Each year the Chancellor's Committee on Women (CCW) gathers and publishes demographic information about women on the Boulder campus. In 1999 it was suggested that we increase and develop the qualitative section of the Status of Women Report (SOWR). Part II represents our initial attempt to provide substantial and significant qualitative data in the form of the results and conclusions drawn from four focus groups, held on the Boulder campus in March 2000. The Office of Institutional Analysis within the Office of Planning Budget and Analysis provided technical support and guidance concerning the methodology used. Pending additional human and financial resources, CCW anticipates refining and expanding the qualitative section of the SOWR in future years.

We offer below an analysis of the results of over two hundred pages of transcribed conversations with faculty, staff, professional exempt staff, and student women. We have chosen to emphasize several consistent themes that emerged from the focus groups. We offer general comments on each theme, supported by statements taken from the transcription of the focus group comments. A copy of the complete transcript is available upon request from CCW. Should members of the extended university community be interested in collaborating with CCW to produce additional research, using our focus group data, we would welcome such a collaboration.

Please note that F refers to transcripts from the Faculty focus group session, STF from the Staff group, PEX from the Professional Exempt Staff group, and S from the Student group.

Employment and Power Hierarchies and Segregation

Women across the four focus groups perceive employment category hierarchies throughout the campus environment, especially in terms of hiring, promotion and respect accorded different job categories. This is particularly acute in the case of the division between faculty and staff, a division that, in some cases, transcends gender and, in other cases, increases divisions among women (1). Staff members report that they are discouraged from using their skills, skills that are in turn devalued (2, 3). Professional exempt staff members express frustration and concern over similar issues, citing the example that postings for administrative positions frequently require faculty credentials. While job segregation is not unusual or surprising in academic settings, one must ask whether or not the university is best served by selecting faculty for the majority of upper-level administrative positions, a situation that limits the pool of potential candidates and effectively excludes most women (4, 5).

1. If I was a female faculty, I wouldn't want to associate with a female staff because I know that there is a staff-faculty hierarchy, and already I'm having to prove to everyone else that ... I can do this as a female faculty member. PEX-17-18:49-4
2. You come up with an idea and it's totally ignored, and then 5 minutes later, one of those guys says, "Well, how about blah blah blah"? And it's, "Oh, that's a great idea." PEX-16:23-26
3. The only problems that I've had have been ... entirely with male professors treating me like a servant or something like that. And I'm not sure if that's entirely a gender thing; I think it's definitely partly the "I-have-a-Ph.D.-and-you-don't" thing. STF-10:25-30
4. I don't necessarily think that people who are really good faculty are really the best administrators. I mean, I think they're different skills. And yet by saying it's faculty, you've immediately cut off the majority of women on this campus. PEX-14: 17-21
5. I mean, we only have 28 or 29 percent ... female faculty on campus to start with, and most of those are in associate and assistant professor positions. And so the pool of people who are in full professor positions is very small, then, who can go on to be vice chancellors and presidents and other things. PEX-14: 4-10

Women from all focus groups are keenly aware that men continue to occupy most positions of power within the university community (6, 7). Staff members, in particular, raise the question of differential job expectations and differential rewards between men and women (8).

6. My experience in my workplace, where I've been for five years, [is] that power is in the hands of men, generally. STF-5:33-35
7. The top five [are all men]: President, Chancellor, and then the three VCs. And I've only seen two women in that. And I don't know all the details of what happened there. But some of what they were doing, I think if it were men —

   --Yes, right. Go for it.

   — that person is being real assertive, but because it was a woman trying to assert some of those things, it was Bitch, bitch. I mean, I really saw that. And there have only been two [women promoted to high level positions] that I've seen in the last six years. STF-6:3-13

8. I certainly did find myself doing much higher-level work than the man in the next office who had a different title than I did and was paid more. That has happened more than once. It's not at all uncommon. If you are a man, you will be expected to be promoted much more quickly. STF-9:41-46

By the same token, faculty women comment that, although the faculty as a group is perceived as powerful within the University community, faculty men continue to administer most academic departments and the university as a whole. As a result, faculty men wield more power and have more control than faculty women (9). Faculty focus group members also feel that the tenure system works against women (10), as do cultural "scripts" (11) and the current Faculty Course Questionnaires (12, 13). Burnout is also a serious issue for faculty of any rank (14).

