Updated: May 13, 2013 Index:
Last month advocates for the Equal Rights Amendment submitted a “We the People” petition to the White House to encourage the Obama administration to support efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The petition passed its goal of 25,000 signatures on Wednesday, but advocates are hoping to collect 30,000 signatures before the deadline at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday. The Equal Rights Amendment holds that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” The amendment was passed in 1972, but fell three states short of the 38 states that needed to ratify it to go into effect.
AAUW is committed to passage and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for February 8, 2013.
Earlier this week, the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues elected its leadership for the 113th Congress. Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) and Donna Edwards (D-MD) were elected to serve as co-chairs, and Reps. Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Doris Matsui (D-CA) will serve as vice-chairs. Since its establishment in 1977, the caucus has worked to improve the lives of women and families nationwide and around the world. Past legislative accomplishments include passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Violence Against Women Act.
AAUW congratulates the new co-chairs and vice-chairs of the Congressional Women's Caucus and looks forward to working with the caucus' new members, who have brought the number of women in the 113th Congress up to a record level.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for January 18, 2013.
Advocates for the Equal Rights Amendment have submitted a "We the People" petition to the White House to encourage the Obama administration to support efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The Equal Rights Amendment holds that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” The amendment was passed in 1972, but fell three states short of the 38 states that needed to ratify it to go into effect.
AAUW is committed to passage and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Let’s reach our goal of 25,000 petition signatures: Be sure to sign the petition before February 10th and encourage others to sign it as well!
- from AAUW's Washington Update for January 18, 2013.
Over the past year, AAUW advocates have worked tirelessly to pass a reauthorization of VAWA that protects all victims, and specifically improves campus safety. Thanks to your hard work the Senate did just that in the spring of 2012, but unfortunately the House failed to take up a bill with similar provisions before the end of the 112th Congress. What this means for VAWA is that while programs for survivors, the criminal justice system, and local law enforcement will continue (and may be subject to budget and funding cuts), we won’t see the necessary, life-saving, and violence-preventing improvements we’ve been fighting for take effect. We also have to start over in the 113th Congress making the argument for these improvements to VAWA. Many members of Congress agree, and so it is our hope that our forward momentum will push the bill over the finish line.
Look for updates in the coming weeks through AAUW Dialog and AAUW Action Network, and help us pass this reauthorization quickly in the 113th Congress.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for January 4, 2013.
Newsweek magazine released a report this week measuring the global state of women’s progress. The report ranked 165 countries based on the following five factors: women’s treatment under law, workforce participation, political power, access to education, and access to health care. The findings highlighted a definitive correlation between a nation’s level of equality for women and its GDP. The 20 countries at the top of Newsweek’s list all have democratically elected governments and GDPs of more than $200 billion. The United States was ranked eighth-best, with Iceland at the top of the list.
AAUW believes that women’s ability to access education, job training, and health care is vital to America’s progress. By increasing the number of educated, well-trained women in the workforce, the United States will boost its economy and lay a foundation for future generations.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for September 23, 2011.
On Monday, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released an update to its 1999 and 2002 reports on the status of female college professors, focusing on women in MIT’s Schools of Science and Engineering. Among the updated report’s findings were that progress has been made in growing the number of women in faculty and administrative roles and by fostering a more accepting environment. The report also identified areas of continuing concern, such as lack of adequate child care support and insufficient formal policies in place to address gender-based sexual harassment.
AAUW supports promoting and strengthening women’s involvement in science, technology, engineering and math at all levels. We also agree that sexual harassment is a continuing critical concern. Our own Holly Kearl, LAF Program Manager, has been working this month with AAUW Community Action Project grantee Holla Back DC! to conduct a groundbreaking community safe audit in Washington, D.C., one of many ways we’re combating sexual harassment.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for March 25, 2011.
On Tuesday, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (R-WI) introduced a bill to speed ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. The legislation (H.J. Res. 47) would remove the deadline for ratification and render the Constitution amended once three additional states ratify. The last congressional deadline for state ratification ran out in 1982 with ratification from only 35 of the needed 38 state legislatures. Highlighting the continued importance of ratifying ERA, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia recently noted his belief that the Constitution does not currently prevent discrimination on the basis of sex.
AAUW is one of over 25 organizations to have endorsed Baldwin’s bill, consistent with our 2009-2011 Public Policy Program. We oppose all forms of discrimination and support constitutional protection for the civil rights of all individuals.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for March 11, 2011.
The Obama Administration released a new report entitled Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being. The report, which is the first of its kind since the Kennedy administration released a similar study in 1963, was created in support of the White House Council on Women and Girls. The study compiles data from a handful of Federal agencies, and shows that while women have surpassed men at all levels of education, they only earn 75 percent of what similarly educated men earn. While the report does not contain surprising news about the status of women, it represents the Obama dministrations commitment to the advancement of women and serves as a comprehensive data source for equal pay advocates.
AAUW will continue working to pass important pay equity provisions which will protect employees and work toward closing the pay gap. AAUW has been working closely with the president's team to ensure that breaking through educational and economic barriers for women is on top of the executive branch's agenda.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for March 4, 2011.
