Exit Slip: Representation of Women

I'm lucky enough to grow up in the age of third-wave feminism, after the women (and other folx) of the first- and second-wave have paved the way for me (a white woman) to be here. When I attended my undergraduate at the end of the third wave, my class achieved approximate gender parity (assuming a binary). However, when I think about it, all my math professors were male. This was something I hadn't actually noticed. I did look up the current math faculty at UVic, and while I can't really tell what each person's gender identity is (due to either names I'm not familiar with or the fact that names and genders aren't necessarily related), the faculty appears to be roughly equal with a slight tendancy towards traditionally male names. However, the support staff are almost all people with traditionally female names.

What is more relevant today, and in line with the fourth wave of feminism, is the discussion of intersectionality (in the words of Kimberle Crenshaw). While we have come a long way in women's equality, we still have a lot of work to do to radically include trans women, non-binary folks, and people whose gender identities and gender expressions don't neatly fit into our socially constructed boxes. We also have to understand and acknowledge the ways that class, race, language, ability, and a host of other factors influence equality and equity, and how they intersect with gender and sex. Wealthy, white, English-speaking, able-bodied women aren't the only ones for which we need to fight oppression. We need to break that glass ceiling for all folx.