Why A Women's Center?

1. Conservative estimates indicate that after puberty, 5% to 10% of girls and women ( that translates into 5-10 million girls and women) are struggling with eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or borderline conditions (Crowther et al. , 1992; Fiarburn et al., 1993; Gordon, 1990; Hoek, 1995; Shisslak et al., 1995)

2. 80% of American women are dissatisfied with their appearance (Smolak, 1996)

3. Conservative estimates of sexual assault prevalence suggest that 25% of American women have been victims of a sexual assault (Abbey, Zawacki, Buck, Clinton, and McAuslan, 2001)

4. For completed and attempted rapes, nearly 90% of the victims knew the offender, who was usually a classmate, friend, ex-boyfriend or acquaintance ("The sexual Victimization of College Women," National Institute of Justice and Bureau of Justice Statistics, January 26, 2001)

5. 1 woman has been nominated as a Presidential or VP candidate by a major political party in the U.S. (www.whitehouse.gov, 2001)

6. Nationally, women make 72 cents of every dollar a man makes. African American women make 65 cents of every dollar and Hispanic women make 52 cents

7. Women account for 2 % of top executives in world businesses (Koss, 1998)

8. In 1998 women held 11.1 % of total board seats on Fortune 500 companies (671 of the 6,064 board seats) up from 10.6% in 1997 (Catalyst, 1998)

9. Women spend about 35.1 hours per week doing housework; men spend about
17.4 hours (Koss, 1998)

For more information, see NWSA Women's Center Resources in the link section.

Answers Added on November 21, 2006

Information/Consciousness Raising Meeting at TWU

Dear TWU Campus and Greater Community,

We would like to invite you all to join us in continuing our dialogue about women's centers and the possibility of one on TWU's campus. We will be holding an information/consciousness raising meeting about women's centers on November 21, 2006. The location is the Student Union Building Room 207 from 2:30-3:30pm. Morgan O'Donnell, the Outreach Coordinator for the Galerstein Women's Center at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), will be speaking on her experience with the UTD women's center. In addition, she will be speaking on what a women's center is, what the women's center at UTD offers, and how women's centers can reach out to the entire campus population. We hope that everyone will mark their calendars and join us in this important dialogue. We look forward to hearing from the entire community.

Outreach Techniques for Women's Centers

When thinking about how women's centers can connect the campus and greater community, I wanted to share some of the outreach techniques women's centers utilize. The following ideas are from Barbara Kasper's article "Campus-Based Women's Centers: A Review of Problems and Practices" (2004).

Women of Color:
*Offering or hosting special services, support groups, or discussion groups for women of color
*Providing deliberate outreach (invitations) to groups that serve students of color
*Collaborating with other multicultural organizations in planning and implementing programs
*Targeting programs specifically to women of color

GLBT Community:
*Employing staff who are GLBT
*Offering or hosting special services, support groups, or discussion groups for GLBT population
*Targeting Programs specifically to the GLBT community
*Collaborating with campus GLBT organizations in planning and implementing programs

Men:
*Special events for men (to discuss how they could work with or support the women's center)
*Programs on prostate and testicular cancer
*Men as partners of women who are survivors of violence
*Career Counseling
*Programs on the abuse of steroids
*Programs and a group on fathering (Bowling Green University)

More Interesting Information

Even though our campus is becoming more diverse, faculty diversity has stayed almost stagnant from 2001-2005. In 2001, 34.8% of students were African-American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Pacific Islander, or International. Whereas, only 16% of faculty were African-American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian, Pacific Islander, or International. In 2005, the student body rose to 40.2% and faculty rose to 18% (Statistics are from TWUs Institutional Research Department). A related question is: "What do teachers and administrators who are not from the same class, cultural, or racial backgrounds need to know about students and their communities in order to provide the best learning environment for everyone?" (Luttrell 3). Do you think that a women's center along with the help of multicultural programs could help create a bridge between students and teachers? In many ways, a women's center could offer community based education outside of the traditional classroom.

Cited:
Luttrell, Wendy. " Empowerment Without Illusion." Off Our Backs: a women's newsjournal. Washington: May 31, 1982. Vol. 12, Iss. 5

One of Many Reasons Why TWU Needs a Women's Center...

