Every few years, COSWL has collected and analyzed data from institutions in the U.S. and Canada regarding the status of women in Linguistics Departments and Programs. An overview of survey results through the most recent survey (2003) was presented at the 2006 LSA Annual Meeting, along with preliminary results from an ongoing web-based survey of the representation of women in Linguistics Departments and Programs in 2005-2006.
WILMA
WILMA (Women in Linguistics Mentoring Alliance) is an internet-based mentoring program for women in the field of linguistics designed by Mary Bucholtz, Megan Crowhurst, and Monica Macaulay and funded by an NSF Advance Program grant. The internet site has been open since January 2003 and can be accessed at: http://ling.wisc.edu/wilma . We encourage all women linguists to participate in this program. The program matches women with more experienced counterparts at different institutions, encouraging long-term mentoring relationships.
Various members of COSWL over the years have collected syllabi for courses on language and gender. Contributions to the collection are always welcome!
Hard-copy versions can be purchased from the LSA; see our COSWL
publications page.
January 2004. Symposium: Language and Gender: The State of the Art. Organized by Jack Sidnell (Northwestern U.) and Robin Queen (U. of Michigan). Speakers: Penelop Eckert (Stanford U.), Susan Ehrlich (York U.), Elizabeth Keatin (U. Texas-Austin), Sally McConnell-Ginet (Cornell U.), Sara Trechter (Chico State U.).
Summer 2003. Conference: "Perception and Realization in Language and Gender Research." Co-sponsored with The International Gender and Language Association (IGALA) and organized by Miriam Meyerhoff (U Edinburgh) and Mary Bucholtz (UC-Santa Barbara). Speakers: Barbara Horvath (U Sidney), Celia Kitzinger (U York), Helga Kotthoff (Padgogische Hochschule Freiburg), Joan Pujolar Cos (U Oberta de Catalunya), and Margaret Wetherell (The Open University).
January 2001. Symposium: "The Breadth and Diversity of Language and Gender Research." Organized by Scott Kiesling (U Pittsburgh), Marianna DiPaolo (U UT), Norma Mendoza-Denton (U AZ), Carlota S. Smith (U TX-Austin). Speakers: Jeri J. Jaeger (U at Buffalo), Kyoung-Ja Lee (Simon Fraser U), Catherine Hicks Kennard (U AZ), and Robin Lakoff (UC-Berkeley).
January 2000. Symposium: "Women in Linguistics: Celebrating 25 Years of COSWL." Organized by Marianna DiPaolo (U UT), Jennifer Hay (Northwestern U), Jeri Jaeger (SUNY-Buffalo). Speakers: Victoria A. Fromkin (UCLA), Janet Dean Fodor (CUNY Grad Ctr), Ilse Lehiste (OH SU), Penelope Eckert (Stanford U), and Jean Berko Gleason (Boston U).
January 1999. Workshop: "Becoming a Professional Linguist: Strategies for Survival & Success." Organized by Audra Dainora (U Chicago) and Yukako Sunaoshi (UT-Austin). Speakers: David Silva (UT-Arlington), Monica Macaulay (UW-Madison), Abigail C. Cohn (Cornell), Justine Cassell (MIT), Penelope Eckert (Stanford U), and Jane H. Hill (Wayne State U).
January 1998. Panel: "Liminal Linguists: Women in Nontraditional Professional Positions." Organized by Mary Bucholtz and Yukako Sunaoshi. Speakers: Alice Greenwood, Christine Kamprath, Dina Dahbany-Miraglia, Miriam Isaacs, and Patricia Kilroe.
January 1996. Panel: "Academic Career Paths of Women in Linguistics: A First Look at the 1995 Survey Data." David Silva (UTA), Justine Cassell (MIT), Megan Crowhurst (UNC-Chapel Hill), Kira Hall (Rutgers), Francine Frank (SUNY-Albany), and Sara Trechter (CSU-Chico).
January 1995. Symposium: "Linguistic Perspectives on Sexual Harassment." Organized by Janet Bing (Old Dominion) and Elizabeth Traugott (Stanford), with Susan Ehrlich and Ruth Kind (York U), Lucian Lombardo (Old Dominian), and Sally McConnell-Ginet (Cornell). Discussant: Martha Chamallas (U Pittsburgh).
January 1995. Panel: "A Study of Women's Career Paths in Linguistics." Kira Hall (UC-Berkeley), Justine Cassell (MIT), and David Silva (UTA).
January 1994. "The Impact of Feminist Research on the Social Sciences." Shulamit Reinharz (Brandeis).
At several LSA Summer Linguistic Institutes, COSWL sponsored weekly "Survival Skills in Academia" workshops.
Summer 2005. Organized by Rebecca Roeder. Speakers: Hagit Borer (U. Southern California), Norma Mendoz-Denton (I. of Arizona), Suzanne Flynn (MIT), Penelop Eckert (Stanford U.).
Summer 2003. Organized by Maryam Bakht-Rofheart and Rebecca Roeder. Speakers: Mary Bucholtz (University of California, Santa Barbara), Robin Queen (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), Natalie Schilling-Estes (Georgetown University), Nancy Niedzielski (Rice University), Miriam Meyerhoff (University of Edinburgh), Maryam Bakht-Rofheart (New York University).
Summer 2001. Organized by Norma Mendoza-Denton, Maryam Bakht-Rofheart, and Ken Lacy.
Summer 1997. Organized by Justine Cassell and Sara Trechter. Speakers: Suzanne Flynn (MIT), Sally McConnell-Ginet (Cornell), Sara Trechter (Chico State University), Deborah Tannen (Georgetown), Susan Phillips (Arizona); Pat Keating (UCLA), Kira Hall (Yale), Cathy O'Connor (BU), Carol Rosen (Cornell), Bonnie McElhiny (U Toronto), Linda Waugh (Cornell), Audrey Li (USC), Sue Hertz (Eloquent Communications), MaryEllen Garcia (UT-San Antonio), Penny Eckert (Stanford), Ellen Broselow (Stony Brook), Livia Polanyi (Rice), Ellen Barton (Michigan)
Summer 1995. Organized by Justine Cassell and Megan Crowhurst.
In April 1993 the Executive Committee approved COSWL's request to include "Language and Gender" as a category for the submission of abstracts for the LSA Annual Winter meeting, effective 1994.
COSWL has consistently worked with the Executive Committee to improve the "LSA Guidelines for Nonsexist Usage." Check our LSA Guidelines page for the full text.
In 1993 a revised list of recommendations to LSA authors and presenters on nonsexist language use proposed by COSWL was accepted by the Executive Committee.
In 1995 the Executive Committee voted to revise the guidelines and to urge the contributors to Language to follow these guidelines in their submissions.
In 1996, at the LSA Annual Meeting the necessity, status, and function of these guidelines was reevaluated in a symposium organized by Victoria Bergvall, Colleen Brice, and Monica Macaulay: "Addressing Bias in Linguistic Example Sentences: Are Guidelines Necessary?"
See our COSWL publications page for more information.
Justine Cassell has an on-going project in which she is collecting oral narratives from female linguists, discussing their lives and careers. She and David Silva have also been collecting photos of women in the field, and the two projects were jointly presented in an audiovisual presentation at the 1997 LSA Annual Meeting, called "The Lives of Women Linguists: Words and Images." Numerous photographs of women linguists were displayed, and tapes of the interviews were played continuously throughout the exhibit.