Report of the President's Task Force
on Women at UB

VI. Recommendations

A. Introductory Comments

Compiling a succinct list of practical recommendations from this very comprehensive review of the status of women at UB and sister institutions has been a daunting task. Several principles have guided the final formulation.

• Consensus: These recommendations reflect the collective wisdom of the Task Force and represent "the sense of the group."

• Practicality: These recommendations have been formulated for their inherent achievability, given current fiscal constraints and the inevitable sluggishness of administrative machinery in academe.

• Specificity: These recommendations are highly focused and timely. They are not an "all-time wish list," but address urgent needs.

• Measurable Benefits for UB: We believe that most of these recommendations will promote the long-term health and vitality of UB. Creating a distinctive woman-friendly environment should encourage talented women to choose UB as a place to study and work. Public relations for alumnae/i and corporate giving could also capitalize on initiatives for women.

The following section of specific recommendations is a summary restatement of material that has been reviewed in detail in preceding sections of this document. For full appreciation of the rationale and justification of each recommendation, the reader is urged to review the relevant material in Section V, Results: Subcommittee Reports and Activities.

B. General Recommendations

As an overall recommendation, the Task Force on Women at UB requests that President Greiner extend the mandate of the Task Force until a permanent alternative is in place. There are many models for administrative programs on behalf of women in academic institutions. Other schools have commissions, deans, vice presidents, and/or standing committees, which function to

• maintain intra- and extramural records and data,

• sponsor networking activities,

• serve as coordinators of activities and publicity,

• increase university-wide awareness of women's perspectives and workplace needs,

• identify women leaders, and

• conduct climate surveys.

The members of the Task Force on Women at UB are now highly knowledgeable about the spectrum of permanent institutional arrangements for an Office for Women. It is essential for UB to devise a strategy that reflects local administrative styles and structures. For that reason, the details of such an arrangement should be worked out by a committee of appropriate representatives of the president, provost, senior vice president, and other vice presidents, together with selected Task Force members. As a minimum, the permanent arrangement should include

• a prominent physical location, with essential support for telephones, mail, and other communication;

• guarantees of convenient access to the highest levels of university administration; and

• a smooth transition from the present Task Force to the permanent arrangement to maximize continuity and maintain the impetus of ongoing efforts.

C. Specific Recommendations (by charge)

Charge 1: University policies and practices in hiring, advancing, and compensating women faculty, administrators, and staff

• Data describing the distribution, representation, and compensation of women at UB should be collected regularly for biannual review. The tables and graphs in this report should serve as models for maintaining and updating those records.

• Archives should also be kept up-to-date of extramural reports on the status of women at other North American universities.

• Responsibility for maintaining and updating these data and archives should be assigned to the Task Force/Office for Women.

Charge 2: Strategies for addressing any inequities

• Salary disparities revealed in this report should be rectified as soon as possible. A financial plan should be developed (and promulgated) to eliminate gender-based disparities within a reasonable time (i.e., five years). The greatest disparities are limited to a few units and/or payroll categories, and affect a relatively small number of individuals. Developing timetables for closing those salary gaps would send a very powerful message about the commitment to gender equity.

  In our society, financial compensation is a powerful symbol of the value and respect we assign to individuals and groups. Visible efforts to correct existing salary disparities would have a very positive impact on the morale of all women employees at UB and would go a long way toward developing a perception that UB is a woman-friendly institution.

• Specific plans, with targets, are needed to increase the number of women in those work sites where they are significantly underrepresented. Those plans should be developed within each unit to accommodate special local needs, but they should aim for significant improvements in the foreseeable future. In addition, those plans should be promulgated to ensure that all employees within the unit are well informed about them. Special attention should be paid to those units with the greatest and/or most inappropriate gender disparities.

• Significant representation of women should be required on all committees dealing with important policy matters, including promotion, hiring, resource allocation, honors and awards, etc.

• Extramural practices and policies should be monitored by the Task Force/Office for Women to ensure that UB does not lag seriously behind national standards and to recommend policies to place UB in the avant garde.

