by Karina Guzzi
Daily Lobo
After two women in the administration left their jobs last year and men filled those positions, a group of female faculty members began questioning gender equity on campus.
Julie Weaks-Gutierrez, the former vice president for business and finance, and Judy Jones, the former vice president for advancement, resigned in April 2004. They were replaced by David Harris and Mike Carroll, which prompted the formation of the Women's Caucus.
Thursday the group participated in a conference focusing on challenges and opportunities for women in higher education.
Natasha Kolchevska, the director of the UNM Feminist Research Institute, said she organized the event because of a forum she put together last September. She said listening to the speakers talk about their careers in politics made her want to know more about female faculty at UNM.
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"We sent out an unscientific survey just to get a sense of what people were thinking," she said.
The survey asked about women's satisfaction with their professional lives. Kolchevska said she got 94 responses to the 691 e-mails sent out.
Among other questions, women were asked if they were satisfied with their salaries. Results presented at the conference showed 48 percent of women faculty are dissatisfied with their salaries. Four percent are satisfied.
Kolchevska was also interested in the female faculty at UNM because of the work of the Women's Caucus.
"There's been a lot of talk of gender equity for the last year," said Kolchevska. "The UNM Women's Caucus has been collecting data, talking to women."
The caucus members sent a letter to UNM President Louis Caldera in May last year signed by 100 female faculty members. Among other issues, they questioned why there are not many women in high positions in the administration, namely vice president and provost positions.
Jane Slaughter, chairwomen of the History Department, said Caldera responded by saying he wanted to hire the best people for the job.
Caldera said at the conference that diversity is important for an institution, especially at UNM.
He said he and the board of regents have a great interest in making sure they are doing a good job of reflecting the community they serve.
He said having the conference was important.
"I think it is very important because it raises a lot of questions that need to be raised in order to eliminate barriers for women who have chosen academic careers to succeed in academia," Caldera said. "Networking, sharing, mentoring is all coming out of the dialogue."
Kolchevksa said women are reasonably well represented at UNM, but much more work still needs to be done.
According to the caucus' findings, 58 percent of UNM's undergraduates and 59 percent of UNM's graduate students are women. Forty percent of deans are women, 26 percent are directors and 31 percent are chairs.
Two of the seven members on the board of regents are women. There are no women on the operations committee of the board.
Diane Marshall, a biology professor and a member of the caucus, presented graphics and percentages comparing men's and women's salaries on campus. The numbers included additional money given for administrative duties.
"Women make on average $10,000 less than men," Marshall said. "There are more women in lesser ranks, but there is discrepancy in every rank as well."
There are about 300 female faculty members and 500 male faculty members at UNM.
Joseph Cecchi, dean of the School of Engineering, said it is important to have more women in their college.
"In engineering, it's not an option," he said. "It's a necessity. Have all points of view represented as you can. We are still struggling to increase our numbers.
He said there are aspects of engineering that women are better at than men.
"They integrate their experiences in life into engineering and make positive changes," he said. "That is an important lesson for men to learn."
Amy Wohlert, associate provost, said it was important to have the conference to concentrate the achievement of women at UNM in one place.
"We have so much to celebrate, but it's so spread out," she said. "It's great to have an event that allows us to share with each other."
Panelists mentioned actions women need to take in order to reach equity, including getting involved at administrative levels, not judging each other, letting younger women know how important and critical gender equity is and educating others.
"It is our job to nurture someone to replace us," said Sandra Ferketich, dean of the College of Nursing.
The UNM Feminist Research Institute sponsored the conference.
