Day 3 - 154 -- Acknowledging Inequities

Sunshine with cooler winds made this a great late spring day. Meetings were productive and further built bridges. I took a walk at the end of the day and visited a good friend I hadn't seen for a while. Visiting friends can be so revitalizing. The one bigger event of the day was a gathering to celebrate the promotion of female colleagues who were made full professors. This is rarer than it should be. At our institution less than 25% of faculty at this rank are women. Even though 60% or more of students are female, only about 40% of faculty are female. It is still somewhat of an 'old boys club.' 

When we discuss inequities pertaining to females in the workforce as a whole or in academia specifically, many still assume we are the bra-burning, man hating, feminists of the 1960s. While those women laid the groundwork, there is still much that needs to occur to bring things to the point of equity. My students are often surprised to learn that it takes a bachelors degree for a woman to begin to make the same income as a man with a high school diploma and that the average pay for women is about 74 cents for every dollar a male earns. The same myths exist about women in the workforce that have been around for a century or more. It appears to be the type of struggle that puts you back a step or two for every one or two taken forward -- we just aren't getting as close to equal pay for equal work as we'd expected to be by this point in time. And, just a quick side note here about the equal work term -- much research has clearly shown that while women are under-represented in the higher paying academic jobs, they are over-represented in the part time contract positions and those in all pay levels fill proportionally more of the service committee work that makes the institution tick along than do male colleagues. This isn't a complaint about my place of employment specifically, but rather a concern being voiced that this seems to be the status quo in post-secondary education everywhere. There's a long way yet to go. 

A song that reflects the tone of the struggle to adjust all social inequities is shared here tonight. The lyrics bring in a positive feel rather than a negative rant, while the music and rhythm are somewhat soothing. Enjoy! 

I Hope -- Dixie Chicks