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Issue 22, Volume 83
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Spring breakers One undefeated home season later, the No. 3 seed Cougars prepare for their run through the conference tournament in Orlando. Next up: March Madness. | PG. 9
NEWS
Doubt cast on Maya population increase
A UH-based laser mapping team discovered 60,000 unmapped Maya structures in Guatemala, leading researchers to believe the empire’s numbers could rise by the millions. | PG. 3
OPINION
Pakistani women are heroes, not objects Opinion editor Anusheh Siddique celebrates International Women’s day by discussing domestic stereotypes and colorism in Pakistani culture. | PG. 12
2 | Wednesday, March 7, 2018
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Dana C. Jones & Drew Jones, EDITORS
ACADEMICS
New nursing college named top program in Texas Perfect passing rate contributes to high ranking for Sugar Land based school DREW JONES
CAMPUS EDITOR @DRWSZN
The College of Nursing is one of the newest colleges at UH — earning its college designation within the last year — but it has rapidly excelled and become home to the best nursing program in the state of Texas. The nursing school is small, with only 11 undergraduates enrolled at the start of the 2017-2018 school year, but over the past three years, all of its students passed the National Council of State Boards Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses. “We have the most amazing faculty and staff who teach and guide our students,” Kathryn Tart, professor and founding dean of the College of Nursing, said in an email. “The expertise of the faculty is unparalleled, and we also have outstanding clinical partners where our students practice nursing.” This success has led to it being named as the top nursing program in Texas for 2018 from the advocacy organization RegisteredNursing.org. "University of Houston - College of Nursing offers excellent and flexible programs for those busy students who want to obtain a degree in nursing," reads a statement explaining the top ranking on its website. "With a strong educational foundation, graduates enter the workforce confidently and prepared to take on challenges ahead." The program began at University of Houston Victoria in 2006, then transitioned to the University of Houston in September 2015. It became the College of Nursing on March 2, 2017. With its 100 percent pass rate three years running, it is among the top five percent of nursing programs in the country. Tart said that a part of the college’s rapid rise is attributed to the leadership valuing diversity among its students, who in turn want to excel and become nurse leaders and clinicians. She also credits the University for its role in expanding the program.
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Morgan Horst COVER
One of the goals of the nursing college is to prepare leaders to be able to serve their communities. | Courtesy of UH College of Nursing
“The UH administration has the vision for expanding healthrelated education for students at the University of Houston and continue with their support,” Tart said. Taking pride in their accomplishments has led to a feeling among the students that they are in one of the best places to practice nursing in the country, she said. Assistant clinical professor Sandra Lee said in an email that nursing offers students the opportunity to be engaged in work dedicated to the public good, and there's no better place to learn than in Houston. "Students who choose UH are coming to an opportunity to learn, grow lead and receive a degree from a Tier One research university," Lee said. "Faculty are not only top experts in their fields, but also deeply care about educating." Houston is widely regarded as having one of the best medical centers in the country. U.S. News
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Center for Student Media uh.edu/csm
ABOUT CSM The Center for Student Media provides comprehensive advisory and financial support to the university’s student-run media: The Cougar newspaper, CoogTV and CoogRadio. Part of the Student Life portfolio in the Division of Student Affairs, the CSM is concerned with the development of students, focusing on critical thinking, leadership, ethics, collaboration, intercultural competence, goal-setting and ultimately, degree attainment. While our students are engaged in producing and promoting media channels and content, our goal is to ensure they are learning to become better thinkers and leaders in the process.
