10
Thursday, March 3, 1977
University Dally Kansan
More women in graduate school
By KATHY GANNON
Staff Reporter
The number of women receiving doctoral degrees at the University of Kansas has increased during the last few years, despite the lack of support, according to some KU women.
The number of women receiving doctoral degrees increased from 39 in the 1969-70 school year to 61 in the 1975-76 school year—up 56 per cent.
In the same six-year period, the number of men earning doctoral degrees decreased 27 per cent, from 229 in 1968-70 to 181 in 1975. The number of women earning doctoral degrees then decreased during this period.
Kathy Dugan, a Ph.D. candidate in history and a member of the executive committee of the Graduate Student Council (GSC), said, 'Women (graduate students) receive less positive encouragement than men.
"Graduate school demands a lot of drive.
It's easy for a woman to drop out if she feels she has alternatives, such as getting married."
She said it was socially more acceptable or women to quit school than for men to do so.
Dugan has been in graduate school seven years.
Ellen Reynolds, a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology and a former executive coordinator of GSC, said, "Graduate school is a hard row to hoe for men and women. You have to constantly analyze, criticize and defend yourself."
"I'm constantly amazed at the paternalistic and dictatorial attitudes of some women," he said.
Perhaps some women can't deal with these attitudes as well as men, she said, because the socialization of women teaches them to be unassertive.
Women enrolled in the upper division of
the Graduate School increase 93 per cent
from 58 to 71.
By contrast, male enrollment increased 17 per cent during the same period.
Total enrollment in the upper division increased from 1,480 to 2,019 or 36 per cent. The Graduate School as a whole increased 47 per cent—from 3,434 to 5,069.
Admission to the upper division of the Graduate School requires the completion of 30 graduate hours, which usually is the number of hours necessary for a master's degree. Generally, students in the upper division are working on their doctorates.
The biggest decrease of women graduate students occurs after the master's degree level. Fewer women than men continue graduate work in the upper division.
In the fall of 1976, 52 per cent of lower division graduate students were women. In the upper division, women comprised 36 per cent of the total enrollment.
Lynn Brett, executive coordinator of
SCS, dropped out of graduate school after
graduation.
"I began to think less and of pursuing a "doctorate right away," she said. "My faculty advisers painted a gloomy picture of job possibilities in my field."
Bretz returned to graduate school this semester and is working on her master's
Breta, Dugan and Reynolds gave varying reasons for the drop-out rate among female
Dugan said a professor once told her married women didn't belong in graduate school.
"But men are expected to get married and be dedicated to their professions at the age of 20."
Reynolds, who is 6 a year old son, said,
"The town and the University aren't gared
for it."
Her son gets out of school at 3:50 p.m.
every day, but she often has classes until
4:30 or 5:30 p.m. Because of this, she said,
a new day care service was needed.
Dugan said women got tired of graduate school faster than men did because women didn't have as much support from family and friends as men.
Another advantage for male graduate students, she said, is that some men have written a letter of recommendation.
"I wish somebody would do MY laundry," she said.
Dugan said a majority of faculty members were male, which made female graduate students question whether they would have a fair chance to succeed in their job.
Bretz said, "We're beginning to see a few more good role models, but we need to see more women full-professors who have the wisdom and prestige of their male counterparts."
Dugan said professors sometimes supported male graduate students rather than female graduate students because, they said, women got married, moved away with their husbands and didn't use their degrees professionally.
This attitude eliminates both women who are serious about their careers and those who are not.
Bret said, "Now that I've returned to school, I notice that things have changed, not enough, but they've changed. Before, few professors seemed to take women seriously as students and especially as future scholars in their field.
"To express commitment and independence was to violate the tacit understanding of how the female graduate should behave, as much easier to be quiet and unassertive,"
Den Wilcox, state epidemiologist, said yesterday that despite earlier reports, no cases of the syndrome had been reported in Douglas County. Three reported cases, for children in Topeka, Manhattan and Kansas City, he treated at the KU Medical Center. He
Douglas county reports no Reye's syndrome yet
No cases of Rey's syndrome, a rare complication of the Hong Kong flu, have been reported in Lawrence, although three new cases have been reported in the state.
health services at Watkins Memorial Hospital, said yesterday that two cases of Hong Kong type B-b flu had been confirmed in January, but that the students have recovered.
The number of students treated for colds and influenza viruses has increased, but there are still many other infections.
Martin Wollmann, director of student
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