AFW celebrates 50 years of advancing equity

The Association for Faculty Women is no ordinary networking group. It is arguably one of the most consequential organizations in Washington State University history-with the records to prove it.

The Association will be showcasing some of those records at an "Archive Unboxing" of historical documents on Monday, October 14, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at the Manuscripts, Archives & Special Collections on the ground floor of the Terrell Library in Pullman. It's part of a series of events throughout this academic year to celebrate AFW's 50th anniversary.

Among the records kept: evidence of how AFW members have helped increase the numbers of women faculty at WSU, establish a commission on women, and supported a gender equity lawsuit that transformed women's athletics in the entire state with impacts across the country.

"AFW came about for the purpose of camaraderie and advocacy. Rather than faculty women being isolated, by coming together, WSU women could support each other and advocate as a group with the administration," said Katie Forsythe, the association's current president and a WSU human development assistant professor. "There's room for improvement, but there have been some very important wins for AFW."

As part of its founding in 1975, the association set out to increase the numbers of women faculty, removing barriers to recruitment and retention of faculty, including a nepotism rule that prevented academic women married to other academics from working in the same department.

Alice Schroeder recalled that even after that rule was lifted many women were relegated to stereotyped roles.

"There were just so few of us, except for in women's physical education, the libraries, and home economics - that's where a lot of my fellow scientists were because that's where they could get jobs, even though they were actually chemists," said Schoeder, a WSU emerita genetics professor.

An early newspaper article shows WSU took some steps backward before going forward with 19 women faculty to 265 men in 1979, which dropped to 15 women to 274 men in 1985. Only one of nine top administrators was a woman. Today a lot has changed. According to the Office of Institutional Research data, women represented 55% of WSU's tenured faculty in 2023, as well as 44% of deans and central administrators - representing significant progress.

But these gains did not happen without a lot of persistence, perhaps no better exemplified than the Blair vs. Washington State University civil suit that sought to equalize athletic opportunities between women and men. AFW supported this gender equity lawsuit that was filed by women athletes and coaches of women's sports.

Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools, was passed in 1972, the same year the state of Washington passed an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). But since inequities continued, WSU women and coaches brought the suit in 1979. It was ultimately decided in their favor in 1987 based on the state's ERA, bringing changes to educational institutions across the state.

Sue Durrant, a former AFW president and a woman's volleyball coach at the time, recalled that then-WSU President William Terrell-whose name now adorns the building where the AFW archives are kept-said he knew the university was discriminating against women but that nothing could be done about it.

"We'd been through all the committees, and we'd done all these other things, but it was the administrators in 'Fort French,' they made the final decisions - except the courts can force them to do otherwise. So we didn't have any other choice," said Durrant who was a driving force behind the lawsuit.

While the court case was about athletics, it led to more progress, Durrant said, as the state legislature then required the university to evaluate a host of gender equity issues ranging from the numbers of women in various departments to resources in residential halls. Many of the AFW leaders also credit former WSU President Samuel Smith with being more open to change.

Thanks to the efforts of many people, there are more choices today, but work is not over, said Erica Austin, a WSU communication professor and former AFW president.

"We still see continuing issues, such as childcare and salary equity, that we saw from the start in 1975," said Austin who has also served as dean, vice provost and interim co-provost. "But we also have seen a lot of improvement over the years, and we certainly see a lot more engagement in the issues since AFW got its start at WSU."

The association is open to all faculty, staff and graduate students-and members do not have to be women. They just have to have a commitment to advancing women at the university.

Equity has progressed unevenly, Austin noted, with some departments having very few women in them-and AFW can provide much needed support and mentoring for individuals to advance their careers and improve the equity at the university.

"A continued, sustained advocacy is required," said Austin. "It's not like AFW could go away tomorrow, and everything would be fine."

For more about upcoming anniversary events and the association, visit the Association for Faculty Women's website.