A university lecturer who is a father of two boys: “Good female students are good at putting things together [in writing] nicely.”
A university lecturer (male) in a talk: “What do we think of when we think of a printing press? A printer, a copier, and a man to operate it.” (P.S.: The majority of copier operators across the University happen to be women.)
A university lecturer (male; in his mid-40s) talking about the importance of counseling in the university context: “Students come and tell us about their problems. Even girls do that.”
The same university lecturer while on the same topic: “As a student counselor, if I get to know that a student is in trouble I call him on the phone even at night. You need to pay extra attention to such students. You never know what they will do [meaning they are even capable of harming themselves when they are under intense stress.] If it’s a girl, of course, I don’t call in the middle of the night. (smiling) You first need to think about your own safety. You shouldn’t get into trouble. I mean that’s number one.”
A university lecturer while on a counseling-related topic: “ගෑනු කට්ටිය එකම බ්ලවුස් එක ඇඳගෙන ආවොත් මැරෙන්ඩ හදනවා. හැබැයි අපි එහෙම ආවොත් කියයි උඹත් මගේ කමිසෙමයි ඇඳගෙන ඉන්නෙ කියලා.” [“If (two) women happened to wear the same blouse they would make such a big deal out of it. But if we did the same we would just say, ‘Hey, we are wearing the same shirt’ (and leave it at that).”]
A university lecturer on the topic of grant writing, discussing how important it is to use a form of language that a lay/non-technical person understands: “You need to get a lay person to read your proposal. I always give it to my wife. If she understands it, I can be sure that the Secretary [whomever the person that you submit your proposal to] will understand it.” The audience (a group of young lecturers, both men and women) laughs. NOTE: What the speaker meant was that his wife had no expertise in the field where he was an expert, as her field was different(?), and it was clear that he had not intended any disrespect, BUT the audience read the statement as suggesting that his wife was a “lesser being.”
A university lecturer (male) in a talk: “What do we think of when we think of a printing press? A printer, a copier, and a man to operate it.” (P.S.: The majority of copier operators across the University happen to be women.)
A university lecturer (male; in his mid-40s) talking about the importance of counseling in the university context: “Students come and tell us about their problems. Even girls do that.”
The same university lecturer while on the same topic: “As a student counselor, if I get to know that a student is in trouble I call him on the phone even at night. You need to pay extra attention to such students. You never know what they will do [meaning they are even capable of harming themselves when they are under intense stress.] If it’s a girl, of course, I don’t call in the middle of the night. (smiling) You first need to think about your own safety. You shouldn’t get into trouble. I mean that’s number one.”
A university lecturer while on a counseling-related topic: “ගෑනු කට්ටිය එකම බ්ලවුස් එක ඇඳගෙන ආවොත් මැරෙන්ඩ හදනවා. හැබැයි අපි එහෙම ආවොත් කියයි උඹත් මගේ කමිසෙමයි ඇඳගෙන ඉන්නෙ කියලා.” [“If (two) women happened to wear the same blouse they would make such a big deal out of it. But if we did the same we would just say, ‘Hey, we are wearing the same shirt’ (and leave it at that).”]
A university lecturer on the topic of grant writing, discussing how important it is to use a form of language that a lay/non-technical person understands: “You need to get a lay person to read your proposal. I always give it to my wife. If she understands it, I can be sure that the Secretary [whomever the person that you submit your proposal to] will understand it.” The audience (a group of young lecturers, both men and women) laughs. NOTE: What the speaker meant was that his wife had no expertise in the field where he was an expert, as her field was different(?), and it was clear that he had not intended any disrespect, BUT the audience read the statement as suggesting that his wife was a “lesser being.”