But critics within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) contend that many women's gender and their intellectual work become inextricably linked, ultimately making the goal of a gender-balanced faculty even more difficult to attain.

An Upward Spiral?

In terms of sheer numbers, there is little doubt that the University has made progress on gender equality.

One third of Harvard's junior faculty and 16 percent of its senior faculty are women, almost double the figure for tenured professorships in 1988.

One in six may hardly be impressive, but according to University Hall, current faculty members set the clock for change through their decisions to retire.

"Since we have a faculty already," says Dean of Undergraduate Education Susan G. Pedersen '81-'82, "obviously any shift in its gender balance will be slow and incremental. The question is less the gender ratio within the faculty as a whole than the ratio among current hires."

Nine of the 19 tenure appointments this year were women. The most dramatic symbol of this success was its acknowledgement by longstanding Harvard critic Committee for Equality of Women at Harvard (CEWH).

The alumnae group, which had encouraged members to withhold their contributions to the University and instead place them in a special fund, has now offered to fund a joint Harvard-Radcliffe chair with the money.