Blog

President Message March 2024

When people ask you, “What is AAUW?” You probably tell them about the last meeting you attended or an interest group you belong to, and mention Tech Trek which sends Middle School Girls to STEM Camp. It is what we do, a core activity of our branch and definitely something to be proud of.

There are eight camp locations this year and we are very grateful that one is in near-by Monterey County. Because we are close, the Monterey and Santa Cruz Branches are in the best position to volunteer at the camp. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE to contribute directly to helping our local young ladies expand their horizons through hands-on activities, field trips and meeting new people.

The fun begins with a Dorm Mom beach party July 13. Camp runs from July 14th to July 20th. Please consider volunteering for one of these roles:

In Person:
Dorm Moms and Alternates –They will arrive on campus the day before the girls – Saturday, July 13 – to get the camp set up, meet each other, and attend a beach party. They will be responsible for 10 girls all week and will stay on site.

Afternoon Class Monitors: Volunteers are needed to sit in on morning and/or afternoon workshops and go on field trips.

Camp Director in Training: This is an excellent way to “learn from the experts” how to lead a camp. We need someone local to be ready to take this on next year.

Workshop Leader: Deliver hands-on or interactive STEM workshops for the campers.

Virtual Roles:
Class Monitor Organizer: In advance of the camp, working with the camp planners, she collects names and contacts for all afternoon monitors and schedules them for days convenient to the volunteer.

Afternoon Workshop Scheduler: In advance of the camp, organized presenters schedules.

Volunteers who interact with the girls must be AAUW members and complete a Live Scan fingerprint/background check. Don’t let that deter you, these requirements are important to ensure the safety of the students.

Are you interested in helping our girls in some way? If you are not able to volunteer, do you know a past Tech Trekker or woman interested in STEM or working with girls, who would like to help out?

Visit https://www.aauw-ca.org/tech-trek-volunteer/ for more information and to complete the Volunteer form. Please contact Lorraine at lorrainemargon@gmail.com if interested.

AAUW Public Policy Progress

Meghan Kissell, Senior Director, Policy & Member Advocacy Update February 2024

  • Mark your calendars: March 12 is Equal Pay Day 2024. Each year, this symbolic day is used to raise awareness around and combat the impact of pay inequities. Learn how you can raise awareness with our Pay Equity Now Toolkit.
  • A slate of anti-abortion bills were recently introduced in the House of Representatives, including the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act. AAUW joined coalition partners in voicing strong opposition to the bill, which fails to address key barriers to pregnant students’ educational attainment. The White House also expressed opposition to the bill in its current form. The bill (H.R. 6914) passed the House in January and it faces an uncertain outcome in the Senate.
  • In a positive step for student borrowers, the U.S. Department of Education responded to a call from AAUW and coalition partners, to hold a forth session of the negotiated rulemaking process to address student debt relief. The additional session will provide an opportunity to give more attention to the significant burden of student loan debt for Black and Hispanic women. The fourth session will be held on Feb. 22 and 23.
  • As a result of sustained advocacy, in January, Congress reached a bipartisan agreement on a tax package that will temporarily expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC). AAUW joined over 350 organizations in urging Congress to prioritize this expansion which would benefit about 80% of the 19 million children who are currently left out of the full CTC or don’t receive it at all because their parents’ earnings are too low.
  • The Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (H.R. 6585) was advanced out of the House Education & Workforce Committee in December 2023. The bill would allow federal Pell Grants to be used for short-term education and job training programs. Higher education advocates have raised concerns over the inclusion of for-profit schools and how the bill is funded.
  • AAUW joined a letter in opposition to the College Cost Reduction Act (H.R. 6951) due to our concerns that the bill would repeal current Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment regulations which AAUW has supported as a way of protecting students from unaffordable student loan debt.
  • The U.S. Department of Education began negotiated rulemaking sessions in January to improve regulations that hold higher education institutions accountable for the quality and integrity of their programs, including reforms to give students timely access to financial aid disbursements. AAUW joined partners in recommending reforms to the accreditation process for higher education institutions to better protect students from predatory practices and ensure they receive a high-quality education.
  • The U.S. Department of Education has extended the deadline to consolidate student loans for Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Account Adjustment to April 30, 2024. This extension will give borrowers more time to consolidate and keep the maximum amount of credit toward cancellation programs on their loans.
  • Last year, a bipartisan Paid Family Leave Working Group in Congress was established to explore federal paid family leave policies. In December 2023, the Working Group released a legislative framework that will serve as the basis for roundtable discussions later this year and is gathering input from stakeholders to inform their efforts to expand paid leave access in the United States.
  • Registration is now open for AAUW’s National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL), May 30 – June 1, 2024! NCCWSL brings together hundreds of college students every year for leadership training, advocacy, and networking. Please share widely and reach out to nccwsl@aauw.org with any questions.President Message Feb 2024

