Learning outcomes for presentation (at least 3)
Attendees will:
1) recognize the need for the creation of an organization such as this
2) understand the steps taken to create such an organization
3) be able to apply this kind of structure and process to their own organizations
Abstract
The purpose of this session is two-fold. First, we wish to introduce the SFA OWLE (Organization for Women’s Leadership and Equity), the newly created professional women’s organization, to interested members of our campus community. Second, we wish to share experiences that we believe are relevant to others on our campus, in our community, and at other institutions, who might seek to create organizations through which to advocate for the unique needs of their marginalized or underrepresented group. To that end, this session will include a panel of female employees at SFA who have worked for more than a year to plan for, create, and implement a professional women’s organization for our campus. The panel will begin the session by sharing the reasons why a professional women’s organization is needed on our campus (as well as many similar institutions nationwide) and will describe the steps taken to create the organization. The committees constituted in the organization’s by-laws reflect the challenges faced by women in academia. We will share challenges we faced as we sought to create an organization that would provide support to women of differing types of employment (e.g., both staff and faculty), from different academic disciplines and areas of the university, in different stages of their personal and professional lives, and from diverse positionalities (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, parenthood status, etc.). We will also identify some of the successes our organization has achieved in its early stages.
Session Outline
This panel discussion will begin by reviewing both qualitative and quantitative data about gender-based inequities at SFA (Objective 1). We will then discuss the connections we made with other institutions about their existing women's organizations (Objective 2). Next, we will share the process undertaken during academic year 2019-2020 to create the organization (Objective 2). Then we will discuss the current state of the organization and the lessons we have learned thus far (Objective 2). Lastly, we will discuss ways other institutions / organizations / populations could create their own organizations to advocate for their unique needs (Objective 3).
Time Frame of Presentation
50 minutes
Category
viii. Social Issues
Session format (lecture, roundtable, or other)
Other
Audience
Students, Faculty, Community, Other institutions
Included in
Arts and Humanities Commons, Business Commons, Education Commons, Engineering Commons, Life Sciences Commons, Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons
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Creating an Organization to Support SFA’s Women Employees
The purpose of this session is two-fold. First, we wish to introduce the SFA OWLE (Organization for Women’s Leadership and Equity), the newly created professional women’s organization, to interested members of our campus community. Second, we wish to share experiences that we believe are relevant to others on our campus, in our community, and at other institutions, who might seek to create organizations through which to advocate for the unique needs of their marginalized or underrepresented group. To that end, this session will include a panel of female employees at SFA who have worked for more than a year to plan for, create, and implement a professional women’s organization for our campus. The panel will begin the session by sharing the reasons why a professional women’s organization is needed on our campus (as well as many similar institutions nationwide) and will describe the steps taken to create the organization. The committees constituted in the organization’s by-laws reflect the challenges faced by women in academia. We will share challenges we faced as we sought to create an organization that would provide support to women of differing types of employment (e.g., both staff and faculty), from different academic disciplines and areas of the university, in different stages of their personal and professional lives, and from diverse positionalities (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, parenthood status, etc.). We will also identify some of the successes our organization has achieved in its early stages.
