THE CENTER FOR

wom tee Newsletter

The City University Graduate Center

33 West 42 Street, New York City 10036 212 790-4435
MAY, 1980

VOL. I, NO. 8

Work in Progress

THE ECOLOGY OF SEX ROLES

My own research and that of others tells us that girls and boys, women
and men conceptualize and use their homes, neighborhoods, cities and suburbs
differently. Girls are kept in or near the home; they have more trouble find-
ing their way in the outdoor environment and frequently score lower on a
variety of measures of spatial ability. Boys explore more, build more, and
experience less parental control as they learn about their environment. As
adults, women have been found to be more affected by the opportunities and
constraints provided by the environment near their homes, while men seem to
feel freer to use and construct the world outside the home, and thereby obtain
a higher level of immunity to its restrictions. Of course, this is more true
for men with money and status, but it tends to be a characteristic difference
between men and women in many classes and cultures.

As an environmental psychologist I am examining how assumptions about sex
roles are reified in physical environments and how these environments, in turn,
reinforce such assumptions. I am working on two projects that attack these
issues quite differently. Jerry Maltz and I are analyzing a study of sixth
grade girls' and boys' (1) conceptualizations and uses of their home, school and
neighborhood environments; (2) their own and their parents’ expectations and
preferences for their use of environments; (3) their cognitive representations
of the environment and (4) their performances on tests of spatial ability. In
addition, we are trying to discover whether the girls' physical/spatial know-
ledge of their homes differs in any systematic way from that of boys, and
whether this is related to differential modal uses and conceptualizations of
the home. In this and future work, I hope to examine in social/physical con-
text the dominant belief that females' frequently lesser abilities in spatial
cognition have a biological origin. (A paper co-authored with Roger Hart
presents the background of this research in detail: "The Development of En-
vironmental Competence in Girls and Boys," Center for Human Environments pub-
lication, 1977).

My second project has a much less academic base. I have been acting as a
consultant for an architecture and planning firm commissioned by the Denver
Housing Authority to suggest strategies for developing housing in downtown
Denver. My job has been to determine what new demands on residential planning
might arise from women's increased participation in the labor force. My pre-
vious research disclosed negative qualities of existing urban and suburban en-
vironments that particularly affected women; differential needs and preferences
for residential environments of men and women in both city and suburb, and
generally greater satisfaction with housing among suburban men, compared to
all other groups. I found that women generally prefer urban locations and
place less value on single-family homes and ownership. (An article in Signs,
Spring, 1980, elaborates this theme.)

In Denver I have focused on trying to understand the needs of women for
housing and services. Demographic data indicates that the two groups most
in need of public housing assistance are predominantly female: single parents


and elderly people living alone. The next phase will be to conduct a housing
survey among people working in downtown Denver. We are bringing together com-
munity leaders and agents from the public and private sectors to determine
strategies for further development and financing of downtown housing.

At an early point in the project, I began with other women to organize
discussions with women in Denver about their needs for housing and services.
Representatives of this group have begun to define roles for themselves in the
development process. At this point I have several questions: (1) to what
extent can this particular city respond to the physical environment and service
needs of women, particularly working women? (2) will working parents come to
define their needs as political demands, as the elderly have? (3) if women
are more dependent upon their environments, how can they become more significant
in shaping them? (4) why were so few women involved initially in this planning

project?
During the course of this work I am repeatedly reminded that housing is
not a "women's issue." However, I would argue that the homemaking and care-

taking roles women traditionally play have made up for what otherwise might

have been very inhumane environments and policies. Women's labor force partici-
pation and any real equality in political participation of women and men raises
questions about the future willingness and ability of women to thus cushion

the effects of the environment. These and other questions are among the topics
I will cover in a course on "The Ecology of Sex Roles in the Environmental
Psychology Program, Fall, 1980.

Susan Saegert
Ph.D. Program in Environmental Psychology

New Projects

A new project involving Professors Emeritae and other retired CUNY staff in the
work of the Center for the Study of Women and Sex Roles has been initiated. Rita
Guttman, recently retired from the Biology Department of Brooklyn College, is acting
as coordinator.