Lobbyist – Friend or Foe

Lobbying, although often viewed negatively, serves a vital purpose in a healthy democracy. They advocate for specific interests and without them, it would be hard to be heard during the legislative process, especially for marginalized groups. Imagine if the only way to get our message to our elected officials was for our Branch to contact them directly. Thank goodness for our lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington D.C.

Lobbyists are a valuable resource, providing lawmakers with information on complex issues and expertise they may lack. Our representatives can’t possibly be experts on every topic that comes in front of them and they rely on lobbyists to not just inform them on the issues, and they often write the legislation that the representatives introduce.

This month our guest speaker at the Joint Branch meeting with Monterey County is Holly Martinez, Executive Director of CA Commission on the Status of Women. She will talk about the Commission’s work at the state level advocating for women and girls. What does advocating really mean? It means conducting research and lobbying – just like the AAUW staff does in California and nationally.

For the 2023-24 legislative session, CCSWG took a support position on a total of 50 bills. Many of these proposals were backed by the research led and conducted by CCSWG outlined in the California Blueprint for Women’s Pandemic Economic Recovery and help further the State’s gender equity agenda. Of the 50 bills they supported, 29 were sent to the Governor’s desk and he signed 20 of them into law.

While this is a tremendous feat there is still a lot of work to be done to support working women to close the gender wage gap, to ensure women of color achieve parity in our State, to guarantee moms are fully supported and compensated fairly when returning to the workforce and to protect a woman’s right to choose. AAUW will continue to work with organizations like this one to lobby, advocate, and stand up for women and girls.

President’s Message November 2023

What would you do with an additional $11,450? That is the average difference in annual pay between women and men and it isn’t getting better.

We are stuck! AAUW recently updated its data and found that the gender pay gap in 2021 was not statistically different from the gap in 2020. In a calculation of the Current Population Survey (CPS) comparing full-time, year-round workers, AAUW found women took home only 84% of the pay that men did.

There are many reasons to explain the pay gap and it is easy to blame women for choosing lower-paying careers, but let’s take a closer look at that belief and what we can do about it. Jobs traditionally associated with men tend to pay better than traditionally female-dominated jobs that require the same level of skill but are women really making this choice freely?

Decisions women make about their occupation and career do not happen in a vacuum—they are also shaped by society.

  • Policies were put into place to ensure Black people could not move up the economic ladder by requiring an expensive license to do better-paying work.
  • White business owners adopted tipping to avoid paying fair wages to the freed people they hired.
  • Women must take work that allows them to juggle work with family responsibilities and their careers often stall after having children
  • Many professions dominated by women are low-paid, and professions that have become female-dominated have become lower-paid.
  • Discrimination in salary levels, hiring, and promotions continue.
  • Gender pay gaps within occupations persist, even after accounting for years of experience, hours worked, and education.
  • The wage gap widens with higher levels of educational attainment for example women with advanced degrees are paid less per hour, on average, than men with only a college degree.

All is not lost. Here are two examples of great gains through good public policy and some interesting reading.

The federal reporting requirement of pay by gender, race, and ethnicity and requiring employers to post pay bands when hiring.

  • Why Federal Pay Data Collection Is Critical to Equity

Laws that prohibit employers from asking about pay history.

  • Salary history bans benefit women, workers of color, and employers
    More information at the Economic Policy Institute

Now it is your turn to take action. Visit the AAUW toolkit to easily send a letter to our federal elected officials and encourage them to pass the “Paycheck Fairness Act”. Be sure to say the name of our branch and where you live.

Doreen O’Donovan, AAUW Santa Cruz County President