9. I think one point that maybe is at least indisputable in our department, ... [is that] certainly the people who are at a high level, in [department] anyway, are all men. So if there are issues, gender issues that come up, there isn't a woman's voice in there. ... Partly, I think that that's because in this field it's just starting to get to the point where women are more and more involved in it. And so, you know, there aren't a lot of women who are 50, 60 years old who are doing the research, in this field anyway. So it may have just been, again, by default that that happened, that a lot of the more senior people are men, and so they are the ones who are in the higher positions. F8: 42-50, F9:1-5
10. A huge thing that operates against equality or women's rights in this university is the tenure system. ...You would have to be either the most arrogant person on earth or more sure or more morally driven or something pre-tenure to raise your voice against a male-dominated (situation) or even a situation where it's just the squeaky wheels. I think it's a real issue for women on this campus, the way the tenure evaluation silences, makes women afraid. F11: 23-29, 44-46
11. A lot depends on whether you reinforce their cultural expectations or challenge them. I reinforce them, because I am very nurturing, and I give extensions to everybody for everything. So they like me quite well. But I have a ... female colleague ... [and] she gets all these boys all the time challenging her .... She knows 10,000 times more than they do, and she has to spend her time defending herself against them, because she doesn't go with the script. ...[T]here is a very popular male instructor who calls the students by their last names, you know, Ms. so-and-so, Mr. so-and-so. He doesn't smile until October. And ... they give him A+s. But I know if I tried to do that, they wouldn't give me A+s. F37: 30- 44
12. For me the problem with it is that no matter what the animus is, no differentiation is made in the way [FCQ's are] used in evaluations ... It's a sham to say that the white male FCQs are just the same as the minority or the women's FCQs, that it's a fair standard of judgment. I know it's not the only one, but it is relied upon ... with some heaviness. Along these lines of no accountability, ... if you receive these FCQs — and I don't know how many of us have — the ones that are — that just have four-letter words or stay with your clothing ... , they're another form of discrimination that the university forces you to participate in. F 40: 18-31
13. You read these forms and they're horrible; ... a handful of them are hostile. And they're part of your permanent record, but you have this experience. And I called the FCQ office, and they said, Oh, most women don't read those anymore. ...They just look at the numbers. It's so painful and ... there are so many four-letter words and so many personal affronts that women have stopped reading these. That was from the FCQ office. F 40: 31-39
14. Burnout is probably the hugest teaching disease that there is and maybe the least researched. But [teaching is] exhausting, and it's high-pressure and demanding. People burn out. F35.30-33

Student focus group members corroborate the perception of differential expectations and rewards for faculty women (15, 16), and they concur with the faculty focus group members that classroom climate often reflects differential respect or recognition for faculty women and faculty men (17, 18). Students and colleagues have differing expectations for faculty men and women, both inside and outside of the classroom (19, 20, 21).

15. I know in other departments that [male] professors that I've had contact with ... generally receive a full professorship earlier and much more easily. It's a big complaint among female professors that I have had contact with. And their pay is often less as well. S5:49 -50/ S6:1-3
16. But they [women] definitely have to do more to become recognized than the male professors. S5:23 Æ24
17. There are a lot of times I would say that students would associate women with being teachers but men with being professors, because there is the nurturing aspect of being a teacher and then there is the academic respect that goes along with being a professor. S10:8 Æ12
18. Some of the things that I've talked to people about are the female teaching faculty, how they've been treated by students as far as not getting a lot of respect: being called by their first name, where male faculty are always called Professor so-and-so; being called things like bitch or having, you know, ... having them argue over points with you just in class or in your office, things that you shouldn't be challenged about or they feel a male faculty member wouldn't be challenged about. F 36: 30-39
19. I think students are more likely to come and complain to me about grades than they would to male professors. And they also expect me to be nicer to them than they do male professors. F 36: 42-45
20. I think my office mate, who is also a first-year post-doc — I feel like he ends up having to do less work than I do with the same students, because they all expect me to help, and ... they expect me to care. ... "You want to drop my class? Fine. I don't [have] to hear you for 10 minutes. Give me the paper." He doesn't have students spending as much time arguing for points. And it might be that sometimes I'm astounded by what people will say to any teacher, but I feel like if I just bought into the script. F 38:8Æ20
21. I've wondered whether this has something to do with my being a woman, that students seem to feel like they can tell me that their voice is as important as mine. I don't think they could say that to a male professor. We had a discussion in our department among the graduate students and said, "Hey, you guys, have you had anything like this?" " No." A lot of the female teachers, graduate teachers, are finding this kind of problem, that for some reasons students seem to be wanting to tell us where our place is. And that's not a very good climate for teaching. S 6: 40-50/ S 7:1

