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Join the AAUW Action Network! Anyone with an e-mail address can subscribe to the AAUW Action Network a group of AAUW members and supporters committed to mobilizing citizens on issues affection women. Discover what's happening in Washington and what you can do to influence the outcome. Action Network sends subscribers urgent e-mail notices to contact their members of Congress. With our online system, you can make your voice ehard in just minutes. AAUS members and supporters can also find detailed information on legislation currently under consideration in Congress and write letters to the editor of their local paper. For more than a century, AAUW has influenced legislative debate on critical issues such as education, social security, sex discrimination, civil rights, reproductive choice, affirmitive action, Title IX, welfare reform, vocational education, pay equity, family and medical leave, and health care reform. For more information, visit: http://www.aauw.org/advocacy/issue_advocacy/ Stand on the Right Side of History Thursday, July 22, 2010 Last week, we told you that time is running out to get the Paycheck Fairness Act signed into law. You acted, and Washington took notice.
On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden, along with the White House Middle Class Task Force and the White House Council on Women and Girls, announced recommendations to improve equal pay enforcement and improve work-family balance for all Americans. Among the five recommendations: pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.
AAUW was at the White House for the event, and we were thrilled with the recommendations from the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force. We were moved when Vice President Biden said, "It is an issue that you're going to have to look into the eyes of your granddaughters and you're going to have to look into the eyes of the young women who you have hired, the young women who in fact are equally as qualified as any man you've ever hired and say, when it came time I didn't step up....Get on the right side. Get on the right side now. Pass this act."
We cheered as Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, pay equity advocate Lilly Ledbetter, and others also voiced their support for this critical legislation. President Obama issued a statement calling on the Senate to pass the bill "swiftly so that I can sign it into law." We'd like nothing better.
Many of the champions of the bill, including Senate sponsor Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), House sponsor Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) issued their own calls for action. The New York Times and USA Today ran stories about Tuesday's activities, raising public awareness of the persistent problem of the wage gap.
There's definitely been a flurry of activity surrounding the Paycheck Fairness Act this week, and we're reinvigorated and more motivated than ever. As we mentioned last week, the number of legislative days left on the calendar is dwindling, and if the Senate doesn't pass the Paycheck Fairness Act before the end of the year, we'll have to start all over again in both chambers of the new Congress next year. We all know that women can't afford to wait for that to happen. That's why we'll keep pressing on until this important legislation is signed into law.
If you didn't have a chance to do so last week, please contact your senators now and urge them to cosponsor and swiftly move the Paycheck Fairness Act. If you took action last week, we thank you for doing so and urge you to forward this email to friends and family so they can take action. Together, we can make pay equity a reality. |
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| HEALTH CARE REFORM You've heard the myths, the lies, and the scare tactics circulating about health care reform. Death panels. Loss of private insurance. Cuts to Medicare. Rationing of care. It's scary stuff. Thankfully, we know you don't buy it. What's really scary is what will happen without health care reform.
Without health care reform, insurance companies could continue the discriminatory practice of gender rating, and women could continue to pay monthly premiums ranging from four percent to 48 percent higher for individually-purchased health care plans than men. That's scary.
Without health care reform, insurance coverage for basic reproductive health care services for women could continue to be denied. That's scary.
Without health care reform, access to and coverage of preventive services like screenings, immunizations, and educational material may not be covered or expanded, and women could continue to die of preventable and treatable diseases. That's scary. You've told your members of Congress that these three key elements must be included in any final health care reform legislation. Now, tell a friend to do the same. While there is no shortage of proposals for how health care reform should be achieved, AAUW's emphasis is not on pushing one proposal over another, but instead ensuring that whichever program ultimately emerges provides access to quality and affordable health care for all Americans.
Health care is intrinsically tied to economic security; this is particularly true for women, who earn less than men on average and use more health care services than men do. These two factors-less income, more costs-mean women face a high level of health care insecurity. Health care reform is necessary now more than ever, and it must focus on the need for access and affordability-in a way that is equitable to women.
*********** Help Make Our Schools Safer It's a simple truth - students can't learn if they don't feel safe. And yet, sadly, bullying and harassment affects nearly one in three American school children in grades six through 10. Bullying and harassment can result in long-term social, academic, psychological, and physical consequences, including decreased grades and interest in school, increased absences and dropout rates, and decreased likelihood of obtaining a post-secondary education. Help ensure a safe learning environment for all students by urging your representative to support the Safe Schools Improvement Act (H.R. 2262) now. The Safe Schools Improvement Act would ensure that schools have effective policies in place to prevent and respond to bullying and harassment, including policies that strictly prohibit such conduct. In addition, states, districts, and schools could implement programs to teach students about the issues around, and consequences of, bullying and harassment, as well as educating teachers and administrators on how to best prevent these incidences and intervene when they occur. The issues of bullying and harassment in our schools have garnered increased media attention lately, and the House Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities held a hearing on student cyber safety last week. As members of Congress work to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year, AAUW is joining with coalition partners this week in asking our elected officials not only to cosponsor the Safe Schools Improvement Act but also to support inclusion of the bill language in the reauthorization process. More than half of all teachers reported that bullying and harassment are serious problems in their schools. The Safe Schools Improvement Act would fill a troubling gap in our current federal education policy and ensure that all students, regardless of their background or personal characteristics, are provided a safe environment in which to learn and succeed. *************** Take a Moment to Increase the Number of Women in Office Research indicates that women are more likely to run for office when asked by someone they know and trust. As a part of our Elect Her initiative, AAUW is promoting the Women's Campaign Forum's (WCF) She Should RunTM program to do just that!