UH's top-ranked School of Nursing adds to an already vibrant Texas Medical Center, which delivers world-class medical care. | Courtesy of UH College of Nursing
St. Luke’s, Memorial Hermann) are based in the city. Tart said prospective
“Every nurse is a leader in some way. With the right education, support and mentoring, nurses learn to lead in ways that make a positive, critical difference in their communities.” Sandra Lee, Assistant clinical professor ranks MD Anderson as the best cancer center in the nation, and three of its top five Texas hospitals (Houston Methodist,
Kathryn Lenihan
graduates have seen the outcomes of alumni who have been at the school and what they go on to do, so they know
the College of Nursing is worth their investment. She wants to attract more students to the college and has made recruitment one of her top priorities. Lee said the college is focused on training the best leaders possible, and regardless of difficulty, students should follow their dreams. "Every nurse is a leader in some way," Lee said. "With the right education, support and mentoring, nurses learn to lead in ways that make a positive, critical difference in (their communities)." features@thedailycougar.com
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NEWS
Dana C. Jones & Drew Jones, EDITORS
RESEARCH
Maya population estimate increase too hasty, UH anthropologist says C. MCRAE PEAVY
photographs and images,” said UH anthropology professor Kenneth Brown. “You don’t Deep in the verdant tropical know when those structures jungles of Guatemala, a joint were built; you don’t know how research team, including a they functioned.” UH-based organization, used Not intending to minimize advanced technology to pierce the magnitude of the “fantastic the thick canopy and find work” done by researchers ancient Mayan wonders. from NCALM and Fundación Using airborne light detection Patrimonio Cultural y Natural and ranging technology, or Maya, or PACUNAM, Brown LiDAR, the UH-based National said the process circumvented Center for Airborne Laser the danger and difficulty of Mapping (NCALM) found surveying areas covered by roughly 60,000 previously heavy jungle. unmapped structures, leading “Archaeologists were working to estimates that millions more on the ground in the summers, Mayans may have lived in the kilometer by kilometer,” said Mesoamerican empire than NCALM Director Ramesh previously assumed. Shrestha in a UH news release. But a UH anthropology “If the work had continued in professor warned against hasty the classical archaeological assumptions, saying researchers method, they would not have have no idea when these finished in their lifetimes.” structures were inhabited. Their findings were aired in “It increases our knowledge a National Geographic episode of where the Mayans built “Lost Treasures of the Maya things, but I don’t careNews howFebruary 2__PRINT.pdf Snake Kings"1 in2/23/18 early February. 10-11208_Cougar 5:02 PM many trees you strip away in The LiDAR process involves STAFF WRITER @ MCRAEPV1
four researchers in the field, two of whom board an airplane to operate the machine, NCALM senior researcher Juan Fernandez-Diaz said. “It’s kind of like mowing the
lawn,” Fernandez said. “We go back and forth over the same area many times to map the area under study.” NCALM has been conducting airborne surveys since 2009 in
Mexico and Central America, according to Fernandez. They have been involved in about 20
MAYA POPULATION
Continues on page 5
UH researchers helped map Guatemalan jungle that revealed undiscovered Mayan ruins. | Courtesy of Juan Fernandez-Diaz
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Dana C. Jones & Drew Jones, EDITORS
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Senate sweep opens door for cultural change in SGA Party with focus on commuters, working students wins majority of seats, garners most presidential votes
Presidential candidates Cameron Barrett for Student Unite and incumbent and Spirit RED presidential candidate Winni Zhang say they are both continuing with their campaign strategies. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
MICHAEL SLATEN
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR @MICHAELSLATEN
A cultural change has swept the Senate. Students Unite presidential candidate Cameron Barrett was inside Student Center North Friday waiting for the SGA 2018 election results to be announced, along with the rest of his party and dozens of other students running for office. The Honors College was the first seat called, and a Students Unite senator took the college’s single seat. The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics was called next. Students Unite swept the race, winning three of the four seats. “When I saw that we swept NSM, I was like, 'I'm pretty sure this will happen in every college,'” Barett said. “And at that point, I was very confident that I would be first place, but only at that point.” He was right. Students Unite won 25 of the 37 available Senate seats. The next closest party was Spirit RED, which won six seats. Barrett won the most votes for the presidency,
receiving 33 percent with six candidates running. Barrett, who expected a runoff from the start of the election season, will now face incumbent Winni Zhang from Spirit RED for the 55th administration presidency. Voting ends Wednesday night, and the runoff results will be announced at noon Thursday.
Changing tide Project Red dominated the 2016 elections, with Zhang winning a Senate seat herself. Spirit RED, the spiritual successor to Project Red, swept last year’s election too. Current Undergraduate at Large Sen. Valentin Perez said the culture within SGA has been plagued by elitism and nepotism. “There is always a group of students that control SGA,” Perez said. “They keep that power continuing on until they lose.” Barrett said even if he lost, the culture change within SGA is complete since Students Unite swept the Senate. “It's done,” he said. “Whether I win or lose, and that was a big goal.” Only one Students Unite
candidate lost their election. Barrett said he looked for candidates for his party that were good-hearted, dramafree and had a vision of what they would do in office.
