Administrative Coordinator of the Lane Community College Women’s Program Offers Opinion on Women in Business

Administrative Coordinator of the Lane Community College Women’s Program, Ruth Wren, offers her opinion as to how the new administration could improve the learning environment for women and create gender equity throughout the college community.  Wren works in the financial sector of the program and points to “the steady decrease in support for education and people in transition” as a reason why many women are having difficulty in maintaining financial stability.

Topic:  Should the new administration offer incentives for investing in women-owned businesses?

Category:  Citizen (personal interview)

What is it?  An interview with Ruth Wren, who is the Administrative Coordinator of the  Women’s Program at Lane Community College.

Accessed:  Interview conducted on March 4th, 2009, 13:00 PST.

Support:  Ruth Wren works on the  administrative business involved at the Lane Community College Women’s Program.  She offers her service  experience in assisting women toward meeting life goals as the basis for her opinion.  Ruth Wren states that the funding flow is complicated for the Women’s Program, and that the state provides money based on total enrollment.

Audience and Agenda: According to the Lane Community College Women’s Program website, the mission of the Women’s Program is to provide an educational environment where women are empowered to improve their lives. The program provides integrated, comprehensive services and programs for women and a variety of gender equity activities and projects.  The program divides its services between offering help with either academic and personal concerns.

Usefulness:  As an answer to the topic listed above concerning the new administration offering incentives for investing in women-owned businesses, Ruth Wren replies with a “Big yes.”   She believes that it is obvious that an increase in funding for women-owned businesses would help the economy move toward a gender-neutral state.  According to Wren, the greatest gender-based disadvantages within the Eugene/Springfield community are the lack of childcare, the lack of funding for education, and a general lack of support for people in transition.  When referring to people in transition, Wren means people whose lives have been affected by disease, people who have master’s degrees that are not useful anymore, and people who are overcoming cancer.  Wren indicates that through her experience she has found that many people would like to be entrepreneurs.  The areas which are the most popular are:  tailoring, baking, and welding.  Overall, she is of the opinion that educational funding, which includes funding programs that assist people in transition, is crucial in providing jobs for everyone in the future.

Works Cited:

http://www.lanecc.edu/wp/women.htm

http://www.lanecc.edu/budget/glossaryofterms.htm

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