An Invitation to Join the Women's Educational Equity Action Network
For the past twenty years, the Women's Educational Equity Act (WEEA)
Resource Center has provied materials and resources on gender equity for
educators throughout the United States. The center is located at Education
Development Center, Inc. (EDC), an international education research and
development organization. With the Beijing challenge in front of us, this
as the perfect time to move to a new phase of gender equity-an international
action network that supports gender equity in education and that enables
schools, communities, departments of education, and others to move to action.
This is a moment of opportunity for us all--a chance to build on the
resources of the WEEA Equity Center to link US-based gender equity efforts
with initiatives in other countries in a global effort to improve the
education of women and girls. Our vision of gender equity is inclusive;
it explores the gender equity issues for females and males, it links to
other equity concerns such as race, class, disability, religion. It
links theory and practice and is focused on action and outcomes.
We are seeking partners in the US and in countries throughout the world
who would be interested in building an international network to support
gender equity in education. We anticipate that the action network will
involve teams from each of the participating countries that represent
the various levels of education. The network will focus on K-adult
education and will:
--promote education as a means for social and economic justice for all people
-- make explicit the links between gender equity and other equity issues,
including race, class, ethnicity, language, disability, and religion
--link gender equity programs from around the world to create a global
infrastructure that works to increase educational opportunities for
women and girls
--organize annual information sharing/action planning conferences that
bring together individuals and organizations from participating countries
--support on-line discussions, world-wide web site, and data bases that
electronically link partners in peer mentoring, problem solving, and
technical assistance; and that provide accessible resources that can be
downloaded and shared with others
-- build an international database on promising and exemplary programs
and materials for gender equity in education
--develop an international dissemination system that provides resources
and materials to participating countries
-- provide documentation and evaluation of the network's ongoing work
--foster further research on the education of women and girls
EDC is in the early stages of development of this project and invites
your participation! Help us to define the scope of this project and to
design it to meet the needs of the global gender equity community. As a
first step, we are collecting information on the need and interest within
different countries for such a project and we'd like your help. Can you take
a bit of time and respond to the following questions, either sending it back
to me via e-mail or by regular post. (We are posting this query on a number
of listservs and encourage you to share it with others.)
I.Contact information: Your name, organization, addresses, phone, e-mail
II. Description of your program/work, including audience, grade levels, etc.
III. Gender Equity Issues
1. What are the gender equity in education issues you face? How are
they defined?
2. How can this project help meet your needs? What would benefit
you and your constituency the most?
3. What are some of the current examples of important gender equity
work in policy, practice, public awareness, etc that you know about.
4. How do the various education arenas relate/interact (e.g. public
education, private education, community-based education,
ministries of education, other government agencies)?
5. Who else should we be talking to?
IV. As we design this project, what special considerations need to
be made,what logistical problems need to be addressed, etc.
V. How would you personally or as a representative of your organization
like to participate in this project? What are the financial, academic,
or other supports for gender equity in education that can support such a
project?
If you have examples of policy, curriculum, bibliographies, research, or
other information that you can share with us please send it either via
e-mail or through the regular mail. We will share these with others via
our world-wide web site or through our resource center.
Thank you for helping us to frame this project. We will continue to keep
you informed of our progress.
Please respond to my query by mail or to my e-mail address listed below
and remember to provide your contact information so that we can get back
to you. If you would like more information on EDC or the WEEA Equity
Resource Center,check our web site (http://www.edc.org/ceec/weea.hmtl)
or let me know and I can mail information to you. Thank you again.
Katherine Hanson
Education Development Center, Inc.
55 Chapel St.
Newton, MA USA 02158
katherinh@edc.org
617-969-7100