An ASA Revolution 19691970

1
An ASA Revolution 1969-1970

• The Womens Caucus and SWS
• Kathleen Slobin, Ph.D.
• North Dakota State University

2
ASA 1905-1969 A Gendered Organization

• A gendered organization means that advantage and
  disadvantage, exploitation and control, action
  and emotion, meaning and identity, are patterned
  through and in terms of a distinction between
  male and female, masculine and feminine.

• Joan Acker 1988, p. 146

3
ASAs Single Woman President1905-1969

• 1952 First Woman President of ASA
• 1925 -- Ph.D. London School of Economics 1924
• 1948 -- First woman Professor of Sociology at the
  Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania
• 1970 Honorary Doctorate in Demography

Dorothy Swaine Thomas 1899-1977
4
ASAs Women Vice Presidents 1905-1969
1932 Neva R. Deardorff, 2nd 1939 Dorothy Swaine
Thomas, 1st 1942 Katherine Jocher,
2nd 1949 Dorothy Swaine Thomas, 1st 1950 Margaret
Jarman Hagood, 2nd 1951 Margaret Jarman,1st 1953
Jessie Bernard, 2nd
Thomas
Bernard
5

ASAs Women Council Members 1905-1969
Mabell Elliott, 1955 Mirra Komarovsky, 1969
Elliott
Komarovsky
6
An Immodest Proposal 1964

• There is no overt antifeminism in our society
  in 1964, not because sex equality has been
  achieved, but because there is practically no
  feminist spark left among American womenWe need
  to reassert the claim to sex equality and to
  search for the means by which it can be achieved
• Alice Rossi 1964, 26

• The Subjection of
• Women (1869)
• Analysis
• Legal change (1920) without institutional change
• Lack of alliances with other social movements
• Sociological, anthropological, and psychoanalytic
  ideas reinforce sex roles based on difference

7
PROBLEM THAT HAS NO NAME
THE PROBLEM LAY BURIED, UNSPOKEN for many years
in the minds of American women. It was a strange
stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a
yearning that women suffered in the middle of
the 20th Century in the United States
Betty Friedan 1963(1967), 11
8
PROBLEM THAT HAS NO NAME

• We were all boys together there was no other
  choice. The notion that women might have
  different agendas or interests or problems was
  unheard-of. The male model was the only one, and
  women had to adopt it...It now seems that the
  women who were uncomfortable in that neutralized
  role dropped out...So in the end, I was the only
  women in my cohort who completed the Ph.D.
  program.

Arlene Kaplan Daniels, UC Berkeley Graduate
Student 1952-1960
(in Orlans and Wallace 1994, 30)
9
PROBLEM THAT HAS NO NAME

• the men students had twice as much opportunity
  during the week and an extra day on the weekend
  to do the reserve reading. Having no analysis,
  let alone a label to characterize sexist
  practices, none of the women students, myself
  included, directly challenged this arrangement.
• Evelyn Nakano Glen,
• Harvard Graduate Student, 1960s

Glenn
(Laslett and Thorne 1997, 73-74)
10
The Personal Becomes Political Collective Action
1960s
1970
1921-1982
35/15
Alice Paul 1920
11
Collective Action into 1970s
National Organization of Women 1966
National Abortion Rights Action League
Roe v. Wade 1973
12
Collective Action into 1970s
In the spring of 1969, a group of us met at a
womens conference in BostonFor many of us it
was the first time we had joined together with
other women to talk and think about our lives and
what we could do about themwe took part in a
small discussion group on women and their
bodies. Preface, Our Bodies Ourselves 1973
13
The Womens CaucusDe-Gendering the ASA

• ASA Convention San Francisco
• August 31-September 4, 1969

14
The Narrative Isnt there something we can do?

• Preceding Events
• Black Sociologists Caucus, 1968
• Berkeley Womens Sociology Caucus
• Radical Womens Caucus of the Sociology
  Liberation Movement
• Letters calling for political action
• Survey of Sociology Department Chairs Gender
  distribution of graduate students and faculty at
  all ranks

Hochschild
Sells
Rossi
Bart
Roby
15
Planning for ASA in San Francisco
Memoranda 1) More women on
Council 2) More women on major journal
editorial and advisory boards 3)
Establishment of a Womens Caucus newsletter
in American Sociologist 4) Periodic surveys
to assess the status of women students
and faculty

• Printing posters and leaflets
• Writing position papers to sell at Womens Caucus
  Table
• Drafting preamble and resolutions for ASA
  Business meeting
• Drafting memoranda for Council, Publications and
  Nominations Committees

