The Association for Women Faculty
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Historical Context: Women In AcademiaWomen first began to enter colleges and universities as both students and faculty around one hundred and fifty years ago. Not surprisingly, women have been struggling for equality within academia since at least the middle of the nineteenth century. Despite women's continued entrance into teaching and research positions within the academy, many women working in higher education have experienced overt and subtle discrimination through biased hiring and advancement practices, salary inequities, course and committee overload, tenure denial, sexual harassment, lack of child care, hitting the glass ceiling, and tokenism. They have also often found themselves shut out of pre-established "old boys' networks" which provide support for male academics, and have been negatively impacted by their unfamiliarity with academic politics. During certain periods of history, these struggles have become more intense as women have organized collectively to challenge the multiple forms of discrimination they have experienced in higher education. This type of united political action has proven to be a most effective strategy for providing women with a forum to demand equity and fair treatment. Women who have organized collectively within academia have had a history of effectively challenging blatant discrimination and inequalities at numerous universities. These organizations provide support networks for women, enabling women to become aware of the similar discrimination issues faced by other women in higher education and inspiring collective bargaining (which is much less risky for women than individual protest). To this day, women in academia earn on average anywhere from $1,000 to $7,000 dollars less than similarly situated male academics.1 This gap between female and male salaries increases as academics move up the professional ladder, with instructors facing a $1,000 difference; lecturers, assistant and associate professors experiencing a $3,000 to $4,000 difference, and at the top of the ladder, a $7,000 difference per year on average for full professors.2 These differences between female and male salaries cannot be completely explained by differences in background, years of experience, and other factors unrelated to sex discrimination.3 Pay inequities between female and male faculty is an issue that despite protest has not been satisfactorily addressed or resolved. Statistically speaking, women in the United States currently hold 34.6% of all university teaching positions; this figure has not changed since 1990.4 This is an increase from the 1980's, though, when women held 27.5% of all faculty positions.5 Although it is often assumed that women have been steadily increasing in numbers in higher education since they first entered academia, this is not supported statistically. Indeed, women showed the highest representation in academia in 1879-80, when women made up 36.6% of university faculty.6 Between 1940-1962, the number of women in higher education actually decreased from 27.7% to 22%, rising again by just over 5% between the 1960's and the 1980's.7 Today, women in academia are approaching, finally, the level of representation in academia that was first reached in 1879-80. This trend is reflective of the enormous efforts made by women in higher education, such as the women involved with AWF, to end discriminatory practices. Endnotes: 1 Chronicle of Higher Education (April 12th, 1995). 2 ibid. 3 Marcia Bellas, "Comparable Worth In Academia: The Effects on Faculty Salaries of the Sex Composition and Labor-Market Conditions of the Academic Disciplines", pg. 807. 4 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Statistical Yearbook, 1994. 5 Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 10th 1986). 6 Angela Simone, Academic Women Working Towards Equality (South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey Publishers, Inc., 1987) pg. 5. 7 ibid., pg. 5. |
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