The project aims to recruit from a pool of untapped talent and energy those
who would be interested in creative, productive work of a feminist character. Such
work might be scholarly or activist, and based on the individual's expertise and
experience. The participants will enjoy complete freedom in the choice of topic
and methodology. The Center is ready to aid with advice on applications for funding
and possible affiliation with the Center, if the project is accepted by the Center.
The response so far from women of rich and varied background and experience has been
enthusiastic. For further details, phone Rita Guttman at 855-0841.

Barbara Katz-Rothman has received a National Endowment for the Humanities summer
stipend for her study of "Models and Ideologies in Maternity Nursing".

Judith Lorber was awarded $7,000 from the American Association of University Women
under the Fellowships to American Women program to support her research on female and
male physician's careers.


Graduate Students’ Activities

The Feminist Students Organization (FSO) is sponsoring a meeting on "Wo-
men's Words: A Workshop on Feminist Publishing" on Monday, May 12, in room 207.
At the workshop representatives from Signs, Feminist Studies, Heresies and
other journals will discuss the aims of their publications and their criteria
for acceptance of articles. The event will run from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a
reception following. On Thursday, May 15, the FSO will present Elly Bulkin,

a co-editor of Amazon Poetry: An Anthology and an editor of Conditions magazine.
She will speak on contemporary feminist poetry at 2 p.m.

The Feminist Students Organization was established this spring for students
from all disciplines who are interested in feminist scholarship at CUNY and
who are concerned about the needs of women students. Listed below are some
of the current research projects on women being conducted by members of the
FSO and other graduate students. The list is certainly not inclusive, but
gives some idea of the range and scope of graduate student interest in research
on women.

Elizabeth Brusco, a doctoral student in Anthropology, is a founding member
of the Feminist Students Organization and a member of the Steering Committee
of the Center for the Study of Women and Sex Roles. She is interested in wo-
Men in religion, especially the study of how religious movements reveal women
as active agents in social/ideological change. She plans to do dissertation
work on women in the Pentecostal movement in Latin America.

Joan M. Gerver is a doctoral student in the Department of Social-Personality
Psychology, who is writing her dissertation on "Multiple Role Behavior and
Perception of Ambiguity in Middle-Aged Women: Satisfaction, Flexibility and
Control." She was awarded a Grant in Aid of Research by Sigma Xi to support her
work.

Faye Ginsburg is a doctoral student in Anthropology, interested in study-
ing women and religion. Under a grant from the National Endowment for the
Humanities she recently completed a videotape documentary concerning ritual
practice among Syrian Jewish women living in Brooklyn. Currently she is work-
ing on a project on women in the clergy.

Eve Hochwald, also a doctoral student in Anthropology, is studying the
consequences of increasing computerization in the newspaper industry, and spe-
cifically how women are affected. Her work centers on three occupational groups:
printers, journalists, and computer-related workers. She is trying to discover
whether women are entering new kinds of jobs, and to what extent these jobs
present real opportunities for them.

Rachel Ovryn, of the Sociology Doctoral Program, is doing research on
women in surgical residencies. The research, being conducted in several metro-
politan areas, investigates (1) discrimination during residency programs, and
later discrimination and problems in the job market; (2) problems involved
for women in combining a surgical career and family (given that the years in
which residencies and families are most often started coincide). She is also
interested in policy research, with the possibility of half-time residencies
as a solution to the work/family conflict.

Claire Riley, a doctoral student in Anthropology, a founding member of
the Feminist Students Organization and a CSWSR Steering Committee member, is
interested in models of social organization used to study New Guinea Highland
societies. Most ethnographers have tended to define women's status only in
relation to groups of men, thus viewing women as peripheral. Riley is suggest-
ing that we redefine the concept of social organization in the New Guinea
Highlands to include the organization of men, the organization of women, and
gender organization.

Toni Ross, of the Psychology Doctoral Program, is developing a research
project designed to investigate social and psychological factors influencing
the breast self-examination behavior of women. The project proposes a self-


help alternative to traditional public education programs on breast self-exam-
ination. It will provide an empirical test of the notion that health education
is best served by giving women control over their own health care.

