A Screenshot of the Where Women Go website. Credit: Courtesy of WhereWomenGo.osu.edu
Women at Ohio State now have a new place to go, and it’s online. The website Where Women Go was launched late last semester as a place for women to find more information on resources available to them on and around campus.
“One of the things we heard from students, particularly women students, was that they weren’t sure where to go to find resources,” said Dave Isaacs, Office of Student Life spokesman. “That’s why we created Where Women Go.”
The website is divided into different categories: academics, health, connections and sexual civility and empowerment. From there, each category of the site has a list of subtopics from which to choose.
“The process of creating the website was truly collaborative,” said Carol Harper, the digital communications coordinator for Student Life.
Harper said the communications staff from the Office of Student Life collected suggestions from various departments and organizations within the university and worked to organize them in a “meaningful way” with Student Life Technology Services.
In addition, the Student Life graphics team designed artwork for a social media campaign to announce the portal and raise awareness, Harper said.
The idea for the website was sparked when the Women Student Initiative Leadership Cohort held a town hall meeting in the fall of 2015. Around 300 students attended the meeting, which led to a town hall panel with OSU administrators. The idea of launching a website where women could go to find resources was then pitched, according to co-chair of professional and personal development of the WSILC Hannah Cedargren.
“I think it really demonstrates that Ohio State is starting to value Ohio State Women more, which makes me happy, but with all new resources there is a lot of opportunity for growth for women’s initiatives as well as the online portal,” said Cedargren, a third-year in marketing and management information systems.
Although the site’s focus is on women and female students, Isaacs said anyone is welcome to visit the website in order to learn about and find resources.
“The feedback we’re getting is really good,” he said. “We’re hearing from so many students who say, ‘Wow, I never knew there were all these resources,’ and from students who say they are ‘looking for something particular and have been able to find it easily.’”
Some students, like Katie Thomas, a third-year in hospitality management, said they plan to use the website.
“I think it’s a great online resource for women at Ohio State to find answers for questions they have,” Thomas said. “I like how it supports several different areas of women’s empowerment. I will definitely be checking it out more.”
Isaacs said the Office of Student Life is looking to grow and add more resources to the website.
“We put out a call all over campus to get resources, and we’ve gotten a number of them, but we’re still looking for more,” Isaacs said. “There are a lot of things going on on this campus.”
