The Consortium was designed to develop the diversity of women in the southwest through research that examined, health, education, economics, women’s history and more, said Dr. Janice Monk, co-director of the Consortium and research social scientist emeritus. In the beginning stages of the Consortium, research was mainly conducted on the U.S. side of the border.
However, Monk met a researcher from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico who was trying to create a women’s studies program. Through this chance encounter, the Consortium expanded across the border.Dr. Janice Monk, co-director of the Consortium. Courtesy of the SIROW Web site.
Following that, researchers from The University of Arizona, including Monk, and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte met twice, once in Tijuana and once in Tucson, to discuss areas of common interest, Monk said. Another researcher from El Colegio de Sonora in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico was invited to attend the second meeting and join the collaboration.
The areas of common interest turned out to be economics and health. The focus was further narrowed to health, specifically cervical and uterine cancer.
Following that, researchers from The University of Arizona, including Monk, and El Colegio de la Frontera Norte met twice, once in Tijuana and once in Tucson, to discuss areas of common interest, Monk said. Another researcher from El Colegio de Sonora in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico was invited to attend the second meeting and join the collaboration.
The areas of common interest turned out to be economics and health. The focus was further narrowed to health, specifically cervical and uterine cancer.
“At that meeting we discussed what were health issues that we thought we could address that were important to women on both sides of the border, especially Mexican-American women on this side and that would not be so contentious that they might make collaboration difficult,” Monk said.
These diseases were also the highest cause of death for mid-life women in Mexico at the time and are a key health issue for Mexican-American women in the U.S., she said.
Researchers studied all aspects of these diseases from transmission to the implications of gender on the issue.
“Whether women get self care and think their own health is important is also a gender-power issue. Whether they think they are important, if they can afford it or even value getting care for themselves as opposed to looking after their families or their husbands-- not thinking that they should go to doctor for gynecological exams unless their pregnant,” Monk said.
The Consortium embarked with a “multi-pronged" approach; research, outreach and education.
The outreach was designed to disseminate their research and build ties with community members, community health agencies and “promotoras,” she said. It included workshops and presentations every year.
The Consortium also granted three to four mini grants twice a year to various community health agencies on both side of the border and to graduate students for research.
In 2004, the Consortium created a bilingual Web site, "Women’s Health on the Border", Monk said. The Web site provides information on women’s health issues at the border and links to local and regional health programs and clinics.
The Transborder Consortium is a part of the UA’s Southwest Institute for Research on Women (SIROW).The collaboration lasted from 1993 - 2005 and is no longer actively researching projects, Monk said. After roughly five years, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte left the collaboration, she added.
The Consortium was primarily funded through grants provided by the Ford Foundation in New York and in Mexico City.
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