Commission on Women and Gender

The Commission on Women and Gender shall act in an advisory capacity to the Mayor and City Council and shall be charged with the responsibility to provide advice and recommendations to the Mayor and City Council with regard to policy proposals and research to promote gender equity, and to address and alleviate racial, cultural, health, social, economic, legal, and other barriers affecting women, transgender, and non-binary community members in the City of Lincoln.

Commissioners

• Becca Brune (she/her) - Federal Policy Director, Nebraska Appleseed
• Nicole L. Trevena Flores (she/her) - Social Science Department Chair, Southeast Community College
• Sarah Gauger (she/her) - Owner, "omt! divine resale"
• Angel Geller (she/her) - Santee Sioux Nation Society of Care Navigator (Lincoln and Lancaster County)
• Jessica Hesse (she/her) - Implementation Lead at Tilt
• Brittney Hodges-Bolkovac (she/her) - Educator, Lincoln Public Schools
• Jennifer Jorges (she/her) - Writing Center Tutor, Southeast Community College
• Shandana Khattak (she/her) - Statistical Analyst, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
• Amanda Krivda (she/her) - Secondary English Language Arts Coordinator, Lincoln Public Schools
• Meg Mikolajczyk, JD (she/her) - Executive Director of the Nebraska Civic Engagement Table
• Lyndie Christensen Nader (she/her) - Sociology instructor, Southeast Community College
• LeeAnn Pancharoen (she/her) - Manager of DEI Training & Development, Planned Parenthood North Central States
• Eric Reiter (they/them) - Network Expansion Coordinator, Lincoln Food Bank
• Josie Rodriguez (she/her) - Administrator, Office of Health Disparities and Health Equity, Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
• Pat Shepard (she/her) - Retired Educator, Lincoln Public Schools
• Abbi Swatsworth (she/her) - Executive Director, OutNebraska
• Kathie Uhrmacher (she/her) - Retired Educator, Lincoln Public Schools

History and Purpose

For 45 years, Women’s Commissions have served women in Lincoln and Lancaster County. Following the creation of the first Commission on the Status of Women by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and as part of the national movement to create agencies dealing with civil and human rights, Lincoln’s first women’s commission was created in 1977 under the guidance of Helen Boosalis, Lincoln’s first female Mayor, and former City Council member Jan Gauger, a member of the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners. An interlocal agreement was approved by the Lincoln City Council and the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners, which created the Commission on the Status of Women. This Commission served as an advisory body to the Mayor of Lincoln, the Lincoln City Council and the County Board on social, economic and legal barriers affecting women and their families and recommended ways to alleviate those barriers. A second agreement was entered into in 1996 creating the Lincoln-Lancaster Women’s Commission. Its purpose was to continue those goals and move them forward. In 2007, this interlocal agreement was suspended.

Mayor Chris Beutler immediately created another advisory called the Mayor’s Commission on Women by Executive Order. This Commission served as an advisory to the Mayor and City, surveying women in the community to learn of their issues and challenges and designing programs of education, outreach and advocacy to meet the identified needs. In 2020, the Commission on Women and Gender was created by ordinance as part of the City of Lincoln. It acts in an advisory capacity to the Mayor and City Council regarding policy proposals and research about racial, cultural, health, social, economic, legal and other barriers affecting women in the City of Lincoln, as well as solutions to alleviate those barriers.

The purpose of the Commission is:

1. Conduct research and collect data regarding the status of women and femmes in the City of Lincoln on a biannual basis to ascertain needs, trends and barriers to accessing resources experienced by women within the City, to be captured in a report and made available to the community with policy recommendations to the City Council and Mayor within three months of completion.
2. To review sex-based discrimination claims, as well as similar claims based on sexual-orientation or race, impacting a woman’s employment, public accommodation and housing, offer support to relevant City department(s) and/or Mayor when appropriate, provide information, education, and direction to community resources and social services for women experiencing said discrimination, and analyze data regarding said discrimination to identify trends needing further remedy through legal or policy changes.
3. Advocate for public policy and programs that positively impact women and families in Lincoln and Nebraska by providing testimony, white papers or research documents, collecting and sharing personal narratives, sharing data and trends, lobbying policymakers, on topics including, but not limited to: intersectional barriers and disparities based in health care, employment, housing, child care, education, representation and food security. The Commission will seek to make improvements for Lincoln women and femmes by working with City Council, the Mayor, the Lincoln Board of Education, Nebraska Legislature, and other policymaking bodies throughout the state that may enact policies and programs impacting Lincoln residents.
4. Educate the public and leaders in business, education, and government of those intersectional barriers and disparities that impact Lincoln women in areas including, but not limited to: health care, employment, housing, child care, education, representation and food security.

The Commission will seek to coordinate the efforts of numerous women’s and social justice organizations interested in removing these intersectional barriers and disparities for women in order to move forward on social, cultural, and systemic positive change for women in Lincoln and Nebraska.