The only mentions of gender in the article are the very arguments why it might be harder:
"tenure-track horror stories we hear (particularly from women)"
This is a reference to, among other things, sexual harassment. This is not exclusive to women, but they are the vast majority of victims. There was, for example, some upheaval in the astrophysics community, with dozens of stories of younger female researchers finding out at the conference hotel that their professors "had accidentally just reserved one room for the two of them, oops" and so on.
"women are reluctant to say no on the job"
is a reference to the fact that women often feel more of a need to prove that they are worthy for the job. This doesn't imply any wrongdoing by men, especially not by specific men. But you can easily find data showing that women tend to have far more doubts about their abilities and accomplishments, and therefore feel under more pressure to perform.
"Another gendered reality is that women work a double shift"
This is pretty self-explanatory...
Most importantly, I don't understand how such an article provokes the defensive reflexes it apparently does: I'm a white able-bodies heterosexual man, and I have absolutely no doubt that if I were an overworked grad student at the author's faculty, my complaints would get a fair hearing. In fact, 90% of her complaints are indeed independent of gender, and her speaking out will help all troubled by them.
For the rest: if women do feel under extra pressure to appear smart and diligent, which I find at least plausible, I think it can almost completely be solved by just listening and acknowledging their complaint. We do sometimes have gendered expectations: I've personally witnessed a professor who complained abut women's handwriting in lab reports ("I can't read this") while shrugging it off for men ("You've a doctor's handwriting chuckle").
The problem of childcare can also be solved without anyone losing much, and society has actually come a long way. Institutions can open day-care etc. And teams and their leaders can almost always accommodate the flexibility required, and in the process usually creates a more flexible work experience for anyone. Just don't make a big fuss out of it if someone comes late and stays long once in a while because they had to take their infant to the doctor.
What I meant is that we should be skeptical about the claims made in an article that appears to be about education, posted in 'The Chronicle of Higher Education', but which in reality has a different underlying message. It feels to me as if letting gender issues seep into articles on different subjects and claiming things like 'men have it easier than women' hints at sexism. Just as letting prejudices about gender or race determine who you hire, for example.
By pointing this out I want to highlight the possibility that the author at the very least is prejudiced with regards to gender when it comes to interpreting how others go through life. Which leads me to the conclusion that the author's opinion on why people get burn outs should be taken with a grain of salt.
> This doesn't imply any wrongdoing by men, especially not by specific men.
In any instance where women fall short of or fail to perform as well as men external factors even amorphous ones can always be blamed. Since powerful men have been in charge of crating social conditions under which womens' identities have developed. Identity which in this case "tends to have far more doubts about their abilities and accomplishments", like you pointed out.
"doesn't imply any wrongdoing by men" is only possible if either of these was true
1.Current society wasn't created/shaped by men in powerful positions.
2. Women are biologically predisposed to have 'far more doubts'
I don't think either of those positions is correct. Whats your logic behind stating "doesn't imply any wrongdoing by men".
"tenure-track horror stories we hear (particularly from women)"
This is a reference to, among other things, sexual harassment. This is not exclusive to women, but they are the vast majority of victims. There was, for example, some upheaval in the astrophysics community, with dozens of stories of younger female researchers finding out at the conference hotel that their professors "had accidentally just reserved one room for the two of them, oops" and so on.
"women are reluctant to say no on the job"
is a reference to the fact that women often feel more of a need to prove that they are worthy for the job. This doesn't imply any wrongdoing by men, especially not by specific men. But you can easily find data showing that women tend to have far more doubts about their abilities and accomplishments, and therefore feel under more pressure to perform.
"Another gendered reality is that women work a double shift"
This is pretty self-explanatory...
Most importantly, I don't understand how such an article provokes the defensive reflexes it apparently does: I'm a white able-bodies heterosexual man, and I have absolutely no doubt that if I were an overworked grad student at the author's faculty, my complaints would get a fair hearing. In fact, 90% of her complaints are indeed independent of gender, and her speaking out will help all troubled by them.
For the rest: if women do feel under extra pressure to appear smart and diligent, which I find at least plausible, I think it can almost completely be solved by just listening and acknowledging their complaint. We do sometimes have gendered expectations: I've personally witnessed a professor who complained abut women's handwriting in lab reports ("I can't read this") while shrugging it off for men ("You've a doctor's handwriting chuckle").
The problem of childcare can also be solved without anyone losing much, and society has actually come a long way. Institutions can open day-care etc. And teams and their leaders can almost always accommodate the flexibility required, and in the process usually creates a more flexible work experience for anyone. Just don't make a big fuss out of it if someone comes late and stays long once in a while because they had to take their infant to the doctor.