Female Philosophers Shake Up Their Field

Philosophy has been slow to change:

Most philosophy departments and conference meetings are still saturated with men. More than 80 percent of full-time faculty members in philosophy are male, compared with just 60 percent for the professoriate as a whole, according to 2003 data compiled by the U.S. Education Department, the latest available.

But it is changing.

Ms. Alcoff [President of the Eastern Division APA] and other women say that despite the overwhelmingly male nature of their discipline, faculty members picked her as president in part because those who vote in the association's elections are more likely than others to endorse change, and because the association's nominating committee assembled a diverse slate of presidential candidates, including a black male and two feminist philosophers. "One of my goals is to increase diversity," Amy Ferrer, the association's new executive director, told The Chronicle.

At NKU about 25% of our majors are female. And only one of our five tenured faculty is female. We have few opportunities to hire new faculty, but we can do more to attract more female majors and minors.  Any suggestions?

We will offer PHI 311 Philosophy of Woman in the fall. Look for it.

Female Philosophers Shake Up Their Field - Faculty - The Chronicle of Higher Education (Firewall)