"The young women of today, free to study, to speak, to write, to choose their occupation, should remember that every inch of this freedom was bought for them at a great price. It is for them to show gratitude by helping onward the reforms of their own times, by spreading the light of freedom and truth still wider. The debt that each generation owes to the past it must pay to the future."
— Abigail Scott Duniway

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Dear Friend, Sister, Colleague, Supporter of the Rights of Women:

It’s time to celebrate! Nearly thirty-three years ago in 1972, the status of women at Oregon State University was forever changed by three momentous events: the opening of the Women Studies Center, the creation of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, and the offering of the first Women Studies classes. It’s hard to imagine what life would be like for women on our campus if it weren’t for these important accomplishments and the commitment of those who made them possible (Jeanne Dost, Margaret Lumpkin, JoAnne J. Trow, and Gwenyth Britton to name a few).

On the national front, other feminist victories (Title IX and Roe v. Wade) brought profound change in the early 1970s. In their book, Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism and the Future, Jennifer Baumgartner and Amy Richards offer a sobering reminder of what our lives would be like without the historic strides of thirty years ago:

• If a woman is hit by a husband or lover, she has no shelter to go to unless she happens to live near the one in northern California or the other in upper Michigan.
• A married woman can’t obtain credit without her husband’s signature.
• Only 44 percent of women are employed outside the home. And those women make, on average, fifty-two cents to the dollar earned by males.
• Girls have physical education class and play half-court basketball, but not soccer, track or cross-country; nor do they have any varsity sports teams.
• The Miss America Pageant is the biggest source of scholarship money for women.
• Only 14 percent of the doctorates are awarded to women; only 3.5 percent of MBAs are female.

We’ve come a long way in the past thirty years, but not far enough.

• Today, one out of four women on college campuses has experienced sexual violence and about one in three women will experience such violence in their lifetime.
• Women now earn 48 percent of the doctorate degrees and they hold 39 percent of all faculty positions nationwide, but only earn 77 percent of what male college professors earn.

Many women and men played a vital part during the past thirty-two years in creating a better environment for our women students, faculty and staff. However, our work is not done, and I look forward to your continued involvement in the coming years as we address issues such as reproductive choice, insurance coverage for birth control, sexual harassment, objectification of women in the media, pay equity, personal safety, the glass ceiling, women’s rights and human rights internationally, and the many additional issues faced by our sisters of color.

Please consider supporting our continuing efforts with a contribution to the Oregon State University Women’s Center.

With gratitude and appreciation,

Beth Rietveld
Oregon State University
Women’s Center

Thank you!

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