As we explore gender issues in this week's Sun Star I thought it would be interesting to look at the progress that has been made over the last 50 years at UAF.

I searched the archives of UAF's student newspaper, the Polar Star, in '57, '67 and '77. I also found a current Woman Engineer magazine that I found relevant to the topic at hand.

In the late 50s, an editorial by a male student, Harry Whiston, wrote how unfair the dorm rules were to women. The men's dorms had no restrictions, but the women had to abide by strict curfews.

Whether he was genuinely concerned with women's rights or just unhappy his female friends had to leave social gatherings before curfew is unknown. I suppose the women appreciated his support either way.

An article from 1967 announced that the Alaska draft leader was visiting campus. A photo of a soldier walking through swamps in Vietnam accompanied the story. This highlights the other side of the gender issue -- despite all the progress we've made, only men must sign up for the draft. Delving into this topic could take up another themed issue of the Sun Star, but it shows that men are sometimes at a disadvantage as well.

In 1977 article about the International Women's Year, Alaskans held a conference in Anchorage to assess "progress toward sexual equality in Alaska, the role of Alaskan women in economic, social, cultural, and political development, and the participation of Alaskan women in promoting world peace." Another article from that era announced that female cafeteria workers were no longer required to wear skirts to work. The women said that it was impractical for their work and their voices were heard.

In all of these articles, there were consistent ads and reports of women taking on leadership positions on campus as members of ASUAF, showing that student government was progressive concerning gender issues.

More recently, I found an example of the status of women in a current copy of Woman Engineer. I thought this was interesting as UAF has an active engineering department and my female friends have mentioned how few women are in the field.

Yet an article noted the importance that role models play for young women who may consider entering a predominantly male workforce. This mirrors the problem regarding tenure in faculty. There are fewer women in tenured positions at the university, and though no specific policy excludes them, they are less likely to get it simply because of the status quo.

In the last 50 years, we've made progress as far as mutual respect and equality. But there are still inequalities. Fortunately, the opportunities for change are there. It is up to us to recognize them.