West Virginia University Debuts New Website on the Status of Women in the State

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research has teamed up with several other groups at West Virginia University to launch the West Virginia Mapping Project website. The project is designed to inform policy makers, nonprofit organizations, researchers, and the general public on the status of women in West Virginia.

The site includes an interactive map where visitors can obtain information on women in five different regions of the state. Data can be obtained on population demographics, employment, earnings, health, education, and poverty. Also participating in the establishment of the website are the department of geology and geography, the West Virginia GIS Technical Center, and the West Virginia Women’s Commission. The website may be accessed here.

The project is under the director of Ann Oberhauser, a professor of geography at the university. From 2009 to 2013 she was the director of the Center for Women’s Studies at the university. She has been on the faculty at West Virginia University since 1990. Dr. Oberhauser states, “The data will be useful in academic settings so students and faculty can analyze women’s and gender issues from a geographical perspective.

Dr. Oberhauser is the co-editor of the forthcoming book Global Perspectives on Gender and Space: Engaging Feminism and Development (Routledge, 2014). She is a graduate of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in geography from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.