"Report to Administrative Officers of IUSB from the Women's Caucus", 1970-1971

"Report to Administrative Officers of IUSB from the Women's Caucus", 1970-1971

"Report to Administrative Officers of IUSB from the Women's Caucus" was submitted by Gloria Kaufman to the Administration of IUSB. It goes over discrimination face by women in IUSB department jobs and includes a table with more information.

Gloria Kaufman Papers, Indiana University South Bend Archives and Special Collections

1970-1971

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WomensStudies_Box1_Folder1_WS002

Report to Administrative Officers of IUSB from the Women's Caucus
Submitted by Gloria K. Shapiro for the Caucus
In an attempt to describe the status of professional women at IUSB, the Women's Caucus undertook to interview all department and division chairmen. We did not concern ourselves, for the moment, with non-teaching professional women. The report will be circulated among the faculty at large because of the general concern (or curiosity) the faculty has demonstrated. The Caucus is presenting the following proposals upon which we hope the administration will take positive action:
the conscious seeking out of qualified women candidates for current and future vacancies, -the establishment of a half-time option, -the elimination of full-time hours for part-time associate faculty, -the increase of salary for associate faculty. Major Proposal The figures on the data page at the end show that roughly fifteen percent of the full-time teaching faculty is composed of women, and the Women's Caucus finds that figure in accord with the numbers of women Ph.D. 's generally available.1 We find, on the other hand, that (as is the case with other culturally disadvantaged groups) the figures do not represent the true problem. If we look at t he enrollment figures for IUSB, we find that the
see Patricia Albjerg Graham, "Women in Academe," Science (Sept. 25, 1969), pp. 1284-1290.
student body is composed of almost one-half women. Our society discourages women from competing with men in the professions, and the presence of a fifteen percent female faculty to instruct an almost fifty percent female student body is a dramatic representation to our women students that their aspirations must not be equal to those of male students. The Women's Caucus definitely does not believe that the administration is guilty of sexual discrimination in hiring practices, but it does contend that representation of women on our faculty is insufficient for our student body and it urges the administration, as a matter of policy, to seek out qualified women candidates for current and future vacancies. In no instance would the Caucus suggest that IUSB hire an inferior candidate because she happens to be a woman. We do urge, on the other hand, that an effort be made to seek out the credentials of more women, especially since ·our interviewing has revealed that chairmen (with a few exceptions) are generally insensitive to the importance of having women faculty at an institution that educates women.
Other Proposals
1. The establishment of a Half-time Option.
The half-time position would be a regular faculty appointment. It need not involve teaching exactly half the regular load, but rather (as distinct from part-time as it currently operates) it would allow both men and women faculty who are currently full-time to teach one-third or two-thirds of their usual load and to receive one-third or two-thirds of their full-time salary. Such an option would be worked out with departmental chairmen. The option would be beneficial to men as well as to women. Either might want to finish a book or to do more intensive research than a full-time schedule would allow. Such an option is currently being considered at universities all over the country.2
The Women's Caucus further suggests that qualified people in the South Bend area whose services we might need on a part-time basis will not at present work for the part-time salary we offer, but they might be induced to fill our needs if we had a position commensurate in salary with their qualifications.
2. The elimination of full-time hours for part-time associate faculty.
Among the many abuses that we have discussed (though hardly "discovered" ) in relation to associate faculty is the case of the part-timer doing a full-time job. One woman, for example, teaches fifteen hours per week for t-2700 per semester. (Her example was mentioned to us to demonstrate that a woman was paid at a rate higher than most men.) There are other instances of associate faculty working more than part-time hours, and though the practice is not widespread, we feel it is a type of exploitation that should not exist at all.
J. Increase of salary for associate faculty. We do not feel that the arguments need be restated.
Unconsciously-held prejudicial attitudes of chairmen The Women's Caucus does not maintain, in listing our paints
2For additional discussion, see Graham, p.1288.
of contention below, that the prejudices discussed have in fact led to sexual discrimination in hiring. We feel, however, that they might improperly influence decisions at any time, and we also feel that they are so flagrantly contrary to professional attitudes that we cannot let them go uncontested. Most of the prejudices emerged from the questions "What criteria do you use in considering a man for an available position?" and "What criteria do you use in considering a woman for an available position't 11 The Caucus naturally expected that the criteria would be the same, that in considering someone for a professional position you look at his professional qualifications. :Many chairmen indicated that such was the case, but many also introduced a variety of factors unrelated to qualifications and related to sex and sometimes related to sex mythology.
1.
Some chairmen are leery of hiring single women. They might get married, and then, would they stay on the job·: (How long do men stay on their first job? Do most women in fact leave after marriage?)

2.
Some chairmen are leery of hiring married women. They might leave to follow their husbands, if the husband changes his teaching job. (Isn't it true that whenever a wife leaves to follow a husband, the husband has also left·? I.e., isn't the sex ratio of that departure one to one? It follows that men leave their jobs too.)


J. Some chairmen are leery of hiring women with children. Their attention is divided. (Are men with children insensitive to their families? We hope not.)
The above three criteria are in no way related to competence, and they assume a lack of responsibility and of professionalism
in the woman that studies belie. They assume that a woman is more
likely to be half-hearted or lacking in dedication than a man. That assumption is both prejudicial and unfair. A woman does not spend the time, the money, and put forth the extraordinary effort it takes to earn a Ph.D. merely to be a better companion to her husband. Women should be judged not by their marital status but by their professional competence. If they fail to perform satisfactorily, they should be treated in the same way that men who so fail are treated.
4.
A few chairmen who did not seek such a quality in men in­dicated that they look for the quality of emotional stability in women. The implication was not that men might be emotionally unstable while women must be emotionally well-balanced. The implication was that women are so generally lacking in emotional stability that we must be certain to hire only the exceptional woman who is well-balanced.

5.
Unconscious rationalization in relation to women associate faculty. Many chairmen used the relatively large presence of women on their part-time staff (roughly 36% as against 15% full-time) as evidence of their non-discriminatory attitudes toward women. The Women's Caucus would like to point out, however, that such a presence is consistent with the national trend of locating the largest numbers of women in the lowest ranks.3 The higher up one goes in professional rank, the lower the percentage of women occupying positions.


We find it striking moreover, that associate faculty (who were
3The latest documentation of that trend we know of is in the MLA Newsletter, Vol. J, No. l (Feb. 1971), pp.1-4.
formerly regarded as distinct in position and in participation in departments from full-time faculty) were suddenly alluded to as if their participation in departments was fully equal to that of full-time staff. Such an attitude clearly resulted from the chairman's desire to demonstrate respect for women as colleagues, but the attitude nonetheless represents a rationalization of reality.
The Women's Caucus is not prepared as yet to offer suggestions on the extremely complicated problems of associate faculty. We do wish to point out that where distinctions exist between associate and full-time faculty, it does not serve truth to blur or to ignore such distinctions.
DATA

Fine Arts has appointed a woman to a full-time position for Fall 1971.
ENROLLMENT FIGUIURES for Spring 1970-71 Total Men: 2491 Total Women : 2381
Interviews were conducted by Helen Archibald, Grace Husted, Felicity Nussbaum, Carol Taylor, Sandra Winicur.