<
https://theconversation.com/who-will-call-out-the-misogyny-and-abuse-undermining-womens-academic-freedom-in-our-universities-181594>
"Threats, intimidation and misogyny have long been a reality for women in
public life around the world, and the pandemic appears to have amplified this
toxic reality.
Aotearoa New Zealand is led by one of the world’s best-known female prime
ministers, Jacinda Ardern, and was the first country in the world to grant all
women the right to vote.
Yet even here today, attempts to silence, diminish and demean the prime
minister, female MPs and other prominent women have plumbed new depths, leading
to calls for more robust policing of violent online and offline behaviour.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon extends well beyond elected representatives and
public health professionals into most workplaces, including academia.
Women working in universities, including those in positions of academic
leadership, are also routinely subjected to online vitriol intended to shut
them down – and thus to prevent them exercising their academic freedom to
probe, question and test orthodox ways of making sense of the world.
One of the commonest defences of abusive or threatening language (online or
not) is an appeal to everyone’s right to free speech. And this has echoes
within universities, too, when academic freedom becomes a testing ground of
what is acceptable and what isn’t."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
