Project on the Status and Education of Women facts for kids

The Project on the Status and Education of Women (PSEW) was a special group in the United States that worked to make education fair for women. It started in 1971 with the Association of American Colleges (AAC), which is now called the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU). PSEW helped women get into and succeed in college and university. They worked with students, teachers, staff, and leaders at schools.

PSEW created and shared information about how women were doing in higher education. They gave advice to colleges about rules for fairness, programs about women's studies, and hiring women teachers. They also worked with lawmakers to create new laws that would make education more equal for everyone. PSEW had a newsletter called On Campus with Women (OCWW) from 1971 to 2013. This newsletter shared articles and research about women in higher education. PSEW was also very important in creating and passing Title IX. This is a part of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 that stops schools from treating people unfairly because of their gender.

PSEW stopped being a separate project on June 30, 1991. It then became part of the AACU as the Program on the Status and Education of Women. Caryn McTighe Musil led this program until it ended in 2012. Many of the materials and publications from PSEW are now kept at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.

What Was the Project on the Status and Education of Women?

The Project on the Status and Education of Women (PSEW) began in 1971. It was the first step for the Association of American Colleges (AACU) to start focusing on different kinds of students. PSEW was located in Washington, D.C., where the AACU headquarters are. It had a small team of people working there. The project received money from grants, including from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Foundation.

PSEW was key in helping to pass Title IX. To do this, the group visited schools and taught lawmakers about issues women faced in colleges. They also pushed for rules to make things better for women on campuses. PSEW also focused on issues like safety on campus. They created materials in the 1980s to educate people about these topics. The group also came up with the phrase "chilly climate." They used this phrase in many of their works to describe the difficulties women faced in education.

Who Were the Key People at PSEW?

Bernice Sandler was the director of PSEW from 1971 to 1991. Sandler also worked with the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL). Through WEAL, she did similar work to make education fairer for women. After Sandler, Caryn McTighe Musil became the director of the new program (which was still called PSEW) until 2012.

Margaret C. Dunkle was the Associate President of PSEW from 1972 to 1977. Roberta M. Hall and Grace L. Mastalli were also important staff members who helped the project.

What Did PSEW Do?

Important Publications from PSEW

PSEW was first created to help colleges make rules to stop unfair treatment based on gender. But their work quickly grew beyond this. PSEW staff started writing their own reports about women in higher education. PSEW published over 100 reports, along with booklets, pamphlets, and their newsletter On Campus with Women.

Their publications covered many topics. These included how to find and hire more women students and teachers. They also wrote about issues for minority students, unfair hiring practices, and unfairness in research. Other topics included Title IX, money for school, safety on campus, and the general feeling for women at colleges. Their materials reached college presidents, teachers, and lawmakers. They not only shared information about events and research but also told women directly about their legal rights in education. PSEW published the first papers about women of color in higher education. They also created the first national reports on unfairness in college sports, unfriendly classroom environments, and safety issues on campus.

What Was the "Chilly Climate"?

PSEW also published works about a term they created: the "chilly climate" that women faced at colleges and universities. This idea became a very important part of the group's work for equality in education. The "chilly climate" showed the challenges women students and teachers experienced. This included mean comments about women and their abilities, or women being ignored or interrupted in class. PSEW's discussion of these challenges helped more people talk about unfair learning environments for many different groups of people.

The project published several important works on this topic. In 1982, Hall and Sandler published "The Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women?" This paper was paid for by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) of the U.S. Department of Education. PSEW held a meeting in November 1982 called "The Chilly Classroom Climate: Sharing Strategies for Change." This meeting helped share and discuss their findings. The final paper given out at the meeting sold over 40,000 copies between 1982 and 1990.

On Campus with Women Newsletter

Perhaps PSEW's most well-known publication was their newsletter, On Campus with Women (OCWW). It published research and articles about issues important to women in higher education. Bernice Sandler started OCWW when PSEW began in 1971. Its content focused on women in leadership, the feeling on campus, what was taught in classes, and new research on women in higher education. In the fall of 2002, OCWW moved completely online. In 2013, On Campus with Women stopped being a separate newsletter. Its goal of covering gender issues in higher education was then taken over by other AACU journals. These included Liberal Education and Diversity and Democracy.

