Knotty Issues to Be Explored in Gender Inequality Talk

An expert on the issue of gender inequality will present "Unraveling the Gender Knot" at Ithaca College on Wednesday, February 7. The talk by Allan Johnson, author of The Gender Knot: Unraveling, Our Patriarchal Legacy, is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in room 112 in the Center for Natural Sciences. It is free and open to the public.

Johnson is a professor of sociology at the University of Hartford and has worked with a variety of organizations, including corporations and schools, giving workshops and presentations on issues of gender, diversity, and social inequality. His most recent book, Privilege, Power, and Difference, explores how various forms of privilege — especially those based on race, gender, class, and sexual orientation — work as an interlocking system.

"We are all living deep inside an oppressive gender legacy called patriarchy," says Johnson. "On some level, most people know that gender is tied to a great deal of suffering and injustice, from inequality in the workplace to violence and sexual harassment to the conflict between work and family roles. Unraveling the knot begins with getting clear about what patriarchy really is, about what it’s got to do with each of us, and about how both men and women can see themselves as part of the process of change toward something better."

Johnson’s visit is sponsored by the School of Humanities and Sciences Honors Program and Office of the Dean, Diversity Awareness Committee, Departments of Psychology and Sociology, and women’s studies program.