The WHGE COE released a call for applications in December 2020 to provide up to $5,000 to support early career investigators and their graduate students working on/starting up novel research projects related to women’s health, gender and empowerment. The Small Grants Program aimed to fund early career investigators from underrepresented groups and their graduate students on any of the 10 University of California campuses and UC Hastings College of the Law. The WHGE COE acknowledges that early career investigators are often overburdened with requests for service and mentorship and at the same time, are focusing on getting tenure. This funding opportunity was created to support early career investigators’ research and facilitate the ability to mentor.

Congratulations to the awardees!

Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear, Assistant Professor, UCLA

Charlotte Abel, Graduate Mentee

Reproductive Justice for American Indian and Alaska Native Women in the Time of COVID-19

The aim of this mixed-methods research project is to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on the reproductive experiences (pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum) on American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women. This project will incorporate emerging research on the disproportionate rates of COVID-19 infection and mortality among the AIAN population, as well as the Reproductive Justice framework and literature, to honor the voices of Indigenous women by seeking to better understand the interlocking structures of oppression that continue to harm and kill AIAN women and their babies at unacceptable rates.

San Juanita García, Assistant Professor, UC Santa Barbara

Katherine Maldonado, Graduate Mentee

Vicarious Illegality: The Spillover Consequences of Living a Deportation Threat on Mexican-origin Women's Stress and Mental Health

To explore the impacts that "illegality" has on Mexican-origin women's mental health, this project includes qualitative semi-structured interviews in Houston, Texas with undocumented, documented, and Mexican American women to illustrate the far-reaching mental health impacts of those who witness the negative consequences of "illegality," particularly family, romantic partners, and friends. This project embraced a Chicana feminist practice, critical race approach, and mainstream sociological theories, such as stress process theory. WHGE COE Small Grants Program funding will be used to include study findings in a book that adopts an intersectional approach to address social inequities confronted by Mexican-origin women.