This is the curse. Write.

(This one’s for the ladies)

Since AJR’s 2024 Nobel featured in the last post, today it’s Claudia Goldin’s turn. She won the Economics prize in 2023 for her pioneering work on women in the economy. At her acceptance ceremony, she had this to say:

“Women are now at the center of the world’s economies.”
Claudia Goldin, 2023 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics acceptance speech

She reminds us however that still, much of the work of women is ‘hidden’. Going back once again to introductory economics, one may have heard the ‘joke’ told where GDP goes down when a man marries his housekeeper. Tasteless, but spot-on in terms of the imbalance of credit in the world’s measurement of women’s contributions. There has been some effort at BEA to create ‘satellite accounts’ to incorporate this value, but I am not sure I’d count on this website staying up too much longer and certainly anticipate it won’t be updated.

Purging government websites for mentions of gender, race, and other human characteristics that have traditionally been excluded from proper consideration is an affront to us all, a bit of accounting trickery and lies that perpetuate a misunderstanding of value and well-being (heck, that’s why there’s a whole UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG5) devoted to women). Women and URM in economics know how this exclusion works from within as well as externally. The ‘leaky pipeline’ where women fall out of the field is now pretty well documented, e.g. here with discussion of causes from outright hostility to disparities in impacts of everything from teaching evaluations to parental leaves. Thus today’s poem is meant to remind us ALL to use our voices, and the value and importance of that diversity. Written in 1844, it rings true again today.

Do your best to bear the curse. Write!

A Curse For A Nation
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1844

I heard an angel speak last night, 
And he said 'Write! 
Write a Nation's curse for me, 
And send it over the Western Sea.' 

I faltered, taking up the word: 
'Not so, my lord! 
If curses must be, choose another 
To send thy curse against my brother. 

'For I am bound by gratitude, 
By love and blood, 
To brothers of mine across the sea, 
Who stretch out kindly hands to me.' 

'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write 
My curse to-night. 
From summits of love a curse is driven, 
As lightning is from the tops of heaven.' 

'Not so,' I answered. 'Evermore 
My heart is sore 
For my own land's sins: for little feet 
Of children bleeding along the street: 

'For parked-up honors that gainsay 
The right of way: 
For almsgiving through a door that is 
Not open enough for two friends to kiss: 

'For love of freedom which abates 
Beyond the Straits: 
For patriot virtue starved to vice on 
Self-praise, self-interest, and suspicion: 

'For an oligarchic parliament, 
And bribes well-meant. 
What curse to another land assign, 
When heavy-souled for the sins of mine?' 

'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write 
My curse to-night. 
Because thou hast strength to see and hate 
A foul thing done within thy gate.' 

'Not so,' I answered once again. 
'To curse, choose men. 
For I, a woman, have only known 
How the heart melts and the tears run down.' 

'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write 
My curse to-night. 
Some women weep and curse, I say 
(And no one marvels), night and day. 

'And thou shalt take their part tonight, 
Weep and write. 
A curse from the depths of womanhood 
Is very salt, and bitter, and good.' 

So thus I wrote, and mourned indeed, 
What all may read 
And thus, as was enjoined on me, 
I send it over the Western Sea. 

The Curse

Because ye have broken your own chain 
With the strain 
Of brave men climbing a Nation's height, 
Yet thence bear down with brand and thong 
On souls of others, -- for this wrong 
This is the curse. Write. 

Because yourselves are standing straight 
In the state 
Of Freedom's foremost acolyte, 
Yet keep calm footing all the time 
On writhing bond-slaves, -- for this crime 
This is the curse. Write. 

Because ye prosper in God's name, 
With a claim 
To honor in the old world's sight, 
Yet do the fiend's work perfectly 
In strangling martyrs, -- for this lie 
This is the curse. Write. 

Ye shall watch while kings conspire 
Round the people's smouldering fire, 
And, warm for your part, 
Shall never dare -- O shame! 
To utter the thought into flame 
Which burns at your heart. 
This is the curse. Write. 

Ye shall watch while nations strive 
With the bloodhounds, die or survive, 
Drop faint from their jaws, 
Or throttle them backward to death; 
And only under your breath 
Shall favor the cause. 
This is the curse. Write. 

Ye shall watch while strong men draw 
The nets of feudal law 
To strangle the weak; 
And, counting the sin for a sin, 
Your soul shall be sadder within 
Than the word ye shall speak. 
This is the curse. Write. 

When good men are praying erect 
That Christ may avenge His elect 
And deliver the earth, 
The prayer in your ears, said low, 
Shall sound like the tramp of a foe 
That's driving you forth. 
This is the curse. Write. 

When wise men give you their praise, 
They shall praise in the heat of the phrase, 
As if carried too far. 
When ye boast your own charters kept true, 
Ye shall blush; for the thing which ye do 
Derides what ye are. 
This is the curse. Write. 

When fools cast taunts at your gate, 
Your scorn ye shall somewhat abate 
As ye look o'er the wall; 
For your conscience, tradition, and name 
Explode with a deadlier blame 
Than the worst of them all. 
This is the curse. Write. 

Go, wherever ill deeds shall be done, 
Go, plant your flag in the sun 
Beside the ill-doers! 
And recoil from clenching the curse 
Of God's witnessing Universe 
With a curse of yours. 
This is the curse. Write.