Add your voice to Iowa Women at Work project

The Iowa Department of Human Rights, in partnership with Grand View University, has begun to ask women across Iowa to share their stories from the workforce.

A recent news release announcing the project asked, 'Would you like to share your story about your experiences in the workforce? Does your employer have policies and practices that are supportive of women? Do you have a story to share about discrimination or harassment in the workplace? Are you a mother in the paid workforce who has had experiences while pregnant, breastfeeding and/or adopting a child?”

The Iowa Department of Human Rights' Office on the Status of Women is hoping to give women 'a space to share the good, as well as the not so good, stories of their experiences in the workforce.”

Stories will be submitted and collected electronically through an online form. Topic areas include:

Pregnancy,

Maternity/Adoption leave and Breastfeeding;

Family/Caregiving Leave; Childcare;

Workplace flexibility;

Path to leadership;

Harassment/discrimination in the workplace;

and a miscellaneous category for other topics.

Staff will review the stories and remove information such as full names and names of employers. Through a partnership with Grand View University, a finalized document containing the collected stories will be released to the public in winter 2019, and may be periodically released in electronic format until then. These stories will be combined into a final document which will be available online and in print.

To find out more, go online to humanrights.iowa.gov/cas/icsw/iowa-women-work-project or contact the Office on the Status of Women at women@iowa.gov.