Women Make a Difference: The Mass Action for Women Audit Unveiled
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Make a Difference: The Mass Action for Women Audit Unveiled
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Policy 2001-2002 
By
Leigh DuPuy
The Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPP) unveiled critical insights and concerns on the health, educational, economic, and political status of women and girls in the long-anticipated Mass Action for Women Audit. With their collaborators, Mass Action for Women, the Center’s director Carol Hardy-Fanta and the project’s statewide organizing coordinator Tess Browne presented the results of the audit to the Caucus of Women Legislators and other policymakers at the State House on November 2.
For three years, research teams in the areas of Greater Boston, the Southeast, Western Massachusetts, and Cape Cod gathered information on challenges experienced by women and girls. The study found that women have made strides in several areas, such as awareness of domestic violence, the Family Leave initiative, and new career opportunities. However, women are struggling with monumental issues, such as inadequate transportation, lack of affordable housing, limited access to health care, language and geographical barriers between women, the need for networks of support, and the effects of racism. Girls also cite peer pressure, lack of health education, isolation, and identity issues as key concerns.
Audit researchers made recommendations to legislators, which included improving transportation networks, especially in isolated or rural areas, that greatly affect women’s ability to work. Hardy-Fanta noted that only one third of entry-level jobs in Greater Boston can be reached via public transportation from areas in Massachusetts within two hours. Another concern is the number of affordable housing units for women with low and moderate incomes. In a daunting example, statistics show a worker earning the minimum wage would have to work 105 hours a week to rent a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rate in the Commonwealth.
The goal of the audit was threefold: to eliminate barriers and promote collaboration between women; to create an interactive profile on women and girls in Massachusetts; and to identify next steps, encouraging women to take action in their local communities. Each regional group throughout Massachusetts identified something in its area that was doable. For example, the Greater Boston Action Committee decided to create a resource guide for affordable counseling, and in Western Massachusetts the committee decided to form intergenerational support groups for women and girls.
The audit was inspired by the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and has been praised as a model for other states to follow. The full report Connecting for Change: Results of the Mass Action for Women Audit, is available at www.maw.umb.edu. The audit reflects CWPP’s mission to dedicate itself to the participation of women from diverse social, cultural, and economic backgrounds in the political life of the Commonwealth and the nation.