Education & Education Reform

Women and girls have made substantial progress in educational attainment. Today in the US women receive more than half of all college degrees – and have almost achieved parity with men in advanced degrees in law, medicine and other disciplines. But several gaps persist, and more importantly, disparities remain among diverse women according to race, income, immigrant status and other socio-economic factors. Improving access to quality education for all students including adolescent girls and mothers needs to become a national and global priority. Explore the resources listed below, including Related Categories links, or use the Keyword Search for more information.

Partner Violence and Girls’ Educational and Vocational Development

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 4:26pm

Partner Violence and Girls’ Educational and Vocational Development:

URL:

http://csws.uoregon.edu/?p=12330

Member Organization:

Center for the Study of Women in Society

School Policies and Practices to Improve Health and Prevent Obesity

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 4:13pm

National Elementary School Survey Results, School Years 2006–07 through 2009–10

URL:

http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/product.jsp?id=73923&cid=XEM_205602

Low Literacy Means Lower Earnings, Especially for Women

Submitted by asklar on Thu, 02/09/2012 - 10:11am

Appropriate literacy levels are crucial for both men and women seeking education and employment opportunities, but low literacy skills disproportionally hurt women’s chances of earning a sustaining wage.

by Jennifer Herard, Kevin Miller, Ph.D., Jane M. Henrici, Ph.D., Barbara Gault, Ph.D. (February 2012)

URL:

http://www.iwpr.org/publications/pubs/low-literacy-means-lower-earnings-especially-for-women

Member Organization:

Institute for Women’s Policy Research

What's A Girl Gotta Do to Break The Glass Ceiling?

Teaser:

Nell Merlino asks: What’s it going to take to see more women consistently occupying leadership positions in the US and around the world?

Editorial:

From Forbes:

We all know that women and girls are not showing up on a leadership trajectory, a position that would otherwise seem consistent with their increased rates of higher education, business ownership, workforce participation and other factors.

It’s not like folks aren’t trying.

When she’s not doing push ups with Ellen DeGeneres, one of First Lady Michelle Obama’s top priorities is mentoring girls so ‘there isn’t any room you can’t walk into.’

The Girl Scouts of America have just launched a major public awareness campaign to highlight the urgent need to help girls become leaders,www.togetherthere.org.

Nike has a global effort, www.girleffect.org, with a similar message. Here’s the data the Girls Scouts point to.

Back in 1993, I created a high-profile initiative called Take Our Daughters To Work that bears many similarities to the new campaign from the Girl Scouts and Nike’s campaign. Carol Gilligan’s seminal book, ‘In A Different Voice,’ provided the research orientation and Take Our Daughters To Work succeeded in mobilizing more than 70 million people on behalf of girls.

Yet, the research, the campaigns, and the web sites just keep on coming.

[...]

Source:

Forbes

URL:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nellmerlino/2012/02/07/whats-a-girl-gotta-do/

Date:

February 8, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Sports Champions and Medalists Call for End to Sexual Abuse, Bullying and Harassment of Young Athletes

Teaser:

A team of former Olympic and national athletes has been working to create the first organization dedicated to advocating for the safety of young athletes.

Safe4Athletes' mission is to ensure a safe environment for young athletes in all sports, free from the sexual abuse and harassment that have made headlines of late.

Editorial:

From the press release:

Until now, sports federations, teams and private clubs have attempted to police themselves. Safe4Athletes is noteworthy for shifting the paradigm from efforts focused on a single sport to protecting athletes across sports.

Safe4Athletes recommends that every sports organization adopt codes of conduct and establish policies for athlete welfare. The nonprofit's website provides model policies for ethical conduct, promotes appropriate avenues for reporting incidents and offers educational materials targeted to young athletes, parents, coaches and sports organizations. Safe4Athletes also lists the clubs that are dedicated to keeping athletes safe.

Based in Los Angeles, Safe4Athletes was founded by former British Olympian Katherine Starr with a diverse board of directors and advisory councils comprised of world-class athletes, sports psychologists, the assistance of the Women's Sports Foundation and youth advocates.

[...]

Source:

Marketwatch

URL:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sports-champions-and-medalists-call-for-end-to-sexual-abuse-bullying-and-harassment-of-young-athletes-2012-02-07

Date:

February 8, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Exclusive: Hillary Clinton Launches Public Service Initiative

Teaser:

Working with the nation’s top women’s liberal arts colleges, Secretary of State Clinton hopes to harness the potential of women around the world to strengthen leadership in both government and civil society.

Editorial:

From the Women's Media Center:

For the world to cope with its full range of problems, women must be agents of change. Unfortunately, historically and globally, women’s voices have been largely missing from positions of power and influence.

