Though a committee was created two years ago to address gender
imbalances in the UCLA faculty, there are still proportionally
fewer women in tenured positions than there were a decade ago
““ despite the fact that close to half of all doctorate
degrees granted to U.S. citizens in 2002 were given to females.
“Twenty years ago, more men were getting Ph.D.s than women
““ so at that time the faculty reflected the pool of people
getting Ph.D.s,” said Judith Siegel, chairwoman of the Gender
Equity Climate Committee.
“Now we no longer have that situation, but in the UC
system the hiring patterns haven’t really changed,” she
said.
To address these issues and figures, UCLA developed the Gender
Equity Committee two years ago and created a new vice chancellor
position. Plans have also been made to hold a gender equity summit
next year to address gender issues, with a focus on recruiting and
hiring women faculty.
“The fact that this campus has created this office of
faculty diversity shows an awareness of this issue. The campus has
given lots of attention to these topics of gender equity,”
said Carol Petersen, director of Academic Affirmative Action.
Some faculty members believe more should be done to achieve
gender equality more quickly.
“I don’t think UCLA has worked hard enough to
achieve gender equity. The most significant positive thing they
have done is to create a new vice chancellor position for faculty
diversity,” Siegel said.
A cause for the continued disparity between male and female
tenured faculty members is the traditional notion of the nuclear
family, in which the father goes out to work while the mother stays
at home to take care of the children, Petersen said.
“Changing the pattern of a society, changing the way a
university does its work, takes a lot of attention, energy,
resource and time. I see it as a social responsibility, not just as
an academic responsibility,” Petersen said.
Other issues that often come up deal with childcare and the
availability of resources for families.
“Women are more often responsible for other family
members. This is a reality we simply have to face,” Siegel
said.
There has also been a pattern of reluctance for women to enter
some fields. Traditionally there have been more women faculty in
the humanities and social sciences than in health, physical science
and engineering.
Within the science fields at UCLA, however, female professors do
not believe there is a great difference between male and female
tenured faculty.
“While our department does have more males than females,
for a chemistry department it is considered to be quite successful
in the number of females it does have,” said Catherine
Clarke, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
“The women chemists in our department are very cohesive
and very supportive of one another. I feel I was particularly
well-mentored by my female colleagues and I feel lucky in that
respect,” she added.
In other departments there is less observable evidence for
gender inequalities.
“I don’t see any disparities between males and
females in my department. There is no issue that has come up with
regard to gender equity that I’m aware of,” said
linguistics Professor Nina Hyams.
However, even in a field like the humanities, where many women
work, they are still underrepresented overall, Petersen said.
Oftentimes women also feel they do not have access to the same
information that their male colleagues do because the mentoring
provided is informal.
Some feel less well-informed about the expectations for
promotion than their male colleagues, Siegel said.
Also, men are advancing more quickly to full professorship than
women, according to the Gender Equity Report.
“The idea (that male faculty members get tenure faster)
might be true because it’s my impression that men are much
more willing to press the system and ask for tenure. Women are less
likely to push for rapid advance,” said Sherie Morrison, a
professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and
molecular genetics.
Promotions to tenure positions are based upon merit and
achievement. Review committees judge potential tenure candidates in
teaching, research and creative work, professional competence and
activity, and service.
These reports are then reviewed by the Council on Academic
Personnel, and action to promote a faculty member is taken by the
chancellor.
This trend of having fewer female tenured faculty than male can
be observed in all the UCs. However, UCLA still has the second
lowest percentage of female ladder rank faculty from among the UC
campuses.
Over a period of 10 years, the percentage of women in ladder
rank faculty positions increased by only 4 percent.
Such data shows that achieving full gender equality will be a
very gradual process.
“I’m a realist. When I think about social change as
it is reflected in the academy or in society, I find it more
helpful to focus not on when we might see full equity, but what we
might do to affect change now,” Petersen said.