Lack of Female Presence

Lack of female presence on campus is a serious concern to many women. When the number of women in visible, upwardly mobile positions or positions of power is small, it negatively impacts promotions, individuals available to serve as role models. It also hinders the visibility of women's issues and concerns, and the number of women who can act as liaisons between departments and across campus divisions. Focus group participants indicate that a scarcity of women affects their studies, careers, and work life. Students note that a lack of female faculty translates into a lack of support for research into issues that are important to women (22, 23), and lack of representation and advocacy throughout the university (24).

22. I think there aren't enough female faculty members, so that if you want to do research on female concerns, the things that could touch on women more than they would touch on men, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of support for that. S4: 29-33
23. I wanted to work on [research related to] children, but I've just given that up, because there is no institutional support for it. It's not one of those interests that seem to be supported by the courses we take and the way the department defines itself. S4:39-43
24. I'm a research associate, and I think that in some ways the situation is maybe even worse [for research associates], in that for tenure-track faculty there oftentimes ... [is] at least one woman who is a full professor. For research associates, even for the men, there doesn't seem to be a voice in the university, and ... so that's bad to begin with. But then if you're a woman research associate, you're even lower, and so there is basically no advocate for ... the women research associates on this campus. F 14:9-18

Faculty women are aware of the tremendous expectations and workload placed on isolated women faculty, especially in mentoring women students. The lack of women available to mentor students and junior faculty members can contribute to higher attrition rates among senior faculty due to overwhelming demands (25, 26); some women faculty are shared between departments, which limits their presence and effectiveness in any one given unit (27).

25. Within a department, if you have ... one woman carrying the flag for you, it's impossible to do all of that plus keep up your end of teaching and research and ...what you're there to do. Because we have more female students than male, most of the female students would love to have a female faculty member as their mentor. Well, now you have more "mentees" than you can handle. Committee assignments, there are only so many women, and you try to balance your committees. You know, that was something I hadn't thought about until someone pointed it out: there are just too many ways to be stretched when you're one of the few, to try to carry that burden. F13.42-50, F14.1-
26. Of course ... when you are the only one, ... it's like being the only minority. You hear more. The students come in, seek you out, and then ... you get it all, you just get it all. F 30:28-3
27. In my department of [X], we have one very powerful senior woman, though she has split her time between [department X] and [department Y], so she's not as much of a presence in the department as she might be. But she's been very important to me, because she was the chair of my tenure committee and has been very much a mentor to me. F 10:10-1

Some participants report being made uncomfortable by the apparent contradiction between departments saying they want and value the diversity offered by women, and the reality that women are largely not represented in positions of prestige, power, or authority (28). In some departments, however, women note a positive atmosphere, in which they sit on committees and are respected by their colleagues, both male and female (29).

28. But I wonder also sometimes that why I feel not so comfortable in my department is this power dynamic, that I'm a post-doc and I'm here to be doing research and ... the only other women in the department are two women who teach [subject], [who] are never going to be tenure-track, have small children, and came here because of their husbands. And I almost feel like, yes, sure, you're saying you want us — that you want to be supportive of women or other people who are underrepresented in [this field], but then there is such a clear difference between the people who are serious researchers and then the women in the department. F 12: 32-4
29. I'd just like to offer a different point. One of the hats I wear is with a group of research faculty in [department]. And I'm the only female on that management committee. There are three other males. And there have been times where they have been sensitive to language ... not trying to offend females, so I would like to speak up for that. F12:16-2

The Glass Ceiling

Women, particularly in the professional exempt and staff focus groups, describe the "glass ceiling" for women at CU. Perceived as distinct from sexual harassment and overt gender discrimination, this glass ceiling prevents women from reaching their career goals (30), from having professional mobility within the University (31, 32), especially within the classified staff system (33), and from fully utilizing their skills (34).