The Center for Women Policy Studies has released a fact sheet on state-level anti-human trafficking legislation in 2010. The fact sheet highlights the laws passed this year in state legislatures across the country aimed at preventing, tracking, and stopping human and sex trafficking into the United States. It is estimated that tens of thousands of men, women, and children are trafficked into the United States each year. Recently enacted measures include interagency task forces and commissions, regulations on International Marriage Brokers, and in California, a law which requires high-earning companies to disclose their efforts to ensure that supply chains are free of trafficked persons. As of this year, 43 state legislatures have passed laws making human trafficking a state felony offense.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for March 4, 2011.
WASHINGTON — The American Association of University Women (AAUW) has signed an amicus “friend of the court” brief in support of the plaintiffs in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. On March 29, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument to determine whether the case can move forward as a class action. AAUW — one of 34 groups to sign the brief — will also provide financial support through its Legal Advocacy Fund to defray the expenses of six of the lead plaintiffs.
Lead plaintiff Betty Dukes, a Wal-Mart employee, has alleged gender discrimination in pay and promotion policies and practices in Wal-Mart retail stores. If she and the other plaintiffs prevail at the Supreme Court, their case will become the largest class-action civil rights suit in the nation’s history, comprising approximately 1.6 million female Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees.
“AAUW believes that all these women deserve their day in court and that the Supreme Court should allow the case to proceed as a class action. It is the vehicle through which 1.6 million women can pursue justice,” said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. “By herself, Betty Dukes is fighting a Goliath, but by banding together with other women and having AAUW stand behind her, she has a strong, powerful voice in the struggle for equity and fairness.”
In 2001, Dukes and other lead plaintiffs filed a motion for class certification with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in order to pursue the case as a class action. Wal-Mart appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, then to a three-judge panel of the same court, and then to the full court en banc, all affirming the district court’s decision. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. A decision in favor of Dukes and the other lead plaintiffs would open the door for these women to pursue their discrimination case.
AAUW is a leader in the fight for pay equity. The alleged gender discrimination in pay in this case contributed to AAUW’s decision to support the lead plaintiffs. The AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund offers financial and organizational support for workplace-based cases that have the potential to provide significant protection for all women. Since 1981, LAF has disbursed nearly $2 million to more than 100 plaintiffs to help offset their legal fees in sex discrimination cases and has been instrumental to the success of many cases.
- from AAUW's Action Network for March 3, 2011.
AAUW released policy recommendations Friday based on a new report from Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress that highlights the rise of women in the workforce while emphasizing that working women and their families lack critical support. The Shriver Report-A Woman's Nation Changes Everything is a comprehensive account of the status of women, who for the first time in history are half of the workforce in the U.S. One of the co-editors of the report, Heather Boushey, is also a former AAUW Fellow.
Read AAUW's policy recommendations based on the report, then download our Program in a Box to see how you can turn the recommendations into action with your branch or community. Read our press release and other news coverage, including blog and Twitter updates. For all this and more, see AAUW's new webpage devoted to our response to A Woman's Nation.
- from AAUW's Washington Update for October 16, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. - AAUW has provided detailed policy recommendations that will help society's institutions catch up with the women's progress detailed in The Shriver Report-A Woman's Nation Changes Everything. AAUW's recommendations on a variety of subject areas, including pay equity, work-life balance, and education, can be found at AAUW.org.
A Woman's Nation emphasizes one of the most remarkable changes of the past half century: the movement of millions of women into paid employment. Women now make up half of all workers in the United States, a stunning shift from just a few generations ago.
"There hasn't been a comprehensive account of the status of women in more than 45 years," said AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE. "Given the nation's rather complicated economic situation, this report could not have come at a better time. AAUW is taking the lead on providing policy recommendations and grassroots action items for our members and others who are interested in issues affecting working women. These recommendations are aimed at continuing to improve women's status and strengthening the economic security of their families."
The report highlights the rise of women in the workforce while emphasizing that working women and their families lack critical supports. An opinion poll linked to the report found that women and men both want to change social norms to improve family and economic security, particularly on issues of balancing work and life.
"Women have broken through many barriers in the last 45 years, but there is still much to be done to adequately respond to women's-and men's-changing roles. We only need to look at the stark reality for working women who are simultaneously caring for children or parents to know this is true," said Lisa Maatz, AAUW director of public policy and government relations. "Even though there are laws on the books to promote equity in education and income, it does not necessarily mean that those laws are enforced and that women are being given a fair chance. CAP's timely report and AAUW's policy recommendations help bring those subjects to the forefront as women move forward in true, equal partnership with men."
The report is divided into various chapters, each focusing on its own topic area. AAUW is providing policy recommendations for five chapters, including education and pay equity, because we believe that the laws and regulations about work must be updated to meet the needs of today's workers. In the area of education, AAUW is advocating to strengthen the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), to improve access to higher education, and to ensure educational equity through Title IX. To advance pay equity, AAUW is focusing on building on the successful passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act by enacting the Paycheck Fairness Act, advancing pay equity within the federal government, and improving and advancing equal opportunity in the workplace.
AAUW is especially pleased to note that one of the co-editors of the report, Heather Boushey, is a former AAUW Fellow. "It's immensely gratifying to AAUW members, who have been supporting our fellowships and grants for more than 121 years, to see their support of women scholars come to such amazing fruition," said Hallman. "Boushey is a senior economist at the Center for American Progress and a well-known expert on women and the economy." In addition, AAUW Senior Researcher Catherine Hill provided peer review support for the chapter on education.
Read The Shriver Report - A Woman's Nation Changes Everything.