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Report of the 2008 WSC Survey
Report of the 2008 WSC Survey
USF Women’s Status Committee
May 21, 2008
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 2
Charge of the Women’s Status Committee 3
Survey
Background 4
Questions 5
Numerical Results 6-10
Numerical Details and Discussion 11-14
Open-Ended Questions 15-17
Recommendations 18
Dissemination of Results 19
Appendices
1: Question #4 Alphabetical Subject Index 20
2: Question #10 Sample Comments 21-33
Prepared by members of the WSC
Elizabeth Bell, Professor, Department of Communication
Marion Becker, Professor, Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, FMHI
Mary Clift, Applications Developer, Information Technologies
Linda A. Detman, Research Associate, Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies
Judith Jetson, Director, USF Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities
Amber Gum, Assistant Professor, Department of Aging and Mental Health, FMHI
Kathleen Moore, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Mental Health, Law and Policy, FMHI
Executive Summary
The USF Presidential Advisory Status of Women Committee conducted a web-based survey on women’s issues and concerns at USF. 3,836 individuals completed the survey, launched on November 27, 2007 and available on-line for 12 weeks. Participants answered questions about their perceptions of safety, salary equity, and mentorship opportunities for women at USF. Almost 90% of respondents were female and two-thirds were from the Tampa campus.
· 85% believe salary equity is extremely important to them.
· 75% believe career advancement is extremely important to them.
· 68% of respondents believe there are adequate career advancement opportunities available for women at USF.
In answers to open-ended questions, the overwhelming concern for all participants was campus safety, followed by student-specific concerns about parking and classes. Calls for family-friendly policies and practices, mentoring programs, and salary equity information were the next largest categories of concern to participants.
Charge of the Women’s Status Committee
The Women’s Status Committee, an advisory committee to the USF President, has the charge of advising the President of the University on matters affecting women staff, faculty, and students of the University. The committee is particularly concerned with those university policies concerning the welfare and activities of women with regard to educational and employment opportunities at the University. Specifically, we focus on defining activities that the Committee may undertake in support of this charge:
Encourage, support, and participate in activities that highlight women's issues and concerns;
Direct and review attention to ensuring equal access to educational opportunities and services provided by the university (e.g., scholarship opportunities for women);
Review factors contributing to the overall physical and social well-being of all women on campus (e.g., women's health care coverage and provisions by the University, health and safety issues, family day care concerns, family leave, etc.);
Address issues concerning equitable pay for women in hiring, retention, and promotion (e.g., support studies to investigate and promote the employment and retention of female staff and faculty, and the promotion and compensation of women into tenured or high level positions).
Survey: Background
To fulfill our charge concerning equal access, physical and social well-being, and equitable pay, the Women’s Status Committee created and administered a survey to the University community.
The goals of this survey were
· to obtain specific, quantifiable data from the USF community on women’s concerns and issues;
· to make recommendations on actionable items brought to our attention by the USF community; and
· to plan for future Women’s Status Committee projects and directives.
The survey’s questions were created by members of the WSC in conjunction with the Diversity and Equal Opportunity Office. Theresa Scott, support specialist for Organization Development & Training, created the web interface through Survey Monkey.
The survey was distributed on November 27, 2007 and made available for 12 weeks through USFTalk and USF-News listservs. An email with a link to the survey was sent to all members of the following units: the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, and Visual and Performing Arts, FMHI, USF Health, and the Lakeland Campus.
Survey: Questions
1. Please indicate how important you think each of the following is (by checking Very Important, Somewhat Important, Neutral, Somewhat Unimportant, Not Important At All):
a. Salary equity for USF women employees
b. Safety for women at USF.
c. Mentorship opportunities for women at USF. For example, would having a mentor to provide career guidance and knowledge sharing be:
2. Do you believe that there are adequate career advancement opportunities available for women at USF? (by checking Yes or No)
3. How important is career advancement to you? (by checking Very Important, Somewhat Important, Neutral, Somewhat Unimportant, Not Important At All):
Issues of Importance
4. Are there any other issues of importance that you believe would benefit from the President’s attention? If so, please enter them below in their order of importance. (Open-ended response box)
5. Do you believe a climate survey needs to be conducted for the university? A climate survey gathers information through questions such as these that measure issues of concern and overall satisfaction with the campus environment. (by checking Yes or No).
