Remember when Barbie told girls math was hard?
In October 1992, the Teen Talk Barbie uttered the phrase “math class is tough”, a statement that awarded Mattel Inc. a great deal of criticism from American women’s groups. (NY Times, 1992)
Last night, Jim Prentice uttered a similar phrase during the live, televised provincial party leader’s debate in response to a comment from Rachel Notley, notably the only woman at a podium. Social media has exploded since with the hashtag #mathishard and criticisms of the tone, delivery and context of the comment. (Calgary Herald, 2015)
“He looked like he was mansplaining the budget to the only woman in the debate,” wrote Graham Thompson of the Edmonton Journal.
Mansplaining: when a man lectures a woman on a topic under the mistaken assumption that she knows less than he, a practice so common that the term found itself inducted in Oxford Dictionary’s digital database in 2014.
Consciously and not, women and especially young women, can start to believe that being belittled by male peers is the result of their own shortcomings. This can be self-limiting and the repercussions are not just damaging to the individual but to all of society when valuable opinions, ideas and solutions are not being shared.
While we recognize political debates are fluid and some comments come “off the cuff”, this type of sexist, condescending language can keep women from choosing to fully participate – in politics, at the boardroom table and elsewhere.
Every woman has had such things said to her reinforcing the subtle yet pervasive patriarchal belief that power and smarts are something men have and women lack. Intentional or not, that’s not OK.
