AAUW National

What does AAUW National do?

AAUW National does:

Policy Advocacy focuses on national issues affecting women and girls, such as education equity, pay equity, and reproductive rights. We coordinate our Public Policy Committees, participate in coalition work, and partner with other prominent national organizations to raise awareness about our policy priorities, such as the YWCA for our Gen Z Town Hall in Philadelphia.

Subject Matter Expertise: We have historically produced in-depth studies on topics like the gender pay gap and women in leadership roles. While we haven’t produced reports recently due to limited funding, we have done a high-level analysis of pay gap data recently released. We are frequently asked to comment on topics related to pay equity, student loan debt, and other issues related to gender equity. You can see our recently updated page on Latinas and the pay gap HERE.

Social Media: We have tens of thousands of social media followers across all platforms and have well over 1 million website viewers – ensuring that our brand remains prominent and relevant. On a global level, CEO Gloria Blackwell is AAUW’s representative to the UN, and our work in this capacity provides great reputational value related to global gender equity work. Gloria has been invited to White House events on at least three occasions recently.

Salary Negotiation and Financial Literacy Training offers training and resources for women to develop skills to be financially empowered. Work Smart, Start Smart, and Money Smart trainings provide valuable resources and tools for women to become economically empowered. Nationally, we work with organizations such as the HBCU Career Center, Tri Delta, Coca-Cola Foundation, Finra Foundation, SAGE and others to bring these trainings to thousands of women across the country. These trainings were developed, updated, and managed by the national AAUW office. Two separate entities have independently evaluated them and continually receive very high ratings from participants.

Fellowships & Grants: We award and administer over $6M in fellowships and grants each year to hundreds of women in the US and Internationally. We also connect our members and branches to these awardees and alumnae and have an Alumnae Relations team charged with growing and maintaining relationships with our thousands of distinguished Alumnae.

Membership Services provides support and resources for local branches and members, including access to national networks and events. We host all aauw.net websites, process dues, support 990 filings, and maintain our history and globally- recognized brand. Without AAUW National, AAUW branches would be independently organized entities that would not be networked with one another or have the ability to utilize the AAUW name.

What AAUW members have accomplished

  • 1920 one gram of radium for Marie Curie, 1st person and only woman to win Nobel Prize twice
  • Since 1888, $115 million given in fellowships and grants ($6.1 million in 2023) largest non-institutional funder of grad level education
  • Equal Pay Act of 1963- started in 1945
  • Title IX 1972 introduced and sponsored by Reps Edith Green and Patsy Mink-AAUW members
  • 1993 Family Medical Leave Act
  • 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act- President Obama’s first bill
  • With Eleanor Roosevelt, launched the World Center for Women’s Archives “literally wrote women into the history books”
  • 1976 granted Permanent UN Observer status
  • AAUW was instrumental in the creation and passage of Title IX, which was introduced by AAUW Member Rep. Edith Green (D-OR) and was co-sponsored by AAUW Member Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI).
  • 2008 upgraded to Special Consultative Status with UN, giving AAUW a voice
  • Almost 200,000 people have gone through our $mart $tart or Work $mart salary negotiation workshops including both Boston and SF city workers

Notable members:

  • Jeanette Raskin- 1st woman elected to Congress
  • Shirley Chisholm-1st black woman elected to Congress and 1st woman to run for Presidential nomination from major party
  • Patricia Roberts Harris was the first Black woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet, serving as U.S. Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. She was also the first Black woman to become a U.S. Ambassador.
  • Marjorie Child Husted- created Betty Crocker
  • Sarah Tilghman Hughes- 1st woman appointed judge in TX, then swore in Lyndon B. Johnson after JFK assignation
  • Lou Ann Hoover, co founder of GSA
  • Mary Church Terrell- integrated AAUW
  • Frances Perkins was appointed to be the first U.S. Cabinet Secretary (Labor Department)
  • U.S. Representative Chase Going Woodhouse (D-CT) introduced the first proposed federal equal pay legislation — the Equal Pay Act of 1945.
  • Virginia Gildersleeve appointed as the sole female U.S. delegate to the
    San Francisco Conference to create the United Nations.
  • Janet Reno
  • Nancy Pelosi

The above is Just a small sample. More can be  found in the AAUW Archives.