University of Siegen mourns the loss of Doris Funk

Born in Bonn-Beuel in 1938, her mother's evacuation with her three daughters to what is now Poland in the last year of the war and the arduous return (partly on foot) to Bonn as well as the years of privation after the war were among the most drastic experiences of her childhood. This German history stayed with her throughout her life and it was always important to her to campaign against war and for reparations for the atrocities of National Socialism. As a First Generation academic, she studied philosophy, German and history in Bonn, Saarbrücken and Heidelberg and worked as a German teacher for international students during her studies. The birth of her two children in January 1965 also took place during her time as a student, and even then she managed the difficult balancing act between family and career. Doris Funk was a Germanist through and through; she distinguished herself through her always reflective and careful use of the German language - a care that she also displayed as editor of the annual "Frauen-Info" magazine, which she initiated and which was aimed at all female members of the university. she also cultivated her passionate interest in literature during her years as Women's Representative, be it in a collegial exchange with the Romance philologist Ursula Böhmer or in the exploration of literature by women. Many participants will never forget the annual writing workshops for women that she initiated.

Doris Funk always met her fellow human beings with her own friendly, attentive and approachable manner. The students in particular always benefited from her motivating attitude and her communication at eye level. At the same time, she was very committed and consistently advocated for the interests of women of all status groups at the university and showed a very clear attitude.

Doris Funk was one of the first women to promote women at universities. Already at the Bonn University of Education, where she had been working since 1970 as a lecturer in the fields of didactics of the German language and speech training (at that time an additional training and compulsory subject for prospective teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia), she joined a small group of female academics who tried to broaden the discussion about the advancement of women and women's representatives at universities. One of the group's goals was to establish a working group on women's studies.

As a result of the restructuring of the teacher training colleges and because she had been asked by Prof. Augst, she was transferred to the University of Siegen in 1985, at that time already a civil servant teacher in the higher education service, then senior teacher from 1987. Doris Funk worked at the University of Siegen for a total of 16 years and was involved in teacher training, the Siegen Institute for Language and Communication at Work (SISIB) and the innovative diploma course in media planning, development and consulting.

In 1989, she became the first Women's Representative of the University of Siegen for a total of 6 years, a very formative time for her. The office of Women's Representative was established due to new legal requirements of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The "Wissenschaftliche Hochschulgesetz (WissHG NRW)" (Higher Education Act) of 1987 had made the advancement of women a task of the universities and the establishment of the office of Women's Representative mandatory for the universities. In order to implement the new requirements, a women's plenary assembly was convened at the University of Siegen in the winter semester of 1987/88, from which a preparatory group emerged to draw up election regulations for the election of women's representatives. Doris Funk, who until her election as Women's Representative was also a member of the Academic Staff Council, where she was particularly responsible for the advancement of women, took part in the preparatory work. In July 1988, the (University) Senate passed the election regulations for the election of a Women's Council, from whose ranks the Women's Representative was to be elected. The election of the first Women's Council - a direct election by the women at the University of Siegen - took place in December 1988, the election of the first Women's Representative and her deputies in January 1989.

Doris Funk and her deputies Inge Ripplinger, Ulrike Hinz and Katharina Dickel, with whom she worked closely, found difficult starting conditions for their new work. There was a lack of basic equipment such as tools and premises, but also a lack of adequate time off to carry out the role, as the state did not provide any additional resources for the new task. Until the (University) Senate and Convention passed the new WissHG-adapted Basic Regulations in June 1989, which established the office of Women's Representative and her opportunities for participation at the University of Siegen, the elected women were in office on a temporary basis.

With the official assumption of office at the end of June 1989, the Women's Representative was immediately involved in all appointment and staffing procedures and also had the opportunity to participate in the meetings of the other committees with the right to propose motions and speak. Doris Funk and her deputy Inge Ripplinger were each given half of their teaching load to carry out these and many other tasks. The fact that an impressive range of activities emerged within a very short time and despite the initially very inadequate resources is thanks to the great commitment of the Women's Representative and her deputies as well as the Women's Council and other committed women.

