Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
woman leaning on white wall wearing a white tee with text \"resilient\"
woman leaning on white wall wearing a white tee with text \"resilient\"
Drop the Label Movement

The Rice Women’s Resource Center, Twenty-Two Years On

Ellie Persellin
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Rice chapter.

Founded in February of 1996, the Rice Women’s Resource Center (RWRC) represented the culmination of a yearlong initiative undertaken by the Graduate Women’s Interest Network (GWIN) and the undergraduate-serving Women’s Interest Network (WIN). Mona Hicks, Director of the Rice Women’s Resource Center from 1995-2002, stated that her main goal during her tenure at the RWRC “was to give women at Rice a voice…give women students a little more self-power through leadership along with some educational programs.” More than twenty years later, the vision articulated by Hicks for the RWRC still rings true.

In terms of physical provisions, the Women’s Resource Center supplies the Rice student body with free condoms, lube, tampons, pads, ibuprofen, and pamphlets detailing information on various issues of sexual health. Books and DVDs relating to gender studies are also available to check out from the Center. The office space of the RWRC is staffed entirely by student volunteers, meaning the accessibility of its resources is contingent upon students continuing to volunteer their time. In order to become a volunteer, individuals must first undergo a comprehensive training session, which partially entails instruction on how to best handle sensitive situations that may arise, including cases involving eating disorders, mental ill-health, and partner violence.

The Rice Women’s Resource Center provides event-based resources as well. Of particular note, the RWRC puts on a production of “The Vagina Monologues” each February, with this year’s rendition to be held the 22nd through the 25th of the month. An episodic play first performed in 1996, “The Vagina Monologues” discusses topics such as consensual and nonconsensual sexual experiences, body image, genital mutilation, reproductive choice, and sex work. In years past, proceeds from the RWRC production of “The Vagina Monologues” have benefited nonprofits such as the Houston Area Women’s Center, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Planned Parenthood, and the Houston-based Clinic Access Support Network (CASN).

Ellie is a Political Science and Policy Studies double major at Rice University, with a minor in Politics, Law and Social Thought. She spent the spring of 2017 studying/interning in London, and hopes to return to England for grad school. Academically, Ellie's passion lies in evaluating policies that further the causes of gender equality, LGBT rights, and access to satisfactory healthcare, specifically as it pertains to women's health and mental health. She also loves feminist memoirs, eighteenth-century history, old bookstores, and new places. She's continuously inspired by the many strong females in her life, and is an unequivocal proponent of women supporting women.