any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.

Under this broad definition, many common forms of birth control, including birth control pills, IUDs, and emergency contraception would be falsely labeled as abortion and would not necessarily be available, even at clinics claiming to provide family planning services.

In an article in the Huffington Post, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) writes that

These proposed regulations set to be released next week will allow health care providers to refuse to provide contraception to women who need it. We can't let them get away with this underhanded move to undermine women's health, and that's why I am sounding the alarm.

These rules pose a serious threat to providers and uninsured and low-income Americans seeking care. They could prevent providers of federally funded family planning services, like Medicaid and Title X, from guaranteeing their patients access to the full range of comprehensive family planning services. They'll also build significant barriers to counseling, education, contraception and preventive health services for those who need it most: low-income and uninsured women and men.

The regulations could even invalidate state laws that currently ensure access to contraception for many Americans …

AAUW supports the right of every woman to safe, accessible, affordable, and comprehensive family planning and reproductive health services and believes that access to complete reproduction health information and services enhances women's reproductive choices. Check out our position paper on reproductive rights.

Take action against this attack on women’s health and family planning! Send a message to HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt urging him to protect the reproductive health and safety of all women and girls, rather than limiting it.

• One of the most significant trends over the past 50 years has been the movement of women, especially mothers, into the paid labor force.

• When it passed in 1993, the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was supposed to be the beginning of a new movement to reshape the workplace to reflect the needs of working families. But the bill is incomplete.

• Why do women, on average, earn less than men in faculty positions?

• The news regarding women directors of fictional films in Hollywood continues to be bleak: in 2007, only 6 percent of these films were directed by women.

• Health care for female military veterans lags behind the care offered to male vets at many VA facilities, an internal agency report says, even as women are serving on front lines at historic levels.

• On the 36th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, many wonder why more women from their generation aren't involved with molding today's young women.

• Candace Parker is an incredible basketball player. There really isn’t much she can’t do on the floor, including dunk. In the world of women’s basketball, this is a big deal. But is that a good thing?

• Former Fresno State women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein's sexual discrimination and gender harassment case against the school has been settled after three years.

• The Army and Air Force discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

• Filmmakers came to Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High School in 2004 to film Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card.

• So, can we finally answer the great parenting debate over which sex is more challenging to raise? Much depends on what you're looking at, and when.

• If she hadn't been an astronaut or teacher, Sally Ride may have been a tennis pro.

• Angered by what they consider sexist news coverage of Hillary Clinton's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, many women and erstwhile Clinton supporters are proposing boycotts of the cable networks.

• AAUW NYS members from many branches showed their support in the courtroom during the first week of the sexual harassment trial of LAF case support recipient Graciela Chichilnisky.

• New York Times blogger Judith Warner, dropped science after 9th grade and math after 10th grade. She studied an accumulated 18 years of foreign languages, but never set foot in a lab until she spent last week at M.I.T.

• The Fordham Institute released a report on two fascinating studies about the state of high-achieving students under the Bush Administration's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative.

• According to the Washington Post, about 500 public schools nationwide will institute single-sex classrooms by next fall.

• When telling friends and family about her legal internship this summer at the National Women’s Law Center, Anya Prince hears, “…So, umm.., is there really inequality left?”

• Anti-feminism on the Internet is widespread, vicious, and hilarious. Feministing made a list of the top ten worst anti-feminist videos. Enjoy their list of crazy, funny, and just plain odd anti-feminist videos compiled.

• The national discussion of women's leadership changed from one of the merits of an accomplished senator turned potential first female president to the clothes of the potential first ladies fast enough to give Huffington Post blogger Lisa Witter whiplash.

• Someday, a woman will break the White House barrier. Whoever that is will owe Clinton's 2008 run a huge debt.
• Women who find Clinton's candidacy somehow tainted by the fact that she derives power from her husband's presidency fail to understand traditional paths to female political power.
• Linda Hirshman writes in the Washington Post that feminism hasn't realized its full potential yet due to divisions of race, class, and age.
• Wellesley College student Sarah Odell explains why feminism still matters.
• Sergeant Barbara Ospina is committed to fighting the war on terror and the battle for women's rights in Afghanistan.
• A young Iranian activist says that he has become the first man sentenced for participating in a campaign to change laws that discriminate against women.
• A Smith College professor focuses on the ways in which sexism and racisim played themselves out in the life of activist Ida B. Wells.
• Every 2 minutes someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. But only six percent of rapists will ever go to jail.
• A prominent women's rights lawyer has been sued for sexual harassment by a former female office manager at his Manhattan firm.
• Four women were inducted into the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame at the new Sports Museum of America.
• Columnist Lya Wodraska relishes the success of female athletes in traditionally male-dominated sports.
• In 1970, one in 27 high school girls played a varsity sport. Today, that figure is two in five, with professional leagues a product of this growth surge.
• Proponents of sex education programs that focus on encouraging abstinence are launching a nationwide campaign aimed at enlisting 1 million parents to support the controversial approach.
• Writer Robert Engelman explains in a new book how allowing women to control their reproduction can lead to a more sustainable planet.
• Employers are falling all over themselves to vie for the most "sophisticated, accomplished, entitled" graduates ever produced by American colleges.
• The Vatican announced that it will excommunicate anyone who would attempt to ordain a woman as a priest and the woman herself.

At the bookstore this year the collection under the "Gifts for Dad" sign focused on sports, cars, and the military — the typical assumed choices for dads, but certainly limiting. So I ended up doing an unofficial poll right on the spot and asked a few men what kinds of books they would want as gifts from their daughters. (Yes, I self-selected, asking if they had daughters.) First they wanted to know who I was with, whether they would be quoted, and if they had to buy anything. Once they were satisfied with my response, they answered my few questions cheerfully.

The results? The first answer, unanimously given, was that they were always happy with any gift their daughter gave them. When probed a bit further, some admitted that their daughters tried to be subtle (or maybe not so subtle) by giving them self-help books on areas their daughters thought needed improvement. After that, the answers were as diverse as the men were, depending on their personal interests. But the overwhelming sense of pride these individuals had in their daughters was evident, as almost everyone talked more about their daughter than about the subject at hand.

Dads and Daughters, led by longtime Title IX champion and AAUW ally Joe Kelly