One NIght Only--International Women's Day

This year celebrate International Women's Day, March 5, with a special event for one night only. There will be a presentation of a documentary called A Powerful Noise at 7:30 p.m. followed by a live panel featuring Madeleine Albright, Nicholas Kristof and Dr. Helen Gayle of CARE. A Powerful Noise follows the lives of three women in three different countries as they struggle confront issues of HIV/AIDS, work to educate girls and to unite their divided communities. The outstanding panel will discuss the issues involved.

This will be held at various theaters around the country including, in New York, theaters in the Bronx Buffalo, College Point, Farmingdale, Holtsville, Ithaca, Manhattan, Port Washington,New Rochelle, Port Washington, Rochester, Syracuse, Victor, Westbury, White Plains, Williamsville and I am sure I missed some.

For more details put "A Powerful Noise" into your web browser.

Let's make a powerful AAUW noise and gather with friends at theaters around NY state,

Diane

Child Brides--Making the World a Better Place

Do you want to make the world a little better?
A very special program, the work of AAUW's Catherine Moore (and many others) is coming to the UN but the deadline to register is February 14; if you are interested you must act right away.

I would like you and your friends to know about a program on Child Brides: Stolen Lives, sponsored by the Working Group on Girls of the NGO Committee on UNICEF to be held on Wednesday, 18 Febr. in the ECOSOC Chamber. Perhaps you saw the PBS program in the fall of 2007. We will have a 10-minutes segment from the film and then speakers. Catherine Moore is the chair of the planning committee.

It is possible to get passes for the public who are interested in this topic. To get a pass, follow the below. Passes are picked up at the visitor's entrance between 45th and 46th. Take photo ID.

A Dialogue on Early Marriage:
Establishing Girls’ Visibility
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Time: 1:15-2:30 p.m.
Place: ECOSOC Chamber, United Nations
Featuring NOW on PBS
“Child Brides: Stolen Lives”
Moderator, Ann Scholz, Working Group on Girls
Panel:
Sunita Rathore, Tutor and Mentor - Veerni Project,
Jodhpur, India
Maria Hinojosa, Senior Correspondent, NOW on
PBS
Connie Taracena Secaira, Minister Counsellor,
Permanent Mission of Guatemala (invited?)
Carolyn Hannen
Carolyn Bacquiet-Walsh


RSVP by Feb. 14th to wggrsvp@gmail.com
Seating is limited. Please indicate if you do NOT have a UN grounds pass.
Audience members are encouraged to preview the entire film “Child Brides: Stolen Lives” at:
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/341/index.html (We will screen an excerpt at this event.)
Rosa - “Child Brides: Stolen Lives”
Courtesy of NOW on PBS
SAVE THE DATE!

RSVP by Feb. 14th If you don't have a grounds pass, be sure to email your name, address and phone number to wggrsvp@gmail.com by Febr. 14. There will not be any extensions.

RSVP by 14 Febr.

-----------
Carolyn Donovan
UN Representative AAUW
American Association Univ. Women
Email: acdonovan@optonline.net
Tel: 516-551-0993

submitted by Diane Haney

SUPREME COURT UNANIMOUS DECISION

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a ruling that strengthened the legislative and legal protections available to victims of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. In Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee, the Court ruled unanimously those persons who sue under the landmark Title IX statute may simultaneously do so under another civil rights statute known as Section 1983. As Justice Samuel Alito's opinion stated, "We conclude that Title IX was not meant to be an exclusive mechanism for addressing gender discrimination in schools, or as a substitute for Section 1983 suits as a means of enforcing constitutional rights."

The case was brought by the parents of Jacqueline Fitzgerald, a kindergarten student in Massachusetts who was forced repeatedly by an older boy to remove her clothes during bus rides to school. Upon hearing this information from their daughter, Jacqueline's parents asked school officials to intervene, proposing either that the harassing student be transferred to a different bus or that the school assign an adult monitor to ride the bus. The school board declined both options, and took no disciplinary action against the perpetrator. The Fitzgerald family then sued the school district alleging violations of both Title IX and the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution. The latter is enforced by Section 1983 of the United States Code, a statute put in place by the 1871 Civil Rights Law, which in some cases offers additional protections not included under Title IX.

