Harvard has instituted a new policy of women-only hours at the gym, which particularly benefits Muslim women. The blogosphere has been especially critical of this policy (a lot of it has a very islamophobic slant, however), and I am wondering what you all think. From my perspective, it seems that having this sort of segregated time may only further gender and religious stereotypes and keep diverse individuals from interacting with one another. What do you think?
On another note, here's a great response to the Heather MacDonald op-ed in the LA Times.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Women-only hours at Harvard's gym; Follow-up to MacDonald
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3 comments:
I tried to read some different opinions on the issue but most opinions seemed tainted with xenophobia or misogyny and few, if any, tried objective analysis of the topic--but, I realized, therein lies the problem: I take it as a sign when many of the people who become outraged about an issue are openly...well...haters.
So, my initial reaction: GREAT IDEA. So long as the solution is a compromise(and, from what it seems like, a very small compromise...) then what's the big deal? I hear a lot of complaints about inconvenience...I hear a lot of complaints about "catering" to a minority. I thought I lived in America--sorry to inconvenience the majority with different practice but isn't this the land where we can supposedly have differences and reach a middle ground to satisfy many--not just the majority?
I think a lot of people like to throw around the phrase "diversity" without realizing that often diversity means JUST THAT--DIVERSITY--people have DIFFERENT needs--and its the job of an institution that promotes itself as diverse and welcoming of all cultures is to find a way to accommodate many different cultures as best as it can. So, if closing the gym for what seems like a minimal amount of time makes a group of people feel welcome, fulfills the needs of a significant group who clearly lobbied and went out of their way to ask for it, then make the reasonable accommodation.
In America, in a major city, at a major university, I see no need to view an accommodation for some as an attack on many--instead, I think its a moment of pride--an institution whose actions truly encourage individuality and diversity.
So far as I am concerned, its not about Islam or being a woman but just being a human being with different needs--unless we have all turned into robots with the same hopes, desire, wants, and needs and I am just missing something.
My concern is much less about the "catering to a minority" part--which doesn't really matter to me, because I completely agree that I think it's great to be inclusive and accomodate others. On the other hand, there have been examples of hotels in the US which have women only floors so that the women can feel and be more secure from sexual assault, etc., but it seems that we're not addressing the real issue (which is, punishing the harassers) and instead are moving toward an increasingly segregated society. I don't know too much about Islam, so I won't comment on that area, but if women are being harrassed at the gym, we should combat the harassers!
What do you think?
One argument people have made in terms of affirmative action is the case that it just propogates such racial lines even though it's intended to do the opposite. If taken in this way, the the concept of offering women-only hours seems to me to come from a similar line as what LiJia said that we are instead masking the true problem rather than creating a genuine solution. That said, the sense of tolerance that comes from such an action by Harvard should be replicated by everyone so that such policies need not exist in the first place.
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