West Valley City became the second city in the valley to approve a formal resolution supporting the Bolder Way Forward initiative, a movement started by the Utah Women & Leadership Project at Utah State University. It aims to implement positive change, create opportunities and offer support for women and girls.

Deborah Lin, local outreach and curriculum manager for UWLP, presented the initiative to the West Valley City Council in August with the resolution passing in September.

“It’s a wonderful way to show support for girls and women in your city,” she told the council. 

Statistics from the Utah Women & Leadership Project show that 1 in 3 Utah women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, only 12% of Utah families can afford infant care and Utah has one of the highest gender wage gaps in the country. 

BWF, launched by Professor Susan Madsen, is designed to be a vehicle of change for Utah women and is represented by a wheel with 18 spokes, a rim and a hub. The center of the wheel is the goal to help more women and girls thrive. The rim includes five impact teams to address sexism, identity (such as gender, race and neurodiversity), culture (including art, music and women’s history) and male allyship. 

The 18 spokes correspond to five key focal points that highlight where change needs to occur. The five key points are education, community engagement, safety and security, health and well-being and the workplace. Spokes include higher education, political representation, sexual abuse and domestic violence, lifelong health, childcare, the gender pay gap and leadership development.

Aiming to accelerate the change, BWF—which started in 2023—has crafted goals for 2026 and 2030 rather than waiting decades to see change. “We are in year three of a seven-year movement,” Lin said. 

West Valley City resident Emily Rushton is a part of the Salt Lake County Coalition of the initiative. She said the movement is rooted in research and knowledge. 

“I think any city that chooses to put their head in the sand and not review it and take it into consideration and how it affects citizens is not comprehendible to me,” she told the council. “I’m proud to be part of this.”

The resolution of support was approved by the council in a 5-2 vote, with Councilmembers Will Whetstone and Scott Harmon dissenting. 

Whetstone said he absolutely supports women having opportunities in the workplace, leadership, education and the home. “I have four daughters, I want them to have the freedom to choose their path without judgment.” 

His two concerns, however, was the initiative lacking clear actionable steps and the risk it sends a message “that certain choices outside of the home are valued more than work done inside the home.”

“I do believe that true equality means honoring all women contributions whether in public or private life on this initiative,” he said prior to the vote. 

Councilmember Cindy Wood appreciated Whetstone’s comments and said being a woman who worked both out of the home and in the home as a mother, she supported this. 

“I think that there’s a balance we need to meet and I think this Bolder Way Forward is something to help women, young women, old women, feel a little more important about their role in society and so I do support this,” she said. “There’s nothing that’s perfect for anyone, I believe it’s something that can benefit a lot of women in our community.” 

North Salt Lake was the first city to collaborate with A Bolder Way Forward while Midvale was the first Salt Lake County municipality to pass a resolution.