'It’s not over' Zhang, who won 26 percent of the presidential votes, managed to win six senate seats. Despite the losses, all the students that ran with Spirit RED are continuing to campaign with Zhang for the runoff. “The fight is not over. Our party is not done,” Zhang said. “Every single last one of them are dedicated to making sure that their vision, their promises of the students that did vote for them, that their voices are still heard." If Zhang loses, she said, she still plans to bring better mental health services before she graduates in the coming year. “If I’m not in SGA, I’m still going to pursue changes. I still want to continue the work I’ve been doing with mental health,” Zhang said. “I can still use connections (with administrators) to finish out
initiatives that I’m passionate about that I promised students since my beginning in SGA.” Both Zhang and Barrett said they will continue to campaign the same way they have been: by reaching out to students walking around campus and talking to student organizations. Zhang was endorsed by the Impact Party, led by Christopher Caldwell, on Monday, according to a post on Impact Party’s Facebook page. The post said Zhang and her running mate True Furrh were “proven leaders and ... most qualified to represent the student body.” Barrett and his running mate Davis Mendoza Darusman were endorsed by former Element Red presidential candidate Vishaal Kuruvanka on his Facebook page.
Getting the hard vote After the results were announced Friday at the Student Center North, Barrett's party surrounded him. The usually lax economics graduate student
was crying with reddened cheeks. The Students Unite party headed outside and Barrett made a speech to the party's senator candidates. Meanwhile, Zhang and her Spirit RED cohorts remained calm, talking quietly on the building's second floor. “I was so emotional because there were people in the SGA who were so high up that said, 'Cameron isn't presidential. He doesn't look presidential. He doesn't sound presidential,'” Barrett said. Barrett said he was told countless times that the students who drive to and from campus everyday and work while taking classes don’t vote. Election demographics do not reveal those numbers, but Barrett is convinced his campaign brought new students to the polls. “If you give people a reason to vote, if you can resonate with them on some human level, they'll vote for you," Barrett said. Dana C. Jones contributed reporting. features@thedailycougar.com
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MAYA POPULATION
Continued from page 3
projects so far, Fernandez said, and the one in Guatemala was the largest. “Even while we are extremely excited with the results coming out,” Fernandez said, “we are not at all surprised.” The research team gathered their information over eight flights in July 2016, Fernandez said. The team spent a total of about 44 hours in the air. “The first five minutes are exciting,” Fernandez said. “The last 42 hours are very boring.” The lasers produce a “point cloud.” That's essentially a huge array of three-dimensional coordinates that allow the researchers to map the landscape beneath the thick jungle canopy that covers much of Central America. The survey was funded by PACUNAM, a nongovernmental cultural and environmental institution in Guatemala. PACUNAM was already working in six areas in Guatemala when Fernandez
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and the rest of his team were brought in, Fernandez said. NCALM’s job was to expand around these areas in addition to a few others that were “a shot in the dark,” Fernandez said. “The way that I put it,” Fernandez said, “is that we’re kind of building a puzzle, but we’re only finding one piece of the puzzle at a time.” The previously unknown scale and number of these archaeological sites is what is causing a recalculation of Mayan population estimates, Fernandez said. “A key question,” Fernandez said, “has to do with being able to tell which of these cities or structures were occupied when. We cannot do that without having information on the ground.” The only way to determine when the newfound buildings were inhabited is to dig through the ground to find artifacts like pottery, Brown said, which can then be analyzed to find out when said buildings were in use. These artifacts could also indicate a certain buildings' functions, Brown said.
news@thedailycougar.com
NEWS
Dana C. Jones & Drew Jones, EDITORS
“Archaeology in the Maya area has shown that some structures were built and occupied early and not used later,” Brown said. “Many Maya sites include — just like our cities do — ruined buildings that nobody’s using.” The Maya have a history of building over older structures, but according to Brown, that doesn’t mean they built over every defunct building. “I think I’ve seen population estimates from 5 million to 30 million people,” Brown said. “So they’re all over the place, and nobody knows.” Despite the disagreement over the size of the Maya empire, researchers seems to agree the discovery, and archaeological work as a whole, is an important academic study, if only to understand ourselves and where we come from. “As human beings, we have a very natural instinct to try to figure out where we come from and where we are going," Fernandez said. features@thedailycougar.com
UH researchers took arial photographs of Maya ruins in Guatamala using lasers sent from small planes. | Courtesy Juan Fernandez-Diaz
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SPORTS
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Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Analysis: Favorites to win and upset in AAC Tournament ANDRES CHIO
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR @ CHIOANDRES
After a long season of basketball, the end is on the horizon for nearly a dozen teams. The American Athletic Conference Tournament starts on Thursday, and the winner is guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament, while the rest will have to wait to see if they have won one of the at-large bids. For most of the teams, their seasons will end in Orlando barring a miraculous run to win the conference, but there are a handful of teams that could disrupt the top three and shake up the tournament.
