The Women’s Opportunity Center in downtown Ithaca provides free career services, life coaching, toiletries, food, clothes and more to women in the community. With a lack of support for women in the United States government, grassroots organizations play a large role in combating gender inequality.
In addition to providing resources, the center also hosts events to bring people together, including a Galentine’s Thrift and Sip on Feb. 12. The event was held in the center’s Opportunity Boutique and allowed guests to shop while supporting the center and learning about its resources. The center also has a location in Syracuse. The services and events all work toward achieving the center’s vision, which is “To see a future where the barriers of gender, class, race and sexuality have been dismantled; a future where women and girls are empowered to live to their full potential.”
Equal Rights Amendment
Though the center is helping shape the lives of individual women, systemic structures have made gender equality harder to achieve. Jan Bridgeford-Smith, executive director of WOC, said she is surprised and disappointed that the U.S. still does not have a ratified Equal Rights Amendment in 2026.
“I don’t think you have to look very far to see that the way women continue to be demeaned, dismissed, not taken seriously and sexualized,” Bridgeford-Smith said. “I have a daughter, I have a granddaughter. It makes me sad.”
For generations, women have been advocating for equal rights. Since 1923, activists have been working to get the ERA into the U.S. Constitution, which would expand the rights guaranteed in the Constitution to women. While the ERA is considered the 28th Amendment, it is still not ratified. Congress passed the ERA in 1972 with a seven-year time limit for its ratification. The ERA is supported by 38 states, but not enough states ratified it in time. The ratification will likely be up to the Supreme Court.
Galentine’s Thrift and Sip
The Galentine’s event provided attendees with complementary desserts, wine, punch and fruit to dip in a bubbling chocolate fountain. The center’s resources are largely funded by sales made at the Opportunity Boutique. The boutique sells second-hand clothing ranging from vintage to modern that is collected through donations. Kim, an attendee of the Galentine’s event, said she had never been to the center or boutique prior to the event, but already told her friends about how great it is.
“It is really nice that our community has this,” Kim said. “I hope that more people will know about it so they can enjoy it, but especially to find quality items at affordable prices is so important, especially in today’s economy. Whether you’ve got a job or not, everybody deserves to have nice things.”
Survivor support
Stephanie King, life coach at WOC, said she had always wanted to work with women at a grassroots level because she believes care and resources should be available to everyone.
“I have some firsthand experience with difficult situations, and there is something different speaking from a place of experience than just a college degree,” King said. “And I have a couple of college degrees, but that’s not the same as saying, ‘I’ve been in that dark, ugly, horrible place. I know you feel like it is not going to get better, but I promise you it will.’”
Bridgeford-Smith said the services at the center are available for all women, but many women who come in are homeless, going through life transitions, or are victims of domestic or sexual violence.
“To say it’s traumatizing is an understatement,” Bridgeford-Smith said. “It changes the trajectory of your life. And with the right kind of support, they will realize they can live through it.”