Statistical Information
6. Are you 7. Are you
a. female? a. student?
b. male? b. staff?
c. faculty?
d. OPS?
Are you
Other (please specify)
8. What campus are you primarily located on?
a. Tampa
b. St. Petersburg
c. Lakeland
d. Sarasota-Manatee
9. Years at USF (Open-ended response box)
10. Please provide any other comments you would like to share with the Women’s Status Committee about issues affecting women at USF. (Open-ended response box)
Survey: Numerical Results
1. Please indicate how important you think each of the following is:Very Important / Somewhat
Important / Neutral / Somewhat
Unimportant / Not Important
At All / Response
Count
1. Salary equity for USF women employees / 83.5% (3192) / 10.5% (402) / 4.6% (177) / 0.6% (22) / 1.3% (48) / 3825
2. Safety for women at USF / 89.5% (3418) / 7.6% (291) / 2.3% (88) / 0.3% (12) / 0.5% (21) / 3820
3. Mentorship opportunities for women at USF. For example, would having a mentor to provide career guidance and knowledge sharing be: / 57.3% (2181) / 29.0% (1102) / 11.7% (446) / 1.4% (54) / 1.4% (53) / 3803
answered question / 3831
skipped question / 5
2. Do you believe that there are adequate career advancement opportunities available for women at USF? / Response
Percent / Response
Count
Yes / 67.9% / 2478
No / 32.1% / 1174
answered question / 3652
skipped question / 184
3. How important is career advancement to you?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / Response
Percent / Response
Count
Very Important / 76.3% / 2911
Somewhat Important / 19.5% / 744
Neutral / 3.0% / 116
Somewhat Unimportant / 0.4% / 17
Not Important At All / 0.7% / 28
answered question / 3816
skipped question / 20
4. Are there any other issues of importance that you believe would benefit from the President’s attention? If so, please enter them below in their order of importance. / Response
Count
answered question / 944
skipped question / 2892
5. Do you believe a climate survey needs to be conducted for the university? A climate survey gathers information through questions such as these that measure issues of concern and overall satisfaction with the campus environment. / Response
Percent / Response
Count
Yes / 82.5% / 3054
No / 17.5% / 649
answered question / 3703
skipped question / 133
6. Are you: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / Response
Percent / Response
Count
Female / 87.8% / 3253
Male / 12.2% / 451
answered question / 3704
skipped question / 132
7. Are you:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / Response
Percent / Response
Count
Student / 67.9% / 2599
Staff / 13% / 514
Faculty / 10% / 372
OPS / 1.6% / 62
Other? / 7.6% / 292
answered question / 3547
skipped question / 289
8. What campus are you primarly located on? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / Response
Percent / Response
Count
Tampa / 84.7% / 3128
St. Petersburg / 8.8% / 326
Lakeland / 2.8% / 104
Sarasota-Manatee / 3.6% / 133
answered question / 3691
skipped question / 145
9. Years at USF xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / Response
Count
answered question / 3617
skipped question / 219
10. Please provide any other comments you would like to share with the Women’s Status Committee about issues affecting women at USF. / Response
Count
answered question / 494
skipped question / 3342
Survey: Numerical Details and Discussion
3,836 individuals completed the survey. The majority of respondents were female (87.8%) and from the Tampa campus (64.7%) with others located at St. Petersburg (8.8%), Sarasota-Manatee (3.6%), and Lakeland (2.8%) campuses. Students represented an overwhelming 67.9%, followed by staff (13%), faculty (10%), and OPS (1.6%). Additionally, 7.6% classified themselves as “other” which was primarily made up of alumni, adjunct faculty, and interns. Respondents also were asked how important different areas were including: (1) salary equity for USF women, (2) safety for women at USF, (3) mentoring opportunities for women at USF, and (4) career advancement. The following figures highlight these areas broken down by respondent.
