A student’s gender discrimination complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario was rejected after he argued he was “too shy” to be the only man in a women’s studies class and should not have lost participation marks.
Wongene Daniel Kim, a third-year life sciences student at the University of Toronto took a women and gender studies class called Studies in Post-Colonialism.
Kim said he was “too uncomfortable and shy to enter the classroom because he was the only man,” according to the tribunal’s decision.
It states Kim said his discomfort was based on “individual preference” due to his own shyness.
“The applicant stated that he did not want to interact with the other students because they are women, and thought that they would not be willing to interact with him because of his gender,” the decision stated.
But Kim said the issue was not based on gender or having a problem with the women in his class.
“I do not have any problem being around women,” he said via email. “It was not that I did not want to interact with the other students because they are women but the lecture had a [more] prominent discussion about the feminism movement, than the course description described it as, which left me rather disappointed.”
Kim also said he is “not shy around women.”
The tribunal’s decision stated that Kim did not attend any of his classes.
Kim said he spoke to his professor on two occasions asking that the 15 per cent participation grade be redistributed to his other marks, but was met with a refusal.
“I asked if there were ‘any alternative ways’ to mark the attendance/participation marks such as redistributing the marks to my 3 assignments,” he said.
Although Kim filed his complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, no hearing was granted. It was dismissed as there was “no reasonable prospect that the application or part of the application [would] succeed,” the decision stated.
Kim said he took the course out of convenience.
“I found a course that fit my timetable, didn’t need an extra day to commute to the campus and wanted to explore what type of courses were taught in the university,” he said.
Kim did not receive credit for the course.
The University of Toronto declined to comment on the issue.
