bashoGWSS1

Blog 10

Lawrence Summer’s speech was demeaning and unfounded towards women. But he is a product of his environment as much as anyone else is. The difference is that Summers is the president of Harvard, and, just like uncle Ben says: with great power comes great responsibility.
Summers’ choice to give a speech regarding women in the sciences shows that he understands at least some of the responsibility of holding the post of president at one of the most prestigious schools in the country, if not the world. If he rejected the offer, he would be ridiculed. But it was a conference that was supposed to be off the record, so he didn’t have to actually put a lot of work in to his research and argument. So he talked about what he knew. What his culture and daily life has taught him. Summers’ everyday life is within a patriarchal system that is positively designed for men of his race and class status. While I am not condoning his words or feelings, I am situating them from his standpoint.
Summers’ standpoint as president, though, he thoroughly does operate fully under. He has leading scholars in every field creating data that would, as we have seen in Fausto-Sterling’s articles on gender inequality, counter his ideologies, and make him do his homework before giving a speech on such a hot topic. He quite obviously did not attempt to use the work of Harvard scholars. As president, Summers should understand that his opinion is valued more because of his position, and attempt to have a slightly informed one.