"To address and improve the economic status of women in Tennessee"

The Tennessee Economic Council on Women assesses Tennessee women’s economic status. It develops and advocates solutions to address women’s needs to help women achieve economic autonomy. In setting its priorities, the Council selects issues that are timely and likely to result in positive changes for women.

Tennessee Economic Council on Women Elects Officers for 2013

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Economic Council on Women, elected officers at its Winter Meeting on January 4, 2013. The 21-member board is made up of accomplished women and one man from across the state. The Tennessee Economic Council on Women, a state agency, was established by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1998 to conduct research on issues affecting women from an economic perspective. The Council celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. The Council Board meets quarterly.

The newly elected officers include:

Chair, Yvonne Wood
Owner, Wood Conference & Event Planning
Greater Nashville Development District, Lebanon

Vice Chair, Carol Berz
CEO, Private Dispute Resolution Services
Southeast Development District, Chattanooga

Treasurer, Jane Powers
Attorney, Powers Law Firm
Upper Cumberland Development District, Crossville

Secretary, Kathleen Armour Walker
President/Owner, Tennessee Pewter Company
Southwest TN Development District, Brownsville

West Tennessee Representative, Karen Camper
Member Tennessee General Assembly,
Owner, Key II Entertainment
Women's Legislative Caucus Representative, Memphis

Middle Tennessee Representative, Janet Smith
President, Columbia State Community College
South Central Development District, Columbia

East Tennessee Representative, Ruby Miller
Agent, State Farm Insurance
At-Large Women's Group, Oak Ridge

Yvonne Wood said, "I am pleased at the confidence the Council members have shown in me by electing me to a second term. I look forward to serving with renewed tenacity and vision for the future with the programs we have in place this year."

The Economic Council is required, by statue to produce a Biennial Report on its accomplishments every two years and submit it to the Governor and members of the General Assembly. This signature report is done separate from other research conducted by Council staff.

"It is an honor to serve on the Council Board with such distinguished individuals who work tirelessly to help women attain economic autonomy for the betterment of women, children and families," said Wood.

Efforts to Curb Violence Against Women Could Save Southeast TN Millions

Law enforcement, business owners, healthcare providers and social services present financial argument to enhance prevention and change culture around domestic and sexual violence

CHATTANOOGA - Violence against women costs Chattanooga and Hamilton County well over $3.6 million annually in direct community costs alone, according to testimony offered at a recent hearing convened by the Tennessee Economic Council on Women. Local experts and officials met January 18th at the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Community Room to discuss the economic impact of violence against women, and testified that businesses, hospitals, court systems and the public incur tremendous costs as a result of preventable crimes like sexual assault, human trafficking and domestic violence: crimes that are reported as little as 60 percent of the time, suggesting that the $3.6 million in cited costs only scratches the surface.

In addition to those annual costs, which do not include the value of volunteered time or expenses incurred by victims themselves, Dr. Steven Coulter, President of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee's Health Institute, shared estimates that domestic violence, alone, costs commercial health insurance members an additional $7 per member per month in higher premiums, and has a comparable impact on Medicaid costs. This amounts to an additional $28 in health insurance premiums paid each month by a family of four, for example, due simply to the existence and resultant costs of domestic violence.

Particularly in the area of human trafficking, statewide awareness is still emerging and advocates are playing catch up, said Jerry Redman, Managing Partner at Second Life Chattanooga. Redman testified that the financial cost to the public to rescue, treat, protect and shelter local human trafficking victims at current under-reported rates begins at $827,000 and is likely as much as $1.2 or $1.5 million when considering both adult and minor victims. These numbers, Redman notes, are limited to immediate needs and do not consider costs like job training or remedial education that these victims often need later.

Ron Harr, President and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce testified that the local economy is estimated to suffer an annual hit of more than $370,000 from the loss of productivity due to domestic violence alone. "While domestic violence occurs at home, it is expressed in the workplace," said Harr, who also discussed the costs of providing workplace security and cited lawsuits resulting from inadequate security that averaged $1.2 million in a 1994 study ($1.8 million in 2012 dollars).

