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Interview with Dr. Frances Conley
author of Walking Out on the Boys
December 1999
by Leuren Moret
In 1991, with tenure and other distinguished faculty appointments at Stanford
University,
Frances Conley, M.D., was the first female neurosurgeon in the United States.
With the impending appointment of a new department chair who had treated
her inappropriately as a woman, she protested to the Dean and resigned when
the appointment proceeded. She wrote a strong Op-Ed piece about her resignation
and the predicable destruction of her career under the new chair, and sent it to
six
newspapers. To her surprise, the media picked up the story and continued to
cover it.
This experience changed her life.
In her work as a neurosurgeon Conley conducted research on innovative
treatments for brain cancer in a lab which she supported with grants. Extremely
focused on her work, she had little awareness of other women faculty or their
struggles for tenure outside her department. When her Op-Ed piece appeared
in the media her departmental colleagues promptly withdrew support from her.
However, to her surprise, she received wide support from women faculty
throughout the university and became aware of challenges faced by other
women on the campus.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission approached her. She
talked with commission members but signed no papers and refused to file
suit against the university. The EEOC conducted an investigation of Stanford
and compiled extensive data on the status of its women faculty.
The results of this investigation were sent to Washington, but no action was
taken.
Because she was tenured and held other prestigious appointments, it
was difficult for Stanford to criticize or discredit Conley. She commented
that most women who challenge a university administration have "
a pair of twos" to play with but she had " five aces."
The university refused to speak to the media and only her side of the
dispute was presented. Followed for years by reporters and cameras she
was extremely well treated by the media and noted media attention to
be a " double edged sword." Because of wide support she
was able to rejoin the faculty in the Department of Neurosurgery.
However, she lost her lab and was unable to regain her position in the field of
neurological research. Today she is Chief of Staff of the Palo Alto Veterans
Hospital and has found her career fulfilling because of the positive difference
she has made in people´s lives through her research and innovative
patient treatments.
In 1925, 19% of academic faculty in the United States were female.
Today, the corresponding percentage is 24, little progress in 75 years.
At Stanford, 19% of the tenured faculty are women, one of the lowest
percentages in the top research universities. Conley commented that women
are hired in large numbers at the lower levels but become threats when they
approach tenure.
Stanford is presently under investigation by the Department of
Labor for discrimination against women seeking tenure
(see http://www.gender-
equity.org/labor.htm).
The women faculty have been successful in getting publicity and support because
they have
presented themselves as an organized group. Individuals seeking tenure are easy
targets for a
powerful institution to discredit and wear down with harassment tactics.
Conley observed that occupational devaluation occurs when women enter a
field in large
numbers. In 1945, all bank tellers were men and it was the acceptable path to
becoming bank
president. Today, bank tellers are nearly all women with little status. She
predicted that in the
next 5 to 7 years, the medical profession will become two-tiered. Primary care
doctors and
pediatricians will be women and get lower pay and prestige. The specialist
fields will be elite,
highly paid, and prestigious and composed of white males.
-wage@wage.org-