Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 10, 1990 TAG: 9003091699
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KIM ZEOLI SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Why are many women leaving corporate America?
These are among the questions that Radford University's new Center for Gender Studies hopes to answer, according to director Hilary Lips.
"We're in the beginning stages right now because the center only opened in the fall of last year," said Lips. "We're trying to figure out where to put our energies."
Lips hopes there will be many projects under way by fall.
Multiple goals for the center have been defined by Jerri Frantzve, research coordinator. She said these goals range from raising the awareness of gender issues to incorporating gender issues into everyday life.
"Other goals are to share what we're doing with others and increase the amount of research. I'm looking toward getting funding from external sources after the center has developed more," she said.
Among the projects in progress is studying the difference in how men and women react to computers.
"Women tend to have a math anxiety and we're trying to see if this anxiety is also present when dealing with high-tech equipment," said Frantzve. "There are a couple of students working to find out the different techniques men and women use when operating computers."
Holly Foster, a graduate assistant, said the hypothesis is that women tend to be more "cook book" in their approach, while men are more analytical. "Women tend to take a step-by-step approach when learning about computers," Foster said.
"We've started doing interviews on campus. From these interviews we have taken data to develop a questionnaire, and we hope to run it in the business sector," said Foster.
She believes the results of these studies will support the hypothesis. Frantzve is sure the results will determine whether this is truly a gender issue or just a case of unfamiliarity.
Another project is trying to find out why many women are leaving corporate America and not returning.
"We're trying to get a questionnaire together so we can send them to women who hold high-level positions in corporations all across the United States. Some will be Fortune 500 companies; we hope to get some women in politics too," said Brenda Ray-Nayfey, an undergraduate.
According to several articles Frantzve has read, people believe women are leaving at a faster rate than men because as women get older they realize the struggle to succeed isn't worth it, so they leave to have a family.
Issues that might be researched after the center receives more funding include whether gender has anything to do with moral judgments, role conflicts in management and discrimination in the workplace.
Lips said the first major thing the center accomplished was getting an internationally known psychologist to speak on campus.
Dr. John Money, director of the Psychohormonal Research Unit at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltinore, spoke in early February. He is known for his work in the theory and clinical treatment in human sexuality.
According to Frantzve, the final big project of the semester will be taking a group of students to Eastern Europe. "We will research the expectations of men and women as work life and day-to-day life change after the wall came down," said Frantzve.
Frantzve and Lips believe the support so far for the center is a good indication of things to come. They hope support will continue and the center will grow to incorporate further research and more students.
by CNB