Women focus of affirmative action talks women’s needs action
i
By Jennifer K. Morita
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA’s Women’s Resource Center is sponsoring a dialogue on
affirmative action focusing on women’s issues today at noon in the
James West Alumni Center’s conference room.
"I’ve heard very little about the issue of gender," said Women’s
Resource Center Director Kathy Rose-Mockry. "There have been some
programs that have come up on campus related to affirmative action
but none have focused specifically on the issue of women. It’s
important to include women in the discussion."
Co-sponsored by various campus organizations, the discussion
will include four guest speakers moderated by Mockry.
Despite the equality women have achieved in their numbers at
university undergraduate levels, they are still underrepresented in
higher levels, critics say.
"Women are still limited in terms of their opportunity in the
graduate and professional schools. Affirmative action helps to keep
the doors open and the issues in front of everybody’s minds," said
Graduate Division Associate Dean Shirley Hune, one of today’s
scheduled speakers.
"Affirmative action is a social policy that has argued that
women and minorities have experienced discrimination and that
therefore proactive action needs to be taken," Hune said.
"Otherwise you don’t do anything at all."
Women are also still underrepresented among the university
faculty, said UCLA Vice Chancellor Raymund Paredes. Women make up
40 percent of the doctorate degree recipients and 20 percent of the
UCLA faculty, he added.
"Men need to fully understand what women’s concerns are in the
academic environment," Paredes said. "They’re the ones that control
faculty hiring and so they need to be sensitive to these issues so
they can be encouraged to address them."
The proposed Civil Rights Initiative that could possibly put an
end to affirmative action policies throughout California will also
be addressed in today’s discussion.
"Women have benefited from affirmative action policies," Hune
said. "If you eliminate them it may be that women’s opportunities
may once more fall back into an old pattern of restrictions and
limitations."
A recent poll revealed that Caucasian women in particular are in
support of the California Civil Rights Initiative, Hune said.
"The women’s perspective is important because many people are
unaware that women still have a ways to go in achieving equality,"
Hune said.
Consultants from UCLA’s Staff Affirmative Action Office Linda
Avila and Charlotte Dunklin, and executive director of the
California Women’s Law Center Abby Liebman are also scheduled to
speak at today’s dialogue.
"Is this the time to quit affirmative action policies?" Hune
asked. "People should come and listen and then come to their own
conclusions."