Just say Yes, And

Believe Men! The #MeToo movement sparked this novel idea: when women tell you a man did something bad to them…you should believe them. Then how come we don’t use the same logic for men?

Men’s bad behaviors towards women, bad words to women, bad opinions about women are all ignored. Or overlooked. Or forgiven, even when they admit to them. When these powerful men they tell us what they did (e.g. “grab them by the pussy”) no one seems to care. The men continue to be hired, promoted, defended, nominated, appointed and yes, elected to powerful, lucrative, visible positions. In every field.

We see this everywhere – in academia, not just the latest grossness of Larry Summers revealed in the Epstein emails. Of course politics (Clinton, Trump, John Edwards, latest of Sanford/Nuzzi scandal), film (Woody Allen, Harry Weinstein) and even comedy…Louis CK anyone? Greatest – and perhaps grossest – comeback tour by one of these misogynist men.

What makes the Larry Summers reveal even worse is that even though many have spoken up about this man’s misogyny – for years – he continued to be exalted, considered by himself and others as “one of the smartest guys in the room.” This lech of a man, and lech is the clearly the term that applies given what has been revealed in the emails, was keeping so many accomplished women OUT of jobs, leadership, and committees. Summers was selected to those roles, chosen in many instances when there was an equally qualified and “smart” woman available. Worse, his misogynistic opinions were being listened to – and applied – to significant decisions. Worse…now we learn he was also actively harassing women – trying to sleep with them while in leadership and a “mentor” – while they were just trying to do their work.

I wrote this op-ed (below) to the Washington Post a couple years ago – when the Post published a letter by Larry Summers on MLK day. I was appalled that a man I knew to be a misogynist would get such air time on such an important day – a day attributed to a man who was the complete opposite of Summers. MLK, Jr was focused on equality and equity for all. And now, I can add that 2 years ago, the Washington Post opted to publish a letter on MLK day by not just a misogynist. But also, a sycophant to a known pedophile/sex trafficker, who actively abused women “below” him, wanted to cheat on his wife, and assumed he would get away with all of it. Which he probably will.

Summers now wants to continue teaching at Harvard. If Harvard keeps him as a teacher, what message is that sending to all women everywhere? I teach at Harvard. I don’t want to work with someone so gross. I wouldn’t want my daughter – or sons – in his class. How can we as a society ever respect anything he has to say?

Maybe that’s the lesson here. Stop “platforming” these gross men. It’s time to stop listening to anything they say. They don’t deserve it. They were given their chance. They had it. They abused it (and others). They aren’t the smartest guys in the room. But they might be the grossest.

From: Lakshmi Balachandra
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2023 10:03 AM
To: Oped <oped@washpost.com>
Subject: New form response notification

