Take Action!
- Visit AAUW’s Pay Equity Web page and download the Pay Equity Resource Kit and Equal Pay Day Program in a Box for ideas, tips and resources to use in your community on Equal Pay Day, which is April 20, and throughout the year.
Examples of activities include a pay equity bake sale or “unhappy hour,” where women get a 23 percent discount while men pay full price, a rally at your state capital, and Equal Pay Day proclamations by your state and local public officials.
- Order free AAUW “Pay Gap = Women at a Discount” posters (shown below) and stickers for use at AAUW events, meetings, rallies, and even protests.
- Use AAUW’s talking points about the Paycheck Fairness Act and your state’s wage gap data to write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Find out if your senators are cosponsors, and if they’re not, urge them to get on board.
- Read AAUW’s Behind the Pay Gap research, that shows just one year out of college, working women already earn less than their male colleagues earn, even when they work in the same field with the same degree.
- Share your thoughts about pay equity on AAUW Dialog, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Visit the AAUW Member Showcase and contact your local branch for more information on events in your area.
- Let AAUW know what you’re doing to mark this day. Please share your ideas with AAUW Ohio as well by posting your ideas in the comments section at the top of this post.
In conjunction with our partners at CARE, AAUW is planning to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 4, 2010, with an event based on Nicholas Kristof’s acclaimed book Half the Sky.
Visit the AAUW International Corner for updates.
Would you like a local speaker from CARE for your branch event? E-mail groups@care.org, and Helen Robinson will do her best to accommodate you!
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Adopt-A-Student program is offering an eight-week paid summer internship for college undergraduates and recent undergrad graduates.
The summer internships are available for college students interested in the natural sciences. Students selected to participate have the opportunity to spend eight weeks working with museum curators on research projects.
To get the details, click here.
AAUW Ohio is now on Facebook. It’s just one way we can connect with each other and with potential new members. And it’s easy to have a page on Facebook while maintaining your privacy as well.
You can click on the Facebook link at the top right of our Web page to find us there. Then become a Fan of the AAUW Ohio Facebook page.
If you already have a Facebook page, become an AAUW Ohio Facebook fan. If not, open your own free Facebook account and join the conversation. It’s easy, free and safe.
Once you have a page on Facebook, you can share any news you find on our Web site by clicking on the Facebook link at left and posting the link.
Here is how to maintain your privacy on Facebook:
- At the top right of Facebook, there’s a menu titled “Settings.” Mouse over the Settings menu and click “Privacy Settings” on the list that appears.
- On the next page, click “Profile.” This takes you to a page where you can decide who gets to see certain information on your profile and what you want to keep private. Underneath each section on this page (basic info, personal info, status, etc.), you can designate who gets to see that particular bit of information. Check “Only Friends” for maximum privacy.
- Again, on the “Profile” page, click on the tab that reads “Contact information.” Use the drop-down lists provided to designate who gets to see the contact information you have provided.
- Click on the “Settings” menu on Facebook’s homepage and then click “Search” on the following page. You’ll be taken to a Search Privacy page where you can specify who gets to find you on Facebook. Don’t want anyone finding you on Facebook? Change it to “Only Friends.”
- On this page, you can also configure what information displays when your information is returned as a search result (e.g. your profile picture, your friend list, etc.).
Equal Pay Day is Tuesday, April 20. Find out how you can get involved with this symbolic day when women’s wages catch up to men’s wages from the year before.
Download the AAUW Pay Equity Resource Kit and Equal Pay Day Program in a Box, and order AAUW “Women at a Discount” posters and stickers for use at AAUW events, meetings, rallies and even protests.
Let AAUW national know what your branch is doing to mark this day so they can share your ideas with the AAUW community.
Please share your ideas with AAUW Ohio as well by posting your ideas in the comments section at the top of this post. Thanks!
Remember that if you file an itemized tax return, you can deduct $46 of the amount you paid in national dues to AAUW.
Because AAUW has restructured and membership is now housed in the organization’s 501(c)(3) charitable entity, AAUW national dues are largely deductible on the individual member’s personal federal tax returns.
Effective April 1, 2009:
- AAUW national individual membership dues for fiscal year 2010 are $49. $46 is tax deductible as a charitable contribution, and $3 is not deductible because it supports the AAUW Action Fund’s Section 501(c)(4) Lobby Corps and get-out-the-vote activities.
- Tax deductibility details for special AAUW membership promotions are specified in the promotion information.
- Remember, the tax deduction relates specifically to the member’s federal personal tax return for the amount of the dues allocated by AAUW to support our charitable 501(c)(3) entity. Tax deductibility has no bearing on the amount written on the check or the amount of the credit card transaction to AAUW (i.e., even though the check has been written for $49, members should still only deduct $46 on their personal income tax return). The IRS does not require receipts for tax- deductible contributions of $250 or less.
Get the details about other AAUW membership benefits.
New public policy Programs in a Box are now available online to help members consider and choose programs for their branches.
The new Programs in a Box, which contain downloadable resources and steps for program implementation, focus on hosting an issue-specific women’s summit or public policy brunch, actions for Equal Pay Day, meeting with a public official, Title IX compliance and more.
Get more programming and membership recruitment ideas here.
Lilly Ledbetter, the face of pay equity, at AAUW's 2009 National Convention
“What a Difference a Year Almost Made,” an article from Lilly Ledbetter and Linda Hallman, AAUW executive director, has been published on the Huffington Post Web site to mark the one-year anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
But we still need to push the Paycheck Fairness Act through the Senate. Take action now.
Making AAUW Work: For You, Your Branch, Your Community is the theme of this year’s AAUW Ohio Convention, and it offers speakers and breakout sessions on topics ranging from to “Balancing Work, Life and Home: Why Is It So Hard?” to “Women in Elected Office” to ”Women and the Media.”
Get all the program details for the April 17 to 18 event on our Convention 2010 page. You can also download the registration form.
AAUW Ohio is sponsoring an essay contest modeled after NPR’s “This I Believe.” Winning entries will earn money for branches — and be featured at our 86th Annual Convention, held April 17-18 in Worthington.
Details are below. Check them out and get ready to write. The deadline for entries is April 2.
This I Believe Essay-Writing Guidelines
Tell us what you believe about AAUW! Your essay, if chosen, will bring financial reward to your branch.
Using “This I Believe” guidelines found at the National Public Radio Web site, we are setting up our own essay contest this year as part of Convention programming. Award winning submissions will be read throughout the two-day Convention, April 17-18, 2010.
We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting your own statement of personal belief about AAUW and its value. We understand how difficult this can be, but encourage you to express yourself on this topic to enlighten us, energize us and expand our thinking when we most need it.
Some suggestions:
Tell a story: Be specific. Take your thinking about AAUW out of some nether world and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when equity and fairness became important to you. Think of your own experience, work and family; think about barriers. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your AAUW philosophy and the shaping of your feelings about the organization.
Be brief: Your statement should be between 350 and 500 words. That’s about three minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.
Name your belief: If you can’t name why you value AAUW in a sentence or two, your essay might not be about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider focusing on one AAUW core value that particularly resonates with you because three minutes is a very short time.
Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do believe about AAUW, not what you don’t believe. Avoid speaking in the editorial “we.” Make your essay about you; speak in the first person.
Be personal: Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone and story that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.
Up to four essays will be selected for Convention. Those who submit winning statements will receive a $25 credit to their branch’s total EF/LAF giving for 2010. Submissions should be emailed to dregan@bgsu.edu OR sent by regular mail to Diane Regan, President, AAUW Ohio, 873 Country Club Dr., Bowling Green, OH 43402 by April 2.
