Evolution, Not Revolution

Photo courtesy of Lanka Truth

I have a few comments to make about the rather inevitable and predictable recent attempts on social media to try and attack and diminish Dr. Harini Amarasuriya’s authority via comments about her marital status, as a highly educated woman who has chosen to remain single and child free. Some people commenting on social media seem to have issues with her holding a doctorate as well as other academic degrees. And they seem to feel that her level of education, particularly as her degrees were earned from institutions overseas, is purely a reflection of her “privileged” status.

None of the commenters seem to have qualifications comparable with hers, of course.

So let’s start with a clear definition of what a doctorate degree is. According to the global digital education provider Coursera, “A doctorate is the highest degree you can earn in an academic field or profession. Earning your doctorate can help advance your career and increase your salary, while also showing others that you’re an expert in your subject area.”

And here we have it: why people criticise women with doctorates or any type of higher degree. They do not want to acknowledge that women can be experts in a subject area that involves the use of the intellect. And incidentally it is not just men who act like this. It’s women as well, resentful that another woman had opportunities they do not have or has actually worked to earn a qualification instead of just being a “nepo baby” or whatever stereotype is projected onto us.

Dr. Amarasuriya holds three university degrees: A Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Sociology from the University of Delhi, India; a Master of Arts in Applied Anthropology and Development from Macquarie University, Australia; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The institutions which have awarded her these degrees are highly regarded internationally. The programmes and courses of study she has successfully completed indicate hours of lectures and tutorials and many assignments and examinations that have tested her knowledge of the course content.

These qualifications are earned over years of study. This is very different from a certificate for a three or six month course attended online for the cost of $50 or $100. And of course, it is the exact opposite of fabricated or exaggerated credentials such as many people try to offer to give themselves the appearance of authority and credibility.

A doctoral degree in particular, especially one from a recognised institution, indicates that the awarded candidate has engaged in extensive research in the chosen field of study and has then put forward original ideas which they have developed themselves. The 100,000 word dissertation or thesis which is presented in fulfillment of the requirement for the doctoral qualification indicates that the candidate is an expert in their field and has ideas of significant value to contribute to the global culture.

A person may choose to call themselves “Dr.” in everyday life or they may choose not to unless it is a formal requirement at a public or official ceremony. Many women do choose to use their professional title in social media profiles and throughout their public life. This indicates that they wish their skills and their dedicated work to be recognised. In Sri Lanka, however, this is seen as pushing themselves forward in an unseemly way. So “prideful” they say.

Why would commenters question such credentials or seek to undermine the value and public revelation of qualifications that are earned and thereby devalue the real dedicated effort and capacity of a highly trained and dedicated professional?

Personal envy is the most obvious answer. But I suggest that in our contemporary society there are two other factors operating in this area as well.

The first is socially entrenched and ingrained misogyny. There is something offensive to some people in seeing a woman publicly respected for the achievements she has been able to achieve, particularly academic achievements that display her intellect, her curiosity and her pleasure in the subjects of the mind.

These are the people who feel that women’s place is solely in the home, giving birth to children and assisting them with their development, supporting their husband in his career, being a wonderful home maker and a great cook. Basically, women who are highly regarded in traditional societies are defined by their capacity to nurture others and relegated to occupying a supportive role.

A woman who chooses to be single and to pursue intellectual and professional development is therefore often looked upon as selfish or ambitious or arrogant. These negative perspectives indicate that a professional woman is felt to be threatening that traditional picture, which was created to support and affirm patriarchal beliefs about male superiority and women’s comparatively inferior status.

The philosopher Toril Moi commented in a lecture at which I was present some years ago that women of today “deserve to experience the pleasures of the intellect, just as men have done for generations”. This concept of intellectual pleasure is something entirely foreign to many people in an industrialised, materialistic and superficial society where qualifications are seen as just boxes to be ticked rather than measures of a transformative experience.

Secondly, there is the socio-economic reality of the times in which we live. Seeking higher qualifications transforms us. Unfortunately, in the economic environment of today, education is seen as a privilege rather than a right, and this is especially true of higher education. Understandably, earning money as quickly as possible as soon as you graduate from school and gaining financial stability and independence is more important to most young people than developing one’s ideas or imagination. Life long intellectual development is beyond the imagination of many.

Importance of access to education

If one views the current exodus of students and young people from the country we see many, far from being lazy or unmotivated, seeking educational opportunities overseas. They are not hoping the grass is greener over there; they feel that their aspirations can be better fulfilled elsewhere. As the new president mentioned in his inaugural address, it will take some time for Sri Lankans to be proud of having a Sri Lankan passport. Similarly, a “home grown” education will take some time in the current context to be seen as something to be celebrated. In addition to this disparity, depending on the educational experience of their parents, the significance young people ascribe to actual learning as distinct from earning a qualification can often be an unfortunate limitation on their development.

Differential access to education is not just a material or economic concept; it is also a sociological and psychological reality. The ragging issue in Sri Lanka’s universities is a clear example of the resentment felt towards those who are born into better familial conditions than others. And as a lockstep consequence, this disparity highlights not only financially better or worse conditions but psychological and emotional benefits or deficits.

Access to education is important; the ability to absorb and implement what you learn is even more important. Excellent education means not merely retaining information learned by rote memorisation but actually developing critical thinking skills, the capacity to question, to analyse and interpret information presented to you. This internalisation of knowledge is what leads to excellence in performance, high productivity good quality professional work and to lifelong learning.

In contrast to this, education today is often seen in superficial terms. The most expensive schooling is supposed to automatically equate to the “best quality” teaching. The name of the institution is more important to many than the course content. People who think of education as a privilege often resent those who have more access to it, whereas in fact, those who have benefitted from good education themselves wish rather to extend this benefit to all. It is perfectly consistent therefore, that Dr. Amarasuriya has herself been an advocate for universal access to education. Her proven personal commitment to this, and implementation of policy in the area of education would powerfully transform the country for the better.

Happiness and the single woman

Ten years ago, Australia’s first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, had just ended her three year term in office from 2010-2013. She, too, was a highly educated professional, a lawyer who had chosen to remain single and child free. Sections of the Australian media and the toxic boys’ club that constituted the Australian political culture at that time had harassed her from the start. She addressed the plethora of unprofessional actions on the part of her male peers in politics in a blistering speech that has become a classic in our time, popularly known as the Misogyny Speech.

When we define a woman as unmarried it is a negatively framed presentation of her, as if being married is the universal normal standard of human behaviour. To further describe her as childless evokes the old patriarchal ideas of barrenness, a stigma in the world where fertility is prized.

Many single women actually do not have negative feelings about children and are not walking around like modern Maleficents wishing harm on traditional families. Rather, they are busy living their best lives. In fact, recent sociocultural data suggests that childfree and single women are the happiest group of people in the world today. And it should be clear to all that child rearing and home making would be far less of a burden if both partners did their fair share of it from the start of any partnered relationship.

For a woman to obtain an education, in her teens and twenties she must be able to imagine and create a pathway to a professional future. This means not only positive goal setting but avoiding the complications of early marriage, pregnancy and childbirth until her qualifications have been gained. In her choice of partner she should choose someone who shares her life goals and will not be threatened by her wish to fulfil her professional aspirations. The energy demanded by our personal and family lives is disproportionally contributed by women.

Highly educated women should be proud of their achievements and the effort they have put into the development of their minds and characters. And we as a society should be proud of them. It should make us proud to see, hear and be led by qualified, capable, dignified and knowledgeable individuals with the capacity to generate good ideas and the ability to articulate and implement them.

Hard logic and soft skills 

In the past hundred years, several countries have encouraged and supported some very charismatic individuals in their various bids for authority and leadership. Many are film stars or have star status, derived from their lineage, their inherited wealth or their physical appearance. They often quite successfully transfer these genetically endowed gifts and the fan bases such gifts produce into sizeable voting blocs as they stand for election. Some of these dazzling individuals have actually been good leaders but usually only during unchallenging times.

People who know what it is like to earn their credentials, to build their own professional lives and to manage their personal resources are able to look to supporting other people’s interests as well as their own and are thus far better qualified to lead a country than those who feel entitled to receive respect or authority for narcissistic, superficial or self serving reasons but who disappointingly make little actual positive contribution.

We in Sri Lanka today have a powerful opportunity to benefit from the leadership of someone who seems to know the score. Who is the first of her family to enter politics, who acts on long held ideological beliefs in doing so, who has been demonstrably productive and pro-active and dedicated and committed in her professional life. Who is herself qualified and capable and is therefore able to appoint people of genuine calibre and competence to assist the government to enable the country’s progress at this critical juncture.

Dr. Amarasuriya’s appointment should signal the establishment of a more modern, inclusive and truly democratic society. Whether the country responds with respect and open mindedness or a whole lot of regressive and childish complaints is not a test of the new prime minister but a test of the country’s evolution from a feudal patriarchy to a modern and democratic nation.