Torch - Fall 2017

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ecently, a Google employee stated in an internal memo that women are better suited to work in artistic or social areas rather than in the tech

industry—not because of bias, discrimination or embedded cultural expectations, but because of biological differences between the sexes. Many women working in tech fields reported they experienced a familiar exhausted-in-the-bones reaction to the memo. Here we go again , they thought, having yet another public debate about what work we are capable of doing .

abilities they need to engage in society in a meaningful and powerful way. And blaze trails, as required. William Deresiewicz, a successful author who earned degrees in biology, psychology, journalism and literature before joining the English Department at Yale University, offers this view: “Practical utility…is not the ultimate purpose of a liberal arts education. Its ultimate purpose is to help you learn to reflect in the widest and deepest sense, beyond the requirements of work and career: for the sake of citizenship, for the sake of living well with others, above all, for the sake of building a self that is strong and creative and free.” 1 Deresiewicz is pointing at the value of breadth before specialization. He is describing the wide and deep learning that sets habits of reflection, critical thinking and inquiry for life. It’s a narrow focus and some questionable reasoning that leads to that Google memo. Its author

of achieving a high level of proficiency. However, women only make up 22 per cent of Canadians working in STEM fields. That’s a steep drop from graduation rates. What do Google engineers or science majors have to do with a liberal arts education? After all, STEM careers tend to require narrow specializations. In fact, most professions do. And yet, by definition, a liberal arts education is broad, diverse and multidisciplinary, with engaged citizenry (rather than productive workers) as its ultimate goal. Not that a liberal arts approach fails to generate productive workers. It’s that the productivity comes by way of cultivating key capacities: thinking critically, offering reasoned judgment, solving problems and communicating clearly, to name a few. The short answer to the question is that a liberal arts education supports a STEM career—or any career at all—by equipping young women with the wide-ranging

In response to the memo, Susan Wojcicki, former Google employee and current CEO of YouTube, wrote in a Fortune article that “this was yet another discouraging signal to young women who aspire to study computer science.” She went on to say: “I’ve had my abilities and commitment to my job questioned. I’ve been left out of key industry events and social gatherings. I’ve had meetings with external leaders where they primarily addressed the more junior male colleagues. I’ve had my comments frequently interrupted and my ideas ignored until they were rephrased by men.” Wojcicki is pointing to cultural and social powers of exclusion, not inherent lack of interest or aptitude. According to Statistics Canada, women earn 39 per cent of bachelor degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). While they haven’t yet reached parity with men, there is no doubt that women are capable

TABLE OF CONTENTS | FALL 2017 • TORCH 15