Titlle IX Case Settled

A recent class action lawsuit settlement between the University of California at Davis and the three female athletes who sued the university for a Title IX violation may raise the standards set by judges for Title IX compliance in courts around the U.S., the New York Times reports. Judges have generally agreed that universities are in compliance with Title IX if their athlete gender ratio is within five percent of the gender ratio of their general student body. But in the settlement announced in June that awaits approval by federal court, UC Davis has 10 years to equalize female athlete participation to within 1.5 percent of the overall student population. This standard represents a significant break from judicial precedent that may have a dynamic affect on judges' views of Title IX around the nation and, in turn, on the opportunities available for female college athletes.

Sotomayor Hearings Begin July 13

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee will begin hearings on the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Monday, July 13. Based on feedback from members, AAUW compiled a list of questions that we hope to see answered in the course of this hearing to determine her position on issues such as employment discrimination, reproductive rights, Title IX, and pay equity.

To get updates on this hearing, as well as other government news, consider signing up for AAUW's weekly Washington Update.

More About the Convention

THE BYLAWS
An amendment to the proposed Bylaws to keep the requirements for membership in AAUW the same as it’s been, was passed by a standing vote of 477 to 360 and a vote by multiple card count of 863 to 564. The rest of the Bylaws were passed by 1363-36 multiple card count vote, including the “one member, one vote’ proposed change.
Later in the convention, a resolution was proposed to revisit open membership at the 2011 convention when every member would have a vote. A majority voted in favor of the resolution, but it did not receive the 3/4 required to pass.





THE OPENING OF THE CONVENTION
Ruth Sweetser called the convention to order. A beautifully played flute rendered the National Anthem and an honor guard of Girl Scouts led the flag salute. A few remarks were made by Ruth Sweetzer followed by a few more from Linda Hallman. Next came a video welcome message from White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. Jarrett extended a special greeting from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and applauded AAUW’s commitment to gender equity, work-life balance, and education. This was followed by a brief introduction of the keynote speaker by Lisa Maatz, AAUW Public Policy Director.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER LILLY LEDBETTER
Lilly spoke simply, but very effectively telling her story of her mistreatment by Goodyear, her million dollar win in court, but the conviction overturned by the Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 vote. It made my hair stand on end and I had a choke in my throat. Lilly stayed for the whole convention and, sitting out in the hall she spent many, many hours signing papers and everything else. She raised over $5,000.00 for the EF fund. Read more of Lilly’s speech. Lisa Maatz, “her partner in crime,” ended the session with a rousing cry to flood the telephones, mailboxes, e-mails of those senators (including Feinstein) to urge them to sign on to sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act. The more signatures the bill receives, the better chance it has of passing.


ROSA DELAURO
Representative DeLauro took the stage to a standing ovation and gave a rousing, motivational speech praising the work of AAUW. She was the first one to introduce the Paycheck Fairness Act twelve years ago. “Do not underestimate the power of big ideas,” which she said in connection with making equal pay a reality. She pointed out that members of congress are all paid the same – equal pay for equal work – and that should be the reality for everyone. She ended by reading a quote from her mother written in 1933, “Come on girls. Let’s make ourselves heard.”



THE SHE-E-O FORUMThe She-E-O Forum brought together speakers Erika Feinberg (on the right), CEO of Active Forever, and Arlene Harris (on the left), chair of the board of GreatCall, provider of the Jitterbug phone and cellular service, to share their perspectives on the challenges women face while working in male-dominated industries. Both women faced great challenges as women. Arlene Harris said that her greatest challenge was getting financing. She often faces an attitude of, “Who wants to finance a woman?” Erika Feinberg faced especially difficult challenges in becoming a CEO at age 25. She also mentioned the difference between store shopping (“emotional”) and online shopping (“more focused”). Both these women received our admiration and great applause. Read more.



THE BANQUET
The evening was filled with awards and recognitions, most notably, Lilly Ledbetter. Ruth Sweetser and Linda Hall presented Lilly with a framed proclamation from President and Mrs. Obama and also a frame filled with AAUW symbols from all the states. Wanda P. Hardy (on the left) received the 2009 Eleanor Roosevelt Fund Award as the founder and president of CreditWorthy, Inc, a financial education organization whose mission is, “Helping people of all ages develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage their finances to achieve financial success.” Read more.

The speaker for the banquet was Jackie Speier (CA) who spoke of her experiences fighting for the improvement in the lives of women in the California Assembly and now recently in The House of Representatives. She mentioned that all members of the House of Representatives get paid the same – equal pay for equal work and that should become universal, not 87 cents to the dollar. She also spoke of the men’s bathroom being on the same floor as the House of Representatives, but the women’s bathroom being a floor below. It took 50 years to get a women’s bathroom on the same floor.

GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE
The Sunday morning panel consisted of a lawyer (Irma Herrera), a doctor (Linda Brodsky), and an academic and author (Ruth O’Brien). Read more about them

Irma Herrera recounted the obstacles overcome by the 6 teams of lawyers working on the Walmart gender discrimination lawsuit, the largest class action lawsuit in history with almost 2 million plaintiffs. Her group was front and center, and very involved. She also talked about an inflexible work environment modeled on the male-female societal roles negotiated 60 years ago and the need to make work more flexible with flex time, work at home, etc.

Linda Brodsky faced years of overt acts of discrimination by the University of Buffalo and Kaleida Health and she was fired for complaining. She finally sued and then settled with both institutions to the satisfaction of all. She said eloquently that gender discrimination in the healthcare industry is not limited to women physicians, but also affects women as patients and as caregivers. The far reaching consequences are beyond the issues of social justice and have a real impact on the public health. Wasted human resources translate into economic waste we can’t afford. Gender discrimination in healthcare is everyone’s problem.

Ruth O’Brien has studied the social justice issues in American politics and law. Her focus on women and gender discrimination is brilliantly set forth in her latest book, Telling Stories out of Court: Narratives about Women and Workplace Discrimination. Using a new approach, fictional stories that bring out the emotional aspects of the rather dry and often difficult to comprehend legal precepts, she was both innovative and inspiring.

ELECTION RESULTS
AAUW President: Carolyn Garfein
AAUW Vice President: Gail Nordmoe
AAUW Directors-at-Large: Kathleen Cha, Alice Hetman, Connie M. Hildebrand, Patricia Ho, Jackie Littleton, Betsy McDowell, Linda Tozier

Read more about the convention.