ABSTRACT
Rummaging through a long-forgotten manila folder labeled Feminism, Sexism, Women we came across headlines such as: ‘Citing Sexism, Stanford Doctor Quits’ (Leatherman, 1991), ‘Walking Out on the Boys’ (Leatherman, 1992), ‘ZRage in a Tenured Position’, ‘A Leading Feminist Literary Critic Quits Post at Columbia, Citing “Impossible” Atmosphere’ (Heller, 1992), ‘Woman who took on Harvard Law School over Tenure Denial sees “Vindication”’ (Leatherman, 1993). These were stories about three female professors and their experiences in institutions and departments that are predominantly male in their faculty composition. The three professors are Frances Conley, the brain surgeon who quit her tenured professorship at Stanford Medical School after 25 years there because she wanted to protest what she described as a ‘hostile environment’ for women;1 Carolyn Heilbrun, the holder of an endowed chair, past president of the Modern Language Association, a leading feminist literary critic, who unexpectedly submitted her resignation after 32 years in Columbia University’s English department; and Clara Dalton who received a settlement of $260,000 after filing a complaint of sex-discrimination when she was denied tenure by Harvard Law School (Heller, 1992; Leatherman, 1991; Leatherman, 1993).