Out of curiosity I decided to research the number of women and men faculty at TWU. In addition, I took that curiosity a step further and looked at tenured/tenure track women and men faculty. Even though TWU does have more women faculty than men, tenure/tenure track status of women was not higher than that of men faculty. In 2001, TWU had 573 women faculty, but out of that 573 women only 34.2% were tenured/tenure track. There were only 156 male faculty at TWU in 2001, but 41.8% of the men faculty were tenured/tenure track. Unfortunately, the numbers only get worse as I jump to 2005. TWU had 684 women faculty in 2005, but only 29.9% percent of those women were tenured/tenure track. In 2005, there were 204 male faculty and 39.2% of them were tenured/tenure track. It is obvious that both numbers dropped, but that is due to an overall decrease in the total number of tenured/tenure track faculty at TWU. However, what is shocking is that women's tenured/tenure track status has actually dropped more than men's tenured/tenure track status from 2001 to 2005. (Statistics are from TWUs Institutional Research Department).

Women's Center Questionnaire

1. What about the fact that TWU is predominantly women and, assumedly, already a women-centered university. With this in mind, then, is there a need for a women's center at a woman's university?

2. When I look at all of the great things women's centers on other campuses do and provide, I wonder if TWU really is woman-centered and think that maybe there is some room for the types of things a women's center generally provides. Do you think there is a need for a women's center at a predominantly woman's university?

3. If yes to question two, why and how would it differ from the existing women's community?


***We would greatly appreciate your answers to these questions.***

A Brief History of Women's Centers

Excerpt from Barbara Kasper's articile "Campus-Based Women's Centers: A Review of Practices and Problems" (AFFILIA, Vol. 19 No. 2, Summer 2004 185-98)

"There are more than 460 campus-based women's centers in the United States. Although each center is unique, many of them initially developed as a response to the second wave of feminism inherent in the women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Today, most centers have close affiliations with their institutions' women's studies programs. The typical mission statement of a campus-based women's center focuses on offerening support, information, and resources to women students, staff, and faculty on matters of equal opportunity and gender equity. Some centers also open their doors to women from the larger community. Most of these centers seek to provide a programmatic response to the needs of campus-affiliated women, with an emphasis on the elimination of oppression and discrimination on the basis of sex, race, age, class, religion, and sexual orientation as well as other barriers to human liberation. Women's centers vary in their degree of identification with feminist politics and ideology."

How Could a Women's Center Help The Climate at Texas Woman's University?

When most people see the words woman's university behind a name, what do individuals assume? I know that I figured that Texas Woman's University would have an inviting environment with many activities that included and welcomed collaboration with women's initiatives. I am not saying that Texas Woman's University does not offer these activities, but that these activities are scattered throughout the campus. Therefore, when a student looks for projects, community participation, or even help with women's issues, they have a difficult time locating those resources. How could a Women's Center help create collaboration amongst all the university initiatives for women? I think that a Women's Center on TWU's campus could be used as a go to point for many services that the campus offers. For instance, student organizations that are primarily for women's issues, counseling services for domestic violence, service learning activities for classes, and professional career assistance could all be conveniently run out of a women's center. This may seem like only a structural adjustment, but what does this structural adjustment mean for the campus community? It means that when students visit the women's center they will be entering a community rather than a group, program, or activity. This community can foster solidarity amongst students, faculty, staff, and the community in a greater way than the current structure. I would be very interested in hearing individuals comments, concerns, or other thoughts.

Women's Center Forum for Texas Woman's University

Have you ever wondered why Texas Woman's University does not have a women's center? I am currently in my first year of graduate school at TWU and have often found myself thinking that we need a women's center on campus. Coming from an institution that had a women's center on campus, I found women's centers to be learning and community oriented places for students. Women's centers are primarily for women, but the population they serve is not only women. The assumption that women's centers only serve women is a tough hurdle to overcome when you are advocating for a women's center in a primarily women's university. How do we overcome this barrier? At this point, I have found it hard to overcome or even think about advocating for one when there is so much bureaucracy. I would greatly appreciate any comments on how to overcome this assumption of women's centers.