David's World

October 16, 2005

Jobs for Women and Whites

Discussion on a mailing list for European researchers in the field of language technology:

Should a job announcement for a female lecturer be allowed?

The Prince Sultan University-College for Women, Saudi-Arabia, is currently looking for a lecturer / assistant professor in Computational Linguistics. The catch: they're looking for a woman, and a woman only. The reaction from one reader was strong: I believe it unacceptable ... to accept advertisements for positions which are not reflecting equal opportunities between men and women (Christopher Brewster, U Sheffield).

Obviously, the university is established as a men-free space, and that's not surprising given that Saudi-Arabia is one of the most strict and old-fashioned muslim countries in the world, despised even by their slightly more easygoing neighbors (as I've found out myself when I was in the UAE). Female students can't be taught by male lecturers, of course.

The question that immediately popped up (and it usually does) is: should be apply Western cultural standards to foreign countries? Well, the answer is simple. Human rights are universal: we should condemn racism and intolerance, no matter where. The cry for tolerance between cultures is not more than a '68-style lala-land ignorance. Or, would you be happy about an ad like the following (fiction, due to Eric Atwell, U Leeds):

Springbok University - College for Whites is a newly established institution of higher education in S.A. ...
As we are starting computational Linguistic courses this
spring (Feb 5th), we are searching for a full-time qualified
white lecturer with an MA or Ph.D degree [...]

In our western society, women and men now have similar professional opportunities. In most cases, jobs are given to people based on merit, not their gender. Affirmative Action, that is, positive discrimination againt the majority, will give advantages to individuals who don't deserve it. It violates the basic principle of equality.

But we're not using the same reference. This is about Saudi-Arabia, where "literacy figures for women ... are 48%, compared to 73% for men;", and where "opportunities for university education are still slim, gender-biased and religiously oriented, and restrictions put in place for overseas study as female students would have to be without male chaperone" (Sasha Calhoun, U Edinburgh).
Women and men do not have similar basic options in Saudi-Arabia, and the retrovert, conservative society does have a negative and even violent impact on every free country in the world. We should applaud every attempt to improve education for women. Of course, it is only one step on the way to equality and fairness. But making a step forward is better than going sideways.

Pragmatics at work: Violate the principle of men and women working together in order to improve conditions for everyone in the long run.

That said, I guess they'd have to promise me an oil-field before I'd go to Saudi-Arabia for a job. As a man, or as a woman.