Background

Stanford University has made substantial progress in increasing the representation of women in faculty and leadership positions over the past quarter century. However, ensuring gender equity in the academic workplace remains a challenge for higher education in general and Stanford in particular.

To enhance the university’s ongoing efforts to address gender issues, Stanford’s Provost, John Etchemendy, appointed a Provost’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women Faculty (PACSWF) in 2001. The creation of the Committee followed a conference of the presidents of nine leading research universities, including Stanford, to promote gender equity for female faculty in science and engineering. The university presidents pledged to evaluate their own university’s progress on this issue and share their findings.

The findings of the Committee included recommendations on recruitment practices, retention strategies, compensation and support, academic climate, family, work, and related issues, and accountability, research, and analysis, all of which are summarized in the PACSWF report.

One of the recommendations in the area of academic climate, family, work, and related issues was to create a forum for female faculty, along the lines developed at other universities. Accordingly, the Faculty Women’s Forum was founded in Fall 2004. The FWF has held numerous events for Stanford women faculty and will continue to address their concerns.