AAUW-WI Public Policy Statement 2024-26
1.To preserve a strong system of public education promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
AAUW-WI advocates for
- Vigorous enforcement of Title IX and other civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination at all levels of education from early childhood development through elementary, secondary, and post-secondary institutions
- Promotion of programs, activities, and curricula that teach critical thinking, tolerance, conflict resolution, and the value of diversity
- Equitable and adequate funding to promote excellence and quality public education
- Rigorous state standards for entry into the teaching profession and recognition of a teaching license as the primary requirement for employment in public schools
- Education program to address equity issues
- Opposition to diversions of public funds to non-public elementary and secondary schools, e.g. tuition tax credits, vouchers, etc.
- Comprehensive and medically accurate health and human sexuality programs, research-based science, the arts, humanities, multicultural studies, and world languages in elementary and secondary schools
- Increased level of participation for girls and young women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in elementary and secondary schools
- Support for and access, including financial, to post-secondary education for women and underrepresented or underserved populations
2.To achieve economic self-sufficiency for all women,
AAUW-WI advocates for
- Pay equity and fairness in compensation
- Affirmative action programs to improve racial, ethnic, and gender diversity
- Programs that empower women by providing them with education, training, and support for success in the workforce, including non-traditional occupations
- Public assistance programs for women in poverty that improve access to education, career development, and earning potential
- Strengthening Wisconsin laws regarding victims’ rights, sexual assault, domestic abuse, spousal impoverishment prevention, and sexual harassment through increased legislative efforts and improved enforcement
- Access to quality, affordable dependent care and adequate family and medical leave
- Improved economic security for all women across their lifespan
3.To guarantee equity, individual rights, and social justice for a diverse society,
AAUW-WI advocates for
- Promotion of gender-fair opportunities, representation, and compensation at all levels of employment
- Increased voter education, voter registration, and candidate development
- Vigorous enforcement of voting rights
- Campaign finance reform that will promote equitable participation and representation
- Expansion of opportunities for women’s participation at all levels of government
- Vigorous defense and expansion of civil and constitutional rights
- Preserving rights of individual choice in the determination of one’s reproductive life
- Improved accessibility and affordability of quality mental and physical health care
- Improved research and treatment of women’s health across the life span
- Support for programs that include adequate funding to prevent violence against women and to address the impact of violence against women
- Adoption of safe harbor laws to protect child victims of human trafficking from being prosecuted for something to which they cannot consent