#17 - Our Giving, Our Stories
Change
What?
The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County has embarked on a journey to better understand the challenges and needs of women and girls in Howard County as part of our 20th anniversary year in 2022 through our new State of Women and Girls in Howard County, a baseline compilation of data and a resource about women from statistics published by a range of federal, state, and county agencies as well as public, private, and nonprofit organizations.
Our goal in developing this is two-fold:
Why is this initiative important?
Initially the report was intended to be just that: a report, a document that could be downloaded and shared. Yet as discussions unfolded, as data was discovered and shared, as gaps were identified in the availability of certain types of information, a shift happened. Why couldn’t this report and data reside on a living website, one that provided opportunities for revisiting past findings along with adding new ones? Why create a static document when we could create a living one?
And that’s when this website was born: www.wgcstateofwomenandgirlsinhoco.org
So What?
Principal Researchers Sabina Taj and Shaista Keating compiled information about women from statistics published by a range of federal, state, and county agencies as well as public, private, and nonprofit organizations. They also leveraged information from Maryland Women: A Status Report.
In 2016, the Maryland Commission for Women launched the "Voices of Maryland Women Listening Tour". By traveling more than 3,000 miles across the state over a two-year period, the Commission conducted 19 public forums where women shared their everyday challenges and consolidated their findings in a publication titled, Maryland Women: A Status Report. The concerns raised by women across Maryland were presented in six categories by the Maryland Commission.
In The State of Women and Girls in Howard County, the WGC presents information on the state of women and girls in Howard County in the same six categories as those identified by the Maryland Commission for Women in order to remain consistent with the state’s analysis. The six categories are as follows:
The researchers also conducted individual interviews to gather information from field and research experts, to elevate voices of women by sharing their stories, and to identify key issues impacting women and girls in Howard County.
When asked if any particular finding stood out, the researches shared the following:
The Highlights are broken out into US and Maryland Highlights:
And Howard County Highlights:
There are also Specifics identified for each of the six categories
Knowledge truly is power.
It gives decision makers the insights they need, whether it's funding a program that provides resources for more women and girls to enter STEM fields or introducing a piece of legislation focused on leveling the gender wage gap.
And the information is intended to evolve over time.
AND it’s not locked behind a paywall. It’s accessible to anyone, with the understanding that the better the information we have, the better we can tell our stories. The better we can attract the interests of funders, donors, partners, collaborators, and those in need of the resources and services intended to better the status of women and girls throughout our community.
Now What?
The good news? The State of Women and Girls in Howard County is a remarkably powerful resource.
However, data isn’t available for every relevant issue, and the years for which information is accessible often vary.
But that’s not the bad news - that’s the opportunity.
Further research is needed, especially with regard to how these disparities may have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic to more fully understand the challenges women face as society continues to try and recover. The WGC plans to update this baseline report data with new information in 2023, and to release an updated report every two years thereafter.
Having gathered information from government, field, and research experts and identified key issue areas impacting women and girls in Howard County, we believe the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County is now well positioned to learn from our past grantmaking and enhance our future grantmaking to better support women and girls in our community.
And, we hope that others in the community will utilize this baseline data to enhance support for women and girls as well.
For 20 years, the WGC has dedicated itself to leveraging our collective dollars, to amplifying the power of collective giving, to building a community of philanthropists and creating a permanent legacy to address the needs of women and girls in Howard County.
Will you join us?
Be a part of our story.
#WGC20Years
#WGC20Years20Stories
Change
What?
The Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County has embarked on a journey to better understand the challenges and needs of women and girls in Howard County as part of our 20th anniversary year in 2022 through our new State of Women and Girls in Howard County, a baseline compilation of data and a resource about women from statistics published by a range of federal, state, and county agencies as well as public, private, and nonprofit organizations.
Our goal in developing this is two-fold:
- To gather existing data and develop a compilation of baseline information through a gender lens that identifies key issue areas that impact women and girls in Howard County in order to inform our past, current and future grantmaking.
- To provide to other Howard County funders, nonprofit partner organizations, government agencies, and the community for use in determining funding, supporting, and implementing programs and developing legislation to address the needs of women and girls in our county.
- “I’d like to add a third goal: we have a very precise story to give to our donors and to our new donors.” - Barbara Lawson
Why is this initiative important?
