Stories from Our Campus: Taking a Closer Look at Gender Equity

In March, we celebrate Women’s History Month in the U.S. and  International Women’s Day  (March 8) more broadly speaking. These observances are to honor the achievements of women and their contributions to national and global efforts that often go unsung. In addition, it is time for us to take a deeper look at the biases and discrimination that put unnecessary burdens on women—in both our classrooms and workplaces—while learning effective ways to challenge and transform discrimination in higher education by acting as allies and advocates for gender equity. One way we can educate ourselves is by listening to and reading what other renowned scholars or professionals have to say about allyship and advocacy for women, yet we don’t often get the opportunity to hear from the women on our very own campus. In this episode, we’d like to share some salient quotes from IUB women, particularly about how they experience bias and equity on our campus and examples of effective allyship that benefited them.  

For those of you who would like to learn more about effective allyship to create meaningful and supportive working and learning environments for gender equity, check out our upcoming workshop on Avoiding Common Traps in Allyship!   

The Stories of Women at IUB: Gender-based Biases

These remarks* were submitted by the members of Indiana University Bloomington Campus).  We hope that by giving these stories space to breathe, we can reflect on how we all could have done better at some time or another, not only for the target person or group of the bias or inequity situation but for the many future students, staff, colleagues, and friends that will be affected if we don’t take steps to improve the social climate.  

“I was once asked, ‘Why do you have to go and show off every day? No man wants to marry a know-it all.’"  

“Implied that I was only in a STEM field because it was male-dominated, and it would be easier to ‘find a mate’”  

“Gave me a 30-minute lecture on how I was a sh**** grad student, telling me that because I was a woman I had to work harder... and that this was especially true because I was a Hispanic woman.”  

“Banning students from going to the restroom. Though unsupportive for all students, it's particularly unhelpful to people on their periods.” 

“I wrote about many of these instances in my review for his class, as I am sure women before me have, yet he continues to make remarks about women "knowing how to raise a family" or "that is a housewife task."  

 “I had a math teacher who sighed every time I asked a question in his office hours. I thought it was that he didn't like his job, but one day I listened to him eagerly answering a male student's (somewhat more advanced) questions, and I wondered if my gender had something to do with it.” 

“Drawing attention to gender unnecessarily in the context of class discussions or lectures with phrases like "This might be of interest to the females in the room..." or "What do you women think?"  

“[After all these biases]… I'm looking for a new job, out of academia, now. Kind of sad as I have worked in several academic labs in my career and thought that might continue.  Not anymore."

The Stories of Women at IUB: Effective Allyship

These quotes describe how men on our campus can practice effective allyship here at Indiana University. While we keep up the good and hard work already being done by allies at IUB,  we also hope these stories can be  shared and that such positive situations can be replicated widely to create supportive and equitable environments for our women students and colleagues.  

“Making sure woman are included in the conversation without tokenizing us.”  

“A male faculty member regularly sends out information on current CEWT occurrences.”  

“He always gives me (and other students, male or female) credit where it's due, insisting that my name be the first author on my papers and projects.”  

“I have also had male faculty members encourage me not to be afraid to ask questions, to stick up for myself in discussion, and to know that it's okay to be assertive. It can be difficult at times to navigate academic settings if you don't feel like your thoughts and opinions are being valued and knowing that the support is there is helpful and confidence-boosting.”  

“I have had male faculty members help me navigate group discussions in situations where others were not acknowledging my points or talking over me. For example, there was a situation where I made a point after a talk and another faculty member interrupted me to say pretty much the exact same thing I was saying. A male faculty member jumped in and steered the conversation back to a place where I could be involved.”  

“One professor that went above and beyond consistently highlighted female achievement in the history of the subject (programming) and explained how these discoveries had been obscured through cultural narratives. He did this repeatedly throughout the semester in a professional manner. He also explained to the male students in the class that these cultural narratives were untrue and hurt both men and women.”  

“Freshmen year, my honors engineering professor intentionally put two or more women in a group together to give us a support system and encourage us to speak up in meetings.”  

“On a course syllabus, a male faculty member this semester provided detailed information on sexual assault procedures, confidentiality, and his requirement to report. While this is not a female-only issue, it does disproportionately affect women.”  

*These remarks were collected through three surveys done on the IUB campus in 2017. The surveys were conducted by CEW&T and its affiliates, asking the members of IUB to share their experiences of gendered and racialized microaggressions and biases on campus and effective support for them to persist through the discrimination.

See our Archived Ally Tips

Learn more about Advocates and Allies for Equity

Weekly Resources

  • Article: What’s Really Holding Women Back? –This article reveals the gap in the commonly-used narratives of why women leave their jobs by the company and the actual reasons why they leave their jobs based on data. The article also sheds light on the history of how current male-dominant corporate cultures have been established.

  • Video: Fly with Me – This is a documentary series that tells the story of the pioneering women who became flight attendants traveling independently when women were unable to order a drink, eat alone in a restaurant, or own a credit card. This series highlight different stories of the pioneering women flight attendance and their battles to assert gender equality and transform the workplace.

  • Article: Women are the Backbone of Nation Building – Can you imagine a world without women? Women are the equal partners of building the nation, yet their roles have been greatly underappreciated. This article addresses how women has been the pillars of the national building in the U.S. 

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