How PSEW Advocated for Change

PSEW and Title IX

PSEW played a very important role in working with people in Congress and other groups. They helped write and put into action Title IX. PSEW talked with other organizations and Congress to create and pass the law. PSEW also helped universities understand how to follow the new law. This was between June 1972 (when the law passed) and 1975 (when the final rules were set). The organization helped colleges create rules that would keep them from breaking Title IX requirements. During this time, PSEW often worked with the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education (NCWGE). This was a group of organizations that pushed for rules to put Title IX into action. They worked on how to enforce, carry out, and fund educational programs for women.

After Title IX Became Law

After Title IX became law, PSEW continued to teach lawmakers and government officials about women's issues on college campuses. PSEW staff often visited college campuses to find problems. They also worked with school leaders to put Title IX into action and make sure it was followed. PSEW also created educational materials about safety issues as resources for campuses.

PSEW's Impact and Changes

The Project on the Status and Education of Women was the first national project focused on women in higher education. It was also one of the first programs to talk about how campus life was different for women. The project's work on making sure Title IX was followed has had lasting effects. Its creation and sharing of educational materials about safety issues were also very important. Since it started, PSEW has led many efforts to make education fairer for everyone.

PSEW stopped being a separate project on June 30, 1991. This was part of a plan to focus on women's issues throughout all of the AACU's programs. Bernice Sandler left her leadership role. The group then became the Program on the Status and Education of Women (PSEW). When it joined the AACU, PSEW no longer got most of its money from grants. Instead, it received money directly from the AACU. Caryn McTighe Musil led the program until it ended in 2012. At that time, the AACU changed its goals to include gender fairness issues more broadly. Some important reports and projects during Musil's time included "A Measure of Equity: Women's Progress in Higher Education (2008)." They also started Campus Women Lead, which offered workshops on women's leadership. Another project was the Women's Leadership Project for Inclusive Excellence.

List of Publications

• Attwood, Cynthia L. Women in fellowship and training programs. Project on the Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, 1972.
• Ehrhart, Julie Kuhn and Bernice R. Sandler. Looking for More Than a Few Good Women in Traditionally Male Fields. Project on the Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, 1987.
• Ginorio, Angela B. Warming the climate for women in academic science. Washington, D.C : Association of American Colleges and Universities, Program on the Status and Education of Women, 1995.
• Hall, Roberta M. Out of the classroom: a chilly campus climate for women? Project on the Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, c1984.
• Hune, Shirley. Asian Pacific American women in higher education : claiming visibility & voice. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities, Program on the Status and Education of Women, c1998.
• Moses, Yolanda T. Black women in academe: issues and strategies. Project on the Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, c1989.
• Nieves-Squires, Sarah. Hispanic Women: making their presence on campus less tenuous. Association of American Colleges, Program on the Status and Education of Women, 1991.
• Project On The Status and Education Of Women. Financial Aid: A Partial List of Resources for Women. Association Of American Colleges, 1978.
• Project on the Status and Education of Women. The Problem of assaults on campus. Association of American Colleges, c1978.
• Project on the Status and Education of Women. What constitutes equality for women in sport? : Federal law puts women in the running. Association of American Colleges, 1974.
• Project on the Status and Education of Women. Women and film : a resource handbook. Association of American Colleges, 1970s.
• Project on the Status and Education of Women. Women's centers—where are they? Association of American Colleges, 1974.
• Sandler, Bernice R. The Campus Climate Revisited: Chilly Climate for Women Faculty, Administrators and Graduate Students. Program on the Status and Education of Women, Association of American Colleges, 1986.
• Touchton, Judy, Caryn McTighe Musil, and Kathryn Peltier Campbell. A Measure of Equity: Women's Progress in Higher Education. Association of American Colleges and Universities, 2008.