Two years ago, I joined Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles as the inaugural director of the Center for the Advancement of Women. While the University has been empowering women for almost a century, the Center is a physical hub for gender equity research, advocacy and leadership development. In other words, I publish research and writing that helps improve the lives of women and girls here in California and across the nation. The Center's goal is to close persistent gender gaps and bring awareness to inequities by providing advocates with the tools they need to be successful. Basically, this is my dream job.
This work is so important given the current political and cultural climate. Did you know...
- Women only make 80 cents to every dollar a man earns nationally. And, for those of you reading this post, I know we agree that women deserve equal pay for equal work.
- The #MeToo movement has unearthed the realization that women are sexually harassed and assaulted every day. We know sexual harassment cannot be tolerated anywhere, ever.
- Despite historic victories in the 2018 midterm elections, 20% of Congress members are women. We know representation matters. We also know that when women participate in politics, governments are more open, democratic and responsive to citizens.
There is clearly more work to do. And this is one reason why the Center was created in 2017: to produce more research designed specifically to reduce gender inequities. In the Center's first year, we commissioned research on women's enduring fight for equality in Hollywood, how to better support the health and wellness of women transitioning out of incarceration, and barriers felt by female engineers (can you believe only one in five California engineers are women?!). And more research is on the way in March. Stay tuned!
While research is foundational to starting conversations, we understand that if we want to eradicate inequities in our lifetime, we have to do so with partners like Step Up. Much like Step Up, the Center and University work hard to ensure that all young women have the resources and support to fulfill their potential.
We know education is critical to women's lifelong success, but we can't stop there. We must advocate and be a vocal proponent for the advancement of women and girls. We work with Step Up to provide a space for young women to learn about college, but we have awesome opportunities beyond college prep to offer young women. I urge you to participate in our public events so you can connect with other young women interested in gender equity issues.
Want to get involved? Here are some opportunities we have for you through the Center.
The Center releases The Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California™ every March, which is produced annually to examine the progress women have made and explore the challenges still ahead of us. The Report is researched by our faculty and I am proud that our Report helps inform the work of legislators, educators and community advocates, like you. Mark your calendar for March 28, 2019 to join us for our annual event – an awesome day of learning and connection.
In addition to the Report, we host Ready to Run, a nonpartisan political campaign training program for women, and our annual Women's Leadership Conference. We piloted a touch-point mentorship program as part of our Women's Leadership Conference last year, where we paired our students to conference panelists for advice and discussion. This is a perfect opportunity for the young women of Step Up! Our mentorship model was incredibly successful and many of these students are still in touch with the professional women they connected with that day.
As the only women's university in Los Angeles, we have a passion for fostering women's leadership and empowering our students and alumnae to live a life of purpose. I am continually impressed by the transformational education that Mount Saint Mary's provides. Over 85% of our students receive financial assistance and while most of them are first-generation college students, two-thirds go on to seek advanced degrees and lead in their chosen fields. We credit this achievement to our heritage as a women's university, the tenacity of our students, and to our unstoppable faculty and staff. The mentorship and internship opportunities offered through the Center and by my colleagues across the university provide critical infrastructure to create confident, compassionate and thoughtful leaders.
Organizations like Step Up and Mount Saint Mary's University are doing the hard work to empower women and girls locally. We can change the world through mentorship, connecting young women to opportunities for growth, and teaching our future female leaders how to be responsible consumers of data and advocates for good. Won't you join us?
Step Up teens at Mount Saint Mary's University during 2018 College Connections Conference
Thankful to Step Up partner Mount Saint Mary's University for supporting women in leadership + mentorship!
