History
For over 40 years, Women’s Commissions have served women in Lincoln and Lancaster County. Following the creation of the first Commission on the Status of Women by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and as part of the national movement to create agencies dealing with civil and human rights, Lincoln’s first women’s commission was created in 1976 under the guidance of Helen Boosalis, Lincoln’s first female Mayor, and former City Council member Jan Gauger, a member of the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners.
An interlocal agreement was approved by the Lincoln City Council and the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners, which created the Commission on the Status of Women. This Commission served as an advisory body to the Mayor of Lincoln, the Lincoln City Council and the County Board on social, economic and legal barriers affecting women and their families and recommended ways to alleviate those barriers. A second agreement was entered into in 1996 creating the Lincoln-Lancaster Women’s Commission. Its purpose was to continue those goals and move them forward. In 2007, this interlocal agreement was suspended.
Mayor Chris Beutler immediately created another advisory called the Mayor’s Commission on Women by Executive Order. This Commission has served as an advisory to the Mayor and City, surveying women in the community to learn of their issues and challenges and designing programs of education, outreach and advocacy to meet the identified needs.