30. I feel like I'm topped out. And the search to move, I find that very frustrating, I find that difficult. STF-9:1-3
31. I get a sense that there is sometimes not an opportunity to move within the university, and I don't know if that's just where my particular field is, but I get that sense, that there is nowhere else to go. If I wanted to try something different, that that may not be an option for me. STF-8:8-13
32. On an individual basis, I don't experience a whole lot of sexual harassment or even gender discrimination, but I feel like it's very institutionalized. ... In my current position, there is nowhere farther I can go in the college; I'm as high up as I can go as a female staff member. PEX-6:1-11
33. But the [flip side of the] security of [the classified system is] feeling stuck, [as if] they've got us very tied up and tied down with rules and regulations ... That also makes it difficult to move around in order to take advantage of other opportunities. You have to do some fairly creative things with staff personnel. STF-9:29-34
34. Those of us who are secretaries and have been doing it for 20 years, our college degrees don't really matter except that it allows us to clean up the syntax of the faculty. STF-6:34-37

Staff and professional exempt women also note a lack of career development opportunities (35), and a lack of opportunities to participate in higher level meetings (36). The glass ceiling presents itself as a real threat to the University's ability to hold on to experienced women (37).

35. And several of us have asked for ... some workshops, training, blah blah blah, and it's repeatedly been ignored. So there is some blind spot somehow that we don't need this. ... And we're saying, yes, there [are] enough women here. They are strong women and they have voices ... but not at the decision making levels. PEX-12:5-10
36. I think one confusing thing at CU is that there is such a hierarchy, and if you're down here, you're not supposed to go to the Board of Regents and present your plan, you're not supposed to go to the legislature, you can't go to CCHE. PEX-8:26-30
37. And I have definitely felt the frustration of not being able to move around at the university. In fact, I'm very much looking to leave the university right now because of that. I don't feel like there is anywhere for me to go. STF-10:21-25

Women also expressed frustration with the campus' lack of maternity policy, and noted the ways that maternity leave affects their careers (38, 39).

38. I would say that the benefit structure doesn't help maternity leave very much. It's always a problem for the supervisor to handle maternity leave and do it in a way that they're going to want to come back, because you don't get support from HR at all. Staff personnel just does not give any kind of flexibility: ..."What can we offer this person to make her want to come back? What can we do as far as temporary hirings ...?" STF-21:20-27
39. I think one of the things that actually went okay for me and some other people had trouble with was, the university doesn't have a uniform or ... established maternity policy. [An administrator] tried to set one up. I don't know how far she got. And I think she was kind of on the right track in that she wanted to make it very flexible so that you would pretty much be able to say what you wanted. And I think it would be helpful to know what your options are. And in my case, everything was fine. My son was born in May, so I had the summer off, and I kind of negotiated a good deal with my department without a lot of hassle. But it would nice to not have to think about it, to have some policy that you go to that says, "Here are your options." And it's up to you to negotiate with your department exactly how you're going to do it, because the department didn't know what to do either. F 28. 9-24

Climate

When asked about their general impressions about the climate for women at CU-Boulder, many women indicate feelings of ambiguity (40) and isolation (41). Women voice a need for more support, and connection to other women (42).

40. I can't say that I've actually myself experienced anything that I would feel is negative because I'm a woman. I would also have to say the situation is fairly unclear, though. This is the first time I've ever been involved with any group that, you know, is talking about the issues of women on campus. So I can't say that I'm very well informed. I have my own personal experiences, but I don't know about all the other women. F6:22-30
41. I'm pretty absorbed in my particular unit. But I would like to know more about the greater part, the greater piece, than my simple part of it. STF-5:40-42
42. There needs to be a support network in place. If you're going out there as a lone ranger, forget it, you know; but if you've got alliances within the job and also with an informal personal support network to kind of encourage you and bolster you, that's very helpful. PEX-36:14-18

Lack of Voice for Women

In all four focus groups, women reflect on the lack of voice for women on campus. Some women are concerned that women are often not heard or valued when they do speak (43, 44). Some wrestle with the perceived need to censor themselves to move ahead professionally (45, 46).