16


The Survey
Sociology Grad Department Faculty by Sex and
Type1968-1969
Number
Rossi. 1970, p. 6
17
Full-Time Academic Rank by Sex
1968-1969
Percentage
Rossi. 1970, p. 7
18
Ph.D.s Granted in Sociology by Sex
1966-1971
Number of PhDs
Year
Status of Women in Sociology 1968-1972, p.
9 Earned Degrees Conferred, Office of
Education, US Dept. of HEW
19
Ph.D.s Granted in Sociology by Sex
1966-1971
Number of PhDs
Year
Status of Women in Sociology 1968-1972, p.
9 Earned Degrees Conferred, Office of
Education, US Dept. of HEW
20
Conflict at the ASA Meeting 1969
Glide Memorial Church Berkeley Womens
Caucus Radical Womens Caucus
San Francisco Hilton ASA Womens Caucus
Caucuses and Confrontation
21
At the ASA Business Meeting

• Rossi reads the Preamble and the Ten Resolutions
  Sept. 3, 1969.
• Someone moved the question thus precluding any
  discussion resolutions pass by all except two
  voting members. (Rossi 1985, 3)
• Council later in the day votes to endorse
  resolutions and send them to sociology
  departments urging serious attention
• Preamble and Resolutions are published in
  American Sociologist, Pp. 63-65.

22

The Resolutions
1. That every sociology department give
priority to the hiring and promotion of
women faculty 2. That equitable stipend support
be given to graduate students regardless of
sex 3. That sociologists collaborate with
othersin proposing and assisting in the
establishment of day-care centers 4. That women
sociologists be given the encouragement and
the support to establish new courses on the
history of women 5. That sex inequality be added
as a topic to all courses 6. That flexibility
guide the appointment of both men and women
to department faculties 7. That women
sociologists be added as rapidly as possible to
all committees, advisory or editorial
boards 8. That sociology endorse the principle
of parenthood leave and family sick
leave 9. we urge the field to dispense with the
patronage system of employment and
substitute a strict adherence to an open
employment system based on performance 10. we
urge the Council, the Editorof The American
Sociologist, to establish a new sectionto be
entitled the Womens Caucus Newsletter
1970,
The American Sociologist 563-65
The Resolutions
23
Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS)

• Consolidating the Momentum
• Womens Caucus Washington D.C. 1970
• SWS at Yale 1971

24
The Founding Mothers

• Alice Rossi
• Emily Allman
• Jessie Bernard
• Rue Bucher
• Pauline Bart
• Arlene Kaplan Daniels
• Arlie Hochschild
• Joan Huber
• Betty Kirchner
• Joan Mandel
• Marcia Millman
• Michelle Patterson
• Athena Theodore
• Gaye Tuchman
• Lenore Weitzman
• Charlotte Wolf
• Others

Hochschild
Daniels
Rossi
Huber
Millman
Weitzman
Bernard
Bart
25
Transforming the ASA Womens Caucus
Washington, D.C. 1970

• Striving for a quasi-independent organization of
  sociologists focused on the status of women
  professionals and society
• Envisioning an activist organization to achieve
  gender equality
• Constitution
• Elected Officers
• Committees

26
Meeting at Yale -- 1971

• Twenty women who had signed up at the Washington
  meeting of the Womens Caucus met at Yale
  University February 12-14 to work out a format
  for the organization to succeed the caucus.

Jessie Bernard, 1971(1980), p. 4.
27
Issues at Yale The Fundamental Nature of the
Organization

• Struggle between Radicals v. Liberals
• A formal Constitution
• A Committees on Social Issues, Jobs and
  Discrimination
• Power and Participation
• The Name
• Rejected Association for Women in Sociology
• Finally a compromise, Sociologists for Women in
  Society (SWS)with laughter

Jessie Bernard, 1971(1980)
28
Look at the changes at ASA and at Universities
1980,1985, 2000.
1980
1985
29
ASAs Women PresidentsSince 1970

Mirra Komarovsky 1973
Alice Rossi 1983
Matilda White Riley 1986
Joan Huber 1989
Maureen Hallinan 1996
Jill Quadagno 1998
Barbara Reskin 2002
Cynthia Fuchs Epstein 2005
30
ASAs Women Vice Presidents Since 1970
1991-2005 Lynn Smith-Lovin Bernice
Pescosolido Caroline Hodges Persell Nan
Lin Patricia Roos Cora Bagley Marrett Myra Marx
Ferree Karen Cook Barrie Thorne Jill
Quadagno Doris Y. Wilkinson Barbara Reskin
1970-1990 Edna Bonacich Rose Laub Coser Joan
Huber Renee C. Fox Helen MacGill Hughes Alice S.
Rossi Suzanne Keller Matilda White Riley Mirra
Komarovsky
31

