Over 60 years ago, the Civil Rights Act was passed, which made it effectively illegal for employers to discriminate by reason of race or gender. The landmark law set the entire nation down the right road, but it has not been an easy path in all areas.
In higher education, the numbers are startling. According to the American Association of University Professors, while women represent around 57 percent of instructors, lecturers, and unranked positions, they hold only 26 percent of full professor positions.
That is, women are much less likely to receive tenure than male professors.
Even UB, the university that touts its apparent diversity, has this very same problem.
In 2009, after a report indicating women seeking tenure were less likely to receive it, a group called the Commission on Academic Excellence and Equity was formed to work on the issue.
On Tuesday, the commission made it clear that the issue is still alive, and that the university is lagging in gender equality among faculty. A report by the commission showed that UB's "commitment" to a standard of diversity and equity did little.
While it might seem like a problem only in fairness, it will prove to be a practical problem for the future of our school. With a slight majority of bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. graduates in many fields being women, it will be very difficult to attract talent.
After all, nobody wants to be a professor at an institution with a reputation of promoting and giving tenure to women less frequently.
However, the issue is not an open and shut case of simple sexism. To color it in that light would not only be disingenuous, but would hamper any real efforts to increase diversity in the faculty.
A report by Elizabeth Terrien at the University of Chicago identified some of the major problems that persist for women seeking tenure, and the strongest issue was with work-family conflicts.
Often times for female professors, there is an enhanced difficulty when it comes to balancing the desire to advance at work and staying an active family member. Taking time off to be a mother slows down a woman's track to advancing.
Other, subtler issues persist as well. Across the nation female professors are also paid less, creating less incentive to remain in their line of work. The problem also becomes self-feeding, where the fact that there are fewer female professors creates a "boy's club" environment that women feel they have a hard time breaking into.
What happens is a cumulative effect, where small issues add up to become a big issue, where women are not represented in higher education.
UB absolutely needs to take a much more proactive stance in stemming this problem and plugging the leak in the academic pipeline. In order for a university to work effectively, there has to be a diversity of views and experiences within its faculty, students, and staff.
Adding a support group for helping faculty to balance the rigors of academic work and the demands of family life would at least be a start.
No matter the reason for the lack of equity, the university has too much at stake to stand idly by while a storm continues to brew. While it waits to create substantial change, the academic world reads more and more about its failure.
As an increasing number of academics see the problem, it becomes harder for UB to attract talent across the board, and slows the achievement of grand goals like UB 2020.
