Organized as a non-profit with individual and organizational members, the Council's mission is to link research with action and the collective voice of women. We do not provide services, and we do not raise money to support social services.
The Council launched its public policy work in April 2004 at a Women's Policy Action Summit that drew xxx people. Three initial action projects were announced from the overall focus on women's health and health care, economic self-sufficiency and educational equity and reform:
- A court watch in the Orders of Protection hearing room to improve local investigation and prosecution of domestic violence cases,
- A "stop the hitting" campaign to convince Memphis City Schools officials to ban corporal punishment and
- Support of legislation and other strategies of the Living Wage Coalition to achieve a local living wage ordinance
In addition, MAWC created the community's first local policy online action center on our website, Memphiswomen.org, which provides links to multiple issues of concern to women, a calendar of local events, even voter registration in English and Spanish.
Where community partnerships are already forming around a policy issue, MAWC attempts to join and lead toward change. That is the case regarding the living wage and the diverse grassroots coalition united to press for it.
We celebrate success: In February, the Memphis City Council passed a resolution raising all full-time city employees to at least the living wage ($10 per hour plus health benefits) and setting fall 2006 deadlines for action on wages for other employees.
Where a wide spectrum of community groups and professionals share concern about an issue, as with the corporal punishment question, MAWC organizes experts to present data and meets one-on-one with policy makers to press for the policy change. The Council also rallies its members to attend public sessions, contact school officials and otherwise speak out for the new policy.
We celebrate success: Memphis City Schools banned corporal punishment in fall 2005.
Where a gap exists in organizing activists around an issue, as with domestic violence prosecution, the Council calls together a working group with varied expertise. Our Domestic Violence Planning team links MAWC activists with representatives from the law, courts, victim services and research, some of whom are connected by the Shelby County Domestic Violence. We trained volunteers who document needs of domestic violence victims and staff in the Order of Protection hearing room.
Our court watchers identified a critical need for secure designated office space where domestic violence victims could meet with victim advocates to discuss their needs, fears, rights and responsibilities in court. MAWC met with top Shelby County officials with specific suggestions for new housing for the advocates.
We celebrate success: Recently Shelby County officials dedicated space within the Criminal Justice Center for the advocates' use.
We also rallied our membership to contact state legislators to support increased penalty for breaking Orders of Protection - and then to thank them for passing that legislation
New partnerships are fostering our two newest projects.
Our work on the living wage led us to want to know more about barriers to steady employment and good wages for women. With funding from the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, the Council is organizing a Workforce Action Collaborative that will connect lowest-wage women with advocates, community groups, activists and researchers to identify local employment barriers and change workforce development policies and practices.
We will look for common barriers to workforce mobility/economic self-sufficiency as perceived by trainers and low-wage participants in various programs and approaches; bring providers and low-wage women participants together to identify policies that need to be changed, and train, equip and organize low-wage women and other women in the collaborative to advocate for those changes.
In another partnership, MAWC, the Center for Research on Women and the Women's Studies program at the University of Memphis are organizing Girls for Change, a leadership empowerment program for girls ages 13-17. MAWC also co-sponsored CROW's annual Community Issues Forum on "Teen Sex in the Bluff City" and is engaged in ongoing strategies for policy change to improve teen access to sexual education.
The Council is an independent not-for-profit that is housed at the University of Memphis in the Center for Research on Women. I came to the Women's Council in May 2004 after 25 years as a reporter and editor at The Commercial Appeal. The Council's activist mission is just what I believe women in this community have needed for a long time. This work lets me combine my knowledge of community attitudes, issues and groups, stakeholders, institutions and policy makers at local, state and regional levels.
As the Memphis Area Women's Council moves into our third year, we invite all who are interested in our mission to join us! Become a member. Participate in MAWC action projects.
Be part of making change in policies that will improve the lives of local women and their families - through better wages, less domestic violence, better job support and more.
Deborah Clubb, Executive Director
