Apartment Search....even these are gendered!

I have been extremely busy and stressed out about finding an apartment for Ithaca Graduate School next year.  It is interesting how many land lords are men.  I did run into a couple women landlords looking to show their properties, but they were definitely not the majority by any means.  It was also interesting how by going through this journey, I started to notice the things the land lords focused on to spark interest for me in their properties.  For instance, I did not go into a single apartment without the land lord telling me and bragging about how safe their properties were.  I'm sure they say that to all potential clients, but I doubt that was the first thing they said to all of their male prospects.  The land lords felt that I needed to be protected and feel safe, so they almost every time initiated the tour by stating things about security, locks, and safety.  Another thing that was interesting was they usually directed me into the kitchen and told me a lot of specific things about the stove and such, which I also do not believe they would have done to college aged boys because most could care less if the stove works. I just find it extremely interesting how the landlords know how to market their properties accordingly based upon gender stereotypes.  Anyone else have similar or different experiences as they have toured properties?

Royal Wedding Buzz!

So although I don't really care much about the royal family and who the William and Kate are, I am a female, and I know I am clique, but I do dream about my future wedding like most girls do.  So as you could imagine I did watch some of the Royal Wedding because I was curious what their wedding might look like.  I had noticed however some interesting gender dynamics through this whole buzz and the wedding itself.  I found it very interesting that only Kate got a ring in the ceremony.  She had to promise her faithfulness and have it being represented through that ring.  Usually in our culture both man and woman receive rings and they are symbols of love and fidelity, but how come in this royal wedding where the male is clearly more valued did he not too have to show a symbol of his love and fidelity to Kate too?  I had sour feelings about that because it seemed like even though this wedding stands for changes occurring in the royal family's stiff history and practices (as Kate is a "commoner" - even though I don't like that term because it makes her seem poor, I think they should refer to her a "non-royal" but that is a whole different problem) but it still showed extreme tilts towards the male in this wedding being the one that is desired over the equality in the relationship.  Another gender dynamic that stood out to me was the fact that the queen who should have been beaming to watch her grandson get married did not seem to crack a smile all through the entire ceremony.  I realize that she needs to keep up her strong persona, but she is human and I know that my grandparents, who will not be able to attend my wedding because they have previously passed, would have loved to have seen me get married and would be ecstatic and proud.  She should have showed some joy and happiness, and I thought it was interesting because she is a woman in power, and thus she is not allowed to be emotional or show weakness because of the power that she holds.  There were others as well, such as the hand off of the hand from her father to William which was in itself awkward and off putting because it was as if she could do nothing herself, even though I understand the tradition the way the did it seemed off.  I just think in times like this it is interesting to dissect the differences and comparisons we see between genders and  try to think about why they are as they are.

Lawrence Summers

I have been reading many resources for a paper that I am writing on women in math.  For those of you who don't know who Lawrence Summers is, he was the President of Harvard University and he had stated that women are biologically not created to be as strong as men in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).  He wasn't saying that all men were better than all women although many do believe he did, he was saying that if you compare the top men and the top women in STEM fields, then the men are naturally better by creation.  There are a couple of things that really upset me both in class with our speaker and in the resources.  First of all, the fact that someone who is in an extremely powerful position to help and solve this problem is saying that it is a problem that is mainly out of his control.  He didn't want to say anything that would put his college in a bad situation, so in this moment he was playing the politician for the school, but not for women and his students.  Another thing that bothered me is how even if there is some evidence to prove that in some ways this might be true, why would he feel that he was in the right to say it to the public with such little evidence.  I also truly believe that because he was a president at one of the most prestigious college, the blow to women was even worse.  Someone who deals with the most capable and intelligent young adults in the country believes that even though both women and men got into his college, they are simply not on the same level there. Anyone else enraged by this??  Because I would love to hear what you guys think!