Gordon, Jane

English

Journals @ The Mount

arguably this different manner of describing the students versus the teachers evokes a power imbalance. For example, "Gina - a woman of 60 with an upper-middle class quasi-Victorian upbringing," is placed next to Celia Kitzinger, who "teaches Social Psychology and Women's Studies at Loughborough University." For me, this set up an uneasy tension, and it seemed as i f the students were being used as raw data whose experiences could then be theorized by the professionals. And I wondered why an editor who regarded Women's Studies as a discipline that "explodes the notion of a division between the knower and the known" could be so apparently unaware of the uneasy dichotomy that was being constructed between student and teacher? A constant theme running through Changing our Lives, was that of too much academic pressure. Elspeth points out that there seems to be a conflict in teaching Women's Studies within the academy because professors become part of the patriarchal institution. In her experience, "ideas taught in Women's Studies often don't match how they are taught." She stressed the importance of designing courses with students where there could be a "dynamic interactive process" developing, whereby the group would collectively define what they wished to learn. In contradistinction, the Canadian exploration into Women's Studies is much more dialogic. The Journal Project was set up as a collaborative venture whereby students and teachers could share their experiences of journal writing. The editorial group consisted of "two students and two teachers, and several students and teacher volunteers who perform specific tasks." The authors felt that the experiences that were being shared in the Women's Studies program at Langara College in Vancouver were worthy of wider readership because they served as a microcosm for some of the problems endemic to many women such as racism, violence, poverty and heterosexism. This text looks at different women's experiences of journal writing and the value of journal writing inside and outside the classroom. However, unlike its British counterpart, the Canadian study is up-front about the power imbalance that exists between students and teachers. Indeed, the editors emphasize the need to acknowledge "the social power we all have as instructors," and to recognize that some women respond differently because of our "individual identities as white or Black, lesbian or heterosexual, younger or older women." Notes on the contributors are placed at the end of the book and each reader is cautioned to guard against making assumptions about the contributors. Each contributor has her own identifiable style and the reader becomes familiar with the different voices who express themselves in their own way, be it through poetry, prose or visuals. This book also includes a very useful bibliography. To conclude, I want to return to a remark made about Gina in Changing our Lives. When I read that Gina "wanted to encounter the challenge of feminism, to the amazement and delight of her tutors," I would question the patronizing way that this woman's views are trivialized. It reminded me of an incidence I'd encountered while being part of an undergraduate course in Women's Studies in the 1980's in the U K . One student asked a panel of teaching staff whether conservatism and feminism were compatible. To the delight of most students, including myself, one of the tutors responded "No, that's a contradiction in terms." I thought about that student, who was brave enough to ask an unpopular question, when I read about Gina and the way in which some left-wing feminists, myself included, have silenced voices of dissent. It raises a crucial dilemma within feminism: how can we portray feminism as an inclusive movement when dissenting voices are silenced? Neither the U K or the Canadian text include male voices: does it matter? Do we care? And, i f not, hadn't we better think carefully about what we mean about inclusiveness? Rita Gardiner Memorial University Breaking Anonymity: The Chilly Climate for Women Faculty, The Chilly Collective (eds) Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, Ontario, 1995; 390 pages; ISBN 0-88920-245-1; $24.95. Women have been the majority of students at Canadian universities for at least a decade with increasing numbers in professional and graduate schools. However, undergraduate numbers do not yet translate into equal representation in faculty roles, or positive work environments for women in universities. Books and magazine articles, conferences and caucuses of academic women at the meetings of discipline and professional associations, continue to point out that institutions of higher education are not women friendly. Breaking Anonymity is evidence in public circulation that universities are not benign nor benevolent working environments for women. It is part of a growing scholarship describing the overt and subtle ways in which institutions of higher eduction are discriminatory, and only touches the tip of the iceberg. The present political climate with Government cutbacks to higher education, university retrenchment and a move to reliance on private and/or corporate support does not suggest the situation for academic women is likely to improve. The volume is a collection of papers drawn primarily from the University of Western Ontario with several additional articles describing similar experiences from other institutions. The University of Western Ontario differs only from other institutions in that it has a cadre of activist, analytic and outspoken academic women, who have assembled this volume, and so its offenses have been made public. From conversations I have heard, over years of involvement in equity issues on campus, the Western stories are unique only in the public telling of the tale. No campus in Canada can congratulate itself on success in areas where Western has failed. The book starts with historical information from Constance Backhouse's research on the experiences of early women faculty and her suggestions for policies to correct the underrepresentation of women among faculty at the University of Western Ontario. No matter what the circumstances of the contemporary academic women, the experiences of earlier generations of academic women are horrifying. For example, Dr. Madge Thurlow Macklin, hired from Johns Hopkins University, was appointed an instructor in Histology and Embryology while her identically qualified husband was named a professor. During a