history - Western Organization for Women - Western Illinois University

Western Organization for Women

1971: WOW established by and for faculty women. This was at the same time women faculty members were barred from membership in the faculty wive´s group (now 'University Women') unless the female faculty member both 1) had a husband and 2) he was a faculty member; WIU Committee on the Status of Women established by the president
1972-73: HEW complaints; Salary studies; Feminist Art Contest held; First Affirmative Action Director appointed; First Women´s Studies course developed; Women´s Rap Group created; Publishes bi-monthly newsletter; sponsors Macomb Women´s Conference; Women´s Resource Room created in Sherman 127; Women´s Center proposed
1974: Sponsorship of panels on rape
1975: Panel discussions of Title IX
1976: First WOW recognition awards for women; First Women´s Week programs; Feminist Forum student organization in existence
1977-78: Development of women´s curriculum; Women´s Awareness Society student organization formed
1979: Lois Mills first woman Faculty Lecturer; Sponsorship of women´s photography exhibit

1980: Job preparation panel for women students
1981: Panels for administrative development
1982: Susan B. Anthony Birthday Celebration with League of Women Voters
1986: Women´s Center established; WC Brown Bag lunches initiated; After 15 years of repeated requests to University Administration, sanitary disposal systems are installed in bathroom stalls across campus
1987: Women´s Studies Program offering an interdisciplinary minor established
1988: First annual Women´s Leadership Conference sponsored by Women´s Center

1992: Outstanding Alumna Award established
1995: Feminists and Friends (later renamed Feminist Action Alliance) student organization formed
1996: WOW´s 25th Anniversary celebration with "Herstory" Panel and Table Fair

2001: Women´s Studies Major approved by IBHE
2002: Women´s Center´s 15th Anniversary Celebration and commemoration of WOW´s 30th Anniversary
(Reception during Women´s History Month and at WOW Annual Spring Luncheon)
2005: Women’s Studies becomes a department at WIU.
2007: Administration proposal to take away Westerwinds name from all women's teams (who had better g.p.a.'s and W/L records) to put all marketing money into Leathernecks goes forward amidst protests from such celebrated Westerwinds as Dot Richardson and Kathy Veroni.
2008: The most progressive Family Leave benefit in WIU’s history, which WOW researched, authored, and lobbied for, is enacted.
2010: A joint effort of WOW and UPI leads to the first WIU benefit specifically related to elder-care. This benefit provides paid time off to allow a member of the bargaining unit to spend time with a family member who has received a terminal diagnosis.