As a graduate assistant with the Women’s Resources Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), I have seen firsthand the importance of having a space dedicated to women’s programming, events, discussions, and sisterhood. As both an undergraduate and graduate student at the same Big Ten university, I also had the opportunity to be part of the campus movement that created such a space.
February 2010 will mark the one-year anniversary of the Women’s Resources Center at UIUC, and celebration plans are well under way. As I help plan these festivities, I cannot help but think of the many other college campuses that are currently struggling to create a similar space.
Although there had been an Office of Women’s Programs at UIUC since the 1970s, the fight for a women’s center was a years-long, hard battle. Students, a majority of them women under the age of 22, were the driving force for the final push last year. This force of young energy breathed life into the campaign. They identified themselves as Allies for a Women’s Center, and they were as dynamic in their membership as they were in their strategic approach.
One of the main components of the advocacy plan for Allies for a Women’s Center was to create a “top 10″ list for why there should be a women’s center on campus. They outlined the following reasons to present to the school administrators. Their list may help students at others schools without a space for women students to go who wish to have one.
A Women’s Center at the University of Illinois would
- Provide competitive resources to students compared to peer institutions (seven of 11 Big Ten schools have women’s centers).
- Address gender inequities, such as the gender pay gap, which starts as early as one year out of college.
- Make available education on preventing and addressing sexual violence; 20 percent to 25 percent of women will face sexual assault during their college career.
- Help maintain a safe and open campus environment free from sexual harassment; two-thirds of college students experience sexual harassment at school.
- Build opportunities for critical leadership skills for women.
- Assure equal opportunities to learn, particularly breaking down barriers for women entering and trying to stay in fields like engineering and computer science.
- Attend to the needs of female athletes, many of whom still lack the facilities and resources that their male counterparts receive.
- Maintain a collection of resources on women and gender on the campus, in the community, and worldwide.
- Enhance the campus climate for all genders.
- Recognize gender as an important identity and help support, challenge, and prepare students to learn, lead, and actively participate in their communities.
Today our Women’s Center provides personnel and resources to create programming that addresses all facets of women’s lives and identity and helps to prepare students to learn, lead, and actively participate in their communities.
Rachael Dietkus-Miller is a member of the 2009–10 AAUW Student Advisory Council.
Rachael,
From your experience, even though women do make up the majority of students on college campuses, why is a women’s center still relevant? What needs arent being met just because women “have the numbers” on their side?
Kate Farrar
Director of Leadership Programs
AAUW
Ben, your comment went to spam and was missed. We do not censor based on point of view, but we do reserve the right to delete offensive or off-topic comments. Next time don’t just assume your opinion has been suppressed by the (wo)man.
Interesting how any opinion contrary to the typical pro-female one is suppressed on your website. I wrote a very short piece regarding why a women’s center should not exist on a college campus and that was not permitted. I guess women are as biased as any one else.
If this gets posted (probably not) what I wrote earlier concerned the fact that women are a majority on any college campus now and having programs, centers and special things specifically for women is very biased and should NOT be allowed since these things are discriminatory by their very nature.
One wonders what more women could want ? Women are a majority on almost all college campuses and yet need special funding, women’s centers and programming. Seems like excessive selfishness.