Spouse program in soup

IIT's alumini meet has a special ' Spouse Program' and rightly, it has come under fire. Via Nanopolitan

Prof Priti shankar's EMail excerpt

"The offensive piece relates to the programme for spouses of "IIT" alumni. When the rest of the developed and developing world is making a concerted effort at gender fairness, IIT-M a prime center of excellence in Science and Technology has chosen to ignore, in one sweep, women IIT graduates, many of whom have made sterling contributions to industry, teaching and research. The underlying assumption seems to be that all "spouses" are women. Even more surprising is the programme charted out for the spouses!

The Mystic trail with its promises of insights into astrology, palmistry and the like, promotes obscurantism, totally out of place in an institution devoted to science and technology."

Prof Rama Govindrajan's EMail excerpt

"I was unhappy to see the program for spouses in the PAN-IIT get-together, to try and make them "complete women". My spouse does not want to become a complete or incomplete woman. He will therefore of course not accompany me. I feel that spouses who are female would expect a more intellectually stimulating program as well."

Hope the organizers realize their folly !