Women's forum emphasizes ongoing struggle for equality

Gregory Freeland was slightly out of place in the crowd of about 100 women who gathered April 12 at California State University, Channel Islands for the Second Ventura County Women’s Forum. He was one of only three men at the event, but his presence was incredibly important.

The forum, sponsored by the Ventura Women’s Commission, was a collaborative effort with other organizations concerned about the welfare of women in Ventura County. With a number of community leaders present, the event focused on what they can do to create opportunities for the betterment of women through education. Speakers and panelists included State Senator Dean Florez (D-Shafter), leaders in education from school districts throughout the region and Anna DiStefano, Provost of Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara.

Freeland, a criminal justice professor at California Lutheran University, in Thousand Oaks, also directs the school’s Center for Equality and Justice. Less out of place at the forum than one might think, his work hinges its theme: Educational Justice, Gender Equality and Social Change.

“The problems in our school systems need to be integrated,” Freeland said. “We need to receive fiscal support to develop good female leadership, mentors and so on.”

Integration, according to DiStefano, the keynote speaker, begins with a solid, long-term plan.

“We need to understand that we are in this war for the long haul and adjust our strategies accordingly,” DiStefano said in her speech, and to accomplish this, she advised the women in attendance to “think systematically, always working one level bigger than the problem you are trying to solve.”

Members of the Women’s Commission said that they hoped the leaders in attendance were taking away tools that they can pass onto the rest of the community, developing a unified front in the pursuit of equality.

“Resources were identified here that the public should tap into,” said Kathy Long, a Ventura County supervisor and former commissioner for the Women’s Commission. “But each one of us has a responsibility to work with young women to ensure that they have equity and equality.”

In a panel discussion entitled “Gender Equality in Math, Science, Engineering and Technology,” panelist Marie Panec, a biotechnology professor at Moorpark College and a member of the Oak Park School District Board of Trustees, explained that women have made strides in what she called “STEM” fields (science, technology, engineering and technology), thanks to a long-term vision over the past 30 years. In fact, a comparison of statistics from 1975 to 1998 she presented showed women earned half of the bachelor’s degrees in natural sciences in universities across the country in 1998, up 23 percent from 1975. But they are still challenged when it comes to finding careers in their fields.

“Forty-five percent of biology majors are women, but only 14 percent make it to full professor positions, so women are getting the education but they are still finding it difficult to break into the field,” she said.

So how do leaders encourage more women to pursue these fields?

“Having a role model or a mentor dramatically increases the odds of success in a chosen field,” Panec said.

Mentorship, another theme at the forum, was emphasized as a way of encouraging young women to not only pursue careers in typically male-dominated fields, but also to become leaders.

“Everyone has a responsibility to be a role model,” said Michel Sanford-Dean, principal of Montalvo Elementary School in Ventura. “It is your responsibility to move people forward, to develop self-esteem and encourage them to reach what is possible.”

DiStefano identified athletics, and math and science education as two specific areas in which women face challenges in the education system which can be easily remedied with support and development. Placing an emphasis on the Title IX Education Amendment of 1972, a statute that bars sexual discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal finding is one way that leaders can aid in the development of self-esteem and also establish a foundation for future leaders to build upon. DiStefano also illustrated how sports and math can work together to develop a connection and a level of comfort with mathematical concepts.

“If you’ve got a boy and tell them that they were at the free throw line 22 times and they made 17 shots then ask them what their free throw percentage is, they can do that,” DiStefano said. “They understand what an [Earned Run Average] is. These are things that are important to them, and that’s the way that you connect math with people’s lives as well.”

As for Freeland, he said he came away with from the forum with some ideas on how to encourage equality on his campus.

“I take away that women need to be nurtured in certain areas of education,” he said. “We need to place an emphasis on math and science among women starting in the first grade so they feel comfortable and confident in these areas and have the opportunity to grow into these fields.”