AAUW San Antonio March Newsletter

Volume 113 Issue 7

2021-2022 Theme:

Economic Security Through Pay Equity

Message from the President

March is Women’s History Month. This is our call to explore the history, know the issues we still face, and support the organizations for the advancement of women, girls, and their families. SA Branch has supported the mission of AAUW robustly – in words, deeds, and financially. Many thanks for your generous giving! March 8th marks International Women’s Day – imagine a world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive, and where difference is valued and celebrated. Celebrate your “shero”!

Be ready for voting, with early voting February 14-25. Texas Primary Election Day is March 1. Be aware that there continues to be actions out there that complicate voting. An example is the Texas voting rule passed in December 2021 indicating new ID matching requirements between mail-in ballot requests and the voter’s records. Recommendation is to include both driver’s license and social security number (last 4 digits) with your mail-in ballot request. The last day for applications for mail-in ballots is February18.

Due to the current status of COVID, the Texas AAUW Conference will be virtual on April 30. More details will be coming regarding registration and program highlights. This is the 50th Texas AAUW Convention (dubbed “Golden Opportunity”) and the 50th Anniversary of Title IX. The day is currently planned for 9:00-4:45.

Preparation has begun for this year’s awards for Text Book and Graduate scholarships. Committees meeting to review applications for these awards will make recommendations to our branch Board, with awards presented at our April 2 meeting.

Also at the April meeting, members will vote for the election of new SA branch officers for 2022-2023. The new AAUW year begins July 1. See the article in this newsletter for more details on this important annual event.

Please mark your calendars for our meeting on March 5th and the presentation by the AAUW National Board Chair, Julia T. Brown, Esq., on Negotiation Skills: Affecting Hiring, Promotion, Pay and Equity. As we heard from Malinda Gaul in February, student debt has an extremely negative effect for many women when it comes to pay equity. Julia Brown’s presentation provides an opportunity for hearing more about innovative actions women can take to achieve equity in the workplace.

Remain careful in your activities in this remaining COVID period, and also hopeful for its resolution and return to normalcy!

Stronger together –

Cheryl Fuller

AAUW San Antonio President

AAUW

STILL ZOOMING

March 5, 2022

11:30 a.m.

Speaker: Julia Brown

Topic: Negotiation Skills: Affecting Hiring, Promotion, Pay, and Equity

RSVP to Cheryl Fuller

to receive the Zoom link.

cfuller5@satx.rr.com

The Zoom link will be sent a few days before the meeting.

The recording will be posted on the

website after the meeting.

Our AAUW SA affiliate is fortunate to have Julia Brown, AAUW National Board Chair, as presenter for the March 5, 2022, program. She will be speaking to us about the innovative approaches, Start Smart and Work Smart, which AAUW has introduced across the country on college campuses and in city halls to teach women strategies for getting jobs and negotiating for higher salaries and better benefits. From résumé writing and “tidying up” a personal media site, to setting target salary and benefits, to assuming leadership roles—AAUW trains for that.

Who better to inform women about these techniques than our organization’s Board Chair? She herself has held such fulfilling positions as a US Army judge advocate general officer; assistant attorney general in Oklahoma; project manager and executive assistant to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development in Washington, D.C.; community reinvestment act officer for Charles Schwab Bank; and county manager for Doña Ana County, New Mexico. She has also held a variety of AAUW positions at the national, state, and branch levels. Currently, she is the city manager of Sunland Park, New Mexico.

In addition, Ms. Brown has served on the boards of directors of Operation Hope, the Opportunity Fund, Equal Rights Advocates, the Regional Board of Girl Scouts of the Desert Southwest, and the Doña Ana County, NM, Branch of the NAACP.

We welcome Julia Brown and look forward to learning how AAUW supports women in achieving equity in the workplace.

Recap of February Meeting:

Student Debt and Its Effect on Women's Economic Security

The Zoom meeting of February 5th featured our own Malinda Gaul, who has been a tireless advocate for women throughout her legal career, and an AAUW leader at the branch, state and national level.

Malinda graciously took over for our scheduled speaker, and she definitely is the best person to teach us how the student debt problem has affected women more than men, and is yet another factor that results in inequality and women’s economic insecurity. Her presentation is posted on the AAUW website, and it is worth your time to view it.

Fast Facts:

Women hold 2/3’s of outstanding student debt, close to $929 billion dollars. The average student debt owed by a woman is $22,000, while a man with student debt owes $18,000 on average.
For-profit colleges, such as the two-year colleges that advertise on television, hold a large part of student debt.
Drastic reductions in taxpayer-funded investment in public institutions of higher learning has played a big part in the increase of student debt.
While the cost of college tuition has more than doubled in a generation, household income has risen only 14%.

What can be done to end the student debt crisis? Most of the solutions require legislation.