The trio on top No. 8 Cincinnati, No. 11 Wichita State and No. 21 Houston enter the tournament as the first, second and third seeds and favorites to win it all. Cincinnati has been the most consistent of the trio and lost only two non-conference games this season against No. 3 Xavier and No. 23 Florida. In conference, the Bearcats lost on the road against Houston and then at home against Wichita State. The Bearcats didn't drop any games to any of the lower seeded teams thanks to their strong, consistent defense that has allowed the second least points per game in the nation. Wichita State has been in the NCAA tournament each of the last six years, but this year it faced a new challenge: joining the AAC after leaving the Missouri Valley Conference, where they won five titles over the last six years. The Shockers have mostly continued their winning ways but have dropped games to big name teams like Notre Dame, Oklahoma and SMU before injuries decimated their roster. The Cougars have had the widest variance of the top AAC teams. At its peak, Houston took down Wichita State and Cincinnati while both were ranked in the top 10, but the team also lost to Memphis on Feb. 22 to Drexel at the beginning of the season. While the Drexel game was in November, the foul problems have remained. Houston is still averaging more than 21 fouls a game. But between Cincinnati's strong run, Wichita adjusting to a new conference and Houston's big wins late in the season, other teams have been left under the radar.
Sonng Singh/The Cougar
Looking to make noise
Last gasp
After starting the first half of conference play 4-5, Tulsa has since gone 8-1 and emerged as a sleeper pick in the conference tournament. The fourth seed AAC team boasts a starting rotation with an average height of 6'5". Tulsa players use their size to play a physical style, but they don't give up too many reckless fouls, ranking No. 33 in fouls out of 351 teams with just 16 per game. When playing Cincinnati, Tulsa was just three points behind at the end of the first half, but a 24-4 run to start the second gave the Bearcats a lead the Golden Hurricane could not come back from. While Houston has had the widest variety in its performances in the top three, Temple has undoubtedly had the most variance in the conference. At its peak, Temple defeated SEC regular season champion Auburn, the ACC's third place Clemson and Wichita State. On the flip side, Temple also lost to Drexel, and multiple teams — including Houston, Cincinnati and UCF — beat them in blowouts. Temple is the biggest wildcard of the tournament and poses the biggest threat to Wichita State and Houston on that side of the bracket.
At one point this season, the AAC was looking at four or even five potential NCAA tournament teams. The SMU Mustangs were one such contender, but mid-season injuries sent them spiraling to the bottom half of the standings. The Mustangs lost their two leading contributors on offense but still manage to remain competitive. SMU kept it at a two possession game against Wichita two weeks ago, and their losses have been far from blowouts, usually losing by around 10 points. UCF is another team that had a good, but not great, start to the season before succumbing to injuries. The Knights lost two key players at the very beginning of the season, and a third tried to play through injuries during the fall before finally needing surgery in January. But they kept the Bearcats to just 49 points, their lowest total of the season, in a losing effort and nearly defeated the Cougars in February. Luckily for UCF, the conference tournament is in Orlando, the Knights' castle, where they have gone 11-4 this season. It's still too soon to count them out. If Houston's shooting goes cold and foul trouble flares up, any of these teams have what it takes to
bring down the Cougars. While a poor performance from Cincinnati, Wichita State or Houston shouldn't hurt their chances of making it to the NCAA tournament, they may end up being
one of the last seeds. A great performance could earn them a coveted top four NCAA seed. sports@thedailycougar.com
Junior guard Corey Davis Jr. scored 17 points in Houston's win against the UConn Huskies, securing the No. 3 seeding. | Kathryn Lenihan/The Cougar
10 | Wednesday, March 7, 2018
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Peter Scamardo, EDITOR
Amere Lattin, Mario Burke and Quivell Jordan will run as members of the men's 4x400m relay team, who go into the championship with the No. 4 fastest time in the country. | Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar
TRACK & FIELD
Three Cougars, relay team in the hunt for NCAA titles PETER SCAMARDO
SPORTS EDITOR @PLSCAMARDO2
For the second straight year, Texas A&M University will host to the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. On Friday, three individual Cougars and a relay team will make the two hour drive up to Gilliam Indoor Stadium. When compared to the likes of Florida and Texas Tech, Houston is one of the smaller teams competing, putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to scoring as a team. But the team will be representing five events as opposed to three last season, meaning there are enough points possible for the Cougars to make a run at the title. “I think we can score anywhere between 20 and 40 points,” said head coach Leroy Burrell. “We’re certainly relying on some individuals to do that. But I think Eli (Hall) can contend for a championship in both events, I think Kahmari (Montgomery) can as well, and I think the 4x4 can as well. When you’re in the top five, you’ve got a shot. What we need is a surprise point here or there ( from) Nathaniel (Mechler). I think if we do that then we’ll be in the hunt. If not then we won’t.”
