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University Committee for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equity banner showing the committee in a bright conference room.

What We Do

The University Committee for the Advancement of Women and Gender Equity (UCAWGE), originally called the University Committee on Women, was created in 1971 as a response to a heightened awareness of discrimination for women on campus in conjunction with the women's liberation movement of the 1970s. It brought to light the unequal treatment that female faculty, staff, and students faced, especially over the issue of equal pay for equal work. 

Today, UCAWGE is an active and diverse committee still devoted to the mission to advance gender equity within the university committee. The most visible product of this committee is the Status on Women Report, previously captured every five years via a written report provided to administration and now available on a continual basis as a dashboard on this website. We seek to amplify the voices of those across the gender spectrum in order to bring to light policies and practices that are inequitable within the Iowa State University community. 

Recent Stories from ISU Women

  • Journey

    Winding, with years of being asked to prove my abilities (after I'd already proven my abilities). I worked for a small non-profit for many years, and also taught English in South Korea for three years during the worst period of the U.S. recession in the early 2010s. In the U.S., I experienced a lot of ageism (which I believe was actually sexism in a more palatable/legal form of discrimination, since the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older, but does not protect people younger than 40 against ageism). In South Korea, I was sexually harassed and discriminated against by my supervisor and the public department of education which employed me.

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