43. I think that's true, but some of my experience is that I do say things, and people don't care. ... I'm not listened to, I'm not heard. PEX-32:33-35
44. [Referring to a friend] and I knew what she was thinking. She is Latina. And when she joined the faculty here, to the extent that she's been able to join, ... somebody who was also a Latina, a more senior faculty person said, "You know, you're going to give up your interests and find the interests of the mainstream and get yourself heard." And it really hurt her, you know. "What's wrong with my interests?" S28:17-23
45. So you get stuck. Just so that you can get the voice, you have to give up your voice. And I think that that's too bad, and I think that that happens [here] on a regular basis. S 29:6-10
46. But if you don't stand up for something, what are you at the end of this seven years? Do you really want to be that person? Do you want a job badly enough that you're just going to accept anything and not — when women come in and they have these — for whatever reason, a difficulty or a problem, are you going to be like everybody else in your department and say, I don't believe you. You have a personality conflict. Go resolve it. Are you just going to get rolled over? And I think people have this decision to make: Do you just say, "Oh, well, call me [deleted], and I'll just let it go." I always worry about those costs. F33: 13-24.

Women are also concerned that, although they often engage in self-silencing, the protection of First Amendment rights on campus occasionally leads to speech that is hateful (47, 48). Conversely, women express appreciation of male colleagues who speak respectfully to them (49).

47. There is this issue that comes up in my department that the guys think they can say anything, talk down feminist theory, I mean, or anything, anything at all, and they're protected by First Amendment freedom of speech laws. That's what they will say. Well, I can call you this name, because it's my freedom of speech. And the Supreme Court has clearly said no to that, but, you know, faculty go into these arias. And I think some clarification from the university that that's an unsupportable position would also be really helpful. It's not about your First Amendment rights; it's just not about being able to say what you want, when you want. There are rules about these things. But, you know, I don't think everybody knows it. F 29: 18 Æ 31
48. People were talking about how it's so hard to be vocal when you're still up for tenure, but I think the flip side of that is that then some of these senior people can just say whatever they want, and I think that makes the atmosphere really uncomfortable for everyone, independent of gender. F32: 32-37.
49. It sounds like you just must work with the most insensitive guys, because my experience is so totally different. When I'm talking to men, I mean, granted sometimes they slip, but they always catch their slip. Now, maybe it's because I've turned bright red. But if they ever say anything that they think would be the least offensive, they're immediately apologizing profusely. F29: 34-40

Diversity and Discrimination

While women acknowledge that the university has publicly committed to including more diverse populations within its community, the reality does not always corroborate that commitment (50, 51).

50. I think the administration feels as if they're doing all these really good things vis-a-vis dismantling the old boy network, but the lower levels don't always ... feel it trickling down. ... I think time is on our side, because a lot of the old guard people have to retire eventually [and] ... the junior faculty are more diverse .... But it's a very long time to wait. F22: 48-50, F23: 5-6,10-12
51. It seemed to me that it [a diversity plan] actually kind of got stopped at the administrative level, and that it was the university who didn't come back and really say, Okay, now, you guys can go ahead and actually implement this. ... If the university administration does not tell a department or institute to do something like that, at least given the current nature of who's in control, it's probably not going to happen. There are too many other things that are high priorities, and unless, I think, people are told to actually do that, they're not going do it. F23: 36-45

Discrimination continues to occur on the CU-Boulder campus; focus group members particularly note the existence of discrimination on the basis of culture, gender, and age (52, 53), as well as stereotyping (54, 55, 56), both of which produce an implicit double standard.

52. It's culture and gender. I've come across people who just assume that, oh, being your ethnicity, being a female, you are this, quote, unquote, stereotype, this subservient type of person ... And I've run across that more times than I've ever seen on other campuses. PEX -7:8-14
53. I understand that from an age point of view. People think I'm still a student here, but I'm twice the age I was when I was here, but I just have that young look. And I get the feeling when people to talk to me, there is a certain, you're more part of the student culture, or you're younger and you're a woman. PEX-7:32-37
54. He said — this was his way of apologizing — I really want to say, I want to compliment you, because I couldn't make you cry. Usually when I deal with women, I'm able to make them cry. I got even more mad. I'm still carrying that around, and it's been about two years now. PEX-20:14-18
55. Well, there is a double standard, because a woman is seen as radical or liberal, or she's a bitch or she's outspoken or she doesn't know what she's talking about. But men who are very critical are usually acclaimed. S 20:49-50/S21:1-3
56. It was intentionally a support group. But after about a year or so, we were talking about something, and — I don't know, I was talking about something, kind of insecurity or concern about something, and I was looking for an adjective about how I was feeling. And he said "Needy." Ever since then, my whole attitude toward him has changed. I was crushed. PEX-35:10-16

Physical Safety and Boundaries

Safety assumes multiple guises on the Boulder campus. Students are particularly concerned with physical safety (57), whereas staff members express anxiety about economic safety. Staff positions often reflect a lack of clear boundaries or rules in the areas of behavior, economics and physically space (58, 59). The first expresses as the behavior required or expected of staff while at work, as well as their lack of ability to negotiate or refuse these often implicit requirements or expectations (60). Inappropriate economic boundaries involve expectations that staff members work overtime, often for less or no compensation (61, 62). And inappropriate physical boundaries occur as a lack of private space within the office environment (63).

