With women’s history month under way, the UW System conducted a conference Friday to discuss the status of women at its universities.

Louise Root-Robbins, coordinator for Status of Women, conducted the meeting from Madison. The meeting was broadcast to participating campuses.

Fourteen UW-Eau Claire participants watched from room 1132 in the Old Library.

Root-Robbins said 11 campuses participated in the conference.

Root-Robbins gave some background on the Initiative on the Status of Women established by the UW System in the fall of 1998. The intent of this initiative, led by Katharine Lyall of UW-Madison, was to review the climate for women in the UW System and to provide a systematic approach for addressing gender issues.

Barbara Stevens, affirmative action officer for UW-Eau Claire, worked with the commission to write a report that was released in 1999 reflecting on the climate of women, Root-Robbins said.

The report identified recommendations that could be made by the individual universities in five broad areas: educational opportunities for women students; hiring, promotion and retention of women faculty, academic staff and classified staff; the learning and working environment of women – especially for women of color and women who identify as lesbian, bisexual or transgender; conditions that allow for balancing work and personal life and the organizational structure for improving the status of women in the UW System.

Root-Robbins went on to discuss the progress the UW System has made since the efforts began. She said that women now make up more than 55 percent of students, and the male to female ratio for faculty and staff is close to 50-50. Nationwide, she said the Wisconsin system has one of the most extensive processes she knows of for evaluating the status of women and working to improve it.

Kate Lang, assistant professor of history and chair of commission for status of women at UW-Eau Claire, said Eau Claire formed its committee last fall. She attended an annual conference in Tuscon, Ariz., that allowed her to see what other campuses are doing for gender equality. Lang said Eau Claire is working to increase awareness, and to get concerned people together so they can see results in the five areas listed in the report.

Eau Claire has many of the best practices in place that other colleges and universities can model, but it still has a long way to go, Lang said. She said that childcare is not provided at until the child is 2 years old, and women are not granted maternity leave. They can use sick days, but Lang said that’s not enough.

Most campus representatives said they are distributing surveys to evaluate what improvements need to be made. Root-Robbins said policies alone can’t change the climate for women.

“More women are entering the work force and this means that men and women are having to balance professional and family responsibilities,” Lang said. “Universities are going to have to work harder to make this possible.”