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Our mission...
The Women’s Center promotes gender equality by critically examining cultural ideals of gender and gender relations. Through speakers, programs, movies, workshops, fundraisers, and cultural events the Women’s Center leads students and faculty in an ongoing and open ended discussion about what it means to be a woman or a man at the dawn of a new century and how the meaning and experience of gender is shaped by social class, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, and geographic location. To this end, Women’s Center programs focus on:
- Recognizing and eliminating gender, ethnicity, social class, and sexual orientation stereotypes and discrimination
- Promoting equality and social justice through social action and activism
- Promoting women’s continued access to economic and educational resources
- Developing leadership skills and opportunities for women through workshops, special projects, and internships
- Understanding the social roots and implications of gendered violence
- Developing culturally relevant ideas about women’s power
- Examining cultural scripts and ideals for “women” and “men” that are ultimately disempowering
Thirty years ago the Women’s Center was started at ECSU. At the time we went from a ‘club’ to becoming an organization, a department within the University dynamic. The Women’s movement of the sixties is not something completely understood by the present generation of women. The struggles the awakenings in social consciousness—but we are the recipients of those gifts.
As we are in process of this millennium, the Women’s Center has a new focus. We clarify our lens to realize that we have to have a global understanding of women and their plight towards equality. To break the barriers of the glass ceiling and to comprehend that there is a community of women around the globe that we have to join with. Industries that disenfranchise women have to be exposed and a dialogue must begin. Our most alarming statistic is that women make up 53% of the worlds work force but earn only 2/3rds of what men do. We seek to educate our college community and empower them to actualize change through their social consciousness.
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