The group grew out of research and discussion in several women's studies and education classes, and is firmly grounded in both feminist and educational theory. Students can be encouraged to explore the extent to which participation in civic life has enhanced their own job skills and career options. They can also interview women they have met through their service work and question them about the relationship between their service work and their personal and professional growth. One course is about the various ways society has thought about and portrayed women, and the impact these views have had on women's roles in society. The goal, however, is not merely passive acquisition of knowledge, but the development of authentic and well-informed responses to these philosophical views of women.
Students work at community sites which focus on problems in which gender plays a defining role.
The placements include Planned Parenthood Leagues, women's health and counseling centers, rape crisis centers, battered women's shelters, a transitional home for formerly homeless women, and a YWCA project for pregnant teenagers. Projects have ranged from developing and conducting surveys on residents' responses to hate literature n their communities, to creating skits and games to teach children tolerance, to building a website to facilitate human service agency referrals, to helping children affected by domestic violence to use arts and crafts as a creative outlet for their emotions, to arranging and troubleshooting conferences, even to teaching art and creative writing to the homeless. Research has shown that middle and junior high school girls exhibit a tremendous shift in their perceptions of math and science. After the sixth grade, girls are less likely than boys to continue with higher-level math and science courses. Rather, girls begin to express a dislike for math and science and often start to focus more on language arts and social studies.