The Vicious Cycle of Gender and Status at the University of California at Berkeley, 1918-1954. ASHE 1988 Annual Meeting Paper.

The way in which an all-women's department, the Department of Home Economics at the University of California (Berkeley), tried to raise its status and adhere to academic values of a research university after starting out as a low prestige undergraduate program is analyzed. Some of the related research questions are: whether academic departments within coeducational universities intended mostly to serve women (such as education, library science, women's physical education, hygiene, nursing, and home economics) automatically start out low in status, power, and prestige; whether their status rises or falls over time; and how they sustain their existence. Focus was on the following: Agnes Fay Morgan, the female institution builder (a PhD in chemistry who became chair of the household science division of the department, reorganized it into an independent department, and tried to raise the status of her department); hiring of faculty; building a curriculum; research activities; space and research facilities; changing the name of the department; the graduate group in nutrition; visibility; and gender and status. It is noted that gender and status form a vicious circle, and that gender played a crucial role during the life of the Department of Home Economics at the University of California at Berkeley. The case demonstrates how significant gender is as a factor in ranking academic departments. (SM)