Jardine says the Romance department, whose senior faculty is evenly split between men and women, has gained notoriety among the faculty. Most interdisciplinary research takes place in nondepartmental programs such as Social Studies, Literature, History and Literature and Women's Studies. And faculty in these fields say joint appointments often entail greater workloads and a lesser chance of promotion. It's a real problem that people in Social Studies don't get promoted. Even for professors who find the time, often the very nature of their work is called into question.
Departments retain people who maintain the narcissism of what the field is.
But even administrators like Garber who advocate departmental status for these programs acknowledge that it upset much of the Harvard establishment to do so. Professor of Government Seyla Benhabib, chair of the Social Studies program and former chair of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, announced her departure for Yale this fall, saying she thought Social Studies would never attain departmental status. Pedersen says FAS may soon pay the price if it does not devote extra attention and resources to interdisciplinary research. It is important, then, to make sure that field definitions for searches are broad enough to include those scholars. If one defines a field narrowly or without taking account of new areas of research, one can overlook top women scholars.