🎉 🎂 Happy 44th birthday to Title IX! 🎂 🎉
Pop quiz! In which of the following areas does Title IX help ensure gender equity?
A. Fairness in school admissions
B. Access to athletics
C. Protection from sexual harassment and sexual assault
D. Opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
E. All of the above
If you answered E, you are correct!
Many people think that Title IX exclusively addresses gender equity in school athletics, but the law has a much broader focus.
Signed into law on June 23, 1972, Title IX prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program or activity — public or private — when it comes to receiving federal funds.
The law applies to every aspect of educational activities from preschool through higher education, including admissions, recruitment, academics, employment, athletics, and student services.
Title IX is widely recognized for its role in the huge growth of women’s athletic programs, but imagine if we made as much progress inthe other aspects Title IX covers as we have with sports.
That women and girls still face discrimination on campus is why it’s so important to spread the word that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights recently released three sorely needed tools: a letter to schools reiterating the importance of Title IX coordinators, a thank-you letter directly to coordinators reaffirming their roles, and a free resource manual to guide their actions. Every school is required to appoint a Title IX coordinator to help prevent discrimination at her or his school, but before now the coordinators had few resources to do their jobs. And many schools haven’t appointed a coordinator at all.
The Office for Civil Rights has provided schools and Title IX coordinators with resources they need to independently act and address complaints, just in time for school to start. But we need you to help spread the word.
Obama Administration Releases New Guidance to Ensure the Civil Rights of Transgender Students
Every student has the right to access education without fear of harassment!
Everyone deserves equal access to quality education.
Today, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, a case that threatens to limit affirmative action in college admissions.
Despite the clear progress women have made over years, ensuring equal opportunity for women in education and the paid workforce remains an elusive goal, in part because women continue to face discrimination.
Affirmative action programs are crucial in helping break down the barriers that confront women and minorities in education and employment!
Here’s the real reason 9 out of 10 colleges reported no rapes last year
A new analysis of campus crime data has revealed that 91 percent of U.S. colleges had no reported cases of rape in 2014, according to the American Association of University Women.
That should be good news, but we know sexual assault is far more common than that. A 2014 survey of more than 150,000 students across the country found that nearly one in four college women had experienced sexual violence on campus. And under the Clery Act, a school is required to report every sex crime that happens on its grounds to the Department of Education.
So, why do the latest DOE numbers appear to clash with national statistics?
According to data just released by the Department of Education, 91 percent of colleges reported ZERO incidents of rape in 2014.
…Um, what?
We *wish* these statistics weren’t too good to be true. After all, how can institutions proactively working end campus sexual assault if the severity of the problem isn’t recognized? Read AAUW’s analysis.
Happy International Day of the Girl! Together, we can create a better world for women and girls everywhere.
5 Women Scientists of AAUW’s War Relief Project
#TBT to these five amazing women scientists who broke barriers in the profession on a world stage during World War II.
Want to learn more about these trailblazing women? Read the full post to learn more about these 5 incredible trailblazing women in STEM.
We are loving Pakistan’s new super-heroine, Burka Avenger.
BA is “a mild-mannered teacher with secret martial arts skills who uses a flowing black burka to hide her identity as she fights local thugs seeking to shut down the girls’ school where she works.”
4 amazing accomplishments of women and girls in STEM
You might not have heard about these women and girls doing awesome work in STEM fields, and that’s exactly why we’re marking Women in Science and Tech month.
“Squishy” circuits that let kids be electrical engineers. Building electrical circuits isn’t as complicated as it looks – it’s as simple as playing with play dough. Annemarie Thomas created a unique play dough that can be used to build working circuits that anyone can build and experiment with. The coolest thing about the squishy circuits? You can make them yourself at home.
Songs that make math rock. One reason girls say they aren’t getting into STEM? They’re “just not interested” in math and science. Cynthia White spent many years as an engineer, but she decided to change careers to tackle the problem of women and minorities’ low representation in the STEM fields. She created the Arythmetic Jukebox, a series of songs that aim to make math fun and exciting.
An app that helps doctors diagnose breast cancer. Identifying malignant tumors that may lead to breast cancer? There’s an app for that. Brittany Wenger’s (pictured above) Cloud4Cancer won the Google Science Fair, and for good reason – using a minimally invasive procedure, Cloud4Cancer finds tumors with 99% accuracy. Wenger was 17 when she created the app.
A pain-relief device for amputees. “Phantom” pain in missing limbs affects about 80 percent of amputees. No one knows that better than Katherine Bomkamp, who was working closely with returning soldiers who had lost limbs at war when she came up with the idea for the Pain Free Socket. Bomkamp’s invention, created while she was in high school, fits right into prosthetics and uses heat to relieve phantom pain.
