Equal Rites, Unequal Outcomes: Women in American Research Universities (Innovations in Science Education and Technology Book 15)

This book is based on a conference held at Harvard University in November 1998. It is sponsored by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, and the Albert Gordon Foundation. The intent of the conference is to focus on women faculty in research universities, seeking to identify and disseminate innovative approaches to increasing faculty positions and opportunities for women there. Faculty positions in these institutions are essential to establishing productive scholarly careers, especially so in the natural sciences, but also in the social sciences and humanities. The contributors are considered quite stellar and are some of the most important leaders in their individual fields of study. Thirteen years ago, in June 1988, the Radcliffe Classof1953 celebrated its 35th Reunion. Amidst the festivities, we who participated repeatedly asked ourselves the same two questions: Is Harvard as sexist as it was when we were undergraduates? If not, what is the status ofwomen at Harvard today? To find the answers we formed an ad hoc committee and charged the members to report back to the class in five years. The committee interviewed selected senior and junior Harvard faculty, Harvard and Radcliffe administrators, students, and alumni/ae. We identified and studied Harvard and Radcliffe reports on their institu­ tions and on their student organizations. We contributed to and participated in a 1990 Radcliffe Focus Group, "ASurveyofAlumnae and Undergraduate Perceptions. " We found that the University was not as sexist in 1988 as it had been in 1953. Yet the status ofwomen, though improved, remained quite unequal to thatofmen. (Radcliffe College was organizationally separate from Harvard University until 1977, when a "non-merger merger" was implemented. However, Radcliffe had no fac­ ulty of its own and employed Harvard faculty to teach its students, in strictly separate classes until World War II. The merger effort was com­ pleted in 1999 with the complete integration ofthe two institutions and the formation ofthe Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, a "tub on its own bottom" like other Harvard graduate and professional schools. ) In 1993 the Class of'53 voted unanimously to form the Commit­ tee for the EqualityofWomen at Harvard (CEWH). Thirteen years ago, in June 1988, the Radcliffe Classof1953 celebrated its 35th Reunion. Amidst the festivities, we who participated repeatedly asked ourselves the same two questions: Is Harvard as sexist as it was when we were undergraduates? If not, what is the status ofwomen at Harvard today? To find the answers we formed an ad hoc committee and charged the members to report back to the class in five years. The committee interviewed selected senior and junior Harvard faculty, Harvard and Radcliffe administrators, students, and alumni/ae. We identified and studied Harvard and Radcliffe reports on their instituƯ tions and on their student organizations. We contributed to and participated in a 1990 Radcliffe Focus Group, "ASurveyofAlumnae and Undergraduate Perceptions." We found that the University was not as sexist in 1988 as it had been in 1953. Yet the status ofwomen, though improved, remained quite unequal to thatofmen. (Radcliffe College was organizationally separate from Harvard University until 1977, when a "non-merger merger" was implemented. However, Radcliffe had no facƯ ulty of its own and employed Harvard faculty to teach its students, in strictly separate classes until World War II. The merger effort was comƯ pleted in 1999 with the complete integration ofthe two institutions and the formation ofthe Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, a "tub on its own bottom" like other Harvard graduate and professional schools.) In 1993 the Class of'53 voted unanimously to form the CommitƯ tee for the EqualityofWomen at Harvard (CEWH) Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-15 Front Matter....Pages 17-17 Dreaming and Scheming....Pages 19-30 The Current Status of Women in Research Universities....Pages 31-51 A National Profile of Academic Women in Research Universities....Pages 53-88 Front Matter....Pages 89-89 Gender, Faculty, and Doctoral Education in Science and Engineering....Pages 91-109 You’ve Come a Long Way....Pages 111-143 The Presence and Participation of Women in Academic Science and Engineering: 1973–1995....Pages 145-174 Explaining Sex Differences in Publication Productivity among Postsecondary Faculty....Pages 175-208 Front Matter....Pages 209-209 Women in the Academy....Pages 211-225 Organizational Change to Support Success of Women....Pages 227-244 Front Matter....Pages 245-245 Primatology, Archaeology, and Human Origins....Pages 247-256 Transforming Knowledges....Pages 257-278 Front Matter....Pages 279-279 Women’s Uneven Progress in Academia....Pages 281-309 Work/Family/Life Issues and Programs in Higher Education—What’s New....Pages 311-317 Old Issues, New Solutions: Family and Work....Pages 318-322 Front Matter....Pages 323-323 Conclusions....Pages 325-336 Back Matter....Pages 337-383 The Committee organized a conference in November 1998 at Harvard and Radcliffe to examine the current state of the female professoriate in research institutions from several perspectives, to identify factors that still seem to hinder women's progress in those universities, and to highlight policies and practices that contribute to greater equality. The contributors are from a wide range of fields; the 14 papers are updated or have been added to the anthology after the conference. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Fortunate woman that I am, I have been invited to dream about a research university of the future.