Going for history Senior sprinter Elijah Hall is the first Cougar to qualify for two events at indoors since 1996. He
is coming into the championship with the No. 3 60m time (6.58s) and No. 5 200m time (20.51s), giving him a legitimate chance to contend for the double. If he were to win both, he would be only the fourth to accomplish the feat in NCAA history. It would also be the second straight year this happened at Gilliam Indoor Stadium — Christian Coleman of Tennessee did it last season. In both races Hall will be facing a loaded field of competitors, many of whom reached the finals in one or both races. Hall already faced several of the sprinters earlier in February at the Tyson Invitational. That meet served as preparation for the championships as he ran in and won both sprints, showing Hall could preserve his strength and still run nationleading times. “It’s not difficult at all,” Hall said when asked about running both races. “I trained for this. I’m just ready to go out there and compete. Every day we come out here and work hard so the goal is to go out there and compete.”
races that culminated with him winning the American Athletic Conference 400m title and setting the school record (45.53s) in the process. This is Montgomery’s second trip to the indoor championships after qualifying as a freshman at Mizzou. Montgomery said his goal for this year is to make it to the finals. Among the athletes Montgomery will be up against are 2017 bronze medalist Mylik Kerley of Texas A&M and World Championship qualifier Wil London of Baylor. But with the No. 5 time in the country, Montgomery is in a prime position to make the finals and be a threat for the title. “I have improved dramatically,” Montgomery said about his improvement from a year ago. “I feel stronger, faster, I have more confidence in myself. I feel with the training that I’ve had and the experiences that I’ve had as well, I feel like there’s nothing that’s really blocking me from going out to do what I’ve got to do.”
Righting the wrongs of the past
Sophomore Nathaniel Mechler made history in three ways when he won the AAC heptathlon title. Not only did he break the school and meet record by scoring 5703 points, but he also secured a ticket to the championships with the No. 11 best score in the country. Mechler is the first Cougar to
Junior sprinter Kahmari Montgomery had been climbing the charts in the program’s men’s 400m since he got onto the team. After transferring from the Missouri Tigers over the summer, Montgomery ran four consecutive
The dark horse
qualify in the heptathlon since 2011. Burrell said points from Mechler will be critical for the team’s run at the title. And while his path to the podium is more difficult than that of his teammates, Mechler’s prior knowledge of his competitors and the facility from an earlier meet at A&M could prove to his advantage. “I kind of know what I’m getting into,” Mechler said. “I know where the pits are going to be, I know how the competition’s going to flow. I think right now how it’s looking is if everyone does what they’re supposed to do we’re going to have a good shot of making a run.”
