Women students face special obstacles to navigating higher education, from stereotypical expectations of female submissiveness to obligations to care for children and family and even threats of sexual violence.
How do low-income and minority women experience gender as an obstacle to successfully completing their degree? How do effective programs help female students to get the resources they need, find their voices and take charge of their educations and careers?
Women’s leadership programs teach students to advocate for themselves and encourage campus involvement that improves their persistence. Career exploration and development, particularly in fields such as STEM and manufacturing that are nontraditional for women, help students find role models and gain access to careers with higher salaries to support themselves and their families.
Effective campus response to sexual violence works to ensure that survivors are able to pursue their education and to train all students to be effective bystanders, changing the campus climate and preventing assaults. Wrap-around services for women students with children often address survival-level needs, with persistence to graduation and increased earning potential breaking the cycle of generational poverty.
Presented in partnership with the Aurora Women and Girls Foundation. Held at the Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth Street, Hartford.
More About 2018 Conferences
The September 20 conference is "part 2" of CHERE's 3 linked conferences in 2018.
On June 22, at the University of Hartford, campus representatives, several students, and several community-based activists looked at diversity and how to support challenged students. A student as keynote speaker outlined how he "unlocked the secret society,” a veteran college counselor responded with his own story, a professional panel weighed in, and 4 afternoon workshops looked at related issues in detail.
On Nov. 9th, at Gateway Community College in New Haven, CHERE conferees will look at the challenges and opportunities faced by men in college, overcoming the barriers that prevent many from going at all, and that get in the way of their thriving once on campus. Registrants can pay an early bird fee for either and a package deal for both.
