[AISWorld] [External] Re: Hiring Professor (Female Only) in Information Systems and Technology Management, UNSW Sydney

[Walden, Eric]

This is the only job posting that actively excludes non-binary individuals, so it is hard to argue that it is not discriminatory toward an under-represented minority in the IS field.  Moreover, as Nitin pointed out the department had to get an exception from the government.  This means that the government explicitly recognizes that this is discriminatory and is willing in the specific case to suspend the law.  

We can argue about whether or not this type of discrimination is ultimately good.  Firefighters often burn down trees to keep a forest fire from growing, so we can admit that some policies do something bad in hopes of creating greater good.  

I would argue that it is not producing any good because it is a zero sum game.  The problem is not that some schools have a too many women and UNSW has too few.  Whatever women UNSW recruits will have to leave some other school with even fewer women than it might have otherwise had.  It does not make the world a more representative place, is just makes UNSW more representative at the expense of some other place.  

It also has another negative consequence.  Everyone will know that the woman they hire was hired not because she is competent, but because she is a woman.  This is true even if she is competent, because if she looked different, but had exactly the same skills and qualifications, she would not have been hired.  This is demeaning to the person being hired.   I know this because my daughter is going to college to major in IS and I suggested that she could increase her likelihood of admission and scholarships by emphasizing that she was a woman.  She found this so unjust and demeaning, that she identified as male and chose a male pseudonym (Nick) for her application.  

I want to mention this to establish that at great personal expense, I am addressing the actual problem, which is that too few women choose to major in IS.  This is true in the US and in Australia and in many countries.  What we need to do (You, me, UNSW, everyone) is figure out why that is and then take the appropriate action to reverse the trend.

One of the big things we can do (which I am guessing is UNSW's goal) is to present more female IS role models.  However, a better way to do that is to invite many female graduates and industry people to interact on our campuses.  It is better because it is not zero sum.  Each school has plenty of women in IT around and we do not need to poach them from each other.
Another thing that needs to be done is that the top journals need to actively encourage research into why this is.  It is a complex question, and we don't currently have good answers.  But we have a lot of smart people, and we have a lot of access to research subjects for this specific problem.  If the top journals just adopted a policy that every issue would have at least one DEI paper, then people would research it and it would get figured out and the problem would be helped.  But as long as the top journals think that artificial intelligence is more worthy of publication than DEI, it will remain something that is not widely studied.  

We can debate about whether Shailendra or UNSW is a bigger monster, or we could work to encourage more women to go into IS fields.  I have already committed over $100,000 to that cause-and she'll probably want me to pay for grad school too.  All you really have to do is post to this mailing list asking the Editor's in Chief to actively encourage more DEI in the top journals.  Like, just hit respond and say "Yes please let's make this a priority EIC's".

--
Eric Walden
Director of the Texas Tech Neuroimaging Institute
Rawls Endowed Chair of Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences
Rawls College of Business
703 Flint Avenue
Texas Tech University
806-834-1925
eric.walden at ttu.edu
http://ericwalden.net

-----Original Message-----
From: AISWorld <aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org> On Behalf Of Shailendra Palvia
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2022 12:54 PM
To: Hamed M. Zolbanin <hamed.majidi at gmail.com>; Jeet Gupta <guptaj at uah.edu>
Cc: Henry M Kim <hkim at schulich.yorku.ca>; aisworld at lists.aisnet.org; Barney Tan <barney.tan at unsw.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [AISWorld] [External] Re: Hiring Professor (Female Only) in Information Systems and Technology Management, UNSW Sydney

This email originated outside TTU. Please exercise caution<https://askit.ttu.edu/phishing>!


Perfectly said, Jeet.

From: Hamed M. Zolbanin <hamed.majidi at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2022 12:11 PM
To: Jeet Gupta <guptaj at uah.edu>
Cc: Barney Tan <barney.tan at unsw.edu.au>; Henry M Kim <hkim at schulich.yorku.ca>; Shailendra Palvia <Shailendra.Palvia at liu.edu>; aisworld at lists.aisnet.org; wombat <c.conway at ieseg.fr>
Subject: Re: [AISWorld] [External] Re: Hiring Professor (Female Only) in Information Systems and Technology Management, UNSW Sydney

I guess it becomes wrong only when the position says "only men"; otherwise, it is all fine!!!

On Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 12:06 PM Jeet Gupta <guptaj at uah.edu<mailto:guptaj at uah.edu>> wrote:
Hello Everyone:

So, would you say that President Biden was wrong in saying and then following up on his saying that he would nominate a black woman to be a Supreme Court Justice?

In addition, do you think the practice to nominate people to serve on any of the top jobs in the country (or even a State) without open competition a form of discrimination as many others who really is exceptionally qualified are not considered?

If we have to debate this issue, we should consider several forms of such hiring discriminatory practices.


Best regards,



Jatinder (Jeet) N. D. Gupta, PhD, CFPIM
Director, Integrated Enterprise Lab
Eminent Scholar and Professor
College of Business
The University of Alabama in Huntsville
301 Sparkman Drive
Huntsville, AL 35899
Phone: 256-824-6593 (office)
           256-520-0175 (cell)
FAX:    256-824-6328
E-mail: guptaj at uah.edu<mailto:guptaj at uah.edu>


-----Original Message-----
From: AISWorld [mailto:aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org<mailto:aisworld-bounces at lists.aisnet.org>] On Behalf Of Shailendra Palvia
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2022 10:58 AM
To: wombat <c.conway at ieseg.fr<mailto:c.conway at ieseg.fr>>; Henry M Kim <hkim at schulich.yorku.ca<mailto:hkim at schulich.yorku.ca>>;
Barney Tan <barney.tan at unsw.edu.au<mailto:barney.tan at unsw.edu.au>>; aisworld at lists.aisnet.org<mailto:aisworld at lists.aisnet.org>
Subject: [External] Re: [AISWorld] Hiring Professor (Female Only) in Information Systems and Technology Management, UNSW Sydney

Dear Colleagues:

I have said what I had to say.  Discrimination in hiring of anyone for literally any role based on gender, age, or religion etc., IMHO, is wrong.

Sincerely

...Shailendra Palvia (He/Him/His)

-----Original Message-----
From: wombat <c.conway at ieseg.fr<mailto:c.conway at ieseg.fr>>
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2022 11:47 AM
To: Henry M Kim <hkim at schulich.yorku.ca<mailto:hkim at schulich.yorku.ca>>; Shailendra Palvia <Shailendra.Palvia at liu.edu<mailto:Shailendra.Palvia at liu.edu>>; Barney Tan <barney.tan at unsw.edu.au<mailto:barney.tan at unsw.edu.au>>;
aisworld at lists.aisnet.org<mailto:aisworld at lists.aisnet.org>
Subject: Re: [AISWorld] Hiring Professor (Female Only) in Information Systems and Technology Management, UNSW Sydney

WARNING: This email originated from outside of Long Island University. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. - LIU Information Technology

On 6/11/22 17:34, Henry M Kim wrote:
> By pre-empting the UNSW from responding to what I believe is not an 
> unreasonable question

It was an unreasonable question, as the original post had the answer.
Thus the question was either ignorant or intentionally provocative.

  - and not truly an instance of male privilege

Incorrect. The only reason to ask the question is to assail attempts to reduce structural sexism.

  - I would contend that you are doing something else... mansplaining.  hk

Also incorrect. You misunderstand mansplaining. The author of the comment to which I responded does not identify as female.

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Best Regards,

Hamed M. Zolbanin
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