Ϲ Women's Caucus, formed in 1974, is an organization of approximately 350 women united to support women in their careers and personal lives. For the past 50 years, the Caucus has celebrated women and championed equal treatment in salary, rank, tenure, promotion, research leave and responsibilities.
Starting with a retrospective at the Perry Library in the spring and concluding with a gathering to support the women’s basketball team at Chartway Center this week, the Women’s Caucus spent the past year celebrating its history at Old Dominion. As the year winds down, Ϲ News talked with three members about the importance of the group.
Jenn Grimm, executive director of the Center for Career & Leadership Development and president of the Women’s Caucus, has been involved with the group for six years. She is proud of what the group has accomplished over the last half century.
“The Women’s Caucus has two primary functions: one is advocating for policies and procedures that are going to contribute to an equitable climate for women on campus,” she said. “The other piece – that's equally important – is recognizing and celebrating the contributions of women and creating a sense of belonging for the women who are part of the Caucus.”
She said over the past 50 years, the organization has made strides in equitable pay and campus safety and helped establish sexual harassment policies and on-campus childcare.
This was the first year that Women’s Caucus membership was open not only to instructional faculty and administrative professional faculty, but also to classified and hourly staff members. Also, many new members joined this year following the integration of Eastern Virginia Medical School into Ϲ to form Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Ϲ.
The group offers the first year of membership for free. Once new members sign up, they receive the newsletter and invitations to special events, including professional development workshops held in the spring.
As an example of the spirit of the Caucus, Grimm pointed to the retired colleagues who stay involved.
“The welcome back luncheon in September had many Women's Caucus alumni who came back to campus because it means so much to them,” she said. “I think that's just a sweet thing that captures the community and the buy-in for the Caucus.”
Holly Gaff, professor and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, described the Women’s Caucus as a unique group of powerful women that maintain focus on issues that are important to women.
“The Caucus formed to address inequity in pay. And I think that was the first place that got attention easily because of the clear data that was involved with inequitable pay by some female faculty members who then created this Caucus to address that issue,” she said. “Ironically, that's still one of the issues that we face today. It’s a perennial problem to keep an eye on.”
Having worked at other universities, Gaff said Ϲ has set itself apart with its support of women.
“To have the Women’s and Gender Equity Center, a Women’s and Gender Studies department, and the Women's Caucus active on the campus for such a long time is very unusual,” she said. “The active, engaged nature of this group, with the ability to actually affect change, has been really exciting.”
Gaff said the group is working to address other issues that disproportionately impact women on campus like stop-the-clock policies regarding tenure.
She explained the latter policy as pausing the tenure clock for major life events like the birth of a child, giving all employees a one-year extension on their timeline to earn tenure.
“That policy has been very helpful for men and women to be more successful. The five-year period of waiting for tenure turns into a six-year period. Every minute is priceless. That's been very helpful to ensure those type of life events don't disrupt that,” she said.
Ruth Triplett, professor and chair of the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, has been a member of the Women’s Caucus for all of her 25 years at Ϲ.
When asked about her role on the board, Triplett said, “The board is structured in a very egalitarian kind of way, so I have had different tasks over the years. Most of the people on the board who've been there any amount of time have been president. One thing we do that is unique, is we elect our president a year before the year they're going to serve, so that they know what's going to come up.”
Triplett is proud of the past and excited about what the future holds for the Women’s Caucus.
“The group is growing and changing to meet the needs of women on campus. We made the expansion to a broader group of women and regarding the need for the three basic things —salary, childcare and safety — it will be interesting to see what other issues come to the forefront as we incorporate more women who work at Ϲ into the group,” Triplett said.