Andrea Widburg, who writes excellent hard-hitting pieces for American Thinker, wades into controversy with her argument that the feminisation of academia has proved to be a disaster for academic freedom, and I suppose, the advancement of knowledge and scholarship. She hypotheses that there is a causal relationship between the advancement of Leftist woke causes, and the increasing numbers of female academics and students. The facts are that such females outnumber males, and their politics are predominantly Leftist. This dominance is now seen from top positions to tutors, even though feminists advocates still continue to speak of glass ceilings for female academics; it is of course, just a game strategy to secure even more affirmative action appointments. And, given the fact that female students outnumber males, the situation will only intensify, Widburg argues.
Widburg is right about the feminisation of the university. As for this being the cause of university decline, I think she overstates the case, as it could be argued that universities were already in decline before the female dominance, and the female dominance is really but one effect, of a larger malaise, rather than the actual ultimate cause. The problem is the rise of the Left, which has given rise to all of this.
“Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her, “is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I daresay, it succeeds; but, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art.”—Jane Austin, Pride and Prejudice.
Is it a paltry device for me to say women are destroying America’s colleges and universities? I don’t think so. I think it’s an objective fact that there’s a direct connection between the way American academia is falling off the leftist cliff (wokism, antisemitism, anti-white racism, anti-male sexism, and obsessions with transgenderism, White Privilege, critical race theory, etc.) and the rise of women in academia. While some may argue about that, there’s no doubt that women now dominate academia as both faculty and students and that they are the most fanatic members of the far left.
Here are the pivotal facts about leftist women:
First, college-educated women are the most devoted Democrat demographic.
Second. women far outnumber men both in college enrollment and college graduation.
Third, according to Heather Mac Donald, all American colleges have become feminized, not just among students, but among faculty members:
Seventy-five percent of Ivy League presidents are now female. Nearly half of the 20 universities ranked highest by Forbes will have a female president this fall, including MIT, Harvard, and Columbia. Of course, feminist bean-counters in the media and advocacy world are not impressed, noting that “only” 5 percent of the 130 top U.S. research universities are headed by a black female and “only” 22 percent of those federal grant-magnets have a non-intersectional (i.e., white) female head.
These female leaders emerge from an ever more female campus bureaucracy, whose size is reaching parity with the faculty. Females made up 66 percent of college administrators in 2021; those administrators constitute an essential force in campus diversity ideology, whether they have “diversity” in their job titles or not.
Mirroring the feminization of the bureaucracy is the feminization of the student body. Females earned 58 percent of all B.A.s in the 2019–2020 academic year; if present trends continue, they will soon constitute two-thirds of all B.A.s. At least 60 percent of all master’s degrees, and 54 percent of all Ph.D.s, now go to females.
Fourth, on campuses, woke faculty fanaticism is most prevalent amongst…you guessed it, female faculty members. Social Science Research Services conducted a survey of faculty and student tolerance for non-woke ideas from guest speakers. The female faculty members were significantly less tolerant than the males (footnotes omitted):
Some notable gender differences emerged. First, in all cases, male faculty, compared to their female counterparts, were significantly more likely to say that the “administration should defend the professor’s free speech rights” after a controversy. This was also the case when the response option presented was instead “take no action of any kind.” Third, when asked about how the administration should handle several white male professors or several professors refusing diversity training, female faculty were more likely to say that “the professors should be removed from the classroom until they comply.”
Female faculty members, compared to males, were more likely to oppose allowing all four speakers on campus. They were similarly more likely to say that students shouting down a speaker is acceptable, to at least some degree, than were male faculty members (49% never acceptable, compared to 61%).
Significantly more female than male faculty favored protecting against hate speech even if this restricts speech not intended to be hateful (19% of females, 8% of males), as well as restricting speech only where words are intended to be hateful (38% of females, 29% of males). Meanwhile, significantly more male than female faculty supported restricting speech only where words are certain to incite violence (62% of males, 42% of females).
Specifically, significant gender differences surfaced: 61% of female faculty indicated they view DEI statements as a justifiable requirement while 61% of male faculty said that such statements are ideological litmus tests.
Additionally, male faculty, compared to their female counterparts, were significantly more likely to say the administration should take no action of any kind regardless of whether they were asked about “several professors” who refused DEI training (53% vs. 33%) or “several White male professors” who did the same thing (49% vs. 31%).
So, you have the evidence. Am I engaging in a paltry device by running down my own sex, or is there a serious problem in American academia now that women, who are proving to be much more totalitarian than their male counterparts, have taken over, both as faculty and students?