2011-01-22

I wouldn't expect this from anyone else

I received an email that I have to answer as dean. It was sent in CC to the president, the chancellor and the vice president for studies. As if triplicate helps, they all just forward this to me for answering.

This guy thinks our women's program is against the law because it "discriminates". And it's idiotic, just like women's parking spaces and women's quotas.

Listen up, Junior. Because women are often bodily threatened, there are women's parking places in lighted areas near doors. Because women never seem to get hired, especially for top jobs, there is a quota in place to make sure that hiring authorities see them. And the anti-discrimination law explicitly states that positive measures that aim at reducing a discriminatory situation are allowed.

Out of curiosity I googled him, because his name wasn't Müller. Cute. He's an IT system administrator, 28 years old, has a number of email accounts that are easily linkable due to his name. And he has signed up with a rather data-promiscuous dating site that lets me know that he is single and would like to drink a "Sex on the Beach" with me. The picture is of him in his Navy uniform.

Junior, I understand that at 28 you are getting desperate for a woman. But berating women's programs and anti-discrimination measures is not going to endear you to many of the women I know. I understand you want a different sort of woman, but I don't think there are many of them left in Germany.

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