As a woman, a minority and an equal opportunity professional, I view gender in our history, our society, our homes, our educational system and our workplace from a different perspective.

After 21 years in this profession I have learned one fact: we will not get to a point where everyone is accepted and given the opportunity to succeed through legislation. Legislation does not change the hearts, minds and actions of people. It just tells us what we can and cannot do.

If legislation could change people, race discrimination, sex discrimination and sexual harassment complaints would not be the top three types of complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for the past 20 years.

If legislation could, sexual harassment of female students in higher education would not be a major concern of the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and would not have required a response from me to an inquiry on how is UAF dealing with this issue from Senator Lisa Murkowski.

If legislation could, Alaska would not lead the nation in domestic violence.

If legislation could, women and men in the same position would be paid the same wages 44 years after the Equal Pay Act was passed.

If legislation could, each of us would show by our daily actions that we understand and value everyone's entitlement to be treated fairly and to be able to take advantage of all of the opportunities in this nation and this world.

The reality is that our opinion of others and ourselves is based on our life experiences, not on legislation. From birth, there are usually different expectations based on the child's gender and those expectations shape the opportunities that child believes he or she has.

When I grew up, girls were not expected to do well in math and science so the thought of a female astronaut was inconceivable. Today women can be and do whatever they want, but there are still barriers. Some are from people in leadership positions or from society, and some are self-imposed barriers from when we accept the belief that we are limited in what we can achieve. We need to accept that changing the way things are starts from within.

The majority of the people working at UAF are women and the majority of the people who come to see me are women. Most of those contacts are for advice on or guidance on dealing with problems in the workplace.

Some of the concerns are that supervisors do nothing to show their appreciation. Other concerns include that there is a double standard of treatment and application of the workplace rules; that women are treated as less important to the success of the organization because they are in support roles; and that, based on their position, there is no opportunity to advance.

One frustrated supervisor said, "what if I offer training opportunities to my employees and they leave?" The answer is, "What if you don't offer training and they stay?"

This is a problem that we all must address and fix. How often do you thank your employees for what they do? My boss did it in a public forum recognizing the women who make a difference in his life. To hear that made me feel great and reinforced my motivation to do my best. Could that have the same effect on you? Think about it.

On a recent Friday, I was at a training session entitled "Contented Cows Give Better Milk." The presentation talked about the relationship between employee relations and the bottom line. We were provided hard data and numbers to demonstrate that actions from the top down showing that all employees were important to the success of that organization achieved greater financial success.

Organizations that put more emphasis on recruiting new talent instead of investing in ways to keep the talent they have had less financial success. And it is not always about money. It is about recognizing and appreciating, not on selected occasions the ones makes this university great.

The significance of that message led me to a hypothesis. I heard that only one person from UAF showed up for public comments to the Legislature on the university funding. If the university employees, male and female, felt as passionate and enthusiastic about working at UAF as the Nanooks Hockey fans feel about their team, every year there would be university employees lined up for blocks telling the legislature how important funding the university is to the future of Alaska.

Earlina Bowden directs the Office of Equal Opportunity at UAF.