AWNings

The newsletter of the Academic Women's Network at Washington University

Vol. 3, No. 1 January 1994

Family Leave Policy Discussed at Fall AWN Dinner

The second AWN Fall dinner was held at Balaban's on November 15 and was attended by about 40 members. The format was slightly different from previous dinners in that no formal speaker had been scheduled. Instead, Ellen Li and Rosalind Kornfeld led a discussion of the maternity leave policy under consideration by the Executive Faculty. There was essentially unanimous agreement that women faculty should be guaranteed at least six weeks of paid maternity leave. This was particularly important for women in clinical departments as the work schedule they return to is physically demanding and often involves night and weekend call.

The AWN has been carrying out a dialog with Dean Peck and Dr. James Schreiber, chairman of the Family and Medical Leave Policy committee regarding our position on Maternity leave for women faculty. Dr. Schreiber's committee had originally been empowered to design a policy for academic staff and presented such a policy to the Executive Faculty. That policy had provisions for the use of paid sick leave for the purpose of maternity leave. The Administration, however, subsequently decided that the policy should apply to all employees and it is now likely that a minimalist policy, such as that mandated by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, will be put into place. The federal policy mandates 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the delivery or adoption of a child or for the care of a sick family member.

At their January 10 meeting, the AWN Board of Directors unanimously voted to send a letter to the Dean and the Executive Faculty reiterating our support for a policy that provides a minimum of 6 weeks paid maternity leave for women faculty.

A change in federal regulations will soon make a difference in how investigators can construct budgets for their federal grant applications. The change that will make the most immediate impact is that some items previously allowable as direct changes on grants will no longer be acceptable. The most expensive example is the direct charging of salaries of personnel such as secretaries. If you have been obtaining funding in your direct budget for secretarial or other administrative salaries, it will not be likely that you can continue to do so in proposals for grants to be funded after July 1, 1994. The only exceptions are for grants supporting very large programs (usually not RO1s) in which the work of the grant depends directly on a high level of administrative coordination (e.g. some clinical center grants), and in which the agency approves the justified salary as a direct line item.

Investigators need to anticipate and plan for these changes to the extent possible. Departmental budgets may not be able to absorb all of the cost from all of their investigators. One avenue to pursue is to attempt to relieve departmental budgets of other funding commitments through acquisition of offsetting federal funding on items that are allowable as direct charges, but have been previously paid by the department. Also, some non-Federal sponsors may permit charging of secretarial and other administrative costs.

The University administration and the School of Medicine are coordinating efforts on the implementation of the changes in federal regulations (referred to as changes to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-21). There will be more information available soon, and there will also be "town Meetings" during which the changes will be more fully explained. If you will be submitting a budget proposal for a grant that will start funding after July 1, 1994, ask your departmental administrator for more detailed information on the new A-21 Guidelines.

In connection with proposed changes in U.S. pesticide policy and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environment considered testimony from Members of Congress, scientists, environmental groups, and women's health advocates on the relationship between pesticides and breast cancer. At the October 21st hearing, experts presented evidence that exposure to certain common pesticides is associated with rising U.S. breast cancer rates, a worldwide decline in sperm counts, and widespread reproductive failures in wildlife. A number of pesticides have similar chemical properties to the female hormone, estrogen, which is thought to increase the risk of certain forms of cancer. While witnesses acknowledged that estrogen-imitating pesticides have not been proven to cause breast cancer, they presented a growing body of evidence linking the two.

Reps. Louise Slaughter, Elizabeth Furse, Karen Shepherd and other witnesses called for aggressive research to identify and understand the unique way environmental toxins interact in women. Pesticides may accumulate to a greater degree in women, who have a higher percentage of body fat than men. These toxins are potentially released during dieting and the hormonal changes of pregnancy, lactation, and menopause.