Other expenses reported include $630,000 or more to operate just one local domestic violence shelter, at least $400,000 each year to address the most immediate needs of sexual assault and rape victims, another $400,000 just for domestic violence-related prosecution costs in the office of Hamilton County Attorney General Bill Cox, and well over $350,000 in court costs related to domestic violence in the area. The figure also omits the $1.25 million that it costs to incarcerate just one domestic violence abuser convicted of first degree murder (96 Tennessee women were murdered by an intimate partner in 2011).

"We have done an initial tally of the costs consequential to these crimes and are becoming aware that the real figures are so much more," said TECW Chattanooga Hearing Chair and Chattanooga City Councilwoman Carol Berz. "We know that there is a lack of coordinated reporting of these crimes and therefore the figures are incomplete. There is a need to fund preventative programs that not only save taxpayer dollars spent on treatment but also prevent future victimization."

More than one hundred members of the public attended the first of nine statewide hearings, which was convened by the Tennessee Economic Council on Women, and hosted by BlueCross Blue Shield of Tennessee.

For further information about the TECW's hearings on Violence Against Women, please contact the Tennessee Economic Council on Women at (615) 253-4266, www.tennesseewomen.org, or info.ECW@tn.gov.

January 2013 Quarterly Meeting

NASHVILLE - Members of the Tennessee Economic Council on Women (TECW) and the Women's Economic Council Foundation (WECF) met in early January to discuss the Council's upcoming projects dealing with workforce development for women and violence against women. They were joined by Commissioner Bill Hagerty of the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development, Assistant Commissioner Alice Rolli, and Business Enterprise Resource Office Director Wisty Pender to discuss the state's ongoing job creation, investment and economic development programs, and to better understand how the TECW can act as a resource for female job seekers, innovators and entrepreneurs.

For more information about the statewide Violence Against Women hearings, or for information about the TECW website re-launch in March, please contact us at info.ECW@tn.gov or (615) 253-4266.

(Pictured from left to right: Executive Director Phyllis Qualls-Brooks, Vice-Chair Elliott Moore, Kristi Stanley, Dr. Carol Danehower, Veronica Marable Johnson, ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty, Dr. Mimi Barnard, Janis Sontany, Chairwoman Yvonne Wood, Kathleen Walker, Dr. Janet Smith, Commissioner Susan Whittaker, Whisty Pender, Deborah Clubb, Assistant Commissioner Alice Rolli)

TECW to Begin Statewide Violence Against Women Hearings in Chattanooga

Highlights of the Ninth Annual Economic Summit for Women

Lilly Ledbetter,
namesake of the
2009 Fair Pay
Restoration Act

"2012 Status of Women in Tennessee Counties" Released

Ninth Annual Economic Summit for Women

Tenth Annual Economic Summit for Women

October 27-28, 2013
Tenth Annual Economic Summit for Women‐Nashville
October 29, 2013
Quarterly Meeting‐Nashville

TECW Calendar of Events

Lilly Ledbetter to Keynote 2012 Summit

The Economic Council on Women is excited to announce fair pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter as the 2012 Economic Summit keynote speaker. Ledbetter will discuss her fight for equal rights in the workplace at the Summit luncheon.

"We are very fortunate to have Lilly Ledbetter join us as a speaker this year for the 2012 Economic Summit and bring us her inspirational story," said Council Chair Yvonne Wood. "Lilly won a court battle for gender pay discrimination and then had it struck down by the Supreme Court. She did not give up and as a result, Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009. It is an important tool for women to combat the inequities still occurring in the workplace. Tennessee women are still paid only 77 cents for every dollar of their male counterparts."

Council Explores Economic Status of Women in Tennessee

The Council’s most recent research assesses the economic equality, literacy, independence, opportunity and stability of Tennessee’s women.  This research, inspired by the White House Council on Women and Girls’ recent report Women in America, provides a statistical portrait of women in Tennessee in five critical areas: demographic and family changes, education, employment, health, and crime and violence.  This portrait clarifies the achievements already made by Tennessee women and the difficulties they still face.  The economic success of Tennessee women means the economic success of Tennessee families and Tennessee communities.  The full Women in Tennessee report can be accessed in the report section of this website.

Council Explores Impact of Women-Owned Businesses

Economic Impact of
Women’s Wages & Earnings