A reader writes:
A quick perusal of Courtney Messerschmidt’s blog brought back difficult memories of my former career as a woman research analyst in foreign policy, specifically in the think tank world of Washington, DC.
The culture of the major think tank I worked at for five years in my late twenties/early thirties was incredibly sexist; the female research staff did most of the administrative and conference-planning work – think tanks hold lots of meetings and symposia – whereas our male counterparts were more often promoted into fellowship positions and given priority in terms of working on actual research and writing projects. I left that world over a decade ago, but I doubt that much has changed. Couching defense and foreign policy commentary in a girl’s blog full of girl-speak and pretty-girl photos may be viewed by some as a harmless conflation or a creative attention grabber. But I do not.
The Dish 