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| Vol. 18, No. 7 | Oct. 15, 1998 |
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| Vol. 18, No. 7 | Oct. 15, 1998 |
This year is a significant anniversary for women's rights and equality in the country and on campus, marking
"We have planned an exciting week of events to inform, entertain and celebrate as we honor those who led the struggle for women's rights in the past and as we address the issues of women's equity in the future," said Liane Sorenson, women's affairs.
Beth Boniwell Haslett, women's studies, said, "When Liane and I realized these anniversaries all occurred in 1998, we decided this called for a major celebration. The weeklong series of events, is designed to celebrate all the work on behalf of women's rights, beginning with first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, and to recognize the work done at the University to improve the status of women on campus.
"Throughout the years, hundreds of individuals at the University have worked to establish programs and benefits that women now enjoy. This week honors those efforts from 1872 when six women attended lectures at Delaware College to the present."
The UD Women's Studies Interdisciplinary Program was in the first wave of similar programs established in the United States. In 1971, President E. A. Trabant appointed a committee to study opportunities for women at UD, and a subcommittee was formed to develop a women's studies program. In 1972, "Women's Studies I" was offered, team-taught by 19 people, and in 1973-74 the position of director of women's studies was designated as a full-time faculty position. A minor in women's studies was created in 1978-79, and a major was approved in 1993-94.
An academic approach to women's issues and history, focusing on women's experiences, status and contributions in all areas of society, women's studies has more than 55 affiliated faculty members, offers 75 courses and enrolls 2,500 students over an academic year.
The University's commitment to equity for women was reflected in the creation in 1973 of the Commission on the Status of Women, which reports to the president. The 23 members, representing faculty, professionals, salaried staff and students, identify problem areas, make recommendations, while working closely with the Office of Women's Affairs. Its suggestions have helped bring about changes in the areas of safety, sexism, salary equity, childcare and the recruitment, promotion and retention of women.
The Office of Women's Affairs works within the University community to promote awareness and understanding of women's issues and encourages women's development and participation through a variety of supportive programs and services. Some of the areas of involvement are sexual harassment, gender bias, women's health issues and career development.
The Women's Studies Program, the Office of Women's Affairs and the Commission on the Status of Women sponsor awards, funding and special events such as the Geis Student Research on Women Conference, Sexual Assault Awareness Week, Women's History Month Film Series, Research on Women Lecture Series and special events celebrating International Women's Day.
The University offers several counseling and support services for women, including Sexual Offense Support Services (SOS), the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Concerns/ Campus Diversity Unit and the Center for Counseling and Student Development.
Early leaders for women's equity on campus included Mae Carter, the first chairperson of the Commission on the Status of Women, and the late Florence Geis, whose research involved perceptions of women in society, and who supported women faculty in academia and the Women's Studies Program. In athletics, Barbara Kelly and Mary Ann Hitchens, physical education, have been leaders in promoting women's varsity sports
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Anne Boylan, history, whose field is American women's history, will give a lecture, "The Evolution of Women's Rights in the U.S.," at noon, Monday, Oct. 26, in Multipurpose Rooms B and C, Trabant University Center, as part of the week-long program. She shared some of her insights on the highlights of the women's rights movement in the United States.
The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott (her husband James Mott presided) was an important and crucial step in women's quest for equality in politics and society. Although it was small (approximately 300 people attended in two days) and held in a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, it "got the ball rolling for other conventions that were held almost every year afterwards until the 19th Amendment was passed," Boylan said.
According to a local newspaper, "interesting" people attended- abolitionists, Quakers, temperance advocates and others who became associated with the women's rights movement. Susan B. Anthony did not attend but her parents and sister did.
Women's rights and black civil rights were intertwined since the beginning because most of the leaders of the women's rights movement were female abolitionists who had been shut out of the abolitionist male-dominated inner circle.
The women's rights movement took a hiatus during the Civil War, when activists focused attention on the abolition of slavery.
The right of married women to own property, not the right to vote, was one primary issue at the time, Boylan said. It was a concern of men as well, who wanted their sisters' and daughters' property protected in the event their husbands became bankrupt. Later women got the "right" to keep the wages they earned as well.
In the latter part of the 19th century when African-American men received the vote, there was more interest in women's suffrage for both black and white women and also in women's access to education.
In the early 20th century, there was a change in the women's suffrage movement, Boylan said. There was a "critical mass of educated, organized women," and an influx of working class women joining the movement giving it further impetus. Gradually, individual states extended some voting rights to women, and in 1920 the 19th Amendment was ratified.
"It was an unremitting, discouraging struggle," Boylan said, "trying to organize, raise money and convince male legislators to share power. Progress was made in small steps. When women gained the vote, it was not always because of suffrage activism. In Utah Territory, for example, women were given the right to vote in 1870 to ensure that Mormons were in the majority."
The arrival of feminism in the 1960s had two sources: women active in labor unions and the civil rights movement, and college-aged women's liberation feminists.
In response to pressure from the first group, President John Kennedy formed a Commission on the Status of Women in 1961, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. Esther Peterson, an activist involved in labor issues, women's rights and consumer rights, was the executive director. She spoke on the UD campus in the mid-'80s, Boylan added.
Where do women stand now? "Many issues, such as suffrage, have been addressed with success," Boylan said, "but there are new issues today, such as reproductive rights, the wage gap that still exists and sexuality concerns, including lesbian rights. The earlier advocates of women's rights were mostly middle class, white women, and they fought for issues that concerned them, but the focus is more inclusive now."
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Carol Hoffecker, Richards Professor of History, is the author of Beneath Thy Guiding Hand: A History of Women at the University of Delaware. She is giving a lecture on "Women at the University of Delaware" at 12:20 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the Collins Room of the Perkins Student Center.
"We must not forget the 81 young, intrepid women who attended Delaware College from 1872 until 1885, under the leadership of President William H. Purnell. They were symbolic and significant," Hoffecker said. Dropping coeducation and Purnell's resignation occurred at the same board of trustees meeting, and Hoffecker wrote in her book, it "must have been a closely related matter."
In 1914, the Women's College was established, through the efforts of two dedicated women, Emalea Pusey Warner and the college's first dean, Winifred Robinson.
When the Women's College merged with Delaware College in 1945 to form the University of Delaware, this appeared to be progress on the surface. However, Hoffecker said, women faculty lost status except in traditionally female fields, and although women students had a larger range of majors available to them, the reality was they chose women's disciplines.
As the women's movement for equity in education and the working place gathered momentum in the 1960s, the University reflected the national scene, she said. Studies were conducted, and programs to promote equity on campus were put in place.
The University has come a "great distance toward achieving equity in the past 25 years," Hoffecker said.
More women faculty have been hired and promoted; women students have more career options; salaried and professional staff are taken seriously. Under the leadership of such people as Maxine Colm, vice president for administration, major issues are addressed, Hoffecker said.
Hoffecker would like to see more women in top policy and leadership positions and would like to see more "gender balance" in the disciplines. But what is important, she said, is that "women students have the open option to do what they want to do."
-Sue Swyers Moncure
Photos courtesy University Archives
