Professor Scott and Interests
Anne Scott loves to communicate, to learn, and she loves people. She wants to be a lifelong learner and feels that she can do this through being a teacher. Currently, she works as a translator and as a 12-month lecturer in the French section of the department of French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies. She teaches women’s writing in French literature and shares the efforts of women trying to express themselves from within the box in which they were imprisoned in due to the societal circumstances of their times. She teaches students to question everything, especially what we think is normal or natural and tries to stop them from thinking that they have a specific role because they are women or men.
Professor Scott and Inspirations
Professor Scott’s great-great-grandmother and her great-grandmother had degrees in agriculture, obtained government awards in the field, and ran their own businesses. They were persistent and headstrong. She has always admired women in her family who thought for themselves and did not wait for the environment to form their opinions for them.
Professor Scott and Women’s Issues
Globally, she sees women’s battle to make free choice as an important issue – the freedom to study, to marry or not, to choose what to do with their sexuality. In Canada, she sees fighting stereotypes as a big challenge to overcome. Particularly, teaching young girls and women to not fall into the trap of conforming to magazine visions of women in terms of size and colour, to avoid falling victim to the beauty industry, where girls are made to look like “grown women” and are taught that they have to be beautiful to succeed. She feels toys like Barbie send a message to our children that promotes an antagonistic development of an individual’s feminine and masculine sides. She hopes for a day when we don’t speak of feminine or masculine sides, but simply, see people who have different aspects to their personalities.
Professor Scott and Changes
Professor Scott would like to see less stereotyping and more understanding. For instance, when we see a mental illness, we see it as a disability. But hopefully we can learn to see this as a condition of the person, as facts that one deals with, in different ways. It is a victory when people refuse to be defined except by their own dreams, integrity, and authenticity, she believes.
Professor Scott and International Women’s Day
Professor Scott feels that International Women’s Day forces people to reflect on why they may think it’s okay to make fun of rape, or such issues. Though it is a starting point, having an ‘international day’ is not enough. She believes continuing to reflect and taking a stand for women’s dignity as humans must happen every day and every time in a situation where we feel uncomfortable or oppressed.