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The Daily Tar HeelWednesday, September 27, 19895
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: By NOAH BARTOLUCC1
Tenured and Tenure-Track
Faculty by Gender
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; and LISA ANTONUCCI
; '.'taff Writers
The Carolina woman.
She runs the gamut from study geek to party-aholic, and
; her faces are many. But one thing is for sure: with females
making up 59 percent of the student body, Carolina women
aie a force to be reckoned with.
t -
The stereotypical Carolina girl
Carolina girls may be the best in the world, according to
Chairmen of the Board, but the stereotypes of the Carolina
; woman are far from uniform.
! "I think of Daddy's little girl," said Jeff Tillman, a senior
! speech major from Durham. "Their daddies are so proud of
them and will give
. themwhateverthey
: want."
Tillman's
: younger brother
! Joey, a freshman,
: has a different
: view: "Carolina
'. women are classy,
'. intelligent and
.' well-rounded.
'. They have defi
nitely grown up
since high school."
Junior Tee
Burton, a speech
major from Shelby,
sees the Carolina
wpman in a more
. physically descrip
tive light. "They
have shoulder
length hair, proba
bly blondish," he
said. "Very pretty
and smart, with a
sweet but not-so-sweet
attitude."
- "Big, heavy ear
rings with lots of
raw materials" are
the first things
Mark Leeper, a
political science
graduate student
from Nebraska,
thinks of when
describing the
Carolina woman.
"They wear
ponytails and canvas Tretorns and they run in packs,"
' Leeper said. "But the thing you notice is the earrings."
' ' Stereotypes are not what Carolina women are about,
' though, according to Becky Mustard, president of the
Panhellenic Council, which governs the Greek sorority
system.
"It is not fair to continue with the stereotypes, and I
: believe the women on campus are trying to dispel them,"
Mustard said. "I have noticed a lot of independence in them
(Carolina women). They have gone beyond just being
pretty and sweet."
Some Carolina women have united to form the Women's
- Forum of the Campus Y.
-' "We are a support group, an action committee and a
source of education for women," said Amy Schutz, co-chair
of the Women's Forum.
The Forum is a place where women can come together to
talk about problems and know they are not alone, Schutz
- said. It organizes a 'Take Back the Night" march and
periodically schedules guest speakers and films.
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84
85
87
DTH Graphic
Adequate representation?
More and more women are finding themselves in recog
nized positions in the University. Two deans, the chair of the
undergraduate Honor Court, the student attorney general and
other campus officials are now Carolina women.
But while they constitute 59 percent of the student body,
UNC women are disproportionately represented in the fac
ulty and student government.
In Academic Affairs, men outnumber women by more
than 5 to 1 . In Health Affairs, women improve their represen
tation to only 21.4 percent.
"What do you do to make a historically male-dominated
institution welcome to women?" asks Jane Brown, former
chairperson for the Committee on the Status of Women, a
division of the
Faculty Council.
"Everyone is talk
ing about bringing
women here,. but
we're concerned
with how to keep
them."
The Committee
on the Status of
Women monitors
the progress of
women on cam
pus, concentrating
on the faculty.
Brown headed the
committee until
three weeks ago,
when her term as
chairperson ended.
Law professor
Laura Gasaway
has taken over.
Only one
woman has served
as student body
president since the
first one was
elected in 1921.
Patricia Wallace,
then a junior Eng
lish major from
Virginia Beach,
Va., stepped into
the executive of
fice during 1985
86. In student
government's leg
islative branch,
four women sit on the congress with 24 men. In the judicial
branch, 14 women serve with 19 men. Not even in the
executive branch, where there are 12 women and 1 1 men, are
women fairly represented where ratios are concerned.
Jill Gilbert, student congress representative for District
17, said she's somewhat uncomfortable with the minority of
women. "I don't feel the Congress is accurately representa
tive of the student body, not without a larger number of
women," she said. "But it's the type of thing that can't be
expected to change unless more women get out and rua for
the positions."
Fortunately, Gilbert said, there has not been a case in
which women have lost an important decision because of the
imbalance. "We have a very liberal congress they're very
supportive of feminist and women's issues."
The percentage of women in the administration reflects
the female presence in the student body. Although 6 1 percent
of the University staff is female, women's primary concen
tration remains in secretarial and clerical positions.
The executive and managerial spots are divided evenly
between the sexes, women fill 90 percent of the secretarial
and clerical positions.
However, the percentage of women in various leadership
positions is on the upswing, said Affirmative Action Officer
Robert Cannon. "The increase of women in undergraduate
schools has subsequently stimulated an increase in the number
of women enrolled in graduate and professional schools," he
said. "This latter enrollment will have a significant impact on
the number of women who will be appointed to faculty
positions. Even those bothered by the trend have to admit it's
happening.
Coping with the numbers
Of course, some people aren't bothered by the trend at all.
Especially the males.
