As part of West VirginiaUniversitys Institute for Public Affairs West Virginia 2002 series, two University educators will discuss the status of women in West Virginia and present a report card on womens health at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, in the Mountainlair Greenbrier Room. The event is free and open to the public.

Barbara Howe, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Womens Studies, and Ann Dacey, outreach program coordinator, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the WVU School of Medicine, will respond to a recent national study conducted by the Institute for Womens Policy Research (IWPR).

The year-long study concluded that West Virginia women suffer from multiple problems and challenges arising partially from the states rural setting.

It also included West Virginia among three states where women are most likely to die of a heart attack, ranked it 46th for poor mental health and placed it 33rd for women dying of breast cancer.

Dr. Howe co-chaired the West Virginia Advisory Committee, which worked with the IWPR staff.

Earlier this month, she presented the committees findings at a news conference opening the third annual Womens Health Policy Conference at the University of Charleston and the 25th anniversary of the West Virginia Womens Commission.

“West Virginias rural nature plays a powerful role in the position in which women find themselves,”Howe said.”When we live in a state where it is difficult to get public transportation, then it is hard for women to get to school or some kind of training, and without education or skills of some kind, it is hard to get a decent-paying job.

“Without those jobs, it obviously is hard to support families and move us out of the bottom category that we find ourselves in,”Howe continued.”When people have poor health and lack of access to health care, it is also difficult to hold down a job.”

The West Virginia 2002 series, co-sponsored by the Institute for Public Affairs and the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, focuses annually on West Virginia, its people and its governance.

For more information on the series or to purchase a videotape of the event, contact Susan Hunter, associate professor of political science, at 293-3811, ext. 5292 or susan.hunter@mail.wvu.edu . A copy of”The Status of Women in West Virginia, 2002”report is online athttp://www.iwpr.org/states2002/index.htm.