Closing out the show But the ever-elusive title may come down to the final race of the championship: the men’s 4x400m relay. After being irrelevant on the national stage in recent years, the relay team had a resurgence this season by breaking the school record twice. Their time of three minutes, 4.18s is the No. 4 best time in the country. Their path to a title in the 4x4 may be the most difficult. Not only will they have to pass the Texas A&M Aggies and Florida Gators, the gold and silver medalist teams from 2017, but they will also have to surpass the USC Trojans, who broke the NCAA record this season
with a time of three minutes, 1.98s. But the Cougars will have an advantage they have not had in earlier meets. At least two of their runners will have fresh legs when they carry the baton. Juniors Amere Lattin and Mario Burke missed out on a second trip to the championships as individual runners after placing outside the NCAA Top 16 in the men’s 60m hurdles and 60m dash, respectively. But both will be running as members of the 4x4 team and will be able to focus all of their energy on running their best race possible. Hall is expected to run in the relay as well, but freshmen Quivell Jordan and Jemiyah Franklin will be traveling as reserves. Regardless, Montgomery will be running the anchor leg for the Cougars, just as he has all season. “We’re coming in with our heads high, we’re coming in ready to grind,” Lattin said. “Everyone knows what the goal is, everyone knows how to run that track. Whether it’s 12 teams or 16 teams we’re going to come out as champions.” The NCAA Championships will start with the men’s heptathlon events at noon Friday inside Gilliam Indoor Stadium at Texas A&M University. The championships will be televised live on ESPN3 starting at 5 p.m. sports@thedailycougar.com
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OPINION
opinion@thedailycougar.com
Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
WOMEN
Corporate America can't solve wage gap because it won't buy it
C
ommemorating International Women's Day is tough when income inequality haunts women in all sectors of the workforce. Wage disparities persist 55 years after President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. As a minority JANET woman looking MIRANDA toward corpoOPINION COLUMNIST rate America, wage disparity incites concern and insecurity about my future. It is discouraging to think that my gender will place me at an automatic disadvantage, no matter the quality of my work. Today the gender pay gap has narrowed but continues to loom over women. In Texas in 2016, women were paid 79 percent of what men were paid for the same jobs. Every state falls victim to this discrepancy, but it is worst in Louisiana and Utah. In those states, women make only 70 percent of what their male counterparts earn. Wage discrimination is more than just companies deciding to pay women less or valuing the work of women less; rather, it is a side effect of cultural traditions that have trapped women in the domestic molds of caretaker, nurturer, mother and wife. The assertiveness that is necessary for women to thrive in corporate America is not encouraged in any of these stereotypes. The top rung of the business world is dominated by men because women have been taught to put their families first and themselves last, which disproportionately affects their paychecks compared to their male peers. Ultimately this affects women's salaries and widens the wage gap compared to men, who do not face the full force of society's pressure to take care of all domestic responsibilities. If a woman stands up for what she believes, it comes with the risk of being labeled overly emotional or controlling, while assertive men are rewarded with leadership positions. Men are 85 percent more likely to be promoted to executive and CEO positions. This is a pressing concern for a generation that celebrates the advances of women and claims to push them further. “Women historically and now are more likely (than men) to make choices where family
balance is a top priority,” said Jamie Belinne, the assistant dean for career services at the C.T. Bauer College of Business. “We can pretend like it doesn’t make a difference, but it does. Having had my own children as a working mother, a man is never going to have the experience of struggling with, ‘How do I handle breastfeeding while I’m going back to work?’ That is purely a woman’s issue, and it does impact your choices and your work.” Motherhood begins for most women during their careers. Gabby Hume, a customer relations specialist and UH alumna, said she would consider changing jobs if another company offered better childcare and family leave policies. Women can either spend their brief maternity leave with their newborn and then embrace their unreasonable corporate schedule once again, all the while being labeled bad mothers, or they can sacrifice career goals and receive the label "unambitious.". There is no winning, especially since the United States has among the shortest paid maternity leaves in the developed world. Men who take on non-traditional gender roles are criticized by society, while women who make choices based on family are celebrated. This double standard sabotages any chance of progress. Often, men who take time off or work less receive, on average, steeper cuts in their salaries than if women did the same. A study of lawyers' salaries found that if men switch to a part-time schedule for a year, it decreases
their salary more than a woman who also goes part-time. This puts pressure on women to continue to conform to their assigned cultural norms. One of the most prevalent misconceptions is that women are not competitive enough. This stigma is hard to shake and sabotages women’s confidence. “Negotiating skill is not about gender, per se," Belinne said. "I have found that women tend to be more open at the negotiating table to hearing other people's viewpoints, and therefore often a little better, but if the subject of the negotiation is themselves, they frequently don’t do it.” Difficulty negotiating can frustrate women who have the potential to move up the corporate ladder but are hindered by cultural labels, contributing to the lack of female diversity in positions like corporate boards or CEOs. Even though the wage gap is narrowing, it is still important
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to understand that women face unnecessary hindrances. Before we can put the wage gap behind us, we must collectively recognize
This is a good opportunity for those majoring in International Business. Email resume to eric@gekko-inc.com
Opinion columnist Janet Miranda is a marketing junior and can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.