MLK day, Equal Rights, and Women 

Martin Luther King Jr day observed is an important moment for those of us interested in furthering the equal rights and social justice movements in America. Here in Boston, the weekend was a glorious celebration of the man and his spouse – with the launching of the Embrace statue in Boston’s Common. Imagine my surprise and disappointment in opening the Wash Post on MLK Jr day and seeing a featured op-ed by past president of Harvard College, former Treasury Secretary, and economic advisor to President Obama, Prof. Larry Summers. As a woman of color who studies inequities in research and equity funding, seeing his by-line felt like a slap in the face. It is frustrating that people and institutions still seek the opinions of someone who has been proven wrong over and over again – and worse – someone who while in prominence discounted women and their worth.
When he was President of Harvard University, he publicly stated at a conference about gender inequities in science, that Maybe women were genetically wired to not be as competent in math and science(1). That anyone would make such a statement – akin to black people are genetically disposed to athletic success – was appalling at any level. That the President of the foremost university in the world would make such a statement was vile. He should have been fired immediately. He recanted some of the remarks, unusual for him ever to do, but still – the fact that this belief would be uttered by anyone in a public forum – from his highest level leadership position – one where he would have had the ability to make important changes that are needed for women in science to succeed is beyond reprehensible. There have been countless studies proving the overwhelming obstacles, gender based negative bias, and significant challenges to funding and promotion that women face across the realm of scientific success(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, etc). From graduate mentorship to grant funding to patenting and then as I have been studying and experiencing for 20+ years, the dearth of venture funding to women entrepreneurs (9). Men, who compose the majority of the funding positions across the scientific diaspora, simply do not understand the many levels of setbacks women face. And Larry Summers’s comment sucker punched all of those women experiencing the challenges, biases, and heartache of wanting to succeed in science and tech and then hearing that maybe once again it’s them, not a system that is resplendent with gender bias that needs to change.
We continue to elevate the white man and his ideas over others, new voices, particularly those of women of color. And with this publication, on MLK Jr day no less, it is clear we continue to play into the stereotype that Dr. Summers has consistently promoted – that white men like himself are the smartest guys in the room. We take their opinions and words as those of gospel. In my research on investor decision-making, I have found that who makes the decision matters, as we infuse our own values into our decision-making protocols. This means that when white men who have certain beliefs (i.e. that women are genetically inferior to men in matters of math and science), they create, promote, and invest in policies and practices that are in line with their values (10). They don’t see the need to correct the imbalance in funding to women b/c they believe there are that many more men who more qualified and that are in need of funding. In economic terms, men are a better “bet” over women for the scarce resource of capital. We see this play out in the venture capital community where 92% of the decision-makers are men, predominately white, who decide to invest 98% of ALL their capital in other men, predominately white. Women continue to receive less than 2% of all start-up capital in the country; a figure that has not changed since I worked at the first women focused venture fund in the country 20 years ago, when Dr. Summers made his public remarks about women’s genetic inferiority in scientific abilities to men. Women see this play out daily – with restricting reproductive rights in a predominately male supreme court to limited research and funding for women’s health issues (endometriosis, ovarian cancer, menopause) to those of men (male erectile dysfunction, prostrate cancer, testosterone supplements) (11).
By continuing to elevate the words and opinions of someone like Dr. Summers, we as a nation are missing out on new perspectives. We also are not enabling a way to change the systemic bias in societal thinking. The sociologist Max Weber early in twentieth century showed how subversive hearing from one view can be. Societies become influenced by observing only men getting elected to public office, funded to build their businesses, or obtain CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies. These norms get established that then build a system of societal control, with unchangeable structures, where the stereotypes remain that men are superior to women in intelligence and competence. Weber’s “iron cage” illustrated how social values, traditions, and emotions can all become “rationalized” away when a dominant accepted societal view prevails. Weber himself precautioned us not to establish a system of winners and losers – and yet, this is precisely what we are doing when we continue to elevate and promote the words of people like Larry Summers. His presence as a “thought leader” as well as his words against women lead to widespread bias and subconscious heuristics to rationalize important decisions, like who receives funding (white men) and who doesn’t (everyone else, but mostly women).
Finally, in economic speak, to keep returning to people like Larry Summers for his views means there is an important opportunity cost for us, society and readers of the Washington Post. We as an audience are not given the views of someone more current, or open to the changing economic landscape and societal concerns. We see this similar effect with the return of noted sexual harrassers and other “toxic” thought leaders and media figures to the public domain. By returning to them and offering them opportunities to be seen and heard means that the community of women scholars who also have important ideas and intelligent solutions to the economic considerations of this country are not being provided with similar platforms. Women’s voices are not being given an equal opportunity to be heard, which would also then afford an opportunity to change some of the structural setbacks faced by women. Most importantly, it would help lead to a difference in equal rights for women in scholarly domains. The words in MLK’s I have a dream speech focused squarely on white men vs black men. But he also spoke of how America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” This remains the truth for women today. I’d like to agree with MLK Jr and “But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.” But as a woman in science, when I continue to see names of white men like Dr. Larry Summers as the go-to opinion for economic policies…it certainly makes that belief a challenge. In today’s America, where women’s rights are being eroded, outlets like the Washington Post can and should do better.
(1) https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/science-jan-june05-summersremarks_2-22 [pbs.org]
(2) https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-research-shows-women-career-scientists-still-face-gender-bias [unesco.org]
(3) https://www.science.org/content/article/women-researchers-cited-less-men-heres-why-what-can-done [science.org]
(4) https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1510649112 [pnas.org]
(5) https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06697-3 [nature.com]
(6) https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/science/bias-persists-against-women-of-science-a-study-says.html [nytimes.com]
(7) https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-prognosis/study-shows-gender-bias-in-science-is-real-heres-why-it-matters/ [blogs.scientificamerican.com]
(8) https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2019/08/29/is-gender-bias-really-impacting-the-hiring-of-women-in-stem/?sh=7f643b13bf0c [forbes.com]
(9) https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/the-vc-female-founders-dashboard [pitchbook.com]
(10) Balachandra, et. al, 2019 Don’t Pitch Like a Girl. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice; Balachandra, 2020, Resonance: Investors Use Their Personal Biases for Investment Decisions, Working Paper.
(11) https://www.springernature.com/gp/advancing-discovery/springboard/blog/blogposts-sustainability-inclusion/gender-equality-science-iwd/20200002 [springernature.com]