I have recently taken a teaching position at a university that has a Women's Center for female students and, presumably, faculty and staff. Having been a student and/or instructor at several universities, I can't remember ever seeing something like this before.
The Women's Center is not a medical facility, nor is it the Women's Studies department. It is an office dedicated to addressing the needs of women on campus as well as providing a space for women to get together and hang out.
This same university, several years ago, had a rather serious gang rape alligation from a female student against several athletes. At the time, there was a lot of victim-blaming and harrassment, so I was plesantly surprised when I returned this year to see the new Women's Center.
Often, I think universities tend to be unsupportive of rape victims/survivors, even convincing them not to press charges and allow the university to handle the alligations. I hope that this trend is changing.
Do other universities have similar organizations? Are they helpful/successful?
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They are pretty common, but since they serve different purposes and have different missions in different universities, it's hard to make a blanket statement about whether they are "helpful/successful."
A quick google search for "university women's center" brings up dozens, so have a look if you want to see what's out there.
Yes, I googled them and saw several, but I guess my interest was more in hearing if anyone had particular exereinces to share of what makes them helpful/successful and what doesn't. I am interested in participating in ours as a faculty sponser, and I would love to hear feedback on others' expereinces so that I might bring some useful ideas to the table.
My college has an awesome Women's Center (though I must say, I'm a bit biased as I volunteer/work there.) We offer a whole bunch of services for everyone on campus, women and men, including safer sex supplies and education; awareness events that work to combat homophobia, sexism, and racism; facilities for clubs to use; a safe space for anyone in need of one and so so much more.
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have :)
Also, you should check out the Ramapo Women's Center's blog! http://rcnjwc.blogspot.com/
The university of Guelph in Canada has the Guelph resource centre for gender enpowerment and development (GERGED) and was formally known as the Women's Centre. They have a lot of books and resources on issues women face, gender, sexual orientation, feminism, sexual health etc. They organize a lot of events to raise money for organizations in the community. My main interaction with them has been through their workshops. A club I'm with takes anti-oppression training from them and I've taken their peer crisis and support training from them as well. I've found the centre very helpful, though I don't know if other campus women's centres are anything like it.
Thanks for the info and website. Sounds like both of your programs offer resources for both sexes, which I don't believe ours does as much but is a great idea. Also, think they are more focused on one-on-one or small group peer education, so offering workshops might be another opportunity for growth. I think it is still a fairly new program here with lots of potential!
hi!
this is a great discussion! I've worked at a few women's centres and always figured every university had them, but I do live in Canada, maybe it's different in the States.
For the most part, the work we did was with women/trans women in the university community: to act as a resource centre/library for women at the school, to provide anti-oppression + anti-violence resources, awareness of different communities within the school, discussion groups, + workshops on sexuality, among other things.
It is such a great space, and I think it's pretty necessary for a university to have. It lets women + women identified people have a safe space they can go to for information, free resources (condoms aplenty!), or just to talk. This is especially useful, I think, on most university campuses that breed problems like rape, violence against women, and many other scary things for women to have to go at alone.