Rachel DeSoto-Jackson, associate professor of Applied Theatre in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance, has been appointed to the Pittsburgh Gender Equity Commission as a member of the review committee for RFP20000464 “Community-Based Research on Gender Equity in Pittsburgh.”
The RFP from the City of Pittsburgh's Gender Equity Commission in the Mayor's Office of Equity seeks proposals for a Community-Based Participatory Action Research project focused on gender equity in the city of Pittsburgh up to $67,000. DeSoto-Jackson will serve on the special review committee for evaluation and awarding of successful proposals.
From the RFP:
“In 2016, City Councilperson Natalia Rudiak (the first woman elected to represent District 4) called for the City to adopt the principles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The ordinance passed City Council unanimously in December of that year, and was signed into law by Mayor William Peduto, creating the GEC. In the first phase of a CEDASW city-wide gender analysis (2017-2019), a research team…examined publicly available data about the City of Pittsburgh to identify inequalities based on two central determinants of quality of life in the US: gender and race.
“The next phase of the GEC's Gender Analysis builds on the strengths of the first 2019 report and also seeks to fill gaps it could not address. Based on the findings of the first report, there is a need for further data collection to better recognize and understand the lived experience of gender inequity across the City of Pittsburgh. Through a Community-Based Participatory Research approach, we aim to center the voices of the most marginalized and those most impacted by gender-based disparities in the City of Pittsburgh. This will include using an intersection framework to collect qualitative data to help further our understanding of the ways in which gender inequity intersects with other forms of inequity such a race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual and gender identity, ability, religion, and immigration status. This approach will actively involved community partners throughout all stages of the research process, including problem conceptualization and data collection, and policy recommendations.”