- “If we don’t understand the impediments, how are we going to mitigate the obstacles to improving the condition of women? We will never have unlimited resources, we are always going to need to prioritize. We need useful information to inform our decisions. I want legislation. I want policy. I want the information to evolve as a resource for decision making by much larger institutions than us.” - Jean Moon
Initially the report was intended to be just that: a report, a document that could be downloaded and shared. Yet as discussions unfolded, as data was discovered and shared, as gaps were identified in the availability of certain types of information, a shift happened. Why couldn’t this report and data reside on a living website, one that provided opportunities for revisiting past findings along with adding new ones? Why create a static document when we could create a living one?
And that’s when this website was born: www.wgcstateofwomenandgirlsinhoco.org
So What?
Principal Researchers Sabina Taj and Shaista Keating compiled information about women from statistics published by a range of federal, state, and county agencies as well as public, private, and nonprofit organizations. They also leveraged information from Maryland Women: A Status Report.
In 2016, the Maryland Commission for Women launched the "Voices of Maryland Women Listening Tour". By traveling more than 3,000 miles across the state over a two-year period, the Commission conducted 19 public forums where women shared their everyday challenges and consolidated their findings in a publication titled, Maryland Women: A Status Report. The concerns raised by women across Maryland were presented in six categories by the Maryland Commission.
In The State of Women and Girls in Howard County, the WGC presents information on the state of women and girls in Howard County in the same six categories as those identified by the Maryland Commission for Women in order to remain consistent with the state’s analysis. The six categories are as follows:
- Demographics and Diversity
- Work and the Economy
- Education and Educators
- Health and Well-Being
- Safety and Justice
- Leadership and Political Participation
The researchers also conducted individual interviews to gather information from field and research experts, to elevate voices of women by sharing their stories, and to identify key issues impacting women and girls in Howard County.
When asked if any particular finding stood out, the researches shared the following:
- “We all know that women at every single education level make less. As women of the 21st Century, we somehow manage to not fight hard enough for that very ingrained trend that is nationwide, statewide, Howard County-wide. We all need to come together to brainstorm and say what do we do to fix the inequity in earnings? Additionally, childcare continues to be an incredible, huge issue for us as women.” - Shaista Keating
- “The income gap, the wealth gap, the STEM gap all continue to stand out for me.” - Sabina Taj
The Highlights are broken out into US and Maryland Highlights:
- On average, women who work full time, year-round are paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to men — and for women of color, the wage gap is even larger.
- While there have been gains, women still hold less than a fifth of all corporate board seats in Maryland and women of color represent only 2.8 percent of all corporate board seats in Maryland.
And Howard County Highlights:
- Women’s median earnings are less than men’s at every education level.
- Women in Howard County are less likely to own their own firms, and less likely to be employed in STEM occupations such as computer, engineering, and science as well as mathematical occupations.
- Only one out of five Howard County judges is female, and women comprised less than 16 percent of all law enforcement officers.
There are also Specifics identified for each of the six categories
Knowledge truly is power.
It gives decision makers the insights they need, whether it's funding a program that provides resources for more women and girls to enter STEM fields or introducing a piece of legislation focused on leveling the gender wage gap.
And the information is intended to evolve over time.
AND it’s not locked behind a paywall. It’s accessible to anyone, with the understanding that the better the information we have, the better we can tell our stories. The better we can attract the interests of funders, donors, partners, collaborators, and those in need of the resources and services intended to better the status of women and girls throughout our community.
Now What?
The good news? The State of Women and Girls in Howard County is a remarkably powerful resource.
- "As we celebrate our 20th Anniversary year in 2022, we are honored to have developed this data-driven compilation of information in order to better understand the challenges and needs of women and girls in our community so we can further inform our grantmaking." - Jennifer Bodensiek
However, data isn’t available for every relevant issue, and the years for which information is accessible often vary.
But that’s not the bad news - that’s the opportunity.
Further research is needed, especially with regard to how these disparities may have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic to more fully understand the challenges women face as society continues to try and recover. The WGC plans to update this baseline report data with new information in 2023, and to release an updated report every two years thereafter.
Having gathered information from government, field, and research experts and identified key issue areas impacting women and girls in Howard County, we believe the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County is now well positioned to learn from our past grantmaking and enhance our future grantmaking to better support women and girls in our community.
And, we hope that others in the community will utilize this baseline data to enhance support for women and girls as well.
For 20 years, the WGC has dedicated itself to leveraging our collective dollars, to amplifying the power of collective giving, to building a community of philanthropists and creating a permanent legacy to address the needs of women and girls in Howard County.
Will you join us?
Be a part of our story.
#WGC20Years
#WGC20Years20Stories