worship DIRECTORY
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12 | Wednesday, March 7, 2018
OPINION 713-743-5304
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Anusheh Siddique, EDITOR
WOMEN
Ms. Marvel isn't sole Pakistani super-heroine
Y
ou're so beautiful for a Pakistani woman." This backhanded remark is quickly followed by a qualifier that compliments me at the expense of my race. This frequent and offensive compliment summarizes the true progress we've made while happily celebrating International Women's Day and Women's History Month, which tend to create narraANUSHEH tives that do not SIDDIQUE represent every OPINION EDITOR woman in this country. I won the genetic lottery, and I have grown to realize that many aspects of my life have been contingent on this roll of the dice of my genes. My skin tone, while only a few shades lighter than the norm, was praised and envied by women in my community. As a child, recommendations to not let me become darker in the sun and assurances that I would have it easier in life were bewildering sentiments. I realize now that I was just another strategy to demean and degrade girls with skin darker than mine. Pakistani women look at our media and an unfortunate truth is reflected. The far-reaching effects and generational implications of colonization have left us prone to finding beauty in the most Western features. Beauty is defined by colored eyes, pallid skin, light hair and small noses. Campaigns like #UnfairAndLovely and Dark is Divine seek to disrupt this backwards mentality of treating darker skin like something that needs to be fixed. Bleaching creams contain dangerous chemicals, such as hydroquinone, that can lead to skin cancer and other conditions. These warnings do little to disinterest their users when something as valuable as lighter skin is on the line. Colorism has permeated our culture so deeply that girls have convinced themselves thoroughly that they don't check the necessary qualifications for beauty. Representation is an issue in every minority community in America. This inherited colonizer culture pushes for straightened hair and bleached skin, for us to define ourselves by the things we are not. The real emphasis falls on the ease with which we assimilate; the ease with which we transform our ancestry to an accessory, adorned when convenient, discarded when a burden. The culture of arranged marriage puts so much emphasis on appear-
EDITOR IN CHIEF
ances that women feel pressured to make beauty their defining feature. This generation has strayed from such superficial behavior, but the culture still persists in pockets of society. Being a woman is difficult enough with the presence of the wage gap, rape culture and institutionalized sexism. Women don't need to be encouraged to hate ourselves any more, especially for something as uncontrollable as skin color. The women of Pakistan are strong enough to carry households on their backs. They are courageous enough to fight for their rights to education like Malala Yousafzai, the Noble Peace Prize winner who would rather take a bullet to the head than lose her chance at an education. The women of Pakistan are compassionate enough to start foundations for the betterment of all women like Ghulam Sughra Solangi, winner of the 2011 International Women of Courage Award, and push for literacy and equality with countless initiatives. The women of Pakistan are clever enough to rise to political power like Benazir Bhutto, the first female Prime Minister of a Muslim-majority nation who survived threats and ruthless coups against her family for being a woman. They are heroic enough to encourage young Pakistani women to strive for more than their stereotypes, like fictional Marvel superhero Ms. Marvel, a Muslim and Pakistani teenage hero who fights for equality and representation. These attributes and examples support the potential we have when we are not preoccupied by disparaging ourselves to appease our media and colonizer's culture. We will flourish when we realize our gender is our greatest asset and supporting each other is the only route to growth. There is an intelligence and patience and kindness and compassion that is inherited from one generation to the next and too precious to be lost to assimilation. From fighting the government for the right to vote in 1956 to fighting a village for the liberty to exercise that constitutional right in 2015, progress is slow but prevalent. So no, I am not beautiful for a Pakistani woman. I am beautiful because I am a Pakistani woman. Opinion Editor Anusheh Siddique is a finance freshman and can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com.
EDITORIAL BOARD Emily Burleson MANAGING EDITOR
Jasmine Davis
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Sonny Singh WEB EDITOR
Marialuisa Rincon CAMPUS EDITOR
Drew Jones
FEATURES EDITOR
Dana C. Jones
CHIEF COPY EDITOR
Morgan Horst
SPORTS EDITOR
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Thomas Dwyer OPINION EDITOR
Anusheh Siddique ASSISTANT EDITORS
Michael Slaten, Andres Chio, Bethel Biru, Richard Fletcher Jr., Erin Davis, Maya Dandashi, Brianna Myers, Oscar Aguilar
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