Sexism and Spice
This week we shadowed Eversheds Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions team. We got to read a massive legal due diligence report and learned a lot about this fascinating process. I learned that when considering a merger or acquisition lawyers need to conduct a thorough investigation of any possible risks that might affect the sales price. A low or medium risk can be fixed through contracting, a high risk is not as easily resolvable and can lead to massive fines which will then affect the sales price. An example of a high risk is a lack of a license. While you can easily remedy the problem by obtaining a license, you cannot retroactively apply it, and therefore face significant risk for the years you were operating without a license. Once all the risks have been identified the M&A team begins negotiations which may include adjusting prices or considering a liability shift. This is an especially incredible opportunity because this M&A system is the same throughout the world and will hopefully be a useful skill to have for next summer. I am so excited to have this opportunity to learn about international corporate law!
Ariana and I also met with Odeta, one of Algis’ colleagues who had a new project she needed some help with. The aim of the project is to make 5-7 videos about victims of non-violent crimes. She told us Lithuania has focused on educating victims about violent crimes and domestic violence, but there has not been the same level of attention given to educating people about what to do when they are the victim of a non-violent crime. We are going to look at crimes like stalking, and harassment. I’m particularly looking forward to working on this project because Odeta wants us to focus on the experiences of racial minorities and members of the LGBT+ community. From my initial research I’ve found that Lithuania is a very homogeneous society, I really didn’t need research to confirm this, as I haven’t seen more than a handful of people of color in this country, and the ones I have seen are tourists. It seems that racial issues have increased because of the refugee crisis, I’m hoping we will get to interview a person of color and learn about their experience living in this very white city.
In addition to the experiences of people of color and LGBT+ individuals, Odeta is considering making a video about sexual harassment. She told us that since the #MeToo movement there has been an increase in complaints by men saying they don’t know what’s appropriate anymore. I am so eager to work on this project. While my initial inclination is to tell men that if they are unsure if an action is appropriate to just not do it, I think we will take a more nuanced approach. Since we’ve been here Ariana in particular has received a lot of unwanted attention from random men on the street or the bus. It varies from men telling her she’s beautiful to shouting ‘arigato!’ at her as we walk by. After the most recent incident I turned to Ariana and said that I had been wondering if reversing the roles, having women call out to men about their looks, would show men that those advances make women feel unsafe, but that I doubted it would. I think that men believe they are giving a kind compliment and brightening her day but really it just reminds us that we are young women in an unsafe situation which could turn really bad in a moment. I hope we can make a video that can explain that there is a different between compliments and cat calls.
We were able to see what we considered to be an interpretive method of educating people on gender dynamics at Culture Night this past weekend. We approached a huge crowd and after struggling to find a place where we could see, we watched an interpretive dance/soccer game. It was weird, there was a team of women and a team of men who danced and did tricks with a real and imaginary soccer ball. A live band accompanied the scene with screechy, dystopian music. The performance was violent, emotional, and truly odd.
We also saw a similarly strange orchestral performance. When we arrived, they were playing what sounded like a Russian March, then they brought up a woman who sang what sounded like gospel music. The peak was the performance of the Inspector Gadget theme which included a remote-control airplane which looped above our heads. Ariana and I decided to leave after that number because we felt a tort was about to happen and we had not assumed the risk of being knocked out by an airplane by attending this concert.
The final strange cultural experience we had has been one of ongoing concern, Lithuania doesn’t have hot sauce. The entire country is devoid of any siracha or tabasco. We asked our co-workers why we couldn’t find any spicy food or even condiments in restaurants and stores and they told us flat out that Lithuanians don’t like spicy food. This was deeply concerning as both Ariana and I love spicy food and desperately miss it. That being said the best thing we ate this week is something we had actually eaten before. There is a shawarma restaurant right by our apartment that we went to one of our first weeks. While I didn’t appreciate its hot sauce as much then I openly worship it now!
