The ODU Women’s Caucus (also known as the Faculty Women’s Caucus and the University Women’s Caucus) is an active ODU organization to this day but began on campus in 1974 as a group of women who gathered together to discuss issues surrounding the status of female faculty on campus. More specifically these women aid in affirmative action efforts to promote equality between male and female faculty, through salary, promotion, rank, retention and recruitment. From there the UWC ballooned into an organization that not only tackled salary discrepancies and promotion and retention, to one that attacked a wide array of gender issues on campus. These issues include, but are not limited to sexual harassment, discriminatory hiring/promotions practices, and representation of women on university committees. On occasion the UWC will work on specific cases, working closely with university administrations and more specifically whoever held the office of University president at the time. Their major focus is to promote a woman’s position on campus as a whole. Issues the organization tackled were not always negative either, they also sought to uplift and raise awareness for women, both faculty and students alike through a number of conferences on a plethora of topics as well as holding small group meetings on women’s studies topics. Some of the topics include sexual harassment, gender inequity, and women in athletics. Membership of the caucus is comprised mostly of female faculty and administrators. The major areas of and / or standing committees for the UWC were: Gender Inequity: The UWC actively seeks the elimination of salary discrimination. They also work diligently at getting the administration to provide the UWC with data that allows them to examine the gender differences in salaries. Recruitment/Tenure/Promotion/Retention: The UWC encouraged active recruitment and examination of women well qualified for recruitment, promotion, and retention procedures. Using affirmative action policies the UWC actively petitioned the ODU presidents to implement and continue fair promotion/retention/tenure practices. Title IX/Affirmative Action: The UWC worked closely with the University’s AA/EO office that was established in the 1970s, to promote and ensure the rights granted to women under Title IX. Sexual Harassment: The women of the UWC seek the implementation of new policies and procedures on handling the issue of harassment. These procedures and policies should align with Affirmative Action policies as they are endorsed by the UWC Safety: The UWC wanted to establish a safe environment where women students, staff and faculty can have the same opportunities as men to use the ODU facilities such as computers, libraries and offices at night. Overall their major goal was to guarantee the safety of both faculty and students when walking around campus, particularly at night. Childcare: For many years, members of the Caucus worked with faculty and administrators to provide more adequate childcare on campus and day care became available in the Child Development Center in the mid 1990's. Race: Worked in conjunction with other university organizations to aid in the elimination of racial discrimination of campus. As a means of gathering information the caucus continuously sends out surveys on various topics. This way they can gain a better understanding of the issues women on campus deal with directly on a daily basis. Today the Faculty Women’s Caucus is an active member of the Old Dominion community where the members still sit on university committees and co-sponsor events with the Women’s Studies Department and the University Women’s Center.

Note written by Shalynn Phillips