It's raining women, hallelujah
There can be no doubt that women in Oxford University are under-represented, and under-represented across many areas. As the situation stands, the undergraduate female population is only as high as 43% because of the guaranteed ratio boost St Hilda's provides. Of the JCR Presidents currently in office only 6 out of 30 plus Presidents are women. Only one third of graduates are women and, at senior level, only 25% of lecturers and a staggering 10% of professors are female. In addition to this numerical imbalance, women consistently underachieve in finals, only 17% achieving Firsts to men's 22%. It is this disparity that needs to be tackled by improving the representation of women and challenging complacency and/or misinformation about the role of VP (Women).
What is important about the motion that passed on Friday is that the entirety of female representation in OUSU is being reviewed- not just the post of VP (Women). Part of her role is officially defined as "To have overall responsibility within OUSU to represent women and the interests of women in all aspects of OUSU's work and to ensure that women students are encouraged to play a full role in the Student Union, the University, and constituent organisations." Without this empowering role, it would be an unassailably difficult task to increase the level of female representation and participation in this University. We need a full time Women's Sabbatical to ensure that women's voices are heard and their participation increased across the University.
The services the VP (Women) provide are also invaluable, and although I would agree that many of these could theoretically be absorbed into the portfolios of other sabbatical officers, this is not desirable in either terms of workload, or with respect to the specific demand for a assured female sabbatical officer. In practical terms, the VP Women is the only guaranteed female member of the Student Advice Service, and there are many welfare issues which female members of OUSU may only want to talk to a woman about.
In representative terms, the VP (Women) is one of only 7 guaranteed female votes in OUSU Council. At Friday's OUSU Council there were 27 women to 54 men - so only a third of council attendees were women - and as any regular council attendee would testify, this gender imbalance is standard. It is disappointing to realise that in logistical terms of OUSU Council any motion making constitutional change, i.e. abolishing VP (Women), requires a voting majority of two thirds; a majority that could have easily been provided by entirely male votes at Council on Friday. Indeed Women's Campaign, the only all-women policy forum, is unable to make binding policy without having it ratified by OUSU Council- effectively restricting women's capacity to definitively record their views. Similarly, take a look at most JCR meetings and you will find the majority of active participants are male.
This is not an argument that patronises women - as a woman in this University I don't feel weak, nor do I believe my female peers to be weak but I am all too aware of the institutional bias that I face, on many different levels. Neither am I saying that I am suspicious of the male members of this university or that I feel that they are an actively repressing me in any way. It is simply recognising that the situation as it stands is not equal and that the best play to create full equality in all respects is to empower the women involved.
If there is a genuine problem with the structure of OUSU, then it seems the most positive way forward is to review the roles of the entire Sabbatical team. We should not just accept a situation where all our sabbaticals are overworked and underpaid - we should strive for the best possible student union, with the best possible representation and services for all. A consultation on female representation, by women for women, should be embraced as an opportunity to improve female representation and increase women's involvement in OUSU and move towards a more vibrant and inclusive student union for everyone.
Last year OUSU's Women's Campaign ran many events, from a speaker meeting concerning the position of women within Afghanistan, to a counter-demonstration to the Life Walk. These and many of their other events and campaigns can be seen as worthwhile in themselves, but the proposals to replace the VP (Women) with dedicated part time executive officers, or to set up a Women's Union miss the point. There is no longer any need for women to be represented as women within OUSU. The worthwhile activities of the Women's Campaign can be continued under the auspices of a University society, if this is desired by the attendees. Three out of the last four OUSU Presidents have been female, many of the other sabbatical and executive officers are women, as are many of the delegates to OUSU Council. There is not a problem with women's representation within OUSU. OUSU has a robust equal opportunities policy and prejudice against female candidates as female candidates simply does not exist. Further, there isn't a problem in terms of admissions to the University. 48% of new undergraduates in Michalemas 2001were female, or with the position of female students in Colleges.
OUSU does have a role to play in ensuring the University and Colleges areaware of particular issues women in Oxford face; it is accepted that women tend to receive fewer firsts but more 2.1s in finals than men, it is also clear that there are certain welfare issues which can only affect women directly- outside of films like Junior, few men will ever experience pregnancy. However, the existence of differences between men and women does not necessitate OUSU maintaining specific 'women's representation'. Differences in finals performance is an academic affairs issues, pregnancy, is a welfare issue. Other issues, such as the provision of high quality, affordable childcare for student parents which are perceived as affectingwomen only, are not 'women's issues'. They can affect men too; their classification as 'women's issues', may discourage men from seeking assistance from their students' union. Although OUSU might be forgiven for having created specific representation for women in the past, when women were disadvantaged within the University, that is no longer the case. It is simply untenable for an officer of the students' union to be tasked with running a feminist campaign now that women as students do not encounter prejudice in their dealings with their Colleges or the University.
Having made the decision to abolish the post of VP (Women) OUSU needs to be brave and tackle the principle- having women as women within OUSU is anachronistic, irrelevant and insulting. Nowhere but Oxford would this kind of political correctness be considered acceptable, indeed, the existence of a VP (Women) and an autonomous Women's Campaign increases the alienation felt by many students about how little OUSU does for them. It detracts from the sterling work undertaken in relation to tuition fees, library opening hours and a whole range of other issues which affect students as students. The high profile given to women's issues results in problems affecting men receiving less attention than they deserve. It is known that the suicide rate for young men is high, yet there is little effort made to make individuals aware of this or of the support OUSU and other institutions can provide.
7th Nov 2002