AAUW Georgia

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will finally hold a hearing on the Paycheck Fairness Act (S.182) on March 11. As AAUW members are quite aware, the Paycheck Fairness Act is a much needed updated of the 46-year-old Equal Pay Act. This comprehensive bill – which now has 37 Senate cosponsors – would create stronger incentives for employers to follow the law, empower women to negotiate for equal pay, and strengthen federal outreach, education and enforcement efforts. The bill would also deter wage discrimination by strengthening penalties for equal pay violations and by prohibiting retaliation against workers who ask about employers’ wage practices or disclose their own wages. In short, the bill updates the law to reflect the practices and processes under more recent civil rights laws. Following the enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act last year, passing the Paycheck Fairness Act is a logical next step forward in the fight for pay equity.

SB 182 was introduced in January 2009 by then Senator Hillary Clinton.

March is National Women’s History Month, and AAUW has strong ties to this annual celebration of women history makers. AAUW is an established historic organization that has helped – and continues to help – women make history. With that in mind, AAUW is excited to partner with the National Women’s History Project in its 30th anniversary year, which has the theme “Writing Women Back into History.”

Test your knowledge of women in history by checking the NWHP website.

Red Bicycle

Don’t forgot to vote in the AAUW Art Content. You can vote for six images once every seven days.  Voting started February 12 and ends March 11, 2010. Warner Robins artist, Margaret Mathews has an entry titled, Red Bicycle.

Here is the link  to vote for images. You will need your member number to vote. If you don’t remember it, use the member ID lookup.

Laverne Gaskins, state program  vice president, has asked for persons interested in serving on a program committee for the AAUW portion of the Georgia AAUW convention to contact her at llgaskin@valdosta.edu. (If you are typing this, don’t forget the double l). She will not be able to attend the convention due to the wedding of her daughter, so assistance is especially needed this time. Please respond as soon as possible. This committee will be chaired by Laverne and she will appoint someone to serve as her representative at the convention. The date is April 16 for the evening banquet and awards and Saturdaym April 17 for programming and the business meeting.

This is a great opportunity to help shape the Saturday program. The theme is “Women Confronting Challenging Topics.” Here are some possible topics for consideration.

The Obama Administration’s First Year: A Progress Report on AAUW Priority Issues, available at www.aauw.org, and the Congressional Voting Record for the first session of the 111th Congress, available at www.aauwaction.org, outline the AAUW priority issues that became law in 2009. It is no surprise for Georgia members to see  that the Georgia senators  had a 13 % support of issues supported by AAUW.

In AAUW-Dialog, Christy Jones, Director of Membership, AAUW wrote about the popular blogger that outed herself as a woman. You have to read the post on Copyblogger about why she used a male pseudonym for her Internet based copywriting business. The bottom line was that as “James” she got more business, more money more respect, and less hassle from clients.

When I followed the link to the website, I was surprised to find out it is one of the blogs I follow regularly. Her post about her experience has struck a nerve with many readers. Her post has been “retweeted” 2197 times and over 515 have commented on her blog. The reaction has been interesting with people divided on her use of a male name.  The post and the comments are worth reading.  2010 is almost here and women are still facing blatant gender discrimination. AAUW is needed as much now as when it started 127 years ago.

Great discounts from Barnes and Noble

President Garfein announced the process for appointing  a Nominating Committee to develop a slate of candidates for to serve on the AAUW Board of Directors for the 2011-2013 term. A description of the  qualifications for appointment and an application form for appointment to the Nominating Committee has been posted on the AAUW website.