Tue, Mar 13, 2001 page8

• Cultivating women in academia

  • By Chwan-chuen King 金傳春
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  In late January the presidents, vice presidents and deans of nine top US universities, along with 25 female professors, held a conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to discuss the equitable treatment of women in science and engineer-ing. Afterwards, representatives of the universities signed a joint statement and agreed to work within their institutions toward four goals.

  Those were: One, to analyze the salaries and the proportion of university resources provided to women. Two, to work toward a faculty that reflects the diversity of the student body. Three, to reconvene in a year to share the specific initiatives undertaken to achieve these objectives. Four, to recognize that this challenge will require significant review of, and changes to, the procedures within each university and within the scientific and engineering establishments as a whole.

  This appeal, made by the heads of top universities, has resonated far and wide at other US schools. It has also swept away the anguish and worry aroused by wage inequality for women at MIT.

  What moves one deeply is that although most of the administrators who attended the conference were male, discussion focused on four matters: What are the issues in your institutions and the successful or failed strategies you have pursued? What are the systemic causes of the problems we face? What new actions could each institution take? What might we do collectively?

  In the US there are more and more talented female students and teachers studying or teaching at top universities. Male students and faculty in these universities are glad to see women strive for further improvement and are proud of women's achievements. Take Harvard Medical School for example. It posts the significant achievements of female graduates outside the classrooms, a practice which is in line with late Beijing University (北京大學) president Tsai Yuan-pei's (蔡元培) ideal of treasuring female talent.

  I remember that after one of my university classmates, who is now married with children, received her master's degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, her school adviser called her every year for almost 10 years to urge her to pursue a PhD -- until the year before he retired. After-wards, he frequently passed work opportunities to her, encouraging her all the time to take on greater challenges. His intention to treasure female talent was admirable.

  Every successful woman in today's world has usually benefited from the encouragement and support of her family, teachers and friends -- so that she could march forward courageously. After all, when women are striving for higher goals, they are often challenged by traditional social values, vicious competition from men and an unfair system as well. Such challenges can hardly be understood by men, who can freely utilize their talents.

  The only real difference between the sexes is in the chromosomes. Because women are patient, considerate, able to make careful observations, attentive and have strong will and the capacity for self-reflection -- they often make greater contributions to society than men while taking relatively more idealistic professions. According to Women Administrators in Higher Education, recently published by the State University of New York Press, because of their high sense of mission, women university presidents and administrators throughout the history of US higher education have usually made extraordinary contributions to their communities and have encouraged students to pay attention to human welfare issues. Consequently, male presidents and administrators now look at them with new eyes and male students and teachers in their schools also tend to assist female students and teachers more willingly.

  In Taiwan, however, the number of female graduate students is much lower than that of female undergraduates. Many women's talents are often stifled and wasted, or they are torn between their commitment to their families and that to their supervisors. Some male managers seldom accept female professionals' points of view. No wonder many women teachers and doctors face difficulties being promoted. The situation is even worse in areas where education and social and economic standards are lower.

  More discussion and promotion -- regarding cultivation of young female talent, women's health and communication between men and women -- is needed. We should enable women, with their outstanding intelligence, talent and enthusiasm, to continuously contribute to society. Finally, I'd like to show my sincere appreciation by dedicating this article to all gentlemen who have encouraged and promoted women in the past.

  King Chwan-chuen is a professor in the College of Public Health, National Taiwan University.

  Translated by Eddy Chang

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