In article <Pine.3.89.9408291032.A9632-0100000 at elwha.evergreen.edu>,
ottj at ELWHA.EVERGREEN.EDU (Janet Ott) writes:
>... would love to continue a *conversation* about ways to deal
>with these issues on campus, if (and only if) we can not go ballistic and
>personal about them. I am very interested in the issues of feminism and
>gender and how science gets done. On my campus (a very alternative,
>very
>PC campus), men are more often shut down than condoned and condemned
>more
>quickly than supported. So this is not our issue. But we do find subtle
>sorts of harrassment and gender related behavior.
Thanks Janet. I too, feel that gender discrimination is typically more
subtle-- yet still serious and worthy of discussion, and
I'd like to see a more producttive dicsussion of how we can effectively
address the issue.
In my case, I discovered that female faculty were more likely to be
criticized by students, with reports given to department chairs and deans
more often than for similar issues with male instructors. Issues raised
were trivial-- for example, instructor was 5 minutes late, instructor
wrote overheads in handwriting that was too small, instructor was "rude,"
etc. I specifically asked my male counterparts if they were being
similarly complained about, and they all agreed that the answer was a
definite "no." I know for a fact that we have excellent and talented
female faculty at our institution-- and there is no qualitative difference
between male and female professors-- so I feel a difference in the level
of complaints is a result of a deeply engrained social bias against
females.
One of my biggest problems with the situation was the fact that our dept.
chair handled the complaints by telling student, "I'll talk to your
instructor about this." We were always given memos expressing the
"concerns" raised by our students. I felt that this 1) provided students
with positive feedback for their biased views, and 2) steadily eroded the
self-esteem of female faculty and caused them to question their teaching
techniques and behaviors.
Solution?
I drafted a form that department chair would hand to students with
complaints. On form student states complaint in writing and is told to GO
TO INSTRUCTOR FIRST with their complaint. Instructor has a place on form
to respond. If student is not satisfied--- then, they can proceed to bring
to attention of chair. By using this procedure, student is encouraged to
think about the nature of their complaint-- is it really serious? And they
have no immediate positive feedback for "tattling" behavior.
I feel this helps to discourage bias. Our male faculty are very supportive
of the approach-- since it is not an attack on them, but an encouragement
of objectivity. None of our male faculty want to be biased!! Sometimes it
is unconscious-- and I feel we need to stay away from a blaming mentality,
but still, the fact that a bias exists must be addressed, or we are in
danger of losing the talents and contributions of 1/2 of our population!
Please post responses-- what are others' expreiences, and what do you
think we can do about the problem that exists?
