The 2005 WWHEL State Conference opened at Marian College in Fond du Lac on Thursday, October 20, with keynoter Linda Babcock presenting information from her book Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide (Princeton University Press, 2003) on the conference theme “Something Ventured, Something Gained: Negotiation for Women.” Her opening gambit to the higher education leaders gathered in Marian's Stayer Auditorium was "Would you spend ten minutes to make $568,000?" With one swift calculation, Economics Professor Babcock showed that if a woman were to negotiate at age 22 a starting salary $5000 higher than the amount offered, she would have an extra 568K at age sixty. For the remainder of the presentation and in the workshop that followed, she urged her audience to bridge the gender conditioning that keeps women in lower paying and lower status jobs.

 

With basic gender studies concepts, Babcock reminded the women leaders that pre-school children watch toys for boys, as in the popular movie Toy Story, take off on challenging and rewarding adventures, while girl toys and the girls who play with them stay home as caretaking handmaidens of male heroes. When girls and boys do household chores, girls are assigned unpaid kitchen and cleaning jobs, while boys garner pocket change for raking leaves or washing the car. When Babcock's three-year-old daughter asked, "Mommy, do girls have money or only boys?" she realized how early gender stereotypes about who earns and controls money are set.

 

According to Babcock, adult women face psychological barriers based on early gender roles. Whereas men are socialized to see opportunities abounding and to feel entitled to go for the gusto, women face economic choices with fear and frugality. The gender gap approach to negotiating a new job or salary looks like winning a ball game to men but like going to the dentist for women. Oddly enough, women can be successful negotiating for others who depend on them but not for themselves, whereas men score higher in scenarios promoting their own self-interest. To combat women’s anxiety and to bolster women’s convictions of merit, Babcock offered a plan for negotiations that involves building trust and sharing the victory.

 

On Friday, October 21, Hannah Rosenthal, executive director of the Chicago Foundation for Women, a human rights advocacy group focusing on women and girls, delivered the second keynote address. Formerly the head of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Ms. Rosenthal previously served as Midwest regional director of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and spent eight years as the executive director of the Wisconsin Women's Council. A past recipient of the Wisconsin Equal Rights Award, Ms. Rosenthal has worked tirelessly for policies that have improved the lives of women and girls throughout the country.

 

In her presentation, Rosenthal shared some secrets for garnering benefits for the powerless from those who would rather not share, such as using the media to make visible injustice that the majority would rather not see. In Washington, DC, said Rosenthal, women and women’s rights are invisible and unprotected. She believes in giving those in power who are not doing the right thing the proverbial poke in the eye. Mobilize organizations and institutions to include new people whose needs may not be visible. Talk past those in power, especially elected officials, to their bosses – the public. Show the Big Picture.

 

Rosenthal rallied Wisconsin women leaders to put their chutzpah into action: "Acting like a lady may not work. Become a little more comfortable making those in power a little less comfortable." And sotto voce, she added, "Storm the Bastillle!"

 

During the conference, Dr. Carol Sue Butts, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville since 1998, passed the WWHEL presidential gavel to Dr. Mari McCarty, Executive Vice President of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (WAICU), a consortium of twenty private colleges and universities.

 

WWHEL invites women in higher education who wish to encourage, support and assist each other moving forward into leadership roles in academia to participate in WWHEL events. WWHEL is affiliated nationally with the American Council on Education (ACE) through the ACE Office of Women in Higher Education.