Rapporteur - Dr. Suzanne de Castell

No issue more clearly demonstrates the connections between and among women in the academy than the financial and material inequities which define and delimit our personal, social, and occupational horizons. Women have grown
accustomed to working with and within conditions of inequality, and have shown considerable ingenuity in rendering the everyday impact of these inequities peripheral: invisible and unspoken. As Frigga Haug has commented,
this is in large part in order not to be “driven mad” by them. But in the words of another feminist, Adrienne Rich, “When we are silent, we are still afraid”. Our hope is that in this forum we may begin to make a space for reversing this survival strategy, which in the end benefits the institution far more than it does the women for whom profound damage to spirit, self confidence and productivity is still being done, albeit in secret and in silence.

Dr. de Castell is Professor in Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University who has published extensively on gender, new media and technology studies, and literacy. Currently she directs game research and development for education, and heads up a research program on multi-media studies of non-formal learning.

Barbara Waldern - Chief Steward Teaching and Support Staff Union

I will share some of my experiences with barriers to women in the education system, from elementary school to my return to SFU as a grad student. TSSU came into existance as a feminist union expressly to challenge barriers to women in the labour movement in that period. It offered greater job security, pay equity and union representation for women at SFU.

Though there have been some achievements during that time, there are still significant barriers to female students and instructors despite the reality that the numbers of female students and instructors is rising. It is still harder for women, particularly immigrant women and women of colour to get jobs in the academy and recognition for their work. Feminism is tolerated little--this is an issue of academic freedom. Discrimination and patriarchal values are still rampant. Political, sexual and anti-union or worker harassment still occurs. Hiring still favours men, especially men of European descent.

Since it is difficult to establish tangible evidence and criteria for verifying some of these problems in specific cases, women in the academy of all occupations and stripes need to build solidarity, assert feminism
perspectives and demand equitable treatment and representation.

Christa Ovenell

Forget Publish or Perish: Accelerated Expectations in the Modern Academy.

Being a skilled academic with many diverse and well-cited publications is no guarantee of success in the evolving world of academics. Academics now compete for myriad local, national, and international awards--many with fat purses--to pad already stellar C.V.s. My talk will focus on the importance--especially for women--of pursuing nomination for different awards throughout your academic career.

Christa Ovenell is a recent graduate of Simon Fraser University (2003, B.A, English) and currently the Awards Facilitator in the Office of the Vice President, Research. Graduate studies are in her future, but first she must escape the (painless) shackles of her golden handcuffs.

(virtually) Dr. Marjorie Cohen

During this "virtual" presentation, Dr. Cohen will outline the complaint against Industry Canada in regards to the discriminatory nature of the Canada Research Chair Program and make connections between this issue and other issues pertinent to women at Simon Fraser University.

Marjorie Griffin Cohen, professor of Political Science and Chair of the Women Studies Department, is one of the eight professors who have filed a complaint in regards to the inequitable allocation of Canada Research Chairs with the Canadian Human Rights Commission. She also has been active in other feminist issues, serving for many years on the executive board of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. Professor Cohen is the author of Free Trade and the Future of Women's work; Women's Work, Markets and Economic Development; and a two volume series on Canadian Women's Issues: Bold Visions and Strong women. Among her edited collections are Sexual Economics (Atlantis), Training the Excluded for Work, and Global Turbulence.

Joann Field - President, CUPE Local 3338 ; General Book and Products Buyer, S.F.U. Bookstores
*********************************************

I began my career in the book industry as a cashier at McMaster University Bookstore almost immediately after my marriage and after "dropping out" of the M.A. program at McMaster - someone had to put food on the table as my husband went on for his PhD.

The book business was a perfect fit for me - especially the world of academic bookselling. In the past 27 years I have worked in small independent bookstores, small independent chains, and large chains.  Then 15 years ago I returned to "university" when I became the General Book buyer at Simon Fraser University Bookstore.

This was my first union job but I was not slow to become involved.  I have been a shop/grievance steward for approximately 13 years, the local's New Employee/Orientation Rep for 10 years, a Trustee, a Division Steward, a VP for two years, the Treasurer for three years, and an Education Rep for three years.  Recently I was elected  President of the local.

And what these 15 years have taught me - over and over again - is that our members (74% women) are largely undervalued in both terms of money/pay and in terms of respect - undervalued to the point of invisibility.

These 15 years have also taught me to respect and value our union, because without it we would have no protection, far lower wages and fewer benefits, and even less respect and value in the academy.

I appreciate the opportunity to participate as a panelist at this symposium, but I also find it difficult to frame my presentation within the context of the "academy".  As support staff, the women of CUPE Local 3338 are not even seen as a part of the academy.  If we play a part within the university community at all, it is largely as a faceless, genderless and exploitable labour pool. And unfortunately, this makes our situation as working women in secretarial,clerical, support positions no different than any in any other workplace.

Cher Hill

I will be addressing financial and resource inequities for female students including allocation and acquisition of economic and cultural capital.

Cher Hill is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Education. She is currently working on several equity related projects with Dr. Suzanne de Castell including an investigation of the allocation of Canada Research Chairs, and a study of the impact of systemic gender-based discrimination on senior faculty members. This is her eleventh year as a student at SFU and she has completed two degrees at this institution. Her Master's thesis, under the supervision of Dr. de Castell, involved implementing a girls-first computer program at an elementary school. Her Bachelor of Arts honours thesis, in the Department of Psychology under the supervision of Dr. Meredith Kimball, focused on the research on menstruation at the beginning of the twentieth century as it pertained to women's education.