Women of colour and McMaster Women of colour need more representation at McMaster science events
By: Shruti Ramesh – WGEN Contributor As a woman in academic spaces, something that is too uncommon is the presence of women who look like me and whose names sound like mine. It’s not that these women aren’t out there. At McMaster alone, we have women of colour who are competitive in their fields across numerous disciplines. The caveat is that spaces meant to promote positive representation for women in academia, in politics and...
A hairy situation Whoever is without hair amongst us, let them be the first to cast the razor
Summer is approaching fast, and that means it’s either time to bring the dusty old razor out again, or leave your body hair as it is. Judgemental looks from other women or raised eyebrows from men are bound to make an appearance along with hairy legs. Women are expected to be hairless everywhere aside from the tops of their heads. It feels like the only alternative is to let everything go au natural, and be fiercely proud about it....
Single parenting It is time to give single mothers their due praise
By: Sophie Geffros I tend to view having a relationship with your biological father as being somewhat akin to owning a dishwasher. It’s nice, sure. It takes some of the work and pressure off of your primary caregiver, and a lot of people have them. But fundamentally, plenty of us grow up without them and do just fine. That said, nobody assumes you will be a criminal if you grow up without a dishwasher. In July, Republican presidential...
Praise for the stunningly ordinary Or five things we need to stop praising white guys for
I breathed a sigh of relief Sunday night. Leonardo DiCaprio has officially received his Oscar. You may have seen the deluge of memes, gifs, and video compilations all protesting his lack of Academy recognition. I have never seen the Internet collectively want something so badly. “Please God,” I said, eyes skyward, “let this be the last I hear about how mean the Academy has been to little Leo.” Don’t get me wrong, I think DiCaprio is a...
Tackling tutorials Your gender may be impacting your participation in the classroom
By: Emily Current When we take part in a group discussion we pay so much attention to what people are saying that we don’t really think about who is speaking. It wasn’t until I talked to a classmate of mine one day about classroom dynamics that I noticed that our tutorial often ended up being male dominated. One of the reasons why it can be so difficult to see how gender dynamics play into classroom discussions is because these sort...
A fate worse than death Or how I am surviving my first mortality crisis
I found out over reading week that one of my distant cousins died. This, coupled with the death of two grandparents in the span of a year, has led to my first mortality crisis. “One day,” I said to myself, “you will die.” Here’s the thing; I’ve been worried about growing old for a much longer time than I’ve been worried about what follows it. I wasn’t even particularly worried about a decline in quality of life with age (which has now...
