February Lunch and Learn – Elevating Women’s Well-Being: Addressing Opportunities, Inspiring Solutions
By Aimee Greeter
February’s Lunch & Learn was an informative discussion on the state of women and girls in North Carolina. This session, entitled “Elevating Women’s Well-Being: Addressing Opportunities, Inspiring Solutions,” was held on February 11, both in-person and virtually. It included several terrific speakers, including Dr. Tehia Starker Glass (Professor of Elementary Education and Educational Psychology at UNC Charlotte), Dr. Janaka Lewis (Associate Dean of Curriculum and Student Success and Professor of English at UNC Charlotte), and Corrie Moore (Senior Director of Philanthropy, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic).
The session began with introductions of the speakers and their organizations. Ms. Moore outlined the three aims of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic [PPSA]: Health Care, Education, and Advocacy. With respect to their Health Care aim, PPSA has 14 health centers across West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. These centers serve close to 55,000 individuals each year, with nearly 6,000 of those patients located right here in Charlotte. From an Education perspective, PPSA has 9 educators (including 2 based here in Charlotte) who serve more than 3,000 youth (both young men and young women).
PPSA’s advocacy work continues to grow and is particularly important as decisions are currently being made at the state and federal levels that impact healthcare rights and opportunities for all people. One example of this is the abortion bans that are being enacted. Ms. Moore shared some of the effects of the existent bans, including the economic realities associated with same.
Next, Dr. Lewis shared the key focus areas of the UNC Charlotte Women + Girls Research Alliance (W+GRA) which are education, employment and earnings, civic and political engagement, economic security, health and well-being, and violence against women. She shared specific examples from a data dashboard W+GRA maintains that anyone can use to explore, engage, and educate.
For example, the gap in median income between men and women was $10,000 in 2022 (and sadly, in the counties specific to our region, the difference is even higher, at nearly $12,000). Since 75% of the women in our region participate in the workforce, there are collectively hundreds of thousands of dollars in the earnings differential realized between men and women in our area.
Other data is tracked and reported by W+GRA includes information on political engagement. Data proves that women’s participation in federal elections is about 2.5% higher than men’s. And, with the average women’s voter registration rate of 72%, it is clear that women in our area are participating in the election process. Data likewise exists relative to physical and emotional health. In the Charlotte region, one in six Black babies are born with low birth weight, compared to one in four White babies. This highlights real health disparities within our community.
Equipped with abundant research and data, W+GRA is working to come up with solutions to problems faced by women and girls both locally and more broadly. Their ability to determine where disparities exist allows them to find opportunities to make differences and ascertain where time and attention are best spent to drive these meaningful changes.
Finally, Dr. Starker Glass spoke about the realities of the K-12 education system and its impact on girls. Like Ms. Moore and Dr. Lewis, she brought interesting data to share with the group. One of the facts she shared was that in recent years, there has been a drop among 4th – 5th-grade girls in STEM interest and their self-confidence related to STEM achievement. This is particularly telling as the same decline used to occur among girls at the middle school level. Now seen earlier, it indicates a growing problem with far-reaching impacts. Another example Dr. Starker Glass shared is the lack of visibility of high-achieving women in varied careers within the standard K-12 curriculum. Girls do not see themselves represented or when they do see themselves, they are represented by service-orientated contributions, as opposed to in leadership roles. For example, students are taught that America’s Founding Fathers are all men, while female historical figures such as Betsy Ross are noted for their assistance in areas such as upholstery and sewing.
This absence of showcasing impactful females often leads to disinterest among girls in their ongoing primary education. Again backed by data, Dr. Starker Glass shared that while women are now earning Bachelor’s degrees at a higher rate than men, they are also more likely to go into service-oriented jobs (which typically have lower incomes), such as nursing or teaching. Girls need to see expansive opportunities where their careers could go, not just into these types of professions. Dr. Starker Glass encouraged participants to continue to pay attention to these and other education-related trends, and to ask themselves: “Not only what does this mean for me, but what does it mean for the other women I am close to, as well as those women to whom I may not be proximal?”
The session culminated in a robust discussion regarding how attendees can make a difference. The panelists were clear that doing something to advocate for and improve women’s well-being should not feel hard. Instead, it is about finding what you are passionate about, recognizing what you can do, and doing that! The panelists indicated that the first time is “finding your lane,” meaning figuring out what you are interested in. Then, taking time to self-reflect. This means asking yourself questions such as:
- What do I have the capacity for?
- What are my strengths?
- What can I leverage?
If you are struggling with this self-reflection, Dr. Starker Glass referenced the social change ecosystem framework developed by Deepa Iyer (available at Understanding the Framework — The Social Change Map). This is a helpful tool that helps to identify the areas in which differences can be made and then align your personal preferences with one or more of those corresponding areas.
She stated, “You don’t have to do all the things, pick one thing and do that!” Know we can all do something. Even small things can add up to have big impacts, so don’t sell your seemingly limited contributions short. Dr. Lewis also noted you can join forces with others to maximize your collective impact. Her tips included not starting from scratch. Instead, consider who/where the organizations are already doing this work, and then team up with them. She also noted there are many ways to contribute. This could be investing your time, but it could also be investing your talents or your treasures. It could be leading an initiative, or it could also be participating instead. Her final advice (echoed by Ms. Moore) was that everyone needs to vote!
Thank you to this month’s Lunch & Learn panelists, who highlighted how far we’ve come and the challenges we still need to tackle to ensure we create environments for women and girls to thrive. We appreciate them sharing their stories and identifying tangible ways we can each continue to make a difference.
Join us at our next gathering by visiting the Events page on our website. Most events are free of charge and ALL are welcome!
