Women will be living in all the Harvard Houses next year-if Mather and Leverett House sophomores, along with current Harvard freshmen, are willing to move up to Radcliffe.

Dean May-the driving force behind the new co-ed plan-hopes to achieve an optimum five-to-one male-female ratio in all Harvard Houses while establishing nearly a one-to-two male-female ratio in the three Radcliffe Houses.

An underlying purpose is to alleviate the imbalance of sophomores in Mather and Leverett Houses by inviting as large a number of these sophomores as possible to move mainly up to Radcliffe, but also to Quincy and Adams.

Approximately 147 current Harvard freshmen also will be invited to move up to Radcliffe next year to provide a balance of sophomore men.

"In this non-male-chauvinistic world, the question of how many women are willing to move to Harvard is of equal importance," and assistant to Dean May said yesterday. "We had previously assumed that women would move to Harvard in droves, but we can no longer be certain."

One informed source said yesterday that most men up to a maximum number of 272 who want to move to Radcliffe can safely expect to be accommodated. The source warned, however, that "freedom to move up to Radcliffe does not imply freedom to live in Currier House."

In order to achieve their aims, the organizers of the plan will have to pay less attention than usual to students' indicated House preferences. However, both Harvard and Radcliffe students will apply for room assignments in groups which will not be separated unless absolutely necessary.

To implement the plan, 353 additional women would be required to moveto the nine Harvard Houses next year to make a total of 545 women living at Harvard. An additional 272 men would be required to move to Radcliffe to make a total of 480 men living at Radcliffe.

The imbalance between the number of men and women at Harvard and Radcliffe hinders any plan for co-residency in all the Houses from maintaining ideal ratios under which the number of women in each House is large enough to be comfortable.

When asked if the establishment of full co-residency would encourage plans to increase the number of women enrolled at Harvard, Dean Epps said yesterday, "By putting into practice the ence of the panel showed that the part of this community, the plan will force us to make decisions in this area."