ODI Annual Report (2023-2024)

THE WOMEN’S CENTER

The Women’s Center supports women at Wake Forest and advocates for gender equity. We are dedicated to building community for women and any individuals in our campus community for whom woman is a meaningful identifier or lived experience. We foster spaces to reflect on individual and collective experiences and identities; develop programming related to women’s and gender issues; support professional and leadership development; and identify and advocate for policies to improve gender climate and inclusive practices at Wake Forest. This school year, the Women’s Center welcomed a new full-time Program Coordinator, Zobia Akhtar. The addition of this role to our team has allowed us to expand support for student programming and leadership development, particularly for graduate students and students in professional schools. The Women’s Center worked collaboratively with campus partners to expand resources on campus in two key areas: childcare and menstrual products. Our advocacy for increased childcare resources for faculty, staff, and students resulted in three new resources. In the Fall, the University announced the development of a 120-space early childcare center, responding to a pressing need for families at Wake Forest. In addition to supporting this ongoing work, the Women’s Center worked to launch the WFU Childcare Network with support from the Parents & Caregivers ARG, as well as a support space for new parents (online and in-person). We also scaled the Menstrual Access Project with support from Student Government. Assistant Director Hannah Rehm broadened the reach of this initiative, which provides free menstrual products across campuses, taking it from three locations in 2022-2023 to over 40 in 2023-2024 (and plans to further expand in 2024-2025). These examples highlight the relationship between the feminist leadership that grounds our programming and the feminist leadership that we embody.

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ODI ANNUAL REPORT | JULY 1, 2023 - JUNE 30, 2024

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