyCavel or to ame a few coetal phosophers

Jrge Habermas or eve for te younger ad edgeramong us maybe acques Rancre (maybe) or lan

Badou (more lkel); some migt hk of omag

Savoj Zzek or Gan Vamo (or mabe ot) Wonderg about addoa aglophoe aes we ma

well be short of great thers tese days but surey

Simo Blackbur or lary Putnam would couFolks wt or withou analtic tases may have

differet ss bu I submt that caddaes for suc

an accoade are ycaly me wth wome added awome ted to be oy for reasos of equt f onehnks of or s asked o do so: s though.

Fo my ow part and o just because of my cont

nenal formaton do no beeve ha he expaan

for hs s hat me are nherely esena phiosophcal (empircaly ow ths not so) Rater

me are posesso of power/saus to sart wth

hus I d mysef agreeme wt Louse Morleysobservaton that 'credenias and academc capal n

womes possesson msterouy lose er vaue"

Years ago ow Deborah Tae got a lot of attenio for her lgustic studies of gender dferece2Enng on e wr f Parca radley aye ad

oters Tane argued a suc dferes ad o d

w wha socal ciets calle v xpy Pua mae ad a femae lecturer havng th ame subtantve hgs o sa (wh the ame ex) fron o anaudence ad u ou tha audences nervewed

regardng te coence te d te clar he

mportace ad overal the brlliance of the speaer

(aalycal hlosophers wl sum al of ths up as

quaty) tur out to prefer the guys Hands dow

Vaue expectacy correspods to he 'schemas taSally Haslager identes favourg mae abov e female

white over bac phosopher ndeed asagersmos disqueg but utmately plausbe suggestogven te bias observed he profeson overal ass

ha oe cosder te possib ha ere may well

be an evauaon ba eve the peer-revew process3

So a your ow studets Worse yet remember ourow epereces our ow expectatos when youlearned tha your strucor a partcular uvry

course would be mae or femae (never mind academc

ra race age ad so on though of course al ese

gs oo make a dfferece for me as for wome)

earng reorts of dsparate geder represeatonacademc phlosophcal assocatos lke phosophy

departments seekg to make a gender hire offer he

strkingy smpstc remed hat wome shoud come

forward as f hs were he problem (ad deed we

ob searces fa to dentf wome academic phl

osoher morph to Jacques aca and unformly

lamen ere are no women!) as f ere were no ssue

of poltcal domance as f he tatus demma were

n dema at all as f the erstence of hese profesonal sue wre merey a matter of oversigh4

e sa o wome phosophy is and remannugatory o wea ad mos of he me n he m

mporan and everyda was that mer he quesonof te status of women is ow or trvaed in the

profen And one of e best wa to rvale aypoble s o deny that here a problem Just th

of e debae on coneal and aalyc posohyIn t reaI}' al abo dong good wo? D

for women philosophers Fr as I can e u from

my own eerece aly or oldbo ocaiaton

conue aace usuay covered over wh a joe or a

sner en us uc jes o ereuae e ld sex

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standards and ideals, aughter works wonders at ow

ing one to have one's insut and get awy with t too

and women ern to toerate or sme at the same. For

s in other instances t turns out that t is the quite

systematc tak used by men to and bout women

to vioate womens credbty and professonlism5

tat undermnes both the postion of women and their

efcacy n cademi What is to be done? Revoutons?

Marchng n the streets? Writng book after book? Tis

hs been done.

thus argue for a different tck (and because I

reaze that ths s a sbte pont et me emphsze

that m beng ronc in the spirt of Jonthn Swfts

Modest Propos whc ws you wi remember

nether modest nor ndeed propos propery seak

ing). argue in case you have not notced for pc

and a certan socia freedom Not in the wy respect

s ordinarily camed by women (w you resect me

n the mornng?) but the kind of regd tht ccres

to ower And athough power ca - nd you oiticaand soc and cltura theorist and even soc worker

frends wi te you m be cmed sch cms

ony wor as caims f hey succeed Otherwse o

argue the for he perfecty rofeor ih for

women n the cdemy wo he to be professors

to be as professo ofte are preoccuped e ght

f oe so chooses n to sme at the men but o tn

and even to have (p both anen and Haslger) the

sme poor socia ss me hve nd n b pnl-

zd ust s me n nlzd bt ofen ewded

and onized for the saeLdies not sming My word! Whatever wl they

propose next? Ad I cnnot but mge tt have

ost te suppo of my reders just bou ow

From e cotnea se gee wth mch of

what Hasanger d Tannen take as ther respectve

ponts of departure ad agree wt many of ther

concusons (despe the fct t e contet sde

s conspcosy bse ther wods of phosophy)