1. Expand need-based grants, since these do not need to be paid back. The funding for federal Pell Grants has been reduced again and again.

2. Increase funding for public colleges and universities. Free college is not necessary for all, but more debt-free options are needed for students.

3. Reward those who go into low-paying public service jobs. Those jobs are vital to a functioning society, and those who choose them should not be penalized with the same debt owed by high-earning graduates. In many advanced countries, graduates are offered income-driven repayment options.

4. Eliminate the gender pay gap by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. Malinda went on to explain why the current equal pay act does not address the pay gap. It only requires women be paid the same as a man for the same job. It is nearly impossible to prove that two people have the same credentials and are performing the same job duties.

5. Subsidize childcare to make it affordable to working mothers and students who are mothers.

Malinda referred members to the AAUW study by searching the website for “Deeper in Debt: Women and Student Loans.”

AAUW members can help:

Be a Two-Minute Activist.
Join the AAUW Action Network to be alerted to legislation as it comes before congressional bodies.
Support AAUW Legal Advocacy Fund.
Spread the word about AAUW Action Network, which offers programming for young women in salary negotiation. [At our March meeting, Julia T. Brown, AAUW Board Chair, will speak to our members on the programs Work Smart and Start Smart.] A new program called Money Smart is now offered by the Action Network.

Following Malinda’s presentation, a number of members discussed the program. Be sure to take a look at the video posted on the website.

Chocolate and Champagne Fundraiser

Time to Raise Money for Text Book Scholarships

Chocolate and Champagne Fundraiser

$25 Chocolate

$50 Chocolate and Champagne

$100 Chocolate, Champagne, and a Surprise!

Between now and February 28, mail your check made payable to AAUW SA to:

Malinda Gaul

15734 Knolldown 78247

Include Your Address For Delivery

IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE ITEMS

LET ME KNOW!

AAUW San Antonio Branch Elections

The AAUW-SA Nominating Committee is tasked with developing a slate of nominees for our 2022-2023 Board of Officers. The Committee submits the following slate of nominees to the membership. The membership will vote on the nominees for each board office at the Annual Meeting in April.

The nominees are:

President Elect - No Candidate - 1-year term

Vice President for Program - Monica Ruiz-Mills - 1-year term

Vice President for Membership - Ruth Lyle - 1-year term

Secretary - Ashlee Martinez - 1-year term

During the April meeting, nominations may be made from the floor at the time of the election, provided written consent by the nominee has been obtained in advance. Until then, anyone wishing to run for office should contact a member of the Nominating Committee. Contact information is in our AAUW-SA Directory.

The election will be by voice vote, unless there is more than one candidate for a given office wherein a ballot will be used for the vote. The election shall be by a majority vote of those members present and voting.

Duly Submitted,

Nominating Committee Members:

Diane Claiborne-Carr, Chairman

Ruth Lyle

Wondra Chang

Pearl Eng

Kathy Dicke

Janet Black

New Members

Please welcome our new members to AAUW SA: Jean Hackett and Mary Adams. We look forward to getting to know you.

Ruth Lyle

Vice President Membership

AAUW San Antonio

Time to Renew Your Membership!

Membership renewal for AAUW for the 2022-2023 fiscal year will begin March 16. The dues are $96.00, which includes National, State and Local. The current fiscal year of 2021-2022 began July 1 and ends June 30.

Early Bird Drawing

Members who pay their dues between March 16 and May 1 will be entered in the Early Bird Drawing at the May Zoom meeting. The winner will receive free membership for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

Current members will receive an email from membershipinfo@aauw.org to renew online. Open the link, hit renew and pay with a credit or debit card. Members who prefer to pay by check may write the check to AAUW-SA and mail it to Adrien Frank, 140 Patterson Ave. Apt 104, San Antonio, TX 78209.

Please encourage your friends to join AAUW this spring. New members who join March 16 through June 30, 2022, will be members for the rest of fiscal year 2021-2022 and the entire fiscal year of 2022-2023.

Thank you for supporting AAUW!

Ruth Lyle

Vice President Membership

A Pandemic Setback, or How Much Longer is Pay Equity Going to Take?

Dr. Karen Reichensperger has dual membership in AAUW. She is a member of our branch and a member of the Ely, Minnesota branch. Karen has belonged to AAUW for more than 50 years and still plays an active role. She serves on the state board, is a past president of our branch, and she is Chair of the Graduate Scholarship and the Textbook Scholarship committees. The article below was written by the Public Policy Chair of the Ely branch, Linda Sutton, for the Ely newsletter. Linda has given us permission to print it in our newsletter.

The information is timely, relevant, and eye opening. Thanks to Karen and Linda for sharing this article with us.

