Random Faculty Dinner Discussion Devoted to Reports on Gender

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Random Faculty Dinner Discussion
Devoted to Reports on Gender

Dear Colleagues,

For the past 16 years I have hosted the MIT Random Faculty Dinners, an event first suggested by Joel Moses at a 1985 meeting of the Faculty Policy Committee. After I had hosted six years of dinners, Bob Fogelson suggested that perhaps I should devote a portion of the evening to a general discussion of MIT-related issues. Bob reasoned that with a random sample of faculty coming together – undoubtedly for the first and last time – the dinners offered an invaluable opportunity for faculty to discuss Institute issues unencumbered by departmental or sectional considerations.

At the most recent Random Faculty Dinner held on 21 March 2002 the topic was the Reports of the Committees on the Status of Women Faculty released Monday, March 18, 2002.

Approximately 25 faculty were present, only two of whom were women. (One had to leave before the discussion got underway.) The discussion lasted 45 minutes. It has been my custom to summarize these discussions in a memorandum to the Provost, President, Chancellor and Chair of the Faculty for their information. The Chair of the Faculty, Stephen Graves, thought it might be useful to share, through the medium of the Faculty Newsletter, my summary of the March discussion. I am more than glad to do so.

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The discussion was wide-ranging and thoughtful. The tone was decidedly friendly and sympathetic. Even at points of disagreement, the disagreements were couched in respectful collegiality. One faculty member observed that because the data contained in the reports were presented in such a thoughtful, clear, and accessible fashion, the conclusions could not be ignored and something tangible needed to be done.

Four points emerged as central:

Tenure Timetables. A major problem with academic careers for women at MIT and very likely elsewhere is the mismatch between the tenure-earning timetable and the timetable for starting a family. These timetables roughly coincide and place particular burdens on the woman. One faculty member present noted that this disparity shows up in the fact that the percentage of women faculty who have children is significantly lower than for men on the faculty. Starting and raising a family and getting tenure are major life tasks. To do them at the same time, especially when the burden falls unevenly on one partner, is a major stumbling block to academic well-being.
The two-body problem. In families where both members are professionals and there is an academic job for just one, finding employment for the other is something that MIT simply does not do well, at least when compared to other institutions. Other institutions see this as an advantage they have when trying to attract faculty away from MIT or in trying to get faculty to choose them over MIT. Several faculty members recounted instances where qualified faculty of both genders were lost because this problem was not something the relevant department or school felt at home with. Someone else noted that dealing with the two-body problem is not part of the MIT culture.

(Note to faculty. Subsequent to our dinner, I was talking with Laura Avakian, vice president for Human Resources, who tells me her office would be happy to meet with spouses or partners of interviewing faculty to discuss job possibilities at MIT and/or help them network with other employers in the Boston area. The person to contact is Wendy Williams, staffing manager at 253-4265 or wendyw@mit.edu. She's located in office 207B, Building E-19.)

Availability of child care. One faculty member spoke of his indirect experience with an extensive child care program in another country. He said that the available program went a long way toward dealing with the child-bearing/rearing and tenure earning timing mismatch. The thrust of his point was that child care done appropriately enables women to be both mothers and academics since their children are on campus, close by, easily visited in ways that still allow for fruitful careers.
Marginalization. There was general agreement that were one to ask if women faculty feel themselves to be a part of MIT the way men do, the answer would certainly be no. It was suggested that a concerted effort to place women in leadership positions at MIT would go a long way toward changing the culture. Someone pointed out that while some women are section heads, there are currently no women department heads at MIT.

As I said, it was a thoughtful and collegial discussion. My impression is that, if this random sample is at all representative, efforts to redress imbalances will be met with approval by the faculty.

Best,

Jay

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