Rep. Louise Slaughter has introduced legislation (H.R. 3314) as part of the Women's Health Equity Act (WHEA) which would require a full study of all federal exposure and risk assessment techniques and policies relating to women's health. Another piece of WHEA (H.R. 3097), introduced by Rep. Elizabeth Furst would authorize the National Institute on Environmental Health Sciences to study the impact of environmental factors on women's health.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder introduced 2 other bills of interest to women's health: H.R. 3324 establishes a public information and education program for the prevention and treatment of eating disorders. H.R. 3247 prohibits female circumcision in accordance with the international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Author Deirdre English, in her New York Times review of the book, Mother Daughter Resolution writes "Surprise: feminists make better mothers." The authors, members of the Harvard Project on Women's Psychology and Girls' Development and The Ms. Foundation for Women, attest that raising the "new daughter" will be adventurous, disruptive and experimental for parents even as it is strengthening and freeing for the girls. "Success, as they see it calls for the parents' shared commitment to domestic equality, if their relationship is to survive feminist child rearing; a network of supportive women friends for the mother, a capacity for self-forgiveness, a robust sense of humor and a taste for irony." Who said motherhood in the 90's is easy!

Plans are currently being made for the 1994 AWN Spring Dinner. This year the speaker will be Terry Karl, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Stanford. Several years ago, Terry was involved in a sexual harassment case while working in Boston and she will discuss her experiences as well as her insights into academic advancement for women faculty. Terry will present her talk at 5 pm in Wohl Auditorium. A reception will be held before the talk in Wohl lobby. Her talk will be followed by the spring dinner, most likely held at a restaurant in the Central West End.

The format for this event has been changed from previous years to enable other members of the WUMS community to attend the talk. In addition, this will allow us to present the new AWN Award to Outstanding Female Medical and Graduate Students in a public forum. These awards to be given to an outstanding female medical and graduate student in their final year of training are being sponsored by AWN in an effort to underscore the achievements of female trainees. Seed money for this award was provided by Rep. Joan Kelly Horn who was not able to accept an honorarium for her talk at last spring's dinner and suggested that we use the money for a good cause. The awards, in the amount of $200, will be given at Terry Karl's talk, and the two students will be invited to attend the dinner. Nominations are currently being solicited and should be directed to Sherida Tollefsen, Chairman of the Promotion and Tenure Committee, Box 8116 (See form at end of AWNings.)

Barbara Cole, M.D. was received the "Attending of the Year" award from Pediatric residents for the 1992-1993 academic year. She was also elected to the sub-board of Pediatric Nephrology, American Board of Pediatrics, for a 6 year term.

Rosa Davilla, M.D. received a Distinguished Service Teaching Award from the WUMS medical students for the 1992-1993 academic year.

Mae Gordon, Ph.D. received a $3.8 million grant from the National Eye Institute to coordinate a nationwide study of the treatment of ocular hypertension that will enroll 1500 patients at 15 to 20 clinical centers. She will serve as director of the Coordinating Center.

Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D. received the 1993 Social Service Project Award during the annual meeting of the American Association of Diabetes Educators held in Atlanta. The award was shared with Wendy Auslander, Ph.D., associate professor of social work. The award is sponsored by the association and Eli Lilly. They received the $5000 award for their research on modifying the dietary patterns of low-income African-American women at risk for contracting diabetes.

Leslie Kahl, M.D. was named Associate Dean of Student Affairs effective October 4, 1993. She also received a Distinguished Service Teaching Award from the WUMS medical students for the 1992-1993 academic year.

Vita Land, M.D. has accepted the position of Executive Officer of the Pediatric Oncology Group and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Elspeth McDougall, M.D. was promoted to Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery.

Barbara Monsees, M.D. was named chief of a new breast imaging section in the Department of Radiology at Washington University.

Jane Phillips-Conroy, Ph.D. received a Distinguished Service Teaching Award from the WUMS medical students for the 1992-1993 academic year.

Linda Pike, Ph.D. received the Lecturer of the Year Award from the WUMS medical students for the 1992-1993 academic year.

Deborah Shure, M.D. was elected President of the American College of Chest Physicians for 1995-1996. She was also one of three WUMS medicine faculty members listed in The Best Doctors in America, a book recently published by Woodward/While Inc. of Aiken, S.C.

Jessie L. Ternberg, M.D. received the Aphrodite Jannopoulo Hofsommer Award presented to outstanding women physicians during the 75% anniversary of women's admission to WUMS.

