posal for Employment Equity Policy

repared by

‘WJ Eliot, President

|. Percival, Faculty association

_Sentance, Faculty association / Smitheram, Dean of Arts

‘ ory by Chris McCarron The following is a brief summary of the information aken from the above source.

The case for the pursuit of greater gender equality at UPEI rests on at least 4 compelling arguments: mission fulfilment

equitable treatment for women

_ the federal contractors program

|. the current imbalance in gender distribution of faculty positions at UPEI.

fission fulfilment; The university had recently newed its commitment to a series of goals, the slowing are particularly relevant to the equity issue. _ To promote excellent instruction,, recognizing the crucial role of the instructor in developing a respect and enthusiasm for knowledge. 2. Toprovide an environment conductive to the personal development of each member of the univer- sity, students, staff, and faculty, and to encourage all nembers to accepta shared responsibility for that environment. |. To recognize the importance of moral discernment in the use of knowledge, and to provide an environ- nent where in personal integrity and responsibility may grow. 4. To provide the human, physical, and financial sources that best assist the university in the acl ievement of its mission.

fcan be argued that pursuit of an employment equity Ogram is not only consistent with but enhances the ainment of all of the university's goals.

hen women students, who are now in the majority ind that in many departments they have neither

male role models nor advisors who can counsel;

em on their studies or on the realities of careers for Hmen, no female perspectives to amplify course perience, and no female instructors with whom to wlalize it hecomes apparent that we may be failing Min an important respect, Nor do we serve male nts well by not offering them part of the diver-

March 26, 1992

sity of knowledge and experience that comes with an appropriate mix of gender influences.

Systemic discrimination in academic institutions hasa lasting affect on hiring simply put, while those given responsibility for selection openly acknowledge their reliance on apparently objective factors that seem both to offer close correlation with academic excellence, such as marks, degrees, numbers of papers published orcourses taught, and to offset possible subjective considerations. There is no similar recognition that selectors look for characteristics on successful candi- dates that are typical of themselves and their col- leagues. And since, the deciding group, is and will continue to be for some time, predominately male, female candidates are and willremain, ata disadvan- tage.

Employment equity is about removing such barriers whether they be deliberate or unintentional. Itis not about discriminating against males though some of the advantages men have had may disappear. It is not about sacrificing quality, only qualified females are to be hired.

The Federal Contractory Program: Underthispro- _ gram, institutions employing more than 100 individu- als and wanting to bid on contracts of at least $200,000 in value, must commit themselves to em- ployment equity. UPEI meets the first condition, and with the addition of the Faculty of Veterinary Medi- cine, we are involved in larger contracts with govern- ment agencies. Six universities in the Maritime have joined the program along with another 25 in the rest of Canada.

In 1990-91 the full time faculty at UPEI numbered 184 persons, composed of 154 men (83.7%) and 30 women (16.3%). In 1990-91 the numbers can be broken down into the following

total male female Arts 67 62 5 Science 38 32 6 Veterinary Medicine 60 45 1S Education 6 § ! Business Admin 13 10 3

Arts: To achieve gender balance within 20 years, of 47 projected vacancies, 15-16 would have to be men, 31-32 women, Inother words over the next 20 years it would be necessary to hire 2 women for every man Science: To achieve gender parity within 20 vears, | 7 women to 10 men would be needed to fill the pro-

jected 27 vacancies. . he ot a eae