But refuse Hagers de th he soton co

be to nd ways to dscourage tsoc beour/

n men nd not only becuse t ounds e te veryort of oerou obgtio ofen conveenty posed

on women Women have wreced record

oneooe whe t comes to chg aocl o

nonsupporte beor mte retoshp

were boh partes supposedy ave muu nves

ment the reaosp f women re ess h good

at changng he peso te why poe hey

w fre y beter wh her cdemc coegue?

Unfoutey wome r ey goo at lerng no o

mnd; ths s he paount soc s ot

f course am a for poiteness and soca sks

But being dstracted s often the cost of being ost as

we sy n thoght So rather than socaizing men to

be more socbe my racay mmodest (or unearnes)

proposa s that women too cam the right to be absent

mnded ad my st more radc suggestion s that

we ceebrate and admire rater tan make ecuses for

suc women Perps mens putatvely poor sks

advance rather tan nder rank and status? r it

may be that the havng of rank and stats entas tat

one need not boter wth suc skis ? Some soca

actors are more equa than oters: some can be rude

nd disheveled (and get away with t on both counts)

some not Nor is this imited to academics or mted

wthn the cademy to phiosophy deprtments. Some

wth poor soca skis suffer from sociazation dects

whle others are rewrded

Sartor resartus

Smo Critchey shrtandens guy fom wayback tkes nsoucnce so far that both undergradu

ates nd ournsts can get crried away by s tye

(for he does tke a cae for s shoes lbei a eve

of dscnato blow the mpeccbe Aeder

Nehams who weas no matter is oter exceences

smy woerfu soes). Why does it see to be

pushng things a bt to ta about Simon Crtchey

cothes or Aeander Nehmass shoes not to meto

the dsrcted fout of sy Sau Kripkes couue? o

rkes messiess s prt of hs reputation and cost

tutes aesteticay if pradoxcay for some n o smpart of his reputaton for n. Lets take t to the

street Pass a ma wearng a casua shi ad casua

par of pts ad you w not even notce hs ttre.

Wh do cothes hve to do wth t? ut jce d

te o te guy nd hes dessed for the est restaurant

nd tese dy he cn even ose the te Cotrst ths

w woen on a Frday evenng n Lodo or New

Yor (deed ny evenng mgt do).

Do tte d hoc phenomenoogy g yor obser

vtions ad yor own vrtons d hence wh ad o

yoursef and your dgement as you wder own sree o sch evegs (assg you are not p of

the phenomeno yoef s you migt we be) Loo

f te wedessed youg womn out fo e gh

dey wt a de for the evenng She my be werg

ttle back dress or equivaet gh ees stockgs

ave newy pose n newy cofd ar d

he ee s tt me hg. If e comon s

her ow ge os aby e wl be dressed e

ws e woe dy (ouh the more fshoconsc

yong feow my hae swced the dys Ts fo

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a T-shirt for the evening). If he is an older man, he

may be wearing he aforemenioned jacke or a sui

or he may have he Euro, Iamstilyoung oo Bu,

and pcally if he is an oder man (aas, an almost

quantiable phenoenon: his atractiveness and height

wi nearly always be inversey roportional t hers

What is imporant is hat however casualy or formaly

he is dressed, he will get to have his fee every last

inch of them on the ground

Men are not obecied on the street (save by other

men), desite he commercia success of metrosexual

products (which am al for; you wil have noted my

enhusas for men's haberdashery and in general

anhing o do wih male beauy Men are so unused

to being ooked at apraisingly (his is o the sae as

an invitaon ha such a appaising loo (na b:

without smiing can bing a an o sumbing Coud

i be e she's ooing a? And hen ges dangerous

How dare she? (A word o women pracising such a

sree heoenoogy do be carefu he poin abou

power is al oo ea

The stuff abou Tshirt and ba dresses s a

meahor here he same doube sandad holds for

academics The assupion s hat a successful phil

osopher shoud loo and ac e a (raional, whie

an, bu he kicker for wome s ha if one does oo

le a radiional, whe mae phiosopher oe wil ook

(if one hapens o be a woan more rather han less

unemp and one wl be udged accordingy (as being

unaracve' qie apar fro wheher he radiinal

acadec ook is a shr oo or a ruped shirt

sleeve ook, or a aceogooheAPAin ook Me

in socey and in he academy not oy d n have to

dress o pease a woans aprasg eye bu when they

do dress up i s soey fo he sensibies of oher en

One can ague ha woen do his oo, bu anyone who

arges in hs way argues endeniousy us becase as

Beavoir ighty oes woe s in comeitie udge

et on oher womens aracieness o mn and hi s

no he same as en dessing to press en

Wih espec o desring, and hence of desiraby

he usrian nove st Efede Jenek observes ha

a long as me ae abe o ncrease ei seua vaue

hroug work fae or weah, whe woen are ony

oweu ough her body, beay and youh nohng

wi chae Tceduos he nev ewe oese ha

e s ca od no be sad o od for faous

we e e Nobe P rzewnnng Jee hesef

bu eek nied a a woa who becomes

aous hrough er wor educes e eoc vue A

wa s eed o ca o o babbe bu seag

ub he geaes agesso

So i goes for elinek, who mused tht at best,

peope are afraid of her' Thus Hilary Cinon spen

a faied pesidentia campaign earning to deal wih

inherenty seis mckery and stil sruggles t this

day for respect n politics, as every where, a woman

has o show her femininity in jus the righ way jus

to be sure of esteem But tha can be tied to all kinds

of condiios, and what s more sobering his would

be pantsuit or ironlady oitics can be refused at

any evel

What are the prospects for women in the safe and,

one fondy imagnes, reasonable eld of phiosophy?

The immodesy of my proposa on h status of women

n phiosophy, as academics, as colleagues, as profes

sor, proposes that we do not insis upon socia soici

tude from academic women, us where we do no and

cannot presume t from academc men Thus I sugges

we let thiners, ale and female, be thinkers. Faling

into wels (like Thaes, standing stock still in the midst

of bae (ocraes as repored by A1cibiades, faiing

o wea socks on princpe (Einsein bu aso gven o

poory soiaied gestures (Witgesein's poker and

sentiments (Adoro) le hem a, women as wel as

men, be social mists' f we can not only toerate bu

someimes admire such hings in men we might wel

tolerae and (sometimes admre he same in woen

's a smal hing if we can coun both women and

men alng hat its abou power, about who ges o

ge away with suff and who ges to be consderae

(Hey! Cant you smie!

Notes

1 Louse Morley Qua and Power in Hgher EducatonSocet for Research ino Hgher Educaon cGraw

Hll 2003 p. 53.

2. Deborah Tannen Yo Just Dn't Unerstand, Balla ne ooks New York 1990 In wha follows concr

with Sena Troemel-Ploezs assessmen o Tannens

nnocence o he saus dlemma S TroeelPloe

Sellng he Apolcal ' Discure Soe vol 2, no

4,1991 p 490

3 Sall Haslanger Changng he dolog and Culture oPhilosoph: o b Reason (Alone)" Hypat vol 2

no , 2008 pp 13-144. Krsten onroea Saba Ozyura e Wrge and A

Alexandera 'Gender Equaly in Academa ad News

from he renches and Some Possible Soluons

ersetve on Poitis 6, 2008 pp 233; as well

as more broadl Vrga Valan Why S Sl? heAdvanement of omen Pres Cabrdge A

999

roemel-Ploetz Sellng the Apoltcal p 4

6 Haslanger Changing the deolog ad Cultre of Ph ooph p 218

7 bd p 2

8. Deborah Solomon wh Elfriede Jeln A Gloo fHer Own Ne Yrk Tmes 2 oveber 2004