ACADEMIA A BASTION OF SEXISM?

While formal gender bias may be less of a problem academia today, female Faculty members and graduate students say subtle barriers and stereotypes still persist.

"I am aware that many of my male colleagues in the profession appear to pay lip service to feminism while secretly harboring feelings of contempt for the feminist enterprise," says Naomi Schor, professor of romance languages and literatures and a member of the Faculty's Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

Yet often, say some women, the bias is more blatant. One teaching fellow in the humanities, who asked to remain anonymous, recalls a discussion with a male teaching fellow of a science Core class that showed he was prejudiced against women.

"He told me point blank the he did not think women in the sciences were intellectually equal to men," she says. "He refrained from making this a blanket statement because he realized that he would be insulting my intelligence."

Yet some women say they do not feel hindered by sexism.

"I do not think that it has been more difficult for me to advance in academic administration because I am a woman," says Karen E. Avery '87, dean of co-education. "In fact, I think there are more women in educational administration and in student services overall."

Still, many say there are lingering vestiges of sexism in academia, as evidenced by everything from snide comments, to the low percentage of tenured female Faculty.

An Old Boys' Club

Some female graduate students and Faculty members report experiencing subtle gender bias from their male colleagues.

"I've never experienced sexism in the sense of feeling specifically disadvantaged," says Julia Torrie, a teaching fellow for History 10b. "However, there are certainly a couple of Faculty members in my department who are notorious for making insinuating remarks to female graduate students."

According to several graduate students and professors, jokes and quips designed to "test" the female Faculty member are not uncommon.

"I get jokes designed to see whether or not I am one of those `sensitive' feminists," says Kirsten D. Sword, a teaching fellow for women's studies 10a.

Others say students often unintentionally reveal gender bias.

"It is frustrating to be standing next to a male TF and have a student turn and ask him a question on a topic you know as well or better." says one humanities teaching fellow. "The other side of the female TF onus is that there are definitely students who expect that she will be a pushover."

Some women in academia say their field is taken less seriously if it is seen as a "woman's field."

"French has been particularly receptive to feminism, as the feminization of the French section at Harvard bears witness," Schor says. "However, this feminization has made us the butt of ridicule and target for cheap shots by many of our male colleagues in the profession."

And some say being seen as a feminist may add to sexism as well.

"If women are often at a disadvantage, feminists are even more so; feminist perspectives might make you suspect," says Ann Pellegrini '86, an assistant professor of English who taught English 193e: "The Subject of Feminist Theory" this term.

"[Feminists are] suspected of having a perspective, a biased worldview as against a scholarly standard of objectivity," she adds.

Another problem facing female Faculty is that many people in academia have a preconceived notion of what a Harvard professor should be like.

"Particularly younger women faculty, sometimes find themselves up against what I consider to be outdated expectations of what a `Harvard professor' is supposed to look like," says Susan G. Pedersen, professor of history and chair of the Committee of the Status of Women.

"Of course those expectations are not groundless, they are built upon a long history of the exclusion of women in the higher reaches of academia," she says.

Pigeon-Holed

In addition to biased statements and preconceptions, advancing in an academia may be tangibly more difficult for women.

Some believe that the challenge women face may be more prevalent in certain fields.

"I'm grateful not to be a scientist," Torrie says. "The sense I get from friends is that female faculty are very rare, and that male faculty get away with discrimination that would be considered unacceptable elsewhere."

But Sword says that in her field, being a woman may be an advantage.

Yet she notes that this may be due to another problem, the tendency to "intellectually segregate this work from the supposed real core of each discipline."

"Jobs in these sub-specialties are more or less reserved for candidates of the appropriate identity," she says. "Women and minority candidates get pigeon-holed as being primarily qualified for these positions."

Bemoaning Tenure

The University's tenure process has been the subject of debate for several years, particularly in recent months. Many contend that the entire system needs an overhaul.

Women faculty represent only 11 percent of the entire faculty body. Some suggest that the process of granting tenure may hinder women faculty from advancing.

According to Pedersen, women may be denied tenure more readily than men because their research may be controversial or interdisciplinary.

Women, who are often "disproportionately represented in interdisciplinary or innovative work, may be disproportionately disadvantaged in the hiring process," Pedersen says.

While female faculty suggest different reasons for the low number of tenured women, most agree that the percentage needs to increase.

And some, like Schor, are optimistic.

"There is no single reason why more women are not tenured: after all, women have only been recognized as thinking, rational subjects for about 150 years," Schor says. "Change comes slowly, but it does come."

Schor says the reason for the slow change may be the expectation placed on women to combine parenting with a career.

"What seems to me the major unresolved problem is making it possible for women to combine childbearing and parenting with the exigencies of a high-powered career," she says.

Pedersen suggests that change must occur at a departmental level.

"Part of what needs to be done is for individual faculty members to take this issue seriously and do the work of surveying the field for top women," she says.

Female faculty also say that being "different" from those doing the hiring may hinder their chances.

"Hiring committees tend to hire what and whom they recognize as being `like' themselves," Pellegrini says. "This tends then to [affirm the status quo] both in terms of disciplinary approaches and research interests and maybe even in the sorts of people that get hired."

Evidence of change

There are numerous resources available to women who wish to talk or get advice.

"The University does have a strong policy against sexual harassment and there are formal and informal procedures for women to go through to make a complaint," Avery says.

In addition to such support services, the Faculty's Standing Committee on the Status of Women was formed in 1971, "to create a climate in which prejudice against women, or apathy towards their presence and future at Harvard, will be hard to maintain," Pedersen says.

The committee takes issues of concern to Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles.

"It seeks to serve as a sounding board for concerns of women Faculty in particular," Pedersen says.

The committee hosts as series of luncheons to discuss issues of concern to female Faculty throughout the year.

Still, many female professors say they do not think these support services are comprehensive enough.

"The main problem with being a woman faculty member at Harvard is that there simply aren't enough of us," Pedersen says. "As a result, women on average have heavier administrative responsibilities within FAS."

Others also say more female Faculty members are necessary as role models for graduate students pursuing careers in academia.

"The best way to improve the situation would be to have more female Faculty, as I find that I can relate to them better," Torrie says.