blog against sexism

I'm always late with these things, mainly because I don't really think I have anything worthwhile to say about any serious topics. Also, I feel like I don't have anything to contribute since I've never experienced any discrimination because of being female (although I'm unassertive enough, and have little enough self-esteem, that I probably wouldn't have noticed, anyway). Nobody ever suggested I couldn't/shouldn't take certain classes or do anything else I wanted, for example and there are plenty of women in my department (although fewer the higher up you look, of course...). There are little things I could conceivably blame on sexism but it feels like something of an over-reaction to do so. I guess the fact that it feels like an over-reaction is something of a problem, since the most obvious manifestations of sexism that I've seen are mainly just denials that it is a problem - women are allowed to study what they want, work wherever they want etc, so why is anyone still complaining? In my usual conflict-averse way, I find it hard to respond to such arguments because I personally haven't experienced any problems and I doubt my knowledge of the relevant facts and statistics too much to feel confident defending my position as more than just opinion. I then feel like I'm letting down all women, by allowing these people to continue believing there are no longer any problems.
I'm particularly ashamed of my inability to say anything assertive in my ethics class when we had a discussion about women and minorities in science. After an intial presentation of some of the statistics about the lack of diversity at different levels in science, the discussion turned to reasons why this might be the case. I was dumbfounded at the attitude of most of the male students in the group (two or three were the most vocal, but the others seemed perfectly happy to agree). These guys offered the usual excuses about how women just aren't driven enough and they all just want to stay home and have kids, anyway. Then, when the women in the class started to suggest other factors that might be to blame, they gave up any pretence at caring. Instead, the discussion shifted to "does it even matter if there are fewer women in high level positions? Science has been going on perfectly well for all these years without the input of women, so why should we make any special effort to help them participate? Sure, maybe it'd be nice for the women to feel included and get to do something they enjoy, but thinking about their feelings isn't going to speed up scientific progress. Plus, all the money that gets spent on trying to improve diversity and subsidising childcare so women can work would be better used to solve scientific problems i.e. fund more research by the same white guys who are already doing it."
Unfortunately, my disgust, and that of the other women in the class, didn't translate into anything articulate...

Many others have written wonderful posts, but I particularly liked Dr Free-Ride's take on sexism that covers not only women in science, but also the many arguments about staying at home versus working:

This, my friends, is the thing I hate most about pervasive sexism. It makes your personal choices important to others in a way that they wouldn't be if you were just an ordinary human being. I have let down people I have never even met by leaving the sparse ranks of women scientists. I have also handed myself over to the pundits: one more example of a woman who couldn't, or wouldn't, hack it in science.

We owe our daughters (and sons) a world where they can decide what to be, or what to do, based on what they're good at, and what makes them happy, without their having to worry about breaking down barriers for someone else. I'm not sure how we get there from here, but admitting that the problem is real might be a good first step.