220
PARTISAN REVIEW
tangle of issues about the gross over-supply of PhDs and dubious hiring
practices in the academy, not all of which have anything specifically to do
with women. It was never realistic to hope to fix this mess of problems by
a crude readjustment at a single, late stage; and never realistic, either, not
to anticipate that such a crude readjustment as preferential hiring would
introduce new distortions, new resentments, new hostilities. "Late" is
important. That someone might have been a fine philosopher had she not
suffered this disadvantage or discouragement as a child is a waste and a
shame; but though we can try to prevent it happening in the future, we
can't fix it now by treating her as
if
she
is
a fine philosopher.
Qua
woman in my profession, I can't have much direct effect on the
many interacting factors outside the academy that have held women back.
I and women like me can, however, have some indirect effect: students who
learn from our example that women
can
be full participants in the work of
the intellect will later be parents, schoolteachers, employers. And there are
things we can do
to
bring the goal of a profession genuinely open to tal–
ent a bit closer: the best work of which we are capable, of course; treating
all our students, regardless of eye-color or whatever, as individuals; grading
anonymously, and explaining to our colleagues why that matters; advising
younger women about the realities of the job market, salary negotiation,
dealing with editors and publishers, the tenure process-it shouldn't
have
to be women who do that for other women, but someone's got to do it...;
working on those obstacles of geography and timetable which particularly
affect women. And, the most essential and the most difficult thing: figur–
ing out how to clean up the hiring process.
It
will
be difficult. But only a genuine meritocracy will achieve what I
want to see--what I hoped twenty-five years ago I would live to see: a pro–
fession in which the best people get the jobs regardless of their sex or any
irrelevant etceteras.
What I have had to say here has been res tricted to preferential hiring
of women for academic positions, in fact, mainly to hiring in philosophy.
Some of the arguments I have used would extrapolate to other instances;
but it is far from clear to me that the issues are in all respects parallel where
race is concerned, or where the admission of students is concerned, or
with regard to jobs where there are likely to be large numbers of to-all–
intents-and-purposes interchangeable applicants. Insofar as I have a general
thesis, indeed, it is precisely that the issues surrounding affirmative action
are far, far more complicated than the stale old familiar arguments
acknowledge.