As can be seen by Figure One, the majority of respondents think that salary equity is very important with a range of 81% for students to 92.2% for staff. Similar to salary equity, the majority of respondents thought that safety for women at USF was very important with a range of 79.5% for faculty to 91.4% for students (see Figure Two). Although still high, mentorship opportunities are seen as less important than salary equity and safety issues for women. Most still rated this question as very important with a range of 52.5% for OPS to 58.8% for students (see Figure Three).
Figure 1: How important is salary equity for USF women employees?
Figure 2: How important is safety for women at USF?
Figure 3: How important are mentoring opportunities for women at USF?
There were also two questions regarding career advancement opportunities at USF. To the first question respondents indicated either yes or no to whether they believed there were adequate career advancement opportunities available for women at USF. Overall, 67.9% of respondents did believe there were adequate career advancement opportunities with a range of 51.1% for staff to 73.5% for faculty. As can be seen by Figure Four, the majority of respondents view career advancement as very important with a range of 65.8% for faculty to 79.2% for students. Interestingly, although faculty have the highest percentage in regards to adequate career opportunities, they are the lowest respondent to view it as very important. It may be important to further assess where faculty are at in their tenure at USF.
Figure Four: How important is career advancement to you?
Survey: Open-Ended Questions
944 respondents answered open-ended question #4: “Are there any other issues of importance that you believe would benefit from the President’s attention?”
Appendix 1 represents answers by 60% of the respondents to this question by subject and number of mentions. Below are details of the five most frequently mentioned issues.
The most common response is safety. Respondents most frequently mentioned the need for night time safety measures surrounding parking lots such as better lighting, more frequent patrols and presence of safety officers, working call-boxes, and professionalism from Safe Team members. Respondents named specific areas on campus that need these improvements.
The second most frequent area of response regarded undergraduate student issues. Parking garnered 29 separate responses, while the general category of “classes”—availability, times, registration difficulties, evaluations, advising, requirements, scheduling—was the most frequently mentioned subject.
The third most frequent area of response regarded women who are adult-learners. Women students called for attention to and consideration of their multiple roles, time, family, and work demands. Many of these adult-learner women are mothers. Respondents called for affordable, accessible, and flexible childcare on campus. Grouped together, mother/family/care-giving issues is the third largest response category.
Career counseling opportunities and advancement through mentoring programs can be combined into an extremely important fourth area. Students, staff, and faculty all called for formalized mentoring programs, lecture series and seminars, and woman speakers that gave them chances to learn from successful women in the community and at USF.
The fifth most frequent area of response regarded calls for salary equity and gender equity. Respondents wanted more information and studies of salary ranges, presence of women across the university at all levels, and improved hiring opportunities for women at USF. The sixth most frequent area of response concerned women’s health issues.
494 respondents answered open-ended question #10: “Please provide any other comments you would like to share with the Women’s Status Committee about issues affecting women at USF.”
Appendix 2 offers select answers to this question. These comments were selected for the richness of the response and for illuminating what could be improved at USF.Subject areas elaborated by comments include safety, office/work/classroom climate, need for services, mature women returning to school, awareness of women’s issues, and appreciation for women in leadership roles at USF.
Recommendations
Based on the Survey data, the Women’s Status Committee makes four recommendations to the President.
1. Safety. Ensure a safe campus environment through installation of lighting on walkways and parking lots; conduct regular monitoring and service of emergency call boxes and blue lights; and encourage security personnel to increase visibility in the evenings.
2. Mentoring. Invest in and encourage mentoring programs among women students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members to facilitate successful transitions to campus life, promotion and advancement, and the working world.
3. Health and Well-Being. Promote women’s health and well-being with programs and information concerning childcare, reproduction, self-defense, and exercise. Special attention should be directed to students who are parents and older women returning to school.
4. Salary Equity. Gather and disseminate salary figures to the USF community.
Dissemination of Results
The survey results will be posted on the WSC webpage and disseminated through those channels we used to invite survey participation by the USF community. An email with a link to the Report on the WSC webpage will be sent to all members of the following units: the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, and Visual and Performing Arts, FMHI, USF Health, and regional campuses. Members of the WSC will also offer to present and discuss the Report at meetings of the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and Student Government.