To address this issue, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton launched a bold new initiative late last year to increase the number of women in public service at the local, national, and international level. Developed by a founding partnership of the five leading women’s colleges—Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and Wellesley—and the U.S. Department of State, the Women in Public Service Project (WPSP) will “provide vital momentum to the next generation of women leaders.” The project’s ambitious goal is global political and civil leadership of at least 50 percent women by 2050. On the way, the project plans to build “the infrastructure and conven[e] the conversations necessary to achieve this vision.”

WPSP will offer an annual summer institute in partnership with the women’s colleges, the first to be held this year at Clinton’s alma mater Wellesley. Emerging leaders from all over the globe will gain critical skills in public speaking, coalition building, networking, and mentorship, with State Department sponsorship for 40 participants from Middle Eastern and North African countries in political transition.

[...]

Source:

Women's Media Center

URL:

http://womensmediacenter.com/blog/2012/02/exclusive-hillary-clinton-launches-public-service-initiative/

Date:

February 6, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Women in Science: Degrees and Faculty in Natural & Applied Sciences

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 11:11am

n all scientific fields of study except biological sciences men continue to outnumber women. The fields of physical sciences and computer sciences and engineering show the highest gender disparity. Why does this underrepresentation matter?

Fewer female graduates in scientific higher education translate into fewer women working in scientific research and occupations. For example, at Rutgers, women are only 19.5 percent of tenured and tenure-track science faculty.

URL:

http://iwl.rutgers.edu/documents/njwomencount/WomeninScienceFactSheet.pdf

Member Organization:

Institute for Women's Leadership

Girl Scouts of the USA Launches 'ToGetHerThere', the Largest Advocacy and Fundraising Campaign Dedicated to Girls' Leadership in History

Teaser:

A comprehensive new research study, "ToGetHerThere: Girls' Insights on Leadership," commissioned by Girl Scouts in partnership with GFK Roper, reveals that while girls are generally optimistic about their futures, they still see glass ceilings in today's society that will get in the way of achieving their leadership potential. The study, based on a telephone survey of 1,000 girls aged 8-17, found that close to three in five girls think that a woman can rise up in a company but will only rarely be put in a senior leadership role. Additionally, more than one-third of girls say they would not feel comfortable trying to be a leader, while almost 40 percent are not sure if they are cut out to be a leader.

Editorial:

From the news release:

"It is abundantly clear that our girls have a vision of their leadership potential that is incompatible with what we know they can achieve," says Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. "The ToGetHerThere campaign is the launch of a cause to impact our girls now, so that we can inspire them to achieve leadership roles in all aspects of society."

Girl Scouts has launched a $1 billion philanthropic campaign for girls to fuel this effort, and to fund opportunities that enable girls to lead. Ninety percent of funds raised will go directly to services and programs for girls across the nation and in 94 countries globally to help fill critical talent gaps in finance, science, technology, environmental, and global leadership arenas.

[...]

Source:

Girl Scouts

URL:

http://www.girlscouts.org/news/news_releases/2012/togetherthere.asp

Date:

February 6, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

CIRP Surveys and Services

Submitted by asklar on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 1:23am

The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) contains the well-known and long-running CIRP Freshman Survey and follow up assessments such as the Your First College Year (YFCY) and the College Senior Survey. The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute also administer the HERI Faculty Survey, which examines issues from the faculty standpoint. A variety of data related services based on the results of these surveys are available. Please click on links below to get more information.

URL:

http://www.heri.ucla.edu/herisurveys.php

Girl Scouts' cookie business builds skills

Teaser:

It's easy to think of the cookie program as girls simply hawking treats, but there's something more behind the annual ritual, especially this year. For the first time since 1987, the Girl Scout curriculum has been revamped and now features a stronger focus on the financial literacy and business lessons behind the cookie sales.

Editorial:

From the Omaha World-Herald:

The organization offers new badges — those ubiquitous adornments on Scouts' uniforms — focused on the cookie trade that girls such as Erin can earn after completing several steps that essentially frame sweets sales like a real-world business.

Scouts at each level, from the 5- and 6-year-old Daisies to the high school Ambassadors, learn about customer relations, business plans, research and development, marketing and sales analysis, all in the name of cookies.

Nebraska Girl Scouts sold more than 2 million boxes of cookies last year, and 200 million were sold nationwide.

"Some of the younger girls are looking at apps, technology and ways to organize their cookie program in ways I hadn't thought of," said Theresa Cassaday, chief communication officer for Girl Scouts Spirit of Nebraska, the state's arm of the national organization.

[...]

Source:

Omaha World-Herald

URL:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120202/MONEY/702029931

Date:

February 5, 2012

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

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NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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