The Court heard oral arguments for the case in December 2008 - and AAUW signed an amicus brief in support of the Fitzgerald's position. AAUW is committed to eliminating significant boundaries to educational opportunities that women and girls encounter, including sexual harassment. Read the AAUW study on sexual harassment in schools, "Drawing the Line," and learn what AAUW is doing to help eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination.
MPD
AAUW NYS LAF VP

National Popular Vote - Among the lively interest group meetings I have attended recently was one devoted to the National Popular Vote (NPV).

Now that the elections are over, perhaps it is time to consider a different way of electing the president and vice president of the US.

Among the lively interest group meetings I have attended recently was one devoted to the National Popular Vote (NPV).

What is it? NPV is a compact between the states which must be passed by the legislature of each state joining the compact that agrees that all of the votes of that state will go to the candidate securing the greatest number of popular votes in a presidential election.

Why is this important? Because as it stands only the handful of “battleground” states receive the attention of presidential candidates, and only issues of concern in those states receive concern. As noted on the National Popular Vote web-site, (http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/pages/explanation.php#exp_1page, “This means that voters in two thirds of the states are ignored in presidential elections. In 2004, candidates concentrated over two-thirds of their money and campaign visits in just five states; over 80% in nine states; and over 99% of their money in just 16 states.”
Haven’t you noticed how quiet it is in New York during presidential elections?
The speaker I heard on this topic noted that the only reason we hear about corn ethanol is because of the Iowa caucuses. New York, meanwhile, does not rate much attention.

Why use a state compact? Because according to the constitution and the Supreme Court, the states control the appointment and “mode” of appointment of the electors.
What should AAUW do about this? As an organization devoted to education and equity for women and girls, action on this issue may not be a good use of our resources, but as an organization long devoted to education in the broadest sense, this would appear to be an issue we should be informed about.

Salary Equity? NOT!

A story in our local paper was headlined "Base pay of female CEOs tends to be higher than men’s". Looking further, though, the subtitle told the real story - "However, women getting short-changed on total compensation".

It turns out that only 3% of the CEO's in the study were women (based on 3,242 Canadian and US companies). Their base salaries were about 3% higher than those of their male counterparts. But - when total compensation was reviewed, the women only earned 85% of their male counterparts' income.

There's always more to the story...

GOOD NEWS FOR LAF

I have just had word that Claire Schuster received a favorable decision from the appeals court on her case, Schuster vs. Berea College.

Visit the aauw.org website, to read the entire case. Claire was our keynote speaker at the LAF Luncheon, AAUW New York State Convention in April of 2008.

As details on the decision become available I will post the information at the AAUW NYS website.

CARE Initiative Against Maternal Mortality

A woman dies each minute from complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Nearly all of these deaths occur in the developing world. The leading cause of death is bleeding, for which there are simple, cheap solutions. For every woman who dies, 30 others are injured, infected, or disabled.

CARE, one of AAUW's partners, launched an initiative in September, 2007 to mobilize a global coalition to reduce maternal mortality and child malnutrition in 10 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The program will train health care providers, work with ministries of health and local partners, and establish policies and procedures. An pilot CARE program in Peru reduced mortality rates by 49% in less than 4 years.

The program will include access to contraceptives to avoid unintended pregnancies; access to nutritional support and basic medical care during pregnancy; skilled care during delivery; quality emergency obstetric care; and information to ensure optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding.

CARE began in 1945 when 22 American organizations came together to send lifesaving US Army surplus food parcels to survivors of World War II. It expanded in the 1950's to send US agricultural surpluses to developing countries. The organization added primary health programs in the sixties, agroforestry in the seventies, small business development in the eighties, and family planning in 1990.