career which stretched from 1921 to 1946 she moved up the academic ladder—to Assistant Professor. A quota system existed for hiring women faculty, as did a differential in the starting dates, salaries and benefits. Fully qualified women were given limited term or research appointments, paid less than men with identical qualifications, forced to retire earlier than men, on lower pensions, and subjected to sexist and paternalist attitudes. Backhouse sets the context for an update on the experiences of women at Western Ontario. She, Roma Harris, Gillian Mitchell and Allison Wylie updated the original research by interviewing contemporary women faculty. Their purpose was to see how the situation had changed. This followed the Ontario Women's Director award for employment equity to the University of Western Ontario in 1986. Their evidence suggests that while overt discriminatory practices were not as likely to exist, more subtle forms continued to exist. And, in any case, women across university faculties felt unwelcome and uncomfortable because of how they were treated. Being made to feel as i f they did not belong had an impact on their work—what they felt comfortable and able to do in the classroom and the value attached to their scholarly and community activities. The study itself became the object of political controversy on campus and in the local community, as the researchers and the work were defined as the problem, not their findings from colleagues across the university. Their motives in doing the work, the methodology of the research, its applicability to women other than those interviewed, the ways in which the information had been disseminated were all attacked. The impact of the controversy was stressful on the women who did the study, suggested that there is a continuimg pattern of blaming the bearer of bad tidings. Some of the articles in the book are reprinted from the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law. Although it may be useful to have them available to a wider audience, it is also likely that more recent comparable unpublished accounts of chilly climates are also available and would broaden the faculty and institutions discussed. Reprinting the now classic memo by Sheila Mclntyre is one very useful chapter in the book. It is both ironic and saddening that it is still as timely now as when it was originally written. Circulated informally in 1986 and then published in the CAUT Bulletin in 1987 it documents an individual's experience and a pattern of discriminatory behaviour. In this version, Mclntyre describes her experiences leading up to the memo, and its impact on herself, her women colleagues and the Queens Law School. The two chapters which follow, one by Patricia Monture on her experiences as a native women at a conference while a law student and the other by Bruce Feldthusen analyzing the role of men in creating and sustaining the climate which makes women faculty uncomfortable, are interesting although they do not appear to be as significant a contribution as is Mclntyre's work. The book has its weaknesses: a lack of experiences from smaller institutions is one of them. Although the book is obviously not comprehensive, the chilly climate is discussed only in the context of large universities. One of the chapters is a Status of Women report from the University of Saskatchewan, adding some geographic variety to Western and Queens. But although it is regionally distinct, it is still a large university. The learning and teaching environment at smaller institutions is acknowledged to be different for students. It would be significant to know what it is like for women faculty. Do the smaller number of faculty contribute to a better or worse environment for women? Are there structural factors about smaller institutions which affect the number of women hired? For example, in Nova Scotia there has been a widespread assumption that we have more women faculty than elsewhere because of the lower salaries in the region. And, although the book attempts to include issues of racism and homophobia, these chapters are not well integrated with the majority of the material. The book primarily examines the working experiences of academic women, the most powerful women in the university. Students and support staff are mentioned, but the experiences of staff in particular are largely ignored. One glaring experience that might have been included is that of Mary Warren, a secretary at Brock University, who was fired for involvement in the complaints about the sexual harassment of a faculty member. The CA UT Bulletin has carried occasional updates on her experiences in trying to obtain justice. However, in spite of the shortcomings of this book, it is an important volume for those interested in women's experiences in higher education. The important thing about it is that it is published, in the public domain, in a way which can reach individuals who do not receive all the newsletters and documents of academic groups. It brings the experiences of women faculty to a wider audience and, one hopes, provides information so that systemic problems in academia can be linked to those in other spheres in order to organize and mobilize for change. Jane Gordon Mount Saint Vincent University Community Research as Empowerment: Feminist Links, Postmodern Interruptions. Janice L. Ristock and Joan Pennell. Oxford University Press, Toronto, Ontario, 1996.; xi + 153 pages; ISBN 0 19 541080 7 ; $16.95 Ristock and Pennell's book is timely because a void existed concerning the merging of feminist principles, post modern insights and community research. Adding empowerment to traditional models of collaborative research entails more rigorous attention to power relations, cultural context and social action. Adding postmodern interruptions involves rejecting universalizing narratives. The moment is upon us for an upswing in collaborative research. Feminists in academe have reached a critical mass and most community groups are in a precarious position. This book wil l serve as a catalyst to bring researchers and community groups together to address issues at the grass roots level. Researchers wil l gain insight into numerous issues posed by undertaking community research and 

Breaking Anonymity: The Chilly Climate for Women Faculty.The Chilly
                    Collective, eds.

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Breaking Anonymity: The Chilly Climate for Women Faculty.The Chilly Collective, eds.

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