In 2001, the University of South Carolina's Women's and Gender Studies Program developed the Women's Well-being Initiative (WWBI) to improve the overall well-being of South Carolina's women and girls by promoting an interdisciplinary, community-focused program of research, education, and action.

Well-being is conceived of broadly to include mental and physical health, social, economic, and spiritual well-being. The primary aims of the WWBI are to enhance and facilitate:

1. university-community partnerships;
2. collaborations across disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities); and
3. critical perspectives and approaches to the promotion of well-being that incorporate the full diversity of women's experiences across race, class, age, ethnicity and other dimensions of difference.