She Should Run provides an easy way to ask a woman to run for office - and then connects her with the support, training, and resources she needs to join the next class of strong and successful women leaders in our country. WCF, a clearinghouse that directs women to the resources they need to take the next step in their political journeys, encourages female candidates who support reproductive health choices for all.
It's easy to get involved in She Should Run. Just nominate yourself and ask other women you know to think about running for office! Even though it is too late to run in the upcoming 2010 elections, the campaign season puts running for public office on people's minds. Now is a good time to determine if public service is right for you and to seriously consider running for office in the future. Think about running at any level, from school board to Congress. As a She Should Run partner organization, AAUW can offer members regular updates on the number of women that our AAUW community nominates to consider running for office. Plus, all She Should Run participants will learn more about our AAUW mission and ways for them to be involved in our community. AAUW's Action Network makes it easy for advocates to influence Congress to act on issues critical for equity for women and girls. Help Action Network grow and be even more of a force in our nation's capital. Urge your friends and family to join AAUW's Action Network today
| | TITLE IX UPDATE Major Victory for Title IX 04/20/2010 |
| | | Thanks to the dedication and leadership of AAUW and our Action Network members, we won a major victory for Title IX -- and girls and women in sports -- this week. On Tuesday, the Obama administration and the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights issued new guidance for Title IX, rescinding the deeply flawed March 2005 policy that allowed schools to use email surveys to gauge the athletic interests of female students. Under the 2005 guidance, schools could count non-responses to the spam-like survey as a lack of interest in athletics. This not only created a major loophole through which schools could evade their Title IX obligations, it jeopardized the number of athletic opportunities available to women. As Chair of the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education, AAUW has been fighting for the rescission of the 2005 policy since it was issued. And you've been right there with us. The new guidance returns to the previous standard, under which schools will consider a number of factors, including athletic participation rates at the secondary school levels and interviews with coaches, to ensure they are following Title IX requirements. Schools will have a much better roadmap for compliance, and women and girls will have a much better shot at fair play. AAUW was at the event on Tuesday when the announcement was issued. As Vice President Biden said, "Making Title IX as strong as possible is a no-brainer." We couldn't agree more. Women's participation at the college level has increased more than 500 percent since Title IX's enactment. Better still, these gains have not come at the expense of men, whose athletic opportunities have also increased since Title IX's passage in 1972. We know that girls thrive when they participate in sports, and that the benefit of playing sports stays with them for years to come. With your help, AAUW will continue to be one of the leading voices advocating for vigorous enforcement of Title IX, so that the landmark legislation will have the chance to provide the opportunities to girls and women that it has promised for the last 37 years. -------------------- |
Wednesday, Feb. 3 is National Girls and Women in Sports Day, an event that celebrates the participation, success and accomplishments of girls and women in athletics. In honor of this day, join AAUW in urging your member of Congress to enforce Title IX in our high schools and strengthen its protections.
Two bills, the High School Sports Information Collection Act (S. 471) and the High School Athletics Accountability Act (H.R. 2882), would do just that. These bills would make participation rates and expenditures for high school athletes available to the public, helping communities better enforce Title IX. Title IX, the federal legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities, is one of the country's greatest success stories. AAUW was instrumental in the passage of Title IX in 1972, which has since led to a 400 percent increase in the rate of female participation in college sports and a more than 800 percent increase in participation at the high school level. Female athletes are more likely to develop positive school and lifestyle habits. High school girls who participate in sports are less likely to experience an unintended pregnancy or to smoke or use illicit drugs, while they are more likely to have a positive body image than girls who don't play sports. Despite the significant gains girls and women have made since the enactment of Title IX, a significant drawback to the law's enforcement at the high school level involves the lack of data reporting. While it is estimated that female students receive 1.3 million fewer opportunities to play high school sports than do male students, the U.S. Department of Education does not require high schools to make athletic opportunity, participation, and funding statistics publicly available, even though they already collect this data. Colleges are required to report this data, it's time our high schools are too. Take Action! It's time we know the score of Title IX in America's high schools. To urge your senators to cosponsor the High School Sports Information Collection Act, just copy and paste the following URL into your Internet browser. Then follow the instructions to compose and send your message. http://capwiz.com/aauw/issues/alert/?alertid=13561506 Find out if the high schools in your area are in compliance with Title IX. The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund's new Program in a Box, Title IX Compliance: Know the Score, provides AAUW members with the tools you need to find out if your local high schools are Title IX compliant -- and what you can do if they are not. See all the tools available on AAUW's new Know the Score web page. For more information, read AAUW's position paper on equity in school athletics. | |
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