Student project helps state leaders explore women’s issues

Farm wives, conservationists, small-town entrepreneurs, inner-city single mothers, corporate executives, faculty, students: The experiences of women from all walks of life in Wisconsin are being collected by a group of undergraduates.

“Our hope is that our findings will offer insight into some of the more urgent problems facing Wisconsin’s women and will portray these issues in a light that matches the true feelings and opinions of our contributors,” says Jessica Rae Newman, a senior majoring in sociology and women’s studies. She will graduate in July.

As part of an Open Collaborative Leadership course, Newman is collecting the data via the group’s Web site. The site centers on health and well-being, and reproductive rights. Wisconsin scored the lowest in those areas in a 2002 report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Newman’s team launched the site early in February in response to Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton’s Wisconsin Women = Prosperity Initiative. The team is using an online collaborative leadership approach to get a handle on these issues. The technique develops an online community to address critical social concerns. Newman says that the method benefits both the researchers and the participants.

“The strength of the project lies in the diversity of the participants,” she says. “In turn, through feedback from the community, they come to realize that others share their problems and concerns. It’s often eye-opening to be offered the opportunity to see a situation through someone else’s eyes and experience. A new perspective challenges your own beliefs and ultimately aids in the growth of the individual.”

So far the team has orchestrated online discussions of sex education, the role of the federal government in promoting birth control, human growth and development, teen pregnancy, sexual assault, reproductive health, aspects of abortion and more.

When the six-member team has analyzed the responses, they will submit their findings to Lawton.

“We hope that these responses will offer insight into the most urgent problems facing Wisconsin’s women and that will portray these issues in a light that matches the true feelings and opinions of our contributors,” Newman says. “Ultimately, our team would love to see our findings used to aid in policymaking.”

After she completes her degree, Newman would like to pursue a career in public relations. She says the Open Collaborative Leadership course has required her to marshal everything she ever learned at the university, a kind of a capstone experience to higher education.

“I’m a people person by nature, and genuinely enjoy working with people in a close collaborative environment in which we all can feel comfortable expressing our ideas. Although this project required research, writing and verbal communication, most of all it has given me real experience in how to apply these skills in a creative and professional manner. It’s taught me how to handle myself professionally, how to follow through with deadlines, how to create and maintain accountability, and how to work independently within a team. These are skills that will help me realize my niche in the professional world,” she says.

For more information on the Wisconsin Women = Prosperity Initiative, contact the lieutenant governor’s Web site.