With three women to every two men on the UNC campus,
UNC men might think they have one thing in common: the
pure joy of being a gender minority. But while the UNC male
who complains about the ratio is a rare bird, most of the flock
is starting to notice that this infamous mathematical edge
does little to intimidate women.
"There are plenty of guys here," said P.J. Disclafani, a
senior chemistry major from Cary. "The percentages just
aren't that big a deal."
86
YEAR
88
MALE
FEMALE
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Gillian Cel I : Leadi ng the way
for women in a man's world
By DIANA FLORENCE
Staff Writer
It may be a man's world, but it's a
woman's era, and Gillian Cell, the
dean of the General College and the
College of Arts and Sciences, is here
to prove it.
Cell, appointed the first female
dean at UNC in 1985, was born in
England and came to the United
States in 1962 after meeting her
American husband at a history semi
nar in London.
Although she had a Ph.D. from the
University of Liverpool and had al
ready published several papers, she
was first hired at UNC in 1965 only
on a one-year teaching contract.
But instead of being outraged at
the fact that men with similar quali
fications were hired immediately as
professors, Cell said she like most
female professionals in the 1960s
was grateful just to have a job. "At
that time, I was one of a small minor
ity of female professors at UNC. In
fact, it was about this time when they
began admitting females as fresh
men, outside of nursing," she said.
Despite her outstanding qualifi
cations, it was difficult for the other
men in the department to look at her
as their colleague, Cell said. "I didn't
really anticipate this situation since
the other I ad worked with in
England never had a problem with
my being a woman."
She taught history until 1983,
when she was appointed chairwoman
of the department. While history
chairwoman, Cell also served as an
assistant dean in the graduate school
and worked on a UNC committee for
affirmative action while she contin
ued to teach undergraduate classes.
In addition to her teaching career,
Cell also had to face the challenge of
being a "career mom."
She had two children when she
began working at UNC. "I'd always
taken it for granted that I would
continue to pursue history as well as
have children," she said.
But she had to face plenty of criti
cism for not being a full-time house
wife and mother. "It was harder then
because there was enormous social
disapproval of what I was doing, and
good day care was even scarcer than
it is today."
To compensate for the lack of
quality day care, she had to hire a
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DTHSheila Johnston
Gillian Cell became the first female dean at UNC in 1985
full-time housekeeper.
When Cell became pregnant with
her third child, she had to take a semes
ter off without pay because she was not
given a paid maternity leave. "It is only
recently that a long-overdue policy of a
paid maternity leave has been imple
mented," she said.
She also had to deal with her male
colleagues' response to her pregnancy.
"I spent the latter part of nine months
talking to men that were too embar
rassed to look below my neck."
Cell was considered so unusual
because she was pursuing a profession
while raising three children in the late
1960s that some students at Duke Uni
versity asked her to be on a panel for
people with deviant lifestyles. "Here I
was with my suburban house and sta
tion wagon, and I was sitting on a panel
with hippies who lived on communes,"
she said.
Now, after being at UNC for
nearly 25 years, Cell has taken her
place as something of a pioneer in
the higher ranks of the UNC ad
ministration. But being a pioneer
can be a bit tiring at times, she said.
"Many times I have felt like I'm not
just being looked at as whether or
not Gill Cell is doing a good job, but
whether women are doing a good
job. It's as though if I fail, all women
fail and that's a burden I neither
want nor enjoy."
But Cell said she is happy with
the changes that have come in the
last several years.
"Much of what I went through
when I began in 1965 is happily
eradicated," she said. "It is much
easier for men to accept women as
professional peers today."
Anthony Nesbit, a junior Spanish major from New Bern,
agreed. "The ratios just don't concern me all that much. We're
here to get an education that's what's important."
So are women bothered by the percentages? Apparently not.
1 $
"If it were the other way around, sure, you'd have more
guys to select from, but the ratio says something for
women," said senior Renate Shubert, a political science
and German major from Charlotte. "Even though women
don't have as large a pool of guys to choose from, you
know they're intellectually equal."
Ella Abernathy, a junior health policy and administra
tion major from Morganton, avoids the ratio issue alto
gether. "I've been dating someone for a year and a half
the ratio doesn't mean much to me," she said. "But I can
see how the competition might be greater for women not
involved in relationships."
Donna Epps, a senior journalism major from Char
lotte, has a boyfriend at Duke. "I think the ratio-here might
have something to do with that, but it's funny, because at
Duke it's even worse (more females per male)," she said.
"I like it this way. Being on the same campus as your
boyfriend that's too close."
UNC's population picture has remained relatively
consistent for the past 10 years, but admissions and head
count studies show it's possible for the enrollment's
gender gap to widen even more. But as long as women are
in the majority, most men will harbor their playful atti
tude. "It's great," said senior RTVMP major Jeff Untz. "I
wish there were even more women here."
Untz could get his wish. But then again, he's graduating.