When Lee T. Todd, Jr. became the 11th president of the University of Kentucky on July 1, 2001, he announced his intention to create a university community in which women were equal participants. To this end, he created the President's Commission on Women and charged it to:

• Advise the President on issues, policies and practices that affect women at the Unviersity of Kentucky
• Report regularly to the President and the University community on the status of women at UK
• Offer recommendations to redress all forms of gender-related inequities
• Propose initiatives to ensure that the University of Kentucky fully engages the talents of its women employees and fairly meets the needs of its women students

The work of the President's Commission on Women builds on earlier efforts to respond to concerns about the status and treatment of women faculty and staff at the University of Kentucky.

On December 20, 1988, the University Senate Council and then UK President David Roselle jointly approved teh University Senate Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women chaired by UK College of Law Professor, Carolyn S. Bratt. The Women's Committee as it became know, was charged to:

Investigate the economic, social and political status of female faculty members and employees at the Unviersity of Kentucky.

To fulfill this directive, the Committee embarked on a two-year, systemic and comprehensive assessment of the university workplace.

On October 20, 1990, the Women's Committee released its 2 1/2 inch thick, two pound report. The report's title, "Let Facts Be Submitted To A Candid World" was taken from the preamble of the Declaration of Sentiments adopted in July, 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York by the first womens' rights convention held in the United States.

The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having the direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world

The title was chosen in recognition of both the debt women of today owe to our foremothers and the responsibility each generation of women has to contribute to the on-going quest for full equality. (The complete text of the Declaration of Sentiments is available at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyseneca/declar.htm)

The 1990 Report included extensive documentation of the inequitable representation and distribution of women employees throughout the university community. Some of its major findings were:

• Women are virtually absent from leadership positions across campus
• Women are concentrated in the lowest level, lowest status, lowest paying jobs
• Women are treated differently than their male counterparts

The report received local, state, national and international attention because it explored all facets of the work lives of all women employed by the University of Kentucky. It investigated every phase of university employment, from recruitment through retirement planning; from salaries and wages to isseus of organizational climate and culture. The workplace realities of support and professional staff women were documented with as much rigor and detail as were the experiences of faculty and administrative women.

In addition to identifying inequities and other gender-related issues, the 1990 Report offered 125 recommendations designed to:

• Eliminate barriers to women's entry and advancement
• Ensure equitable compensation and rewards for women
• Promote development and utilization of women employees
• Create a hospitable climate for women
• Increase institutional self-knowledge and awareness about the status of women on campus

Click here for the complete set of recommendations from the 1990 Report

In March 1994, "The Majority Report" was released. The name was chosen to reflect the reality that more than 50% of all UK students and employees are women. The report was a collaborative effort between the Senate Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women, the UK Women's Forum and UK Women's Studies to monitor institutional progress in implementing the recommendations of the 1990 report. The coalition was necessary because UK had not yet established a staffed and funded commission on the status of UK women. The 1994 Report documented little change in the status of women employees. Click here for the report's findings.

Under the leadership of Dr. Susan J. Scollay, the Senate Council Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of Women issued a ten year update entitled "The Blueprint for Gender Equity" in March, 2001. The report's title was chosen to capture the committee's belief that the creation and fostering of a climate and culture that values and rewards all employees is integral to achieving UK's goal of becoming a top twenty research university. The 2001 Report is available in its entirety at: http://www.uky.edu/USC/Comms/ahw.

The 1990 Report provided the baseline for thsi ten-year reappraisal of the formal status and workplace experiences of UK women. The 2001 Report used strategic indicators to document where progress had occurred during the prior decade and where change and improvement were still needed. It was organized around the same five areas of concerns identified in the 1990 report: entry/advancement, compensation and rewards, development and utilization, climate, and institutional self-awareness. As was true of the first report, the 2001 Report contained both a candid assessment of current realities and an ambitious plan for institutional change and improvement.

President Todd's appointment of a Commission on Women fulfilled one of the most important recommendations from the 1990 Report:

Establish...a standing Presidential Commission on the status of women employees at the University of Kentucky.

- Historical record written by Professor Carolyn S. Bratt