Susan Taylor is a student in Clinical Psychology, whose research is on wo-
men's adult development. She is working with Levinson's model of "life struc-
ture evolution" (Seasons of a Man's Life, 1979) and using retrospective life-
history interviews to study patterns in the early adulthoods of women between
35 and 40. Since Levinson based his model on men only, contrasts between genders
are an explicit concern in her research.

Susan Taylor has also been working with other graduate students from the
Clinical Psychology Program (Marcia Bogdanoff, Danielle Brown, Linda Hillman,
Cheryl Kurash, Julie Spain, Barbara Thacher and Lissa Weinstein) on the topic
of women in authority. Together they have published an article titled "By
Women, for Women: A Group Relations Conference" in W. Gordon Lawrence, ed.,
Exploring Individual and Organizational Boundaries: A Tavistock Open Systems
Approach. N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, 1979.

Announcements

The Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kent at Canterbury, England has
announced the first degree program in Women's Studies in England. Candidates may
register for a full-time program for one year, or a part-time program for two
years, leading to an MA in Women's Studies. For information on the program, write
to The Senior Assistant Registrar, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Registry, The
University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ, England.

The Association for Women in Psychology will meet on Sunday, May 18 at Gerrie
Nussdorf's, 305 West 13 Street, New York. There will be a potluck buffet at the
meeting; future plans and programs will be discussed.

"Entitled to IX" is the newsletter of the National Student Educational Fund project
designed to educate post-secondary students about Title IX and to provide them with
information on activating a campus toward compliance with the law. The Newsletter
is available from NSEF, 2000 P Street NW, Suite 305, Washington, D.C., 20036.

The film "Simone de Beauvoir", which was sold out during its run at Film Forun,
will be shown at 12 noon on May 7 at the Carnegie Hall Cinema.

New Day Films has recently released two new films about women artists: They Are Their
Own Gifts, a biographical triology about poet Muriel Rukeyser, painter Alice Neel,
and choreographer Ann Sokolow; and Love It Like A Fool, a portrait of songwriter and
folk singer Malvina Reynolds. The films are available from New Day Films, P.O. Box
315, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, 07417.

The editors of the Sarah Eisenstein Series are planning a book on The Politics of
Sexuality to be edited by Ann Snitow, Christine Stansell and Sharon Thompson.
Please submit three copies of 1) an outline of your contribution; 2) a reprint of
your work; and 3) suggestions for other articles for the book. to Sharon Thompson,
P.O. Box 1161, Stuyvesant Station, New York, New York, 10009. The editors are
interested in including analytical articles, poems, picture essays, journal
excerpts and stories in the book.


Conference Report: “Poison Ivy”

Is the Poison Ivy of academia fatal -- or merely clinging? The Poison Ivy
Conference, organized by anthropologists Paula Webster (a Research Associate at
the Center) and Linda Marks, gathered about 60 women on Saturday, February 23, 1980.
We were all white, most of us in our thirties, still part of academia and ambivalent
about it, from students to tenured faculty, with many in the ABD category.

Linda Marks opened the conference by describing it as the result of her wanting
to make public and shared, hence political, what has so far been an individual,
private, between-friends-and-shrink matter. Paula read excerpts from individual
statements that captured both the discontent and the fear that many of the participants
seemed to feel. As someone who has been doing research outside of institutions of
higher education since drifting away from audoctorate in 1964, I was surprised
by the high expectations and the sense of betrayal of faith expressed in the
statements.

For the second part of the conference, "Our Lives Within the Walls," we broke
up into small groups to discuss our individual situations: what drew us to academia,
what happened to us there, how do we feel about ourselves as a result, what does it
mean to be a feminist intellectual, how do we define "our work" in relation to
academic institutions, do our politics enlarge our visions or restrict them?

After lunch, the whole group discussed alternative ways to survive, particularly
consulting, getting down to the nitty-gritty: how much, getting a foot in the door,
what you say when you do. I found this kind of information-sharing one of the most
valuable parts of the conference because it was from peers who had started with the
same doubts and nonetheless had taken the plunge. The academy seems to leave many
women feeling incapacitated for survival elsewhere.

The last part of the conference, "Taking Our Visions Seriously," was a time
when we could share our larger visions of what our lives could be, and dreams of how
to make them happen, so that we could work outside current academic institutions
but with each other, rather than in isolation.

