Summer, 1997
IN THIS ISSUE:
RESEARCH INFORMATION NETWORK on Women and Girls
CHICAGO WOMEN CONNECTING, INC.
Moves to New Home
Collaboration in Women's Health Research
PROJECT FAIR PLAY: Illinois Gender Equities Commission
WOMEN AND SCIENTIFIC LITERACY: Focus Groups for students
Sisters Speak Loud & Clear
Staff Changes at the Center for Research o Women
and Gender
Women's Studies Program Activities
RESEARCH INFORMATION NETWORK ON WOMEN AND GIRLS
With the funding support of the Chicago Community Trust, CRWG and the UIC Library have begun work on an innovative new project aimed at establishing a Research Information Network (RIN) through which individuals and organizations can gain access to a wide range of existing information on women and girls. Alice J. Dan, CRWG Director; Sharon Hogan, University Librarian; Stacy Wenzel, CRWG Research Associate; and Mary Beall, Reference Librarian are collaborating to develop an electronic network that will provide individuals and organizations with access to existing data and reports on women and girls.
The RIN will make extensive use of new electronic technology to assist in disseminating data through the development of an RIN website. The website will contain links to information on women and girls in a wide variety of formats. Databases and reports will be uploaded into the system to provide access to information that often goes underused. In the initial stages of this project, the RIN staff will meet with service providers, advocates, and researchers to determine their needs and to learn how the project can serve them. Finally, the RIN staff will provide services under contract to examine specific information and provide written analytical reports.
The network will include information on the status of health, safety, socioeconomic well being, and education, and the ways in which these various aspects of the lives of women and girls interact. The lives of women and girls in Chicago and Illinois will be the primary focus of the network. The Research Information Network is designed to reach a wide audience. Policy makers, private foundations and agencies that provide services to women and girls, and community organizations are among the groups that will find the RIN useful in developing their programs.
Over the past five years of CRWG's existence, it became increasingly
clear that, in many cases, research on the lives and needs of girls and
women had not been done and that what information was available was not
accessible to those making social policy. With the current change in the
welfare system, services to women and girls will continue to erode and
fragment. In the decentralized service provider system that is evolving,
funders and advocates for girls and women will benefit greatly from a
research network that assists them in finding and evaluating necessary
information.
CHICAGO WOMEN CONNECTING, INC. MOVES TO NEW HOME
Chicago Women Connecting, Inc. (CWC), a project of CRWG for the past two years, has moved to new offices in the Pullman Bank Building (1000 East 111th Street, Tenth Floor, Chicago). A generous donation from the Robert McCormick Foundation, the result of CWC's first banquet, has supported the move. Janice Kissner, project director, states that the offices have many amenities suitable for the program and are located in an area that is easily accessible via public transportation.
Ms. Kissner and Sandrell Green, CWC funding coordinator, have many plans for the coming year. Their first fund-raising activity will be to produce a 1998 calendar that will celebrate the lives of women survivors of violence and provide information on the causes and consequences of domestic violence. In March, 1998, CWC will hold its second annual Lifetime Achievement Award banquet at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel. Most importantly, Chicago Women Connecting hopes to conduct its inaugural work advocate training program at the beginning of 1998. For more information about the project, Jan and Sandrell can be reached at (773) 821-6990.
ALICE DAN, CRWG DIRECTOR
TO STUDY COLLABORATION IN WOMEN'S HEALTH RESEARCH
Alice Dan, Ph.D., CRWG Director, will spend the fall semester studying barriers to multidisciplinary collaboration in women's health research, and learning how to develop and evaluate strategies to overcome these barriers. Working with the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), this effort will address an issue specifically identified by the ORWH Advisory Committee on Research on Women's Health: "Mechanisms through which multidisciplinary teams of researchers can be encouraged to integrate biomedical studies and consideration of socio- economic and cultural factors in women's health research." (ORWH, 1996)
The importance of working across disciplines is re-emphasized in every women's health agenda, nevertheless, the obstacles to multidisciplinary collaboration remain significant, both in the federal health research arena and on campuses. We frequently hear such statements as, "Yes, we know that cross-disciplinary work is the way to do what we need, but the funding streams are disciplinary." Or, "How will we divide the credit or indirect cost between departments, if we collaborate?"
Dr. Dan will meet with successful interdisciplinary researchers, review available literature on the topic, and draft a paper for distribution through the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health. She will be based in Washington, D.C., during the fall semester.
PROJECT FAIR PLAY: Illinois Gender Equities Commission
On June 24, 1997, the Illinois Gender Equity Commission (IGEC) held a Chicago press conference to announce the findings of its assessment of gender equity and Title IX compliance in Illinois public primary and secondary schools. Title IX of the Federal Education Amendments prohibits sex discrimination in U.S. schools, however, girls and young women in Illinois continue to face shortcomings in their elementary and secondary education compared to boys. The research and actions of IGEC call attention to and begin to address these inequities on a statewide systemic level. The IGEC study, Project Fair Play, finds that while most school districts have written gender equity policies, schools are underperforming in taking specific action to publicize, enforce, and evaluate programs designed to create equity.
The Illinois Gender Equity Commission is a voluntary collaborative group on which CRWG serves along with community partners, including: A Sporting Chance Foundation; American Association of University Women; Chicago Department of Public Health/Chicago Together Coalition; Chicago Women in Trades; State Representative Judy Erwin; Girl Scouts of Chicago; Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health; Illinois High School Association; Illinois State Board of Education; Willye White Foundation; and the Women's Issues Network Foundation. Funding for Project Fair Play is provided by the Chicago Community Trust, Girl's Best Friend Foundation, and WPWR-TV Channel 50 Foundation.