Theresa Vietti, M.D. received the Aphrodite Jannopoulo Hofsommer Award presented to outstanding women physicians during the 75% anniversary of women's admission to WUMS.

Essentials of Writing Biomedical Research Papers by Mimi Zeiger, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1991. $37.

While this book is expensive, it is a very worthwhile purchase for individuals looking for help in writing up their research results. This book provides straightforward guidelines on word choice, sentence structure and paragraph structure, with examples culled from actual biomedical papers. Each section of the prototypical paper is also analyzed, from title, abstract, and introduction to figures and tables. Two types of exercises are featured.

"Whatever Happened to Rosie the Riveter" by Nancy Nichols, Harvard Business Rev., July-August 1993: 54-62.

During the five years that Rosie worked on the shop floor, productivity rose, product cycle time dropped, and quality improved. Yet by the war's end, women were reduced to less than 1% of all hourly factory employees. Even though women had proven themselves capable workers, once the men returned, the view that these were "men's" jobs reasserted itself. As such, Rosie was done in less by the individual men who came home than by the power of definition, a force that managerial women still face today. This author cites discouraging findings from recent studies regarding women managers' struggle to adopt a "masculine" style. Nonetheless, executives view women who seek flexibility for family responsibilities as not adequately committed and view women who perform as aggressively as men, as abrasive, unfeminine, and bad mothers.

A Hand Up: Women Mentoring Women in Science. Preface by Dr. Bernadine Health. Published by the Association for Women in Science. 1993. $19.

Women mentoring women help break barriers to career advancement. A Hand Up contains advice and reflections from accomplished women scientists as a means of dispelling many of the myths about mentoring and to encourage junior as well as senior scientists to become mentors to young women seeking specialized advice and guidance. Almost everybody can mentor somebody else. In addition to personal reflections and "how to" advice, A Hand Up contains an extensive resource listing of associations, books, and articles that will be of value to those wishing to become mentors or young women seeking a mentor relationship. Available from AWIS, 5122 K St. , N.W., Suite 820, Washington, DC 20005.

The popular AWN Parenting Resource Handbook will be revised shortly to ensure that the information is correct and up to date. If anyone has any comments, corrections or additions they would like to make in this handbook, contact Jo Seltzer at 362-8170.

Women entered Academic medicine with shorter periods of fellowship training and were less likely to be members in the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, but they had job descriptions similar to those of men, with similar allocation of work between research, clinical, and teaching activities. After adjustment, women and men were similar in the numbers of research grants funded as principal investigator (1.9 vs. 2.0), abstracts accepted (6.8 vs. 6.1), and papers published in refereed journals (28.8 vs. 29.2). Women were as likely as men to have tenure, but they had lower academic rank (full or associate professor- 33% vs. 47%) and received less compensation ($72,000 vs. $79,000). Although women do similar professional tasks and achieve similar levels of academic productivity, they receive fewer rewards for their work, both in academic rank and monetary compensation.

From: Ann. Int. Med. 119: 908-913.

The next brown bag lunch will be co-sponsored by AWN and the Office of Student Affairs at noon on Wednesday, January 26 in Cori Auditorium. The speaker will be Meg Haycraft, M.S.W., Director of Educational Services, The Cramer Institute, who will present a talk entitled "Professional Communication Skills: Application to the Ward, the Lab and the Home". Soda will be provided. All are welcome.

Between 1983-1993, the biggest increases in Women's representation university wide occurred at the tenured ranks of associate and full professor. Women now comprise 14% of all professors (up from 9%), 29% of all associate professors (up from 20%) and 42% of all assistant professors (up from 36%). However, in these ten years there has been essentially no change in the ratio of women's salaries to those of men. (From "The Annual Report of the Economic Status of the Profession", Academe, March-April 1993, pp. 8-13).

"Hillary Rodham Clinton has done more to make the American people feel comfortable with the concept of a woman with power than most of us have in 20 years . . . She's demonstrated to the Congress and to most of the watching world that a woman can be smart and kind and funny and respectful, all at the same time. Part of it, which doesn't take away from her one little bit . . . is that everybody's expectation level of women is so low . . . "

Lynn Cutler, former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee

Last modified: September 11, 2003