Biography

The University of Iowa Council on the Status of Women was founded by Vice President for Academic Affairs May Brodbeck following her participation in the International Women's Year program on women's education and employment in 1976. The council consisted of twenty voting members drawn from four distinct components of the University of Iowa community: students, faculty, professional and scientific staff, and merit staff. Faculty and staff members served three-year terms and students served one-year terms. The council met monthly from September to June.

The council served as an advocacy group for women on the University of Iowa campus. During its first two decades of service, the group focused on childcare, women's athletics, university safety and security, homophobia, and sexual harassment. Subgroups of the council met separately and orchestrated campus-wide surveys on salary and wage discrepancies between men and women, childcare needs, and sexual harassment on campus. From these studies, the groups proposed new campus policies regarding childcare centers, affirmative action, family leave, and sexual harassment grievance procedures.

The council was inactive during the 2001/02 and 2002/03 academic years. In 2003, the council initiated a review of the 2000 merger of the men's and women's athletics departments. The Athletics Merger Review Committee's report, issued in 2005, led to the formation of a Gender Equity in Athletics ad hoc committee.

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