University of Kansas Dean of Women Emily Taylor (serving in that capacity from 1956 to 1974) created the Women's Resource and Career Center in the fall of 1970. In 1974 the Center changed its name to honor its founder, becoming the Emily Taylor Women's Resource and Career Center (ETWRCC). The Center was placed administratively under the Office of Student Affairs in 1978, moving to the newly-created Office of Diversity and Equity within the Provost's Office in 2012. Coordinators and directors for the Center have included Barbara Bloom (1978-1980), Barbara Ballard (1980-1998), Kathy Rose-Mockry (1998-2019), and Bulaong Ramiz-Hall (2019-present).

Renamed in 2012, the Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equity has a mission to support the personal, educational, and professional success of students through challenging patriarchal norms impeding full access to the university. The Center uses feminist frameworks to engage the KU community in conversations surrounding gender identity, to raise awareness around inequity, and to empower students to advocate for themselves and others both in the campus community and elsewhere.

The Center has over the decades provided a variety of programs and services, as well as supporting awards and scholarships in recognition of and support for KU students, staff and faculty, and alumni. In 2004 the Center created the Women of Distinction Calendar to help promote positive representation of women associated with KU. In 2008 the Jana Mackey Distinguished Lecture series was established to honor KU student and activitist Jana Mackey, who was killed by her former boyfriend in 2008. In 2009 the KU Women's Hall of Fame exhibit was erected on the fifth floor of the Kansas Union, supported through the Center's friends and the efforts of Dr. Kala Stroup, a long-time administrator at KU and elsewhere in higher education and the nonprofit sector. The Center started the Men of Merit poster program in 2009 and created the Gender Equity in Action award in 2017. The Center also provides scholarships and works with Women Philanthropists for KU on the KU Women 4 KU Women Fund to provide one-time assistance for senior or graduate women students to fulfill their educational and career goals, or to provide students assistance with personal or financial hardships.

The Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equity is housed in the Burge Union on the Lawrence, Kansas KU campus.