By Alyssa Buford

On November 13th, the Somerville Commission for Women held a virtual meeting moderated by commissioner Jennifer Harrington and Racial-Social Justice Head Leonor Galindo. The commissioners, volunteers appointed by Mayor Katjana Ballantyne, work with the city staff liaison to advise the city on policy as well as coordinate projects, initiatives, and outreach on behalf of women in the community since they were established via a city ordinance in 1988.

Collecting data on the financial and familial status of women in Somerville

Harrington and Galindo proposed an initiative for the city to conduct a survey regarding the well-being of women and female-identifying residents.

“We want to do things that are data-driven, but we don’t have meaningful data to go on,” said Co-chair Alex Barbat, expressing support for the initiative.

In addition to Barbat, Co-chair Katelin Firth backed this concept and proposed communication with the city council in the form of a “listening tour” with local women, including business owners, students, and heads of households, to map out the factors for study in these surveys. Harrington suggested the commission write and sign a letter requesting that the city fund and pursue formal data collection to shape policy and advocacy initiatives within and beyond the commission.

Somerville last conducted a women’s health and issues survey in 2017 as part of the annual Wellbeing of Somerville Report, which conducts census-like research on the city’s demographics. The report has switched to a more general approach to demographic-specific data points in recent years.

“There isn’t a whole lot of data on women in Somerville that is city-specific,” said Harrington, “And we would like the city to conduct a survey, as well as pay for it.”

Community Outreach

In addition to the survey proposal, the commission discussed the planning of civic and community engagement events to fight food insecurity, period poverty, and provide resources to those affected by changes in immigration policies. Despite Greater Somerville’s status as a “sanctuary city,” there are preexisting accounts of female-identifying immigrants expressing fear and hesitation about receiving prenatal or gynecological care due to heightened surveillance on immigrant whereabouts.

“In the meantime, there are things that are very immediate in the community, with I.C.E and rising food insecurity” said Commissioner Bobbi Van Gilder “The economic disparities are going through the roof and people are struggling to put the food on the table; there’s all sorts of things that are immediate that I think we could play a part in” Gilder continued.

The meetings are open to the public, and the next will be held on December 16, at 7 p.m. via Zoom.