AAUW Provides Policy Recommendations for a True 'Woman's Nation'

Submitted by anthony on Tue, 2009-10-20 02:19

Press release here. Excerpt:

'"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. For a detailed listing of policy recommendations, visit www.aauw.org/womansnation.'

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Comments

WTF? I think the AAUW wants to widen the college gap by making campuses 90% female. Its never been about equal rights -- its class warfare.

I shouldn't be surprised they want to strengthen Title IX laws. They would love to eliminate college football and replace it with women's ping pong.

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Submitted by anthony on Tue, 2009-10-20 21:00

Considering that the AAUW is the main culprit in claiming that there is no boy crisis in education, and that, as the authors of the fictitious girl crisis, they probably did more than any other fem group to create the present gap, that they are pushing for a Women Nation of female dominance is a no brainer. The only thing remarkable is that they came close to admitting it.

Obama, are you listening to this, you Burly Man.

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Submitted by Hunchback on Tue, 2009-10-20 22:18

My name is Adam Zimmerman. I am AAUW’s Regulatory Affairs Manager.

Anthony and Hunchback: I would like to reply to your comments. Let me say initially that I really hope AAUW isn’t pushing for a “Women Nation of female dominance.” After all, that might put me out of a job here, and I enjoy working for this organization.

Anthony: We aren’t pushing for colleges to be 90% female. In actuality, our goal is to help ensure that all Americans have greater access to a college education. Much of the work we do to make this a reality – fighting for higher Pell grants, advocating for lower interest rates on student loans, pushing for tougher hate crimes laws so that campuses are safer – is essentially gender neutral. Male students would benefit from these changes just as female students would, and the entire nation would benefit from a workforce that is more highly educated.

You also claim that, with respect to our work to strengthen Title IX, we “would love to eliminate college football and replace it with women’s ping pong.” For one thing, my boss is a huge Ohio State fan, and she’d be first in line to protest if college football ever disappeared. The truth is that our Title IX work is pretty simple: We think that women and girls should have the same opportunities to play sports as men and boys. According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, women only receive about 43 percent of the opportunities to play intercollegiate sports and a mere 33 percent of the recruitment funds. In 2007-08, according to the NCAA, there were 62,000 more men than women participating in intercollegiate sports – even though, as a matter of fact, women actually do outnumber men on college campuses. We want to strengthen Title IX because it helps create a more level playing field for everyone. Is that really such a radical idea?

Hunchback: You argue that “AAUW is the main culprit in claiming that there is no boy crisis in education,” and that we are the “authors of a fictitious girl crisis.” Those are strong charges, yet you provide not a single shred of evidence to back up your claims. I’m guessing that’s because you don’t have any. On the other hand, we do, and it refutes your argument entirely.

In 2008, AAUW released a report called Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in College Education. The report analyzed the results from national standardized tests such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the SATs and ACTs, and others during the past 35 years. The reported found ample evidence that education is not a zero-sum game; that is, advancement for one group doesn’t come at the expense of another group. For instance, women are attending and graduating from high school and college at a higher rate than men, but the proportion of young men graduating from high school and earning college degrees today is at an all-time high. Further, women earn the majority of undergraduate degrees, but both women and men are more likely to graduate from college than ever before. In addition, in states where girls do well on standardized tests, boys also perform well.

Thanks to you both for taking the time to offer your comments. I hope this response clears up your misperceptions about the work we do at AAUW.

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Submitted by Adam2 on Thu, 2009-10-22 18:52

I appreciate your comments. Most individuals in opposition to our goals are generally rude and combative. Though I generally don't agree with much of your post, I always welcome difference of opinion.

With that said, I have some questions:

1. Why are men's programs eliminated to make room for women's sports?

2. How much does sports participation have to do with discrimination verse the reality that men and women often make different life choices? (Biology vs social engineering.)

3. Why does the AAUW quote statistics suggesting women are underrepresented in certain collegiate programs yet systematically ignore issues unique to boys? (That includes all boys -- even white ones.)

4. Why is girls/science participation a presidential agenda but the decline of male teachers systematically ignored?

5. Is the rate of boys on ADDH drugs a concern?

6. Would the AAUW justify a 60/40 split in college enrollment if the 40 percentile were women?

6. If girls were 4x more likely to commit suicide, would the issue be hidden the same way it is for boys?

7. Why is there funding for Women's Studies Programs and zero dollars offered to men for an equivalent program? If enough men were interested in such a discipline, would the AAUW support funding even if it contradicted feminist theory?

8. Why do date rape seminars demonize men without offering any insight on false accusations?

9. Any thoughts on Christina Hoff Sommers?

10. Biologically speaking, do you think boys and girls learn differently?

11. Do you think increasing the number of men in the teaching profession would benefit children?

My intention is not to create an 'us vs them' dialogue as it relates to boys & girls. It just seems our society demonizes boys and empowers girls. I often think educators will change the schools if something isn't necessarily working for girls. When its the boy struggling, the schools try and change him. ADDH drugs are a perfect example.

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Submitted by anthony on Thu, 2009-10-22 22:31