Grabbin'
the gusto
in section B
Oregon daily
emerald
Wednesday, November 2, 1983
I
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 85, Number 43
1
Sudden funding increase
advances women's studies
By loan Herman
Of the Emerald
There was a time when
research on women meant
home economic studies on the
latest cooking, cleaning and
child care methods.
Times are changing, but even
today research on women is only
beginning to uncover women's
contributions to all facets of
society, including politics,
science and the arts, says loan
Acker, director of the Univer
sity’s Center for the Study of
Women in Society.
A $3.5 million grant to the
center will help advance studies
on women in traditionally male
oriented research fields, says
Acker, who became the Univer
sity’s first woman faculty
member in the sociology depart
ment in 1%7.
A celebration of the gift on
Sunday will feature a presenta
tion by Jessie Bernard, the na
tion's leading scholar on the
sociology of women, she says.
The donation by the late
William Harris, a Connecticut
and New York businessman and
husband of feminist writer Jane
Grant, will make the center one
of the nation's two or three best
funded centers for research on
women, Acker says.
"We also intend to make the
center one of the finest in quali
ty,'' she says.
A 48-fold budget increase for
the center — from $5,000 in 1982
to $240,000 in 1983 — comes at a
time when federal money for
research on women is drying up.
Acker says.
Although the center did not
begin to receive grant money
until June, Acker has known of
the gift since 1975 when Harris
was contacted by Edward Kemp
of the University library.
Before her death. Grant and
Harris had discussed
establishing a center for
women's studies. After deciding
against giving funds to other
universities, Harris met with
University officials in Eugene
and chose to bequeath his estate
to the University, with the agree
ment that funds be used solely
for research and teaching in the
study of women.
Ultimately, such research
“may radically alter our ideas
about history," not to mention
traditional yet inaccurate
assumptions about masculinity
and femininity, Acker says.
“Most scholarship that is
about people is about men. Men
have been assumed to be
human beings and to represent
all of humanity. That's symboliz
ed in our use of the word man.'
Man and environment The
history of man. That history real
ly has been the history of men,"
she says.
"Our whole mode of thinking
is based on the assumption that
the general human being is
male, and that what applies to
males applies to females. We
now know in all kinds of ways
that that is not true," she says.
Not only attitudes about men
and women need changing.
Acker says, but the social and
economic reality of women's
lives, as well. One of the most
familiar examples is that of wage
inequality between the sexes,
she says, citing popular studies
that show women still earn only
59 cents for every dollar men
earn.
In fact, the campaign to
establish equal pay for work of
comparable worth did not gain
recognition until research
documenting wage inequalities
had been done, Acker says.
The bulk of the center's funds
will go toward research in three
areas: symbolic representations
of gender and sexuality, women
and social structure and gender
differentiation in developmental
and life span perspectives, Acker
says.
Although research can con
tribute to change, it cannot
replace direct action for social
policy changes. Acker says. Yet if
such research is fed back into
the curriculum, students will
begin to question "the taken-for
granted nature of what
masculinity and femininity are
and the nature of what men and
women should do."
Ultimately, stereotypical at
titudes contribute to many of
the world's serious problems,
such as the threat of nuclear
war. Acker says.
In all cultures, Acker says,
women are responsible tor the
caring and nurturing of human
beings. Men are not, yet they
should be, she says.
"I'm convinced that the male
world of economics and occupa
tions is a world in which humane
values are very secondary to the
values of gain, dominance and
power. People are expendable.
"I think (these attitudes)
ultimately relate to the problem
of war and the nuclear insanity,
the insanity of Reagan's foreign
policy."
Changing popular stereotypes
takes time, Acker says, but she
doesn't view her effort as futile.
^"There's no question changes
have occurred. It's just that it's
going to be a long and difficult
process, and there's no
guarantee that it will continue."
Photo by Ken Kromer
Intensified research on women "may radically alter our ideas
about history,” says Joan Acker, director of the Center for the
Study of Women in Society.
Symposium celebrates research gift
jessie Bernard, the leading scholar on the
sociology of women, will speak Sunday, when the
University Center for the Study of Women in
Society celebrates the recent gift of $3.5 million
from the late William Harris.
The celebration will begin at 1 p.m. in Room
167 EMU with a symposium titled "Research on
Women: New Knowledge, New Directions."
University researchers in sociology,
psychology, anthropology, literature and history
will look at the new knowledge about women that
has been developed in the last 15 years and at
directions for future work.
At 3:30 p.m., Bernard will offer "A Salute to
Jane Grant and the Center for the Study of
Women in Society." Bernard will be a visiting pro
fessor at the University during the following week
and other events are planned, including an art
show of works by University women faculty and
students and a concert featuring women musi
cians performing music written by women.
Bernard, professor emerita of sociology at
Pennsylvania State University, is the author of
more than 15 books and the recipient of six
honorary degrees. Her books include "The Sex
Game," "The Future of Marriage," "The Future of
Motherhood" and "The Female World."
She is past vice president of the American
Sociological Association, which has established a
prize given in her name.
For more information on the celebration or
the center, contact Joan Acker at the Center for
the Study of Women in Society, 686-5015.
University student appointed to OECC seat
University student Cary Okazaki was named as the student representative to the Oregon State System of
Higher Education student member of the Oregon Educational Coordinating Commission Advisory Committee.
University student Cary
Okazaki, a senior finance major,
has been appointed to serve as
the Oregon State System of
Higher Education student
member of the Oregon Educa
tional Coordinating Commission
Advisory Committee.
“I was extremely surprised but
happy,” Okazaki said. "I didn't
think I had a chance."
Okazaki, the ASUO Coordinator
of University Affairs, was chosen
by the Oregon Student Lobby
from applicants throughout the
state.
Despite his surprise, Okazaki
says he is looking forward to serv
ing on the committee.
"I think I’m there (on the com
mittee) to represent all the
students. If I can get my opinions
across, I think we'll (students) all
benefit," says Okazaki, who is
also a member of the Associated
Students President s Advisory
Council.
The OECC is the state agency
responsible for planning and
coordinating all education —
kindergarten through graduate
school — for the state of Oregon.
The advisory committee is re
quired by statute to advise and
give input to the OECC.
The committee consists of 13
members, including ad
ministrators, faculty, two students
and parents/citizens. Okazaki is
the only student representative of
the state system. The other stu
dent member represents indepen
dent colleges, he says.
Other members include Higher
Education Chancellor William
Davis, Public School Superinten
dent Verne Duncan and Don
Fouts, Executive Director of the
Oregon Independent Colleges
Association as ex-officio
members.