Pat Sanford

Public Policy Chair

AAUW San Antonio

A recent Forbes article reported that the global effects of the pandemic have set women back considerably on the road to equality. On its current trajectory, it will now take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide. This is a steep increase from the previous Global Gender Gap Report, which predicted 99.5 years. In other words, because of Covid-19, the time it will take for the gender gap to close grew by 36 years in the span of just 12 months

And if we were to think that this is less of a problem for women in the United States, we would be wrong. The unfortunate story is that the pandemic has been devastating for women and their families, reversing the progress women have made in recent decades. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that women in the United States in 2021 made 83 cents on the dollar compared to men, but this is misleading since millions of women lost their jobs during the first year of the pandemic and remained out of work for a long time. These women are absent completely from the calculation on which today’s pay gap figure is based.

Women who have no education beyond high school exited the labor force in greater numbers than similarly educated men. Additionally, countless more women left the workforce completely to deal with childcare, homeschooling and other domestic responsibilities. Couple that with the fact that women make up the majority of the low-wage workforce, which experienced especially devastating cuts.

Since this new data looks only at full-time, year-round workers, however, it does not fully capture what happened to women’s wages in 2020. So, we cannot adequately compare this year’s data to that of previous years and cannot fully assess the impact of the massive job losses on the gender pay gap. But make no mistake, women are decidedly not better off now than they were in 2019. And if anything, this tells us that we need to ensure more women have pathways to good jobs, with good pay and good benefits.

On the brighter side, the pandemic might eventually help by ushering in a new era of remote work, which offers much more flexibility to professionals with kids, allowing them to keep working. Unfortunately, women are currently over-represented in certain health care, food preparation and personal service occupations that require them to work on-site and in close proximity to others.

Equal Pay Day Information:

April 12, 2022 is the day that Equal Pay Day will be celebrated this year, as reported by AAUW, representing women’s earnings of 82 cents for every dollar a man earns.
October 21 is the day that Latina Women will have their Equal Pay Day as they earn just 55 cents for every dollar a man earns
Black Women earn 62 cents on the dollar and Native American Women 60 cents for every dollar a man earns.
LBGTQ+ workers earn 10 percent less than their non-LBGTQ+ coworkers AAUW believes the way to close the gap includes the following measures:
Increase Awareness of the issue in the community (Unhappy Hour events for example)
Advocate for equitable access to care leave for men and women which will have positive ripple effects.
Update Company Policies. Get rid of outdated practices and promote policies that help overcome occupational segregation by gender.
Encourage Reskilling. Mid-career training, coupled with managerial practices that offer a clear path to promotion and unbiased hiring, will have a great impact.
Prepare Women to Advocate for Themselves (Start Smart and Work Smart for example)
Have Empathy. Be gentle with your colleagues and partners. The past year has affected us all in a myriad of ways.

Additional resources:

Linda Sutton, Public Policy Chair, AAUW-Ely (MN) Branch

SCHOLARSHIPS!

Scholarship season is coming to a head. We have had 22 graduate and 30 textbook applications submitted online .... more than ever before!!!! The applications will go to the individual committee members the week of February 7th for them to start their review. The full committee review dates have been set for the first two days of March. The Board of Directors will then review the committee recommendations and make the final decision.

With all these applications, I'm hoping that the textbook fundraisers have raised lots of money! Do Zoom the April meeting with us and see the winners. They will be impressive!!

NCCWSL

National Conference for College Women Leaders

NCCWSL (National College Conference for Women Student Leaders), a premier leadership conference held by AAUW, will be virtual again this year, May 24-26, a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Our branch will be sponsoring some students. Early bird application closes March 18th. Think about promising young women and encourage them. Then let me (Karen Reichensperger) or President Cheryl Fuller know so that I can send them an application. Information will be sent to all the colleges and universities in the area, just like the scholarships. It will be first come first serve again this year. More information will be coming.

Karen Reichensperger

AAUW Texas Convention

All Virtual

April 30, 2022

Watch your email for more information on the upcoming Convention in the University Women Texas (UWT) newsletter.

After celebrating the 140^th Anniversary of AAUW, we now celebrate the 50^th AAUW Texas Convention, and 50^th Anniversary of Title IX.

DONATE!

You can donate to the AAUW San Antonio Branch for Scholarships by making a check out to AAUW SA and sending it to Treasurer Adrien Frank, 140 Patterson, #104, San Antonio, TX 78209.

You can donate to AAUW Greatest Needs by clicking HERE.

The Two-Minute Activist

The Two-Minute Activist is a source of information on topics relating to women’s issues. It also enhances our ability to send emails and texts to legislators to fight for equal pay, family leave, stopping sexual harassment, equality in education and more. Sign up on the AAUW webpage to get regular alerts to be able to take timely action.

You can also text “AAUW” to 21333 to get AAUW action alerts via text.