People who are interested in follow-up activities, especially in a workshop on
consulting, or in planning a similar conference, can write "Poison Ivy", Apt. 5H,
123 West 93rd Street, New York, New York, 10025 or call 622-7074.

Frances Doughty

WOMEN IN THE ARTS: COMPOSERS

On May 2 from 12 noon to 3 p.m., a concert and panel discussion featur-
ing women composers will take place in the Third Floor Studio. Par-
ticipating composers include Vivian Fine (contemporary); Meredith

Monk (mixed media); and Amina Claudine Myers (jazz). Three musicolo-

gists and a psychoanalyst will join the composers for a discussion of
the experience of being a woman composer, the place of women composers
in music history, and the creative process. Adrienne Fried Block
will chair the discussion. Rosette C. Lamont is general chair for the
series, which is sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities.



MAY 1980

Friday, May 2

Friday, May 2

Tuesday, May 6

Friday, May 9

Monday, May 12

Tuesday, May 13

Thursday, May 15

Tuesday, May 20

Tuesday, May 27

Friday, May 30

Noon

12 Noon-
3:00
11:45-1:15
3:00-5:00
4:00-6:30
11:45-1:15
2:00-4:00

11:45-1:15

11:45-1:15

3:00-5:00

Feminist Students Organization Meeting,

8th Floor Lounge.

WOMEN IN THE ARTS V: COMPOSERS.

Concert featuring Vivian Fine, Meredith Monk &
Amina Claudine Myers, composers.

Panel featuring composers plus Adrienne Fried Block
(chair); Anna Burton; Judith Tick; and Elizabeth

Wood. Rosette Lamont,

series chair. 3rd Fl. Studio.

Tuesday Noon Lunch, 18th Floor Dining Room.
Meet in 1400 before going upstairs.

Feminist Methods of Inquiry meets in Room 1712.
The topic is "Unveiling Lesbian Content in Wo-
men's Writings." Frances Doughty will speak
and the Lesbian Herstory Archives will present
a slide show. For further information, call
Trudy Berger at 780-5476.

WOMEN'S WORDS: A WORKSHOP ON FEMINIST PUBLISHING.
Room 207, the Graduate Center. Representatives
of Conditions, Feminist Studies, Heresies, Signs,
and other journals will speak. Sponsored by

the Feminist Students Organization.

Tuesday Noon Lunch, 18th Floor Dining Room.
Meet in 1400 before going upstairs.

Elly Bulkin, co-editor of Amazon Poetry: An
Anthology and an editor of Conditions magazine,
will speak on contemporary feminist poetry.
Sponsored by Feminist Students Organization.
Call Center, 790-4435, for room number.

Tuesday Noon Lunch, 18th Floor Dining Room.
Meet in 1400 before going upstairs.

Tuesday Noon Lunch, 18th Floor Dining Room.
Meet in 1400 before going upstairs.

Women and Health Group.
viders of Healthcare.

Topic: Women as Pro-
Room 1401.


# LOOKING AHEAD

During the next weeks, we will begin to plan the lectures and events for the
next semester. As we do, we would like to have your ideas and suggestions
for topics, speakers, and schedules. Please fill out this form and return
it to the Center for the Study of Women and Sex Roles, CUNY Graduate Center,
33 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036 as soon as possible. We will try to incorporate
your suggestions into the program for next year.

Colloquium speakers and topics:

Ideas for informal presentations of current research (Conversation Hour):

Topics around which interest groups or seminars should form. (The Center
would announce and hold the first meeting; participants would then determine
if and when they want to meet regularly to discuss their work.):

Best days and times to schedule events:

Ideas for Newsletter:

Other ways in which you would like to work with the Center:

General comments:



The Center for the Study of Women and Sex Roles has recently com-
pleted a "Guide to Collections on Women in the New York Area."
The Guide contains information on over thirty collections, most
of them in New York City, plus a list of additional sources on
women's libraries, archives and other collections. To obtain a
copy, please send $1.00 and the following information:

NAME

Return to: Center for the Study of Women and Sex Roles, 33 W. 42nd
St., New York, NY 10036.