17th July 2008, 10:31 PM
On the topic of sexism in archaeology, as this subject now seems to have become, I can't say I've ever been aware of any, but perhaps I have been lucky, or I am a man (I don't mean perhaps I am a man, I am..you know what I mean!).
What I was quite surprised by was the recent IFA magazine and the article about working in France in the 1970s by Jason Wood. Not only was this particular edition, in my opinion, one of the least relevant to the lives of most archaeologists working in this country, members of the IFA or not, but that particular article was quite pointless. The portrayal of archaeology in it was quite disappointing, with references to students being taken on only because they were female and lived close to the excavation director or something similar (I haven't got it in front of me). I wasn't quite sure whether the point of the article was to say 'wasn't it terrrible back then' or something, but the portrayal of archaeologists was a bit embarrasing.
What I was quite surprised by was the recent IFA magazine and the article about working in France in the 1970s by Jason Wood. Not only was this particular edition, in my opinion, one of the least relevant to the lives of most archaeologists working in this country, members of the IFA or not, but that particular article was quite pointless. The portrayal of archaeology in it was quite disappointing, with references to students being taken on only because they were female and lived close to the excavation director or something similar (I haven't got it in front of me). I wasn't quite sure whether the point of the article was to say 'wasn't it terrrible back then' or something, but the portrayal of archaeologists was a bit embarrasing.