“As you watch a lot of the young guys eat the chips, they love their Doritos, and they lick their fingers with great glee, and when they reach the bottom of the bag they pour the little broken pieces into their mouth, because they don’t want to lose that taste,” PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi told host Stephen Dubner on a recent episode of the Freakonomics podcast. “Women I think would love to do the same, but they don’t. They don’t like to crunch too loudly in public. And they don’t lick their fingers generously and they don’t like to pour the little broken pieces and the flavor into their mouth.”
ecipients of a Nüsslein-Volhard stipend must be women pursuing graduate or postdoctoral work at a German university or institution, or who received their doctorate in Germany and are continuing their research abroad. For one calendar year, honorees receive €400 per month (about $470) for anything that alleviates their domestic load: housecleaning services, time-saving appliances like dishwashers or electric dryers, babysitters for nights and weekends when the daycare center is closed or unavailable. (Applicants are expected to have full-time childcare arrangements already.) There is also an annual meeting of program alumna, which many recipients say is a crucial source of networking and support.
Racism and sexism are inextricably intertwined. Navigating a biased system exacts a toll, from lost career opportunities to the energy expended on internal calculations for dealing with inappropriate behavior and self-doubt. Many writers, activists, and scholars have worked tirelessly to highlight the cumulative impact of these experiences in the context of race and gender alike. But the justified outrage around sexual harassment has eclipsed the discussion on race while borrowing its language. It’s as if America can only care about one injustice at a time, and—once again—white people come first.