Covarrubias is a licensed educational psychologist and lives in Bonita.
The coverage of the Nobel Prize in Medicine carried by The San Diego Union-Tribune and written for The New York Times reminded me of many things; the one that lingers most is the regard of women.
You know, it’s not only that “women are still largely underrepresented in the field of science and scientific awards, including Nobel Prizes” that is so glaring. It is what appears so understated in Katalin Kariko’s years of being relegated to “the fringes of academia” that is truly reprehensible. Her ideas and research were undervalued, dismissed, perhaps due to many factors if we are being generous. Science moves slowly and accepts change with skepticism. But there is also that darn factor of bias that so doggedly appears to have compounded Kariko’s struggles.
She couldn’t even get grants — called “not faculty quality.” Was she disgruntled, or single-minded, obsessed with her knowledge and ideas? How odd for high-achievers to have those traits — unless they are men. Apparently Drew Weissman’s new status on University of Pennsylvania campus, which of course had nothing to do with him being male, was enough to secure seed funding. Good thing also that he was singularly pointed in finding results for his particular HIV focus. Shame on University of Pennsylvania. Shame too on journals Nature and Science for refusing their articles — why did they reject out of hand what Moderna and BioNTech picked up on?
Perhaps this mostly comes down to money and power. Do universities and journals operate so limitedly because their narrow budgets preclude widening their scopes to include visions clarified by other researchers at disparate organizations? Is this one of the prevailing reasons some institutions resist inclusivity? Was the sudden monetary influx from nations willing to invest because of the pandemic the reason that finally allowed Moderna and BioNTech to use information from Canadian and U.S. studies to produce their COVID-19 vaccines? If that is so, is it ultimately that males are unwilling to share their monopolies in the seats of powerful institutions that keep women out of positions of influence? Otherwise, what can for mostly divvying the goods among men?
Of course, lots of reasons contribute to bias against women. Religious and secular ideology, downright misogyny, fear, resentments of all kinds. Even the Pope receives push-back for trying to include women in the synod’s discussions on inclusivity. When I consider where the laws of the land, the histories of most institutions, and the people in power in this country, and frankly in the world come from, who else besides men were in control of the creation of those laws, histories and powers? Is that why traditionalists want to return to those legacies?
According to the Library of Congress, the Equal Rights Amendment, drafted by Alice Paul, was originally introduced to Congress in 1921 by Charles Curtis. Then in 1923, a t resolution was proposed in Congress, but failed to achieve necessary votes until 1972, when both chambers ed and forwarded the amendment to the states with a 7-year deadline for ratification. That deadline was extended, and congressional wrangling has continued to date. Still no equal right amendment codifying equal rights for women.
Recently, in The Heritage Foundation’s website, I read that one of the most powerful current reasons the Equal Rights Amendment hasn’t been able to congress is its influence on the right to abortion. That makes a lot of intuitive sense: if women were given the same rights as men to control their own bodies, abortions would obviously be a health care issue. All the ideological issues would necessarily take a back seat. Has there ever been consideration for a law to mandate or prohibit any procedure on male anatomy? It would never fly.
It makes me wonder, however, if it doesn’t just boil down to one seemingly unaccepted fact that men for reasons known or unknown to them fail to accept: we are all alike, human after all. Hopefully, it may eventually prevail. But I’m not holding my breath.
