It’s sort of Spring! A Message from AAUW President Maggie Winz
Photo from the Longfield Gardens website.
Spring is Here! (sort of)
And AAUW branches are celebrating in great style!
As we finish the final quarter of our AAUW year together, we CELEBRATE at our AAUW state convention, Friday April 26 & Saturday April 27; we DECIDE by voting on our membership requirements bylaws change, from April 3-May 15; and we WELCOME new members and new officers to our branch and state membership rosters.
I hope that you are carefully considering the pros and cons of our vote to remove the college degree requirement for membership. There certainly are points both for keeping and for changing the bylaws. The Wausau branch came up with a great solution to one of the “sticking points”:
We should think of AAUW as standing for: American Association of United Women!
Doesn’t that solve one objection to the change?!
At the recent meeting of my Fort Atkinson branch, one of our newest members brought her best friend to the meeting. I introduced myself, and asked her if she would consider joining? She answered that she didn’t have a college degree, and isn’t eligible . Sadly, I replied that I hope we change the requirements, and that I hope she does decide to join us. And guess what her career is? This amazing young woman OWNS and runs a construction company! Wow! She must be one smart cookie! Wouldn’t we love to have her join our branch!
AAUW has been and continues to be, the leading voice for advocating for women and children. We are respected and welcomed from the White House, to the United Nations, to our state convention. This year, we are honored to have Meghan Kissell, AAUW Public Policy Senior staff, and Melissa LaDuke, AAUW DEI committee chair, to speak at our state convention. They will give us the “inside scoop” as to what’s happening on the AAUW National level.
Our AAUW mission is clear and focused: we advocate for women’s equal access to education, economic security, and for justice for people of all races, ethnicities, religions, and gender identities. That’s our focus, and our mission.
But we also care about issues outside of our stated mission. To that end, our AAUW-Wisconsin Executive Committee has crafted a statement of solidarity and caring, inspired by the terrible war in Israel and Gaza. Realizing that there are millions of women, children and men who are suffering the effects of war worldwide, we’ve broaden our message to include all victims of war -torn countries. Our statement reads:
AAUW Wisconsin Executive Board Statement of Solidarity with women, children, and families:
AAUW-Wisconsin stands with women and children who are innocent victims of war in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Sudan, Nigeria, and many other countries worldwide.
We encourage branches to educate their members about the issues of humanitarian crises and the impact on women and children, and discuss what actions, if any, branches would like to take.
For further study, the United Nations has programs in place to promote world peace and security:
https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/peace-and-security
As we continue to contemplate the issues of our times, may we continue to seek knowledge, spread compassion and push for positive change.
I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at our upcoming state convention!
Until then, stay calm and carry on; and thank you for being part of our extraordinary organization!
Maggie
Maggie Winz, AAUW-Wisconsin President
AAUW Strategic Mission
To advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy.
AAUW Vision
Equity for all.
AAUW Values
Nonpartisan. Fact-based.
Our mission is bold― to advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy. We are not satisfied to simply document and discuss the inequities women and girls face. AAUW aims to achieve equity through practical solutions in education, workplaces, and communities.
AAUW Welcomes New Members Who Want to Advance Women’s Equality.
Founded in 1881, the history of the American Association of University Women mirrors the progress of women in the United States. As the number of women graduating from college grew, so did our membership.
We’ve published hundreds of research reports, from an 1885 paper disproving a prevailing myth that college impairs a woman’s fertility to, most recently, a study documenting the economic impact of workplace sexual harassment. We have supported the academic achievements of many thousands of scholars, from scientist Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, to astronaut Judith Resnik, the second woman in travel in space.
Our advocacy efforts have propelled countless new laws, including the Equal Pay Act, first proposed in 1945 and finally passed in 1963; the Title IX amendment in 1972; the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993; the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in 2009; and the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was passed by the U.S. Representatives in 2019 but is awaiting action in the Senate.