Feminism is Fantastic: How we Teach Girls to Shrink and Boys to Expand
I’m guessing that people aren’t going through their days thinking to themselves, “How much space do I displace?” It’s an interesting question though. Especially if you have kids. You feed them and they tend to grow and take up room. Then, without realizing it, in a hundred small ways a day, you…
Student Debt Day 2013
Seaira Christian-Daniels, AAUW Policy Intern, Summer 2013
She has three degrees and owes $200,000 in student loan debt. She put off buying a house and having children because she can’t afford them. This week, she went to Congress and lobbied her representatives to do something about it.
That’s the story of Nida Degesys, a young married doctor from Cleveland, Ohio. Nida visited Congress as the product of three institutions of higher education in Ohio to urge her elected officials to keep student loan interest rates low.
Student Debt Day 2013, a joint effort by Campus Progress, Young Invincibles, AAUW, and many other coalition partners, brought to Congress a unified message of #DontDoubleMyRate. As a representative of AAUW, I went to tell Congress that we oppose the increase of Stafford Loan interest rates specifically because student debt impacts women more than men.
I am not swimming in student debt. Thanks to merit-based scholarships, I estimate that I’ll be able to pay off my loans relatively quickly after I graduate. However, I carry the stories of my parents who are still paying their student debt off, and my brother in high school who will soon be grappling with the need to borrow to attend college.
Nida, Jessie, another student from Ohio, and I visited the offices of three of our elected officials. We spoke with a legal fellow in Senator Sherrod Brown’s office who admitted that many working in Congressional offices are paying off student loans. The other Ohioans and I commiserated with him, but weren’t relieved. We cannot rest until Congress passes a comprehensive effort to keep college affordable.
I left the hill knowing that I had been a presence for the millions of other students who couldn’t make it to DC. I was able to be part of a movement to help bring solutions for students drowning in debt so they can build better futures for themselves and their families.
3 amazing accomplishments of women and girls in STEM
You might not have heard about these women and girls doing awesome work in STEM fields, and that’s exactly why we’re marking Women in Science and Tech month.
An iPad app that teaches kids to code. Hopscotch uses colorful ‘building blocks’ that stand in for lines of code. Kids can easily learn the skills that are used to create programs in languages like Python, C, and Ruby.DevelopersSamantha John and Jocelyn Leavitt created Hopscotch because they wanted girls to have more options for interactive toys that encourage creativity and introduce them to programming early.
An organization that supports after-school programs in science. After-school programs are one of the most valuable resources when it comes to narrowing the skills gap in STEM. Carol Tang, director of the Coalition for Science After School, wants to promote fun and academically rigorous programs that prepare the next generation to find solutions to global scientific challenges.
A prosthetic eye that gives sight to the blind. Sheila Nirenberg is using technology to help people live better lives. Her prosthetic eye connects directly into the optic nerve and sends signals from a camera to the brain that can be interpreted as visual images even by people with certain types of blindness.
4 Reasons Why We Mark Women in Science & Technology Month
June is Women in Science and Technology Month, which is a great time to celebrate and reflect on the progress (or lack thereof) of girls and women in these critical fields. And here are four very good reasons why you should give a damn.
1. Because it’s time to fight back against gender bias. A study found that more than 70 percent of people subconsciously think of science and technology as ‘male’ fields. This stereotype isn’t just a harmless myth: it’s hurting women in the workplace. This month, we’ll be telling women’s stories about the discrimination they experienced in STEM fields. Gender bias is real. If you’ve experienced it, you’re not alone. And if we’re going to stop gender bias from holding women back, we need to acknowledge it now. We need to acknowledge that we can do better.
2. Because our nation is still behind in STEM education. When students all around the world were tested on their math and science skills, the US came in behind many other developed countries – especially American girls. Is STEM education in crisis in America? How do we solve it, and how do we better serve our girls? This month, we’ll be talking about some of the creative ways that educators are responding to the “STEM crisis”, and creating a better world for girls in the process.
3. Because women in science and technology are doing amazing things. Women’s achievements in the scientific fields are often overlooked or even attributed to their male peers. But look a little deeper, and you’ll see that despite institutional barriers and gender bias, women are still blazing new trails. You’ve probably heard of Marie Curie, and maybe you know that the element Meitnerium is named for a woman, Lise Meitner. But where are the Marie Curies and Lise Meitners of 2013? Well, everywhere! This month, we’ll be sharing ideas and projects from women today that are already changing the future of science and technology forever.
4. Because we believe in you. Hey, STEM ladies. We know that you’re the next generation of innovators, of role models, of heroes. That’s why we need to tackle and overcome the challenges that women face in STEM today. Because if women have already achieved so much, just imagine what we could do if we started off on an equal playing field? The sky’s not even the limit!