Although some improvement in opportunities for tenure and advancement have been made in recent years, women faculty in evangelical colleges still find serious difficulties in reaching full equality, according to Christianity Today magazine (Dec. 8).
Major problems exist on women’s equality within the Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), the major evangelical college organization. A dissertation on this subject by Marti Garlett of Claremont College found through interviews with over two dozen female academics that a major source of conflict is that male colleagues often were overtly unfriendly. Male students also told the teachers they “had a problem with a woman being in authority over them.”
Some students and teachers told the interviewers that a woman’s place was in the home, not the classroom. Across the country women found fewer opportunities for career advancement in evangelical colleges. Women teachers sometimes spent large amounts of time mentoring female students, which left less time for research.
Finally, women academics found opportunities limited because male colleagues identified their aspirations with the more radical phases of the women’s movement. Garlett suggests prospects for improvement were, at best, limited for the foreseeable future.
(Christianity Today, 465 Gundersen Dr., Carol Stream, IL 60188)
