Renewing her commitment to improve the status of women on campus, President Nan Keohane urged the community to speak openly about women's issues and outlined specific strategies at a speech Thursday to the Women's Administrative Network.
"I have uncovered a deep reservoir of concern about women's issues," Keohane said, citing conversations she has had with women at every level of the University.
"The general feeling now is that OWe've solved this problem,' and people's eyes glaze over when you start talking about it," she said.
Keohane refuted that claim, pointing out that although 70 percent of Duke employees are women, a very small proportion occupy positions at higher levels.
In addition, she noted that some women have complained about discrimination in the workplace and that many have told her they feel isolated.
"[Women] do not have any sense of networking with others. There is a hunger for being brought into the picture, being part of a network, having a sense of what's really going on around this place," Keohane said. "In my conversations, it was recommended that we
Keohane said that despite extensive study by two groups in the early 1990s on women's status at Duke, recommendations were never implemented. "There are a number of reasons for this," she said, "but I take responsibility for not having given the issue higher priority in the intervening years. In the interim, some isolated steps have been taken in the directions recommended by the committees, but there has been little sustained attention to issues of gender on campus."
To better the climate, the president outlined specific initiatives, some of which are already being planned. For example, Vice President for Institutional Equity Sally Dickson convened a group of 24 administrators to compile notes on the topic, and the University will hold a special celebration commemorating the Woman's College in November. She said other suggestions are to gather more information and possibly have Duke host a national conference on women in academia.
Keohane refuted the claim that a focus on women's issues might detract from other important topics like race and sexual orientation.
"I find this assumption puzzling. Some--though not all--of the problems are rooted in the same causes of ignorance and stereotyping," she said. "Also, through this initiative, and our continuing initiatives to tackle problems of racism on campus, we may hope to see a general Oraising of consciousness' about discrimination at Duke."
After her speech, Keohane opened the floor to questions, comments and announcements, hoping to recreate the atmosphere of dialogue that followed feminist Gloria Steinem's speech April 2.
One person asked whether other universities were already where Duke hoped to be on women's issues. Keohane said a main problem is that schools do not share information with each other, but that they should in order to meet mutual goals. She also said that much could be learned from women's colleges such as her alma mater, Wellesley College.
"Women's colleges are good at producing strong, proud women. The experience of women at Duke has to be similar to the experience women have at women's colleges," she said.
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