Overall Considerations: Regarding The State of Women and Girls in Howard County:
- The State of Women and Girls in Howard County is intended to serve as a resource for WGC's grantmaking, and for other Howard County funders, nonprofit partner organizations, government agencies, and the community for use in determining funding, supporting, and implementing programs and developing legislation to address the needs of women and girls in our county.
- This baseline data is designed as a central resource that positions our community to effectively advocate on behalf of women and girls and positively impact legislation, policy, and countywide programming.
- This baseline information has been compiled by the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County during a time of continued challenges in Howard County, our state, and across the country as we grappled with ongoing waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, political and civil unrest, racial injustice, economic struggle, and the effects of climate change.
- The past two years have been particularly challenging for women and their families, and we expect this initial baseline data to change – potentially with even greater gaps in income, workplace participation, access to childcare, education, and in a myriad of other ways.
- We plan to continually update this baseline data with new information as it becomes available, and in 2023 with a specific focus on the issues above.
- We appreciate the partnership with individuals who provided advice, information and data and we are grateful to agencies, organizations and firms - public and private, whose data we were able to access for this report.
- We found that different agencies and organizations collect information by using different gender/race/ethnicity categories so consequently some of the information presented reflects these differences.
- Our hope is that The State of Women and Girls in Howard County is a catalyst for a continued and/or beginning focus on data collection by gender/race/ethnicity among government agencies, nonprofit organizations and others so we can collectively have a better understanding on how to best serve women and girls in our community.
- And, we hope that other giving circles and counties in Maryland may see an opportunity to utilize the important data from the 2021 Maryland Women: A Status Report and compile baseline information on the status of women and girls per county throughout the state.
- We look forward to strengthening our partnerships and continuing to obtain updated data to inform our grantmaking and the broader community.
Opportunity: Identify and Close Gaps in Gender Data
It would be helpful to gather additional data on women and girls in Howard County to address needs in a more targeted manner. For example, capturing the two realities of Howard County by performing qualitative analysis is essential since data is limited for women and girls in poverty. Studying issues facing women and girls in poverty qualitatively will help to identify data gaps. By gaining these valuable insights, our community will be better positioned to monitor and close gender-based gaps. It is also critical to examine data on gender by race. Pinpointing inequities based on race and ethnicity data will help us to create a more inclusive and tolerant community.
See more based on our six categories
It would be helpful to gather additional data on women and girls in Howard County to address needs in a more targeted manner. For example, capturing the two realities of Howard County by performing qualitative analysis is essential since data is limited for women and girls in poverty. Studying issues facing women and girls in poverty qualitatively will help to identify data gaps. By gaining these valuable insights, our community will be better positioned to monitor and close gender-based gaps. It is also critical to examine data on gender by race. Pinpointing inequities based on race and ethnicity data will help us to create a more inclusive and tolerant community.
See more based on our six categories
Specific Considerations: for the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County:
The State of Women and Girls in Howard County will assist the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County to meaningfully inform our community about the challenging disparities in the lives of women and girls in Howard County, creating a deeper understanding of specific needs.
The WGC will continue to enhance a standard framework for our grantmaking using the vetted, researched gender lens categories identified by the Maryland Commission for Women – as we look at our past and future grantmaking opportunities, and tell the story of how our efforts have a local, statewide, countrywide and global impact.
This baseline report will help us to meet our mission, set priorities, and inform the work of our Advisory Board and committees:
The State of Women and Girls in Howard County will assist the Women's Giving Circle of Howard County to meaningfully inform our community about the challenging disparities in the lives of women and girls in Howard County, creating a deeper understanding of specific needs.
The WGC will continue to enhance a standard framework for our grantmaking using the vetted, researched gender lens categories identified by the Maryland Commission for Women – as we look at our past and future grantmaking opportunities, and tell the story of how our efforts have a local, statewide, countrywide and global impact.
This baseline report will help us to meet our mission, set priorities, and inform the work of our Advisory Board and committees:
- This fact-based information will better inform our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts and our 2022 Strategic Planning process.
- This data will assist the WGC Grants Committee to target grant-related activities that fill identified gaps, facilitating data-driven and result-oriented grantmaking to help women and girls in Howard County.
- Our efforts will help the WGC Governance Committee to grow and sustain WGC’s leadership by providing key talking points.
- Our work will position the WGC Membership & Development Committee to better engage existing members and cultivate new members.
- Our efforts will help to guide the WGC Events Committee in planning giving, learning, networking, and celebrating events to engage members and others.
- Our report will inform the WGC Finance Committee in planning our financial framework to best support our grantmaking as we move forward.