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The Findings
Duke University
President Nannerl O. Keohane launched the Women’s
Initiative in May 2002 to more fully understand the experiences and
needs of women at Duke and to develop strategies to address the challenges
women face. Keohane charged a 16-member committee, which she chaired,
with forming questions, overseeing data-gathering and devising policy
recommendations. Following are some highlights of the findings of
the initiative, drawn from surveys, focus groups and individual interviews:
Undergraduate students
- Undergraduate
students describe a social atmosphere that enforces stringent
rules about acceptable behavior and is characterized by “effortless
perfection,” the expectation that one would be smart, accomplished,
fit, beautiful, and popular -- and that all this would happen
without visible effort. Fraternities and sororities play a prominent
role in enforcing social norms.
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- Fraternities control
the mainstream social scene to such an extent that women feel like
they play by the men’s rules.
- Women expressed concerns about campus safety, feeling ambivalent about
the need for protection from assaults by their peers.
- Both men and
women expressed dissatisfaction with the dating scene (or lack
thereof).
- Many lesbian,
gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) students continue to experience
an inhospitable climate.
Graduate and professional
students
- Many graduate and
professional students, male and female, say that communicating with
faculty is often difficult.
- Focus group
data also show that graduate programs generally have not created
comfortable environments for students who are diverse in terms
of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, culture or family situation.
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All graduate
students deal with a variety of challenges to their commitment
to their studies, but women and minorities face some special
challenges with regard to comfort in their graduate programs.
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Graduate students,
faculty and employees
- Graduate and
professional students, faculty and employees consistently report
that juggling their professional and
family lives is a major challenge.
Faculty
- Women
are not well-represented in the regular rank
faculty. Bucking a favorable national trend,
the percentage of assistant professors who are
female has remained stagnant since 1991. The
percentage of associate and full professors who
are women has improved, but as is the case nationally,
the percentage of women is substantially less
as one moves up in academic rank from assistant
to full professor. Women at the full professor
rank still represent a small percentage of the
regular rank faculty.
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Employees
- This racially
and ethnically diverse population names four issues that must
be addressed to improve morale and
productivity: work-life balance, pay equity, professional
development, including mentoring, and workplace environment,
including safety
and respect.
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Alumnae
- Most alumnae
reported satisfaction with their undergraduate experiences,
although there were some differences based on age. Graduates
of the Woman’s College, which merged with the men’s
college in 1972, reported more personal confidence and leadership
opportunities than their younger peers.
- There was
consensus that faculty should be more involved in students’ lives,
particularly as mentors and role models.
- Alumnae
also urged Duke to help prepare undergraduate women for such “real-world” problems
as sexism in the workplace and balancing their family and professional
lives.
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