"French has been particularly receptive to feminism, as the feminization of the French section at Harvard bears witness," Schor says. "However, this feminization has made us the butt of ridicule and target for cheap shots by many of our male colleagues in the profession."

And some say being seen as a feminist may add to sexism as well.

"If women are often at a disadvantage, feminists are even more so; feminist perspectives might make you suspect," says Ann Pellegrini '86, an assistant professor of English who taught English 193e: "The Subject of Feminist Theory" this term.

"[Feminists are] suspected of having a perspective, a biased worldview as against a scholarly standard of objectivity," she adds.

Another problem facing female Faculty is that many people in academia have a preconceived notion of what a Harvard professor should be like.

"Particularly younger women faculty, sometimes find themselves up against what I consider to be outdated expectations of what a `Harvard professor' is supposed to look like," says Susan G. Pedersen, professor of history and chair of the Committee of the Status of Women.

"Of course those expectations are not groundless, they are built upon a long history of the exclusion of women in the higher reaches of academia," she says.

Pigeon-Holed

In addition to biased statements and preconceptions, advancing in an academia may be tangibly more difficult for women.

Some believe that the challenge women face may be more prevalent in certain fields.

"I'm grateful not to be a scientist," Torrie says. "The sense I get from friends is that female faculty are very rare, and that male faculty get away with discrimination that would be considered unacceptable elsewhere."

But Sword says that in her field, being a woman may be an advantage.

Yet she notes that this may be due to another problem, the tendency to "intellectually segregate this work from the supposed real core of each discipline."

"Jobs in these sub-specialties are more or less reserved for candidates of the appropriate identity," she says. "Women and minority candidates get pigeon-holed as being primarily qualified for these positions."

Bemoaning Tenure