by Catherine McCarley
Fayetteville, Ark. – Whether it be in movies, books or art, people feel empowered when they see images like themselves. Sculptures of great Razorback alumni can be found on both the academic and athletic sides of University of Arkansas campus, but none of those statues are of women.
The University of Arkansas campus is stuck in a public art gender gap and it is not alone. Just over 5,000 sculptures decorate America’s public spaces, but only 300 of these sculptures feature women, according to the 2019 Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog.
“If an idea is brought for a statue, or naming of a building, I don’t think anyone at the university thinks about, well, is this a male or is this a female,” said Mark Rushing, Vice Chair of University Relations. “It’s really looked at as what are the accomplishments or what’s the justification of this person.
Getting images of real women into public spaces takes “informing” people about the importance of diversity in sculpture topics, said Shelby Fleming, who studies Sculpture on the graduate level at the University of Arkansas.
Although the University of Arkansas campus does not use its public spaces to tell female histories through sculpture, there are plenty of candidates for commemoration.
Graduating from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1936, Elsijane Tremble Roy became the first woman to sit on the bench of the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1975. She went on to serve in a federal judgeship where she was the first female appointed to the eighth district, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
In the same class of female aviation pioneers as Amelia Earhart, Louise Thaden attended the University of Arkansas in the 1920s. Thaden became the only female pilot to hold altitude, solo endurance and speed records at once.
Edith Irby Jones was the first woman and African American to attend the University of Arkansas Medical School, graduating in 1952.
Despite many female alumni who helped grow the legacy of the University of Arkansas, only one marker on campus mentions a woman by name. It is the “Clintons on Law Faculty” marker on the north side of the School of Law. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is honored with her husband President Bill Clinton.
Adding more women to the selection committee for sculptures on campus might be the first step in ending the current gender gap, said Shelby Fleming.