The Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles

Collectif Research and Writing Anthology

2024 Call for Papers

Do you want to forge community and ignite your scholarship? Connect with scholars, activists, artists, and others passionate about the advancement of women? Impact a wider audience? By publishing in Collectif, you’ll reach50,000 potential readers. To celebrate the issue’s release, the Center will host a salon, where contributors can share their work and connect with the Center for the Advancement of Women community.

2024 Theme and Call

Incoming: The Price Women Pay and How They Fight It

The Center will dedicate its sixth edition of Collectif to questions related to the economic wellbeing of California’s women and girls. Responding to our 2024 Report, The Cost of Being a Woman: Advancing Solutions for Economic Equity,the Center is currently seeking articles, essays, and creative works (e.g., visual art, prose, poetry, etc.) for Collectif.

As the 2024 edition of The Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California™ examines, it costs a lot to be a woman in California. There’s the pay gap, healthcare costs, pricey beauty standards, lack of access to venture capital, unbalanced carework—the list goes on. Partnered and single women consistently pay more and receive less. The gradual improvement in the earnings gap for California women is due to advancements for White and Asian American women; the gap has stayed consistent for Latinas and increased for Black women. So, how can women and girls build a secure, healthy, and sustainable life when the costs are so staggering? There is hope. 97% of California’s companies now have at least one woman director, leading to better profits and more diverse workforces.

The Center invites proposals for Collectif. While the word “income” denotes money received from earning or investment, “incoming” suggests a process of entering or arriving. Despite our obsession with hustle culture and girl bosses, the Report reveals how women and girls still need to arrive at economic parity. It asks: how will workplace culture and public policy catch up to the economic reality of women’s lives in 2024? This issue of Collectif will invite deeper explorations of how to make that possible. Topics may include: labor, care work, beauty standards, healthcare costs, community-based organizations, policy changes, equity in the workplace, and more.  

About Collectif

Collectif is a research and writing anthology published annually by The Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University. Collectif serves as a companion to the Center’s Report on the Status of Women and Girls in California™. The collection features timely articles, essays, and creative works (e.g., creative nonfiction, poetry, fiction, photography, art, etc.) that complement our annual Report to ensure that the Center is driving important conversation on achieving gender equity.

The anthology’s name, Collectif, (a collective or group) is a reference to Mount Saint Mary’s roots in Le Puy, France. The Sisters of St. Joseph formed in Le Puy in 1650 and their first charge was to provide vulnerable women avenues for economic security. Sisters taught widows, sex-workers, and other women how to make lace – a practical skill that provided a steady income. As the Sisters grew in numbers, so did their ambitions. They crossed the globe building schools and colleges to educate women. In 1925, Mount Saint Mary’s was established to “equip women to reach their fullest potential. Today, we carry forward their mission, and we do so with many partners — as a collective, or collectif.

About the Center for the Advancement of Women at Mount Saint Mary’s University

The Center is a hub for intersectional gender equity research, advocacy and leadership development. Our vision is to find solutions to persistent gender inequities and work with partners to eradicate them in our lifetime. The Center produces vital data at the local, regional and national levels. Collectif brings scholars, advocates, activists, thought leaders, and artists into conversation as we address complex issues and challenges facing women, girls, families and communities.

Submission Guidelines

Selection Criteria. Research papers, case studies, oral histories, stories, poems, essays, visual art and hybrid forms of written expression are eligible. Selections may:

1. Answer a question related to the costs of being a woman and what women need to achieve economic parity
2. Utilize original data – qualitative or quantitative – or provide support to drive conclusions made in the paper.
3. Utilize Report data in creative and thought-provoking ways
4. Demonstrate an intersectional or hybrid approach.
5. Selections may range in length from 1-15 pages.

Eligibility. Submissions from all academic and artistic disciplines will be considered.

Application. The application should be 1-2 pages long, single-spaced and include the following items:

• Name, organizational affiliation and title of the project
• Abstract of (1) proposed research or case study, including:
  • The question or subject under investigation
  • The methods employed to investigate the question. Depending on discipline, this description may vary to include qualitative or quantitative methods, theoretical or interpretive approaches, etc.
  • Data sources utilized, if necessary
  • Hypotheses/anticipated conclusions
  • Or (2) Abstract of proposed creative contribution, including
    • A description of the medium and focus of the submission piece.
    • Brief discussion (1-2 paragraphs) of how the proposed submission intersects with both the annual theme and Center mission:

Gender equity is a core focus of the Center’s work. Through collaborative efforts, the Center hopes to find solutions to persistent gender inequities and work to eradicate them in our lifetime. Explain how your proposed work is in alignment with the Center’s mission and the theme of Collectif.

Timeline:

April 1

Call for Papers circulated

May 1

Proposal Deadline. Due electronically to JoAnna Novak

 May 10

Applicants are selected and notified of award

August 15

First full draft due for peer-review

November 1

Revised papers are returned to JoAnna Novak

November-December

Center copyedits final documents and works with graphic designer to typeset collection of articles

January 2025

Center distributes Collectif to subscribers and stakeholders at kickoff salon

For any questions and to send the complete proposal electronically, contact:

JoAnna Novak, jnovak@msu.edu
Editor-in-Chief, Collectif

Professor, Creative Writing at Mount Saint Mary’s University