57. But I think that as a woman I don't necessarily feel safe on campus after dark....And I think that they're negating the fact that women don't feel comfortable, and they're ignoring the fact that women don't feel comfortable on campus at certain hours, and I might not come to campus and have the same access to the resources here because ... I don't feel like my safety is provided for. S24:44-45; 48 -50/ S25: 1-3
58. One of the things we talk about a lot is boundaries. It's kind of a recurring problem for the people in my area. When is it okay to say no? And some people find that easier than others. The official policy is that we are there to be accommodating and to provide services, no matter how weird they are. STF 14: 15 Æ 20
59. That's interesting because it's made me think about how our front office [who] answers the phones and [where] all the students come into and we all come into constantly, and just realizing that that person doesn't have any space. Whoever is in there at that moment, their space is constantly invaded. ...If we make a private phone call, ... people hear, yes. That is a problem for the receptionist-type staff all the time; ...there really is no clearly defined boundary between you and your outside world or the people you're serving. STF-16:7-21
60. That means each one of us is having to set our own boundaries as we go, because there is no limit to the requests. If we do something well, then the next request will be something even more. So we are finding ourselves working for Administrative III salaries and creating Web pages, for instance. STF-14:24-29
61. A lot of the men I know, even if it's something that they enjoy, if they see it as being something that they should also be being compensated for, then they're much more likely to go for the compensation, whereas women are more likely to say, "Oh, I can fit that in and not worry about the compensation." STF 26: 30 - 35
62. Do you think those boundaries, when they are stretched, are because of the job or because of the gender? Well, again, I don't know, I can't tell. I do know that all the people I see having this problem are women. Women are less likely to have real clear boundaries to begin with, just because we are part of the greater society. ... We're inclined to say that we want to be able to do this for whoever is asking. STF-14:42-50
63. And they have offices and you have cubicles. Yes. That's one of the boundary issues: ... we have no space that is just ours. STF-15:18-21

Life Choices, Children, Child Care

Women note that life choices, and a lack of accommodation for these choices, also makes it difficult for them to advance. Women who have children are perceived as being held back in their careers and discriminated against because of that decision. Some are frustrated by a lack of child care options on campus because they perceive quality child care as necessary for them to maintain a rewarding career path (64, 65). Faculty members seem to have more flexibility in this regard (66).

64. But to me, that really is remiss, not to have a children's center for the employees on campus. And I've got to imagine that that maybe is because the administration is more male-dominated. I don't know. I mean, as a mother, that would have been one of my priorities .... There is nothing wrong with the children's center. It's great. The teachers are wonderful, they have great activities, they take great care of your kids. It's just that they're not financed highly enough to actually serve the university community. F25: 35-45
65. And why can IBM ... provide things like ... on-site day care? So if these companies are doing this, well, somebody needs to take a look at the university and say, ... "Because this is a business," and maybe provide something like that. PEX-23:44-50
66. And some of us are lucky. We can bring kids, and people don't — you know, if I bring my kids to work, I mean, I don't get as much work done, but at least nobody says, "Gosh, you know, your kids really can't be here." If I was in an administrative position, working in the front office or something, I don't think there is any way people in our department would go for it. F27.46-50,F28.1-2

The choice to have children resonates beyond the lack of daycare. For example, women students who are also mothers face additional challenges in the classroom (67, 68).

