Reports are circulating (seemingly sourced from a paywalled Telegraph article) about the Oxford Philosophy Dept.’s attempts to bolster female confidence by manipulating reading lists, e.g. converting ‘G.E.M. Anscombe’ into ‘Elizabeth Anscombe’. Having once had a (female) tutee who thought Martha Nussbaum was a ‘he’, I’m not sure whether it’s optimism or pessimism Oxford has in excess.

(As I recall, any concern about female undergrad. confidence at Durham usually involved willingness to speak up and debate in tutorial groups, so it is mildly interesting that this is coming out of a place with Oxbridge’s tutorial sizes.)

In a spirit of fairness to that tutee, I should add that I once had to be told Shelly Kagan is not a ‘she’.