• Existing programs to address inequities (the President's Panel for the Review of Search Procedures Reports, Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Development) should be strengthened to increase their impact on university policies, decisions, appointments, and promotions.

Charge 3: Improving the campus climate for women, with full consideration of the special needs of diverse groups

• Adequate child-care facilities should be provided on campus to meet existing demands. The Task Force found that improved child care was an extremely urgent priority for women in all UB constituencies. A North Campus day-care center was identified as a very pressing need. On-site day care is a highly visible symbol of an institutional commitment to create a woman-friendly environment. As a public relations measure, investment in child-care facilities should have a rewarding payback in recruitment of staff, faculty, and students.

• Personnel policies should be developed that are friendly to caregivers, including flexible work schedules, job sharing, tenure clock stops, etc.

• National/Extramural observances about women should be supported and celebrated as important events on the university calendar. Examples include Women's History Month, National Girls and Women in Sports Day, and National Take-Our-Daughters-to-Work Day. The Task Force/Office for Women should have a central role in planning, coordinating, publicizing, and promoting these events to ensure broad-based participation and successful outcomes.

• Women's studies and other academic programs/research projects on gender should be strengthened and expanded with moral and financial support. UB has been in the forefront of studies on women and gender since the early 1970s. Vigorous scholarly programs in women's studies are recognized to be an essential element in warming up the "chilly" climate for women in academe. It is critically important that UB not lose the energy and vitality of existing programs, and that future planning permit those programs to develop to their full potential.

• Athletics programs need more women as head coaches and senior administrators. Promotion, publicity, and celebration of women's athletic events should be coordinated through the Office for Women.

• Positive images of women should be incorporated into the symbols, publicity, and advertisements that represent UB to the public and to potential donors. The unequivocal message should be that women at UB are welcomed, respected, valued, and integrated into all activities and functions.

• A formal, rigorous campus-wide survey should be conducted to assess the current climate for women at UB and to provide a baseline for monitoring changes.

Charge 4: Methods for developing a campus environment that is free of sexual harassment

• Development of a practical, university-wide policy on sexual harassment should be a major priority for the academic year 1996­97. Task Force members have become well-informed about policies and practices elsewhere; they can provide expertise (together with other appropriate personnel) for designing policies that are suited to UB. Important elements in the formulation should include

• professionally supervised educational/awareness workshops;

• adjudication mechanisms free of all conflicts of interest;

• specific, efficient, and practical procedures to review complaints;

• adequate protection of the rights of all parties to complaints;

• mechanisms for informal resolution of complaints; and

• sanctions for inappropriate behaviors.

Charge 5: Methods for identifying, encouraging, and developing women leaders

• Women should be well-represented in all university committees, search processes, policy-making bodies, and awards and honors committees.

• A consultant panel of senior women should be constituted to aid in the identification of qualified women for such committee service, and to develop and encourage female junior colleagues to prepare themselves for university service.

• Career-development workshops, similar to the successful workshop organized by the Task Force, should be regular, frequent events. Supervisors should encourage and facilitate participation. The Task Force/Office for Women, representing all women's constituencies, should play a central role in organizing, planning, and evaluating these workshops. Cooperation and collaboration of the Offices of the Provost and Senior Vice President, and all vice presidents will also be essential for the success of these programs.

• Specific initiatives should be instituted for the promotion of women's careers. Some possibilities include intramural internships in administrative offices, financial incentives to attend extramural training courses, seminars and/or internships for the acquisition of managerial skills, and competitive financial awards to support career-enhancing research and/or education at UB or outside. Other institutions can provide us with successful models for these kinds of initiatives. The expertise of the Task Force should be shared with UB administration to devise the most appropriate versions for us.

• Activities should be promoted that increase opportunities for women faculty, staff, and students to develop career-enhancing "network" relationships. UB participation in the national Take-Our-Daughters-to-Work event was an excellent example of such an activity. Regular public ceremonies to identify and honor women leaders, highlighting their accomplishments, would serve a similar networking function.