REPORT ON FACULTY BY THE STATUS OF WOMEN COMMITTEE

The Status of Women Committee conducted a survey of AUFA members on a number of issues on which the committee was seeking information. The survey began in the fall of 2001 and was completed in early January 2002. Ninety members out of a total of 204 responded to the questionnaire. Out of this number, 50% of the respondents were female and the other 50% male. This distribution reflects the sex of the respondents, not the sex of all the faculty members of AUFA. Here is the distribution of sex by faculty:

	female	male	TOTAL
Arts	22	13	35
	48.9%	28.9%	38.9%
Science	14	19	33
	31.1%	42.2%	36.7%
Professional	5	12	17
	11.1%	26.7%	18.9%
Library	4	1	5
	8.9%	2.2%	5.6%
TOTAL	45	45	90
	100.0%	100.0%

Part A of the questionnaire deals with personal, employment and domestics factors. Here is the distribution of sex by appointment:

	female	male	TOTAL
Part-time	8	2	10
	17.8%	4.4%	11.1%
Contractual	5	4	9
	11.1%	8.9%	10.0%
Tenure-track	12	13	25
	26.7%	28.9%	27.8%
Tenured faculty	17	23	40
	37.8%	51.1%	44.4%
Continuing	3	3	6
	6.7%	6.7%	6.7%
TOTAL	45	45	90
	100.0%	100.0%

Part B consists of 17 fundamental areas of concerns which the respondents were asked to prioritize. Here are the general results for questions1 to 17 by descending order:

Issues	Importance% (Somewhat important and very important)
1. Retention and promotion practices	76.7
2. Hiring and recruitment practices	75.5
3. Workplace atmosphere (power relations, harassment issues)	75.5
4. Campus safety	74.4
5. On-campus daycare facilities	58.9
6. Reduced teaching load for all faculty	57.8
7. Reduced teaching load for new faculty	56.7
8. Maternity and parental leave	54.5
9. Mentoring for junior faculty	53.4
10. Equitable access to computing support services	52.2
11. Health and wellness programs	51.1
12. Health and counselling services on campus	47.8
13. Spousal hiring options	42.2
14. Mentoring for part-time faculty	39.7
15. Job sharing option	38.9
16. Further development of women’s studies programs	33.3
17. Social & cultural activities	26.7

The committee has made a demographic analysis of the above results by sex and domestic situation. This detailed analysis is available to AUFA members.

Questions 18 and 19 asked respondents to prioritize 3 short-term and 3 long-term areas of concern. The results are slightly different (priorities in bold and runner-ups in italics):

Short-term Priorities

Issue	1^st Priority %	2^nd Priority %	3^rd Priority %	Total %
1. On-campus daycare facilities	12.2	2.2	6.7	21.1
2. Spousal hiring options	4.4	6.7	6.7	17.8
3. Job sharing options		5.6	4.4	10
4. Maternity and parental leave	4.4	6.7	4.4	15.5
5. Campus safety	7.8	7.8	6.7	22.3
6. Workplace atmosphere (power relations, harassment)	13.3	16.7	8.9	38.9
7. Health and wellness programs	2.2	3.3	6.7	12.2
8. Health and counselling services on campus		1.1	2.2	3.3
9. Hiring and recruitment practices	18.9	13.3	5.6	37.8
10. Retention and promotion practices	8.9	18.9	13.3	41.1
11. Mentoring for junior faculty	3.3	1.1	4.4	8.8
12. Mentoring for part-time faculty	1.1	1.1		2.2
13. Reduced teaching load for new faculty	3.3	3.3	8.9	15.5
14. Reduced teaching load for all faculty	12.2	4.4	4.4	21
15. Social & cultural activities			2.2	2.2
16. Equitable access to computing support services	1.1	1.1	5.6	7.8
17. Further development of women’s studies programs	1.1	1.1	1.1	3.3

Long-term Priorities

Issue	1^st Priority %	2^nd Priority %	3^rd Priority %	Total %
1. On-campus daycare facilities	11.1	5.6	5.6	22.3
2. Spousal hiring options	4.4	1.1	4.4	9.9
3. Job sharing options		5.6	4.4	10
4. Maternity and parental leave	4.4	5.6	6.7	16.7
5. Campus safety	8.9	4.4	2.2	15.5
6. Workplace atmosphere (power relations, harassment)	16.7	12.2	5.6	34.5
7. Health and wellness programs	5.6	1.1	4.4	11.1
8. Health and counselling services on campus	2.2	3.3	3.3	8.8
9. Hiring and recruitment practices	4.4	10.0	7.8	22.2
10. Retention and promotion practices	6.7	17.8	6.7	31.2
11. Mentoring for junior faculty	1.1	2.2	1.1	4.4
12. Mentoring for part-time faculty	2.2		5.6	7.8
13. Reduced teaching load for new faculty	3.3	5.6	10	18.9
14. Reduced teaching load for all faculty	14.4	6.7	5.6	26.7
15. Social & cultural activities	1.1	1.1	5.6	7.8
16. Equitable access to computing support services	1.1	1.1	6.7	8.9
17. Further development of women’s studies programs	1.1	4.4	2.2	7.7

In other words, whether we are dealing with short-term or long-term priorities, the areas of concern recurring in different permutations are hiring practices, retention and promotion practices, workplace atmosphere, reduced teaching load and on-campus daycare facilities.

The results also indicate that the creation of on-campus daycare facilities is supported by faculty with children and faculty without children, thereby indicating a sense of solidarity for faculty who are also parents. Faculty members who are parents of young children (5 and under) and of older children (6 to 12) are both in favour of daycare facilities, which indicates the need for day-long services and after-school services. Parental leave is also supported by faculty with and without children.

Written comments (item #20) include gender and power relationships; the need to adjust the maternity clause in the collective agreement to reflect new federal and provincial legislation; gender and hiring practices; course load reduction; gender and part-time positions; lack of gender representation in administration.

It is the intention of the Status of Women Committee to work on the above list of prioritized concerns in the next twelve months and to study ways of implementing solutions to problems raised by the survey. The members of the committee are particularly grateful to the faculty members who took the time to answer the questionnaire at a very busy time of the academic year. The committee also wishes to thank Michelle Coleman for her work and contribution to this project. If you wish to consult the detailed analyses of the survey, please send an email to aquema@acadiau.ca .

Anne Quéma, Department of English

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