The organization of the new office, the cooperation with the committees, the development of procedures that could ensure the systematic participation of the Women's Representative in job advertisements and appointment procedures and also the development of the legally required framework plan for the advancement of women required a fundamental examination of the processes in place up to that point and, above all, an inventory of the situation of women at the university. In cooperation with the personnel department, a survey of the proportion of women at the various career levels and in the individual areas of the university was carried out in 1989. At that time, the proportion of female professors at the University of Siegen was 2.7%, which corresponded to the absolute number of seven female professors.

In 1989, Doris Funk and the Women's Council published the first "Frauen-Info" to mark the election of the first Women's Representative. This periodical, which was now published annually, provided information about the work of the Women's Representatives and the Women's Council, was a forum for discussing women's issues and provided information about events such as workshops and seminars, lectures and campaigns at the University of Siegen, but also in the city and region and sometimes beyond. In particular, it was intended to better reach the group of female students. The "Women's Info" series still documents the initiatives taken and offers created. In 1990, Doris Funk, in cooperation with the "Arbeitskreis Wissenschaftlerinnen", organized one of the first events to promote the careers of women at the University of Siegen, the interdisciplinary women's seminar entitled "Frauen in der Hochschule". The two-day event offered a wide range of topics relating to career planning in academia and the spaces for movement within the university itself. A first cross-group writing workshop in August 1990 was very well received and was held annually from then on. The "Women's University Day" on June 7, 1991 attracted a great deal of attention, with events aimed at all women at the university. The exhibition "Women + War", which had been conceived by two academic staff members of the University of Siegen against the backdrop of the Gulf War 1980-1988, was also integrated. In the early years of the promotion of women at the university, it proved particularly difficult to offer events for the target groups of women in technology and administration. There was still a complete lack of in-house further education courses for them and they were often unable to take part in external events for family reasons. Due to a lack of available funding, one or two events had to be financed as part of continuing academic education. In 1993, in cooperation with the women's representatives of the city and district, the exhibition "Sisters, don't forget us" was brought to Siegen, which dealt with the misery of women persecuted by the National Socialists in the concentration camps.

The biggest challenge at the university was to gain acceptance for the work of the women's representative and to enforce compliance with the new regulations. Despite instructions from the university management at the time to comply with the provisions of the NRW Women's Promotion Act, in day-to-day practice the Women's Representative was all too often confronted with departments and appointment committees that did not feel bound by them. Resistance was sparked above all by the performance-related quota regulation and the fundamental obligation to advertise vacancies, which came into force with the Women's Promotion Act. When filling positions in the academic mid-level faculty, the majority initially refused to advertise. The Women's Representative only received stronger support from the administration with the "Procedural Principles for the Implementation of the Act on the Advancement of Women at Universities", which were sent to the universities for testing at the end of 1990. Over the years, experiences of power asymmetry within the high structures, as well as personal insults suffered in some cases, left their mark and Doris Funk often struggled with the often lengthy and difficult discussions, the resistance from many sides and the acceptance of the work of the Women's Representative that had yet to be achieved. Nevertheless, she never let up in her commitment, sometimes to the point of risking exhaustion. As a counterbalance to these experiences, she relied on the exchange with other women's representatives at regional and supra-regional level and also showed great commitment in this network work, which was characterized by solidarity

It took several years to draw up and adopt the university's first women's advancement plan, which led to heated debates in the committees. At the heart of the document, which was carefully drawn up in cooperation with the staff councils, was the creation of transparency in the allocation of positions at all hierarchical levels of the University of Siegen. It also contains comprehensive regulations on many other topics such as the compatibility of family and career, the prevention of violence and sexual harassment, the further qualification of women in technology and administration as well as the promotion of women in studies, research and teaching, including gender studies. The "exceptions to the obligation to advertise" to be determined were particularly hotly contested in the committees. The "Framework Plan for the Advancement of Women" finally adopted by the (University) Senate in 1996, and from 2002 the "Framework Plan for Equality between Women and Men", still exists today with some editorial changes. It can be seen as a legacy of the first Women's Representative and the committed women of the Women's Council who supported her.