ASA Council Members-at-Large
Dates of Election

• 1970-1980
• Rose L. Coser
• Rita J. Simon
• Pauline Bart
• Elise Boulding
• Arlene Daniels
• Cynthia Epstein
• Joan Huber
• Helen M. Hughes
• Helena Lopata
• Joan Moore
• Pamela Roby
• Alice Rossi
• Suzanne Keller
• Ruth Useem

• 1981-1990
• Joan Aldous
• Judith Blau
• Edna Bonacich
• Elaine Burgess
• Francesca Cancian
• Lois DeFluer
• Nancy DiTomaso
• Marie Haug
• Barbara Heyns
• Rosabeth Kantor
• Joanne Miller
• Valerie Oppenheimer
• Jill Quadagno
• Barbara Reskin
• Roberta Simmons
• Theda Skocpol
• Jacqueline Wiseman
• Harriet Zuckerman

• 1991-1995
• Janet Lippmann Abu-Lughod
• Joan Acker
• Margaret L. Anderson
• Wendy H. Baldwin
• Janet Staltzman Chafetz
• Patricia Hill Collins
• Myra Marx Ferree
• Cheryl Townsend Gilkes
• Evelyn Nakano Glenn
• Sarah Mc Lanahan
• Phyllis S. Moen
• Silvia Pedraza
• Carolyn C. Perrucci
• Harriet B. Presser
• Patricia Roos
• Ida Harper Simpson
• Doris Y. Wilkinson
• Maxine Baca Zinn

32
ASA Council Members-at-Large Dates of
Election

• 1996-2000
• Catherine White Berheide
• Diane R. Brown
• Linda Burton
• Nancy Denton
• Paula England
• Carol C. Marks
• Barbara Risman
• Lynn Smith-Lovin
• Ann Swidler
• Linda J. Waite
• Pamela Barnhouse Walters

• 2001-2004
• Rebecca Adams
• Kathleen Blee
• Esther Ngan-Ling Chow
• Jennifer Glass
• Deborah King
• Ronda F. Levine
• Ann Shola Orloff
• Nan Lin
• Diane Vaughan
• Min Zhou

33
More Changes at ASA

• Committee on the Status of Women in Sociology
• Provides periodic reports on women in the
  profession
• Analyzes baseline data on students, faculty,
  tenure, promotion, and chairships
• Section on Sex and Gender
• Largest ASA section
• Currently 1035 members

34
Ph.D.s Granted in Sociology by Sex
1966-2001
1970
Number of PhDs
Year
ASA Committee on the Status of Women, Draft 2004,
p. 5
35
Percent Female by Academic
Rank 1969-2002
1970
Percent
Year
ASA Status of Women 2004 (Draft), p.
9 Cross-sectional data from different sources
36
Continuing Challenges in the Profession
Appointment of Sociologists to New
Positions
2000-2001
TT Tenure Track
ASA Cohort Survey in ASA Committee on the Status
of Women, Draft 2004, p. 8
37

Continuing Challenges in the Profession
Assistant Professors Who Left Academic
Positions 2000-2001
32 (36)
58 (64)
ASA Survey of Baccalaureate and Graduate
Programs in Sociology, 2000-01. See Status of
Women Report, 2004, p. 10
38
Personal Agency Collective Action

• Barbara Lassett and Barrie Thorne reflect over
  the sources of change Our efforts, with all
  their limitations and flaws, reflected purposeful
  action, inspired by values of social justice and
  equality, infused with powerful feelingsand
  enacted through conscious activity.
• (1997, p. 7)

39
Personal Agency Collective Action

• Yet, Myra Ferree and Beth Hess warn of forgetting
  that collective efforts were essential in
  producing these gains such systematic
  discrimination could never have been reversed
  simply by individual requests for special
  exceptions the rules themselves had to be
  changed.

Roby 1992, 20
40
Appreciations

• Mary Zimmerman, University of Kansas
• Judith Lorber, Graduate Center, CUNY
• Patricia M. Lengermann and Jill
  Niebrugge-Brantley, Washington University
• Carla Howry, ASA
• Michael Murphy, ASA
• Founding Mothers of SWS and all those who
  continue to work for gender equity in sociology
  and society
• References, See Attached