67. [Student mothers] seem to be taken less seriously, because the teachers or professors, assume that eventually they will just go home and stay at home with their children, so this is just sort of entertainment for now. This is only a hobby for them, because they don't really need to work. Yes. This is never going to really be a career, because you're a mother. S 31: 38 Æ 44
68. And therefore, we don't have to hold you to standards, and we will just let you get through. Besides, you're a nuisance, we need to get you out of here, because you can't do all the things that we ask you to do. This is always an issue, I think, for women with children. It's funny, because there can be ... graduate students who are guys with children don't get the same kind of brush-off [because they're perceived as being] here because they're going to have a career. They've got a family to raise. They get extra prestige and extra help. And — from what I've seen, the professors view it as more of a burden on themselves than they do on the students. The professors think "But I'm going to have to make special accommodations, I'm actually going to have to think about this student and their situation." S31:49-50/S32:1-16

Sexual Harassment

Focus group members believe that sexual harassment exists, that it is difficult to prosecute, and that potential victims are sometimes the targets of additional legal actions by the University and/or disappear from the University (69, 70, 71, 72). In some academic departments, harassment, particularly of students, is not directly or adequately addressed (73), whereas other academic departments actively pursue reported cases of sexual harassment (74). The possible decrease in incidents of sexual harassment may be due to lawsuits against the University (75, 76). Because some staff focus group participants seemed unaware of existing training, a lack of communication may exist concerning both the University's commitment to sexual harassment training for all staff and faculty and the consequences for ignoring or avoiding that training.

69. I did have someone come to me who said she was trying to support a colleague's allegations of sexual harassment, and an administrator tried to talk her out of that with the phrase, "Well, it wasn't like it was rape or anything." So it makes you know that you don't want to — I mean, talk about diminishing the woman's views of whatever action it was. She didn't say what it was. But you can see if two faculty people tried to do something and had an administrator look down on it, it must be horrible for a student to try to get through that. F19: 18-28
70. But it seems I've heard of multiple cases and I've heard of many people who have had sexual harassment cases and have just been absolutely tormented. Every single chance that there was to go to court, the university has taken them to court. STF 4:12-16
71. The other person had so much power. So she didn't feel like she was heard, and then just eventually kind of disappeared and left. STF-5:23-25
72. It's almost like, maybe, required training or something that people will just kind of have to go through and learn a little bit more about the issues, because I doubt if there are a whole lot of people who actually sat down and read the sexual harassment guidelines from beginning to end, and then even having done that, feel like they have a real clear handle on what's appropriate, how to deal with it if it happens to them or if they're accused of it. That might help some level of relations on campus, if there was a little more information about that. STF-22:4-13
73. At some point every single semester I've been here, frequently more than one, a young woman will come into my office in tears for the abuse she has taken in this class. And the department's response is inevitably to transfer the student out, you know, put like a wall between this faculty member and the student, get a different class, move the student over, make everybody be quiet about it. But I also know that the response is going to be just one more time not to, you know, actually deal with or discipline this faculty member but, in fact, to sort of support this behavior. So one after another — but then students are revolving doors; in other words, they're here but then they graduate, you know. So they're not still here with us, so I'm like on stage and the new student, she thinks it's never happened before, you know. F19:41-47,F20:1-8
74. See, our department wouldn't tolerate that. There is just no way. I mean, it just wouldn't happen. I don't know how ... pervasive it is, but I know there are other departments where it's probably true. But that kind of abuse of students, I don't see that happening at all in my department. F20: 22 Æ23, 26-34.
75. We have several male professors who won't close their office door to have a private conference with a female student because they just — they're very worried that anything untoward, if there aren't witnesses, could be used against them. They're also very insecure about what they can do. STF-21:40-45
76. But here in the university people are aware of what's appropriate and what's inappropriate, and I'm very appreciative of that, that I'm not having to dodge bullets. I think the recent lawsuits probably prompted the awareness. It wasn't always like that, I think. I think it depends on where you are, because I was a grad student for a while. In my particular department there was kind of a lot of lechery, towards female grad students especially, not that long ago. But I haven't experienced sexual harassment either, as a professional on campus. PEX-5:36-48

Strategies

When faced with challenges and problems, some of which have been enumerated and exemplified in previous sections, women adjust their styles and develop skills to cope with difficult situations. One focus group member no longer requests permission for her actions and decisions, instead she communicates clearly and unequivocally with her co-workers (77). Another describes how she counters inappropriate interruptions (78). When confronted with abusive language, some women are proactive (79, 80, 81), while others resort to effective escape mechanisms (82). Some women indicate that they choose carefully which battles they will fight (83), while others avoid conflicts as a strategy to get what they want (84). Some women continue to evolve, adapt, and even fight to create a tolerable working environment. While some are weary of the struggle (85), others are optimistic that the environment and situation for women at CU is improving (86).

77. On a personal level, within our division, on the whole I would say that my experiences have been very - personal situations are respected, and I've felt that long ago I went beyond the place of asking permission. I simply now say what I'm going to do and when I will. And generally that's respected. STF-11:28-37
78. [Men] do tend to interrupt a lot, and ... sometimes I feel like I've been run over. But I've had to learn to just sit there and keep starting to talk until finally they realize, "Wait, she's talking at the same time that I am." But once I can actually say something, they seem to be very respectful, which is nice. STF-18:20-26
79. I haven't been silent. That much is true. But I haven't ... really yelled at anybody either, such as I can recall. I've been yelled at, but I haven't yelled at anybody. My strategy ... in these arguments has [been to] take notes right under their noses; I take down every word they say. "Excuse me? Excuse me, I need that again." ... And then I just record it. And that stops people who are going to swear at you very fast, very fast. ...They can tell. "Where are you going with that?" And you just don't answer. You don't have to. That's it. Then they walk away. F34: 23-33.
80. You're going to choose who you are and how you're going to interact with your students. One thing you can do is say, I'll be glad to review your paper, but I may take off more points than give you back. Just write up a description of what's wrong with the grading and submit it to me. I don't want to discuss it until after I've had a chance to look at it. That usually cuts down the number a lot. It's up to you if you don't want them to come in. If you do — if you want to be nurturing and help them, that's great, because then you just say, Come on in. I'll be glad to go over it with you. F 38:22-33
81. ... strange thing. But there are times, I think, that when women do stand up for themselves that the men do notice and that they do respect you more. PEX-35-36:49-1
82. I dreamed of consequences. I had these fantasies of just letting everybody say what they wanted and then forcing them to write checks that would hurt just enough. Fine. Call me a bitch. $500. Call me again. $500. Thank you very much. I mean, it would stop if there were a consequence for swearing at you in your face. FAC. 35:6-11
83. If you're basically honest and direct, sometimes there will be retribution. And I guess I would say I'm a pretty direct person, and before I got tenure, I don't think I would have come out in a faculty meeting and said, "I think you're an idiot." But I wouldn't do that now either, because I just don't do that. So, you know, you choose your battles. If somebody calling you [deleted] bugs you, make it a battle. If it really doesn't matter to you, then don't. I don't know. It's nice when people make your life totally pleasant, and I guess everybody has their own level of horribleness that they can tolerate. F33:50, F34:1-20
84. Then you can go out and do those things [you really want to do]. But in the meantime, you're just going to have to knuckle under and do things so that someday further down the line you will have the chance to do what you really want to do. So I'm kind of taking it that way, but it still makes me feel as though I've given up too many battles just to win the war. S27:43-48
85. I don't think I want to — I don't think I want to fight this good fight anymore, ...I just want to get out of here. S30:45-47
86. But every time there is a change, I think, "That's the reward. Now I can move on, you know. There is a rule there. They're not going to do that again. They're not going to talk to anybody else like that." But it's hard stuff, it's really hard stuff. But you get very sensitive to other women's problems. And the changes come too slowly. But we'll see when this [report] comes out. I feel it's going to be good at the end. F49: 16-23

Methods

A subcommittee of CCW convened and ran the focus groups according to the guidelines in David L. Morgan's The Focus Group Guidebook. Stratified random samples from each of four groups (undergraduate and graduate students; classified staff; professional exempt; and faculty women) were selected to form focus groups. Most women were eager to participate. All of the women from the professional exempt and faculty groups who were initially contacted agreed to participate. Classified staff women were more reluctant to participate and several cited overwork or fear of retaliation as reasons to decline. The results from the small student group are hardly representative, but they nonetheless provide powerful observations that corroborate the concerns and themes expressed by the other three groups.

Each of the four focus groups met during the first half of March, 2000. Seven classified staff women, eleven faculty women, two graduate student women, and ten professional exempt women participated.

The subcommittee developed a series of questions that were used in each group as a way to open the sessions and to encourage women to describe their experiences at CU-Boulder:

• Opening Question (quick answer, icebreaker): "How many women were in the family you grew up in?"
• Introductory Question (Open ended, general focus on topic): "Do you interact more with men or women when you are on campus?"
• Transition Question (more depth, broader scope): "How would you describe the climate at CU for women?"

Three additional questions had been designed to elicit further commentary, but proved unnecessary. During all four sessions, women eagerly contributed and were deeply interested in the conversations. All four sessions were taped and full transcripts are available on request from CCW.