Oklahoma Commission On The Status of Women Helps With Local Issues, Looking To Honor Oklahoma Women

In honor of International Women's Day, the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women joined us in the studio to discuss what they do for the community and how they plan to honor the contributions of Oklahoma women.

Carol Hefner and Briana Ramos from the Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women say the group comprises around 30 women appointed by state appointing authorities.

"What we do is we come together to try to push forward initiatives that actually improve the quality of life for women across Oklahoma," Hefner said.

Hefner said they work on initiatives that specifically help women.

She said right now, they are prioritizing helping to fix the issue of human trafficking.

"It affects women, it affects the nation, but particularly in Oklahoma, right? We have that crossroad that really makes it tough on us," Hefner said.

They also work with more women's issues, such as wage-earning parity.

Hefner said they recently held a summit that connected working women with reputable childcare.

"We're working on that and actually expanding those options for women," Hefner said.

Another topic they are focusing on is incarcerated women.

Hefner said their goal is to give a voice to groups that do not feel represented.

"There is a huge group and a huge disparity in so many areas for women; we try to kind of give as much time as we can toward these things, but we really need to narrow down that scope," Hefner said,

They are currently working on an initiative to honor women from our state called the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame

"What the Women's Hall of Fame allows us to do is really carve a permanent mark in our history books for the accomplishments of women in our state," Ramos said.

They will be taking nominations until April 5th. The requirements are that women have to be born in Oklahoma and have significantly contributed to different areas.

"From education to medicine, technology, we're looking for a very diverse group of women to honor, so then she also has to be able to attend the induction ceremony on September 27," Ramos said.

They are also accepting posthumous nominations.

To nominate someone. go to oklahoma.gov/ocsw