Concerns about employment conditions for female faculty led the discussion during Friday’s Women’s Faculty Caucus meeting.

Maria Alexandrino, Professor of Criminal Justice; Amanda Godley, Professor of English; and Linda Martin, Professor of Communication Studies discussed the organization of what is the first women’s faculty group on campus.

“I see it expressly as a place where we deal with our issues as a faculty,” Alexandrino said.

She started the Women’s Faculty Caucus last spring. It has grown to include 12 professors from various departments.

The group is a support network and information clearinghouse for women faculty as discuss issues unique to their situation, according to Alexandrino.

Friday?s discussion centered on WFC?s soon-to-be-written mission statement and by-laws.

Alexandrino started the caucus after attending a California Faculty Association workshop for women in Southern California a year ago. Now the fledgling group at Sacramento State is counting on the support of CFA to help them organize.

The caucus will soon look at employment conditions for female faculty on campus, especially male-to-female hiring ratios, tenure versus part-time staffing levels for women and maternity leave.

“The purpose is to find out what the reality of our situation is, and see what the numbers may tell us. We will be able to see if it confirms our perceptions or points to another source for the problem,” Martin said.

The three women at the meeting had other concerns as well.

“What do we use in our standards to bring women into positions? Hiring practices are certainly a piece of this,” Martin said.

Godley wanted to make sure that part-time professors are on WFC?s agenda.

” Very few part-time faculty know about their benefits. We need to be connected with other women who are part-time,” Godley said.

After the caucus creates official standards to follow, they will gather statistical resources on employment and then work on increasing the number of women hired to teach. Maria Alexandrino said, “I think it is ultimately for the equality of all on campus, and so that women have the same opportunity as men.”