The next phase of Project Fair Play continues with Fall 1997 training sessions for school district officials who participated in the survey. Please contact the IGEC (312/409-8846) to request a copy of the Project Fair Play Action Agenda which outlines steps you can take to ensure equity for girls in Illinois. Contact Stacy Wenzel at CRWG (312/413-7342) for more information on this project and other CRWG work on gender equity in education.
WOMEN AND SCIENTIFIC LITERACY
Focus Groups for students
The Center for Research on Women and Gender represents UIC as one of ten universities taking part in a three-year initiative of the American Association of Colleges and Universities that seeks to build a two-way street between women's studies and science. One segment of CRWG's participation, a series of focus groups targeting junior and senior level women in the Colleges of Nursing and Pharmacy, will begin in the fall semester. The purpose of the focus groups is to listen to these women about their expectations and experiences with science education at UIC or elsewhere, analyze the information gathered, and make the results available to departments or colleges that can use the information.
Women students who are in the College of Nursing or Pharmacy and are interested in participating in the focus groups can call Stacy Wenzel (413-7324 or e-mail: swenzel@uic.edu) at the CRWG. Biographical or other identifying information will be completely confidential and removed from all reports. The focus groups will be held in the College of Nursing or Pharmacy at a time convenient to students. Refreshments will be provided.
SISTERS SPEAK LOUD & CLEAR
The second SistersSpeak Loud & Clear will be held on Saturday, November 15 at the Humboldt Park Fieldhouse, 1400 North Sacramento. The purpose of this city-wide conference is to attract a group of community women diverse in age and culture and to learn from them their greatest concerns and triumphs as they have been impacted by domestic violence. Service providers and researchers, who are also invited, will be there to learn what women in the community need as this issue is addressed by the community of women. The 1997 conference will allow women to share their abuse experiences and abuse survival stories. Each participant will also be able to expand her network of resources. Several workshops offered during the conference will continue with follow-up activities after the November conference.
The SistersSpeak conferences are the result of collaboration among many organizations including: the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, Advisory Council on Women; Chicago Department of Public Health, Office of Violence Prevention Programs; Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network; Chicago Women Connecting, Inc.; Mujeres Latinas en Accion; Rainbow House Institute for Choosing Non-violence; The Chicago Community Trust; UIC Center for Research on Women and Gender. Pearl Cleage, author, activist, playwright, and survivor of violence will return to give the conference keynote address.
Lunch will be provided as part of the conference. SistersSpeak is open to women of all ages and backgrounds. The conference is free but all those planning to attend must pre- register. For registration information, please contact: Cece Lobin, Director of the Advisory Council on Women, City of Chicago, (312) 744-4113.
STAFF CHANGES AT THE
CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON WOMEN AND GENDER
Alice J. Dan, Ph.D., CRWG Director, will be on sabbatical during the fall semester. See the article on page 2 for a description of her research project.
Sylvia Vatuk, PhD, will serve as Acting Director of the Center while Dr. Dan is in Washington, DC. Dr. Vatuk is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology, and currently serves on the Executive Board of the American Institute for Indian Studies. She has also served on the Committee on the Status of Women in Asian Studies, part of the Association for Asian Studies. Her research has focused on gender and the family in India, and she is currently studying the social history of Muslims in South India. She will be teaching a graduate course on Gender and Culture during the Spring 1998 semester.
Visiting scholars Maura Ryan, Ph.D., and Kathy Ryan, Ph.D., have returned to teaching at their home institutions. Dr. Maura Ryan is assistant professor of Christian Ethics at Notre Dame; Dr. Kathy Ryan is professor of psychology at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania.
Lisa Eckenwiler, project coordinator for the Urban Women's Health Training Institute for the past year, has completed her Ph.D. in philosophy with a specialization in biomedical ethics. This fall she will join the Department of Philosophy at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, to teach and continue her work in the area of feminist health care ethics, including her most recent focus on the ethics of clinical research for women.
Louise (CoCo) Washington, has left UIC for a position as administrative
assistant at the American Library Association.
WOMEN'S STUDIES PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
Spring, 1997 Conference
On March 28, 1997, the UIC Women's Studies Program and the Great Cities Initiative co- sponsored a conference on collaboration between researchers and advocates on domestic violence and sexual assault. Two hundred participants discussed ways to work together to achieve common research goals and better interventions. The goals of the conference were to identify critical research needs, to work toward solving problems in collaboration between advocates and researchers, and to help participants make contacts for further work.
The Women's Studies Program, the Great Cities Initiative, the Center
for Research on Women and Gender, the Program for Mental Health Services
Research in the Department of Psychiatry, and the Jane Addams College
of Social Work were the UIC units that sponsored the conference. The UIC
Women's Studies Program worked with several groups of practitioners as
cosponsors to develop a program that would reflect the needs of advocates.
The groups were: the Illinois Coalition against Domestic Violence, the
Illinois Coalition against Sexual Assault, and the Chicago Metropolitan
Battered Women's Network.
Activities during the 1997-1998 Academic Year
Stephanie Riger, Ph.D., director of the Women's Studies Program (WSP) will be a fellow at the Great Cities Institute during the current academic year. Margaret Strobel, Ph.D., is acting director.
The focus of WSP this year will be the development of several collaborative masters programs in women's health. Women's Studies will work with representatives from the College of Nursing, the School of Public Health, and the Medical Humanities Program in the College of Medicine to create these programs.
More information about WSP activities is available by phoning (312) 996-2441 or sending e- mail to Margaret Strobel at pegs@uic.edu.