Week 1: Max Ma (A03)

Max Ma
ASA002 A03
Week 1

A truly mind-blowing reading, Professor Valverde's message struck me so strongly that it finally makes sense to me why women in our society often become a easy target for discriminational acts. With limited budgets in educational system, colored women have become the easiest ones for these "for-profit" institutions to sacrifice. The incentive to sacrifice women's rights exists in every aspect in our society. We have learned from many cases that women often get paid less for the same amount of work men do, and they enjoy less benefits than the men in many developed countries. After reading this article, it reminded me of the women's protest in Saudi Arabia in 1990. The protest was aimed to advocate Saudi women's right to obtain a driver's license and to drive legally in such country. However, Saudi's traditional culture did not allow that to happen. And the women in the protest were arrested by the police for misdemeanor. Luckily, under new Saudi regime, women can finally obtain a driver's license starting 2018. Seeing Valverde and Saudi women's success story in fighting for what they deserve, I've realized that we should stand up against any type of discrimination, and everyone should advocate for the victims as strongly as they would for themselves. A globalized world should have less discrimination, not more. 
                                       
Question:

The reading mentions that "the corporatization of universities is especially impactful to the college careers of PhDs of color." What does it mean by specifically PhDs? Why only PhDs? There are many colored attendants in other programs, is it because PhDs had the most colored people in the program?

References:

1. Valverde, K., (2013). "Fight the Tower": A Call to Action for Women in Academia, 12(2), 367-419. Retrieved September 30, 2017.

2. Heintzen, D. F., (2017, Sept 27). "AP Was There": Saudi women protest driving ban in 1990. Retrieved from "https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/ap-was-there-saudi-women-protest-driving-ban-in-1990/2017/09/27/dfb28e2a-a355-11e7-b573-8ec86cdfe1ed_story.html?utm_term=.8456bd176aed"