Discussion

Discussion Barbara Sicherman Considerable attention was given to the growing perception of reverse discrimination in hiring and what historians can do to correct it. Several members of the audience believed that the secrecy of hiring practices fostered this misperception and recommended that the OAH, AHA, and similar organizations find ways to counteract it. Other difficulties experienced by women of color are intimidation and isolation by colleagues and students and the practice of joint appointments —in African-American studies, women's studies, and history, for example—which frequently impose conflicting expectations and undue burdens. Concern was also expressed that jobs are being defined in ways that eliminate specialists in women's history. Search committees may assume that someone who teaches women's history is not qualified to teach labor or political history, for example, even though the person also specializes in that field. In considering student resistance to women's history in survey courses, several individuals emphasized the importance of institutional support (e.g., from department chairs and curriculum committees) and of having men teach this material. The importance of mobilizing alumnae in efforts to upgrade child care and other faculty welfare provisions was also emphasized. © 1993 Journal of Women's History, Vol. 4 No. 3 (Winter) ...