[koeselitz]

Kathy was absolutely not trying to rank people by how much privilege they enjoy. And you're misunderstanding the "hard mode" metaphor; factors are not necessarily sole determinants. It has been demonstrated, for example, that in science being female is a hindrance and being male is an asset. [1] That doesn't mean that there are not some males who have it worse than some females; it means that, for a male and a female coming from exactly the same background with exactly the same experience, the male will be better off. Being male is a privilege, and being female is a drawback.

I can understand, however, that a lot of us white males (I am one too) find this threatening because it seems like it's intended to "wrack us with guilt," as you put it. I guess maybe there are times when that's the goal, but Kathy here clearly doesn't intend to shove that down our throats. She's trying to genuinely point out something that even people who've been in the industry for years (like she has) might not see. And that's jarring, and it's kind of shocking, but it is not supposed to be a guilt trip. It's just supposed to bring us to awareness of simple facts that many people these days aren't willing to acknowledge.

[1] http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-prognosis/201...

[yummyfajitas]

In actual practice (as opposed to a narrow experiment) women are more likely to be hired, promoted, or given a grant than a similarly qualified man.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12062&page=R1

[koeselitz]

The study I linked to is absolutely not a "narrow experiment" - it's the largest and most thoroughgoing study of its kind ever done. The study you're linking to, by contrast, is a narrow experiment, is more than three years old, and has been superseded by new data. It'd probably be worth actually reading the link I gave.

[yummyfajitas]

Huh? Your study is a single experiment, which sends a single modified resume out to people and asks their opinion on pay/qualifications.

In contrast, the one I linked to examines real market outcomes at multiple career events. Unless you believe the situation has changed significantly in the past three years, your criticism of the age of my study is irrelevant.