NGO Profile: Pacific Womens College

DOCTOR OF EDUCATION PROGRAM Contemporary Approaches to Educational Problems Ed 855.716: Spring 2014
Name of Organization URL Pacific Womens College (Website currently in development) Julie Bouche, j.bouche@pacificwomenscollege.org 801-735-1446 Skype: mrs.bouche Access and Equity We are a group of women working to establish a college that will serve non-traditional students specifically in the Pacific Rim, but with an eye toward expansion into areas where education is desperately needed. Our focus is on educating women through the way that women learn best in a format that allows them to maintain their family, social, and occupational responsibilities. Mission, Vision, History Our work is based on the understanding that one of the best ways to improve our societies is through educating women. When women are educated, they not only are able to make more powerful contributions in their families, societies, and countries, but they also share what they learn with their children and neighbors. Women who are educated are more likely and more able to support their daughters in becoming educated as well.

Contact Information Focus

Context: Provide the location and the population

being served and if the program is new or ongoing. In other words, provide background on the community.

The focus of our work is on women who have either started school but never finished, or those who never had the opportunity. Our online platform will allow students who, because of family and occupational responsibilities, are unable to attend traditional schools. We also create cohorts for women in remote areas who are geographically unable to attend institutions of higher learning. We believe that one of the best ways to educate the rising generation of girls is by ensuring that their mothers are also educated. Ultimately, our work is about local capacity, and we need the research to support or redefine our assumptions about educating mothers in order to educate girls.

The Challenge (Capsule Summary)

1-2 sentence capsule summary of the challenge for which research by doctoral students can of support

We seek to create a theory of change that considers the role of cultural norms in developing how mothers (who have neither started school, never finished, or who have never been given or created the opportunity) as key stakeholders to help us ensure the education of both mothers and daughters. The challenges we face have to do with creating and supporting educational opportunities for women who do not have the opportunity to participate in traditional educational settings. We know that educating women has a huge impact on their families, neighborhoods, and societies. In the push to help girls obtain an education, many societies neglect the influence of an educated mother in supporting and sustaining their daughters education. The challenges that come in educating women are not necessarily unique to the Pacific Rim. Women, much like the girls identified in the study, are educated based on the social norms and familial resources that are available. Both of those can be a hindrance. In addition, once a woman is married and has a family, her familial duties, in addition to any other societal duties, make higher education intensely difficult. Particularly in remote areas, women may not have the means to leave their families to attend traditional schools.

The Challenge (Longer Description)

Describe the challenge in terms of what research can do to support progress toward your intended goal. What obstacles are you facing? Examples may include strategic design, resistance from above, policy constraints, resource constraints, integration of new knowledge on gender equality measures. The more focused the target (specific population and specific challenge), the more productive the results will be. Please keep in mind that we need to build a collaborative rapport, select the challenge, create a research design, write a paper, and create a slide presentation in 6 weeks

We deeply respect the work that is being done to champion education for girls across the world. Our assertion is that if we keep our focus strictly on the current generation, we not only lose a potential asset and ally in their mothers, but also create a lost generation of women who many consider to be unimportant or beyond help in the quest for equal access to education. Studies show that when men are educated, they use their education to further their own personal and professional goals. When women are educated, they share what they learn with those around them, they understand the importance of education, and support their children, including their daughters, in becoming educated as well. Our hope is to raise awareness of, and find pathways to address, the need for mothers to have access to education as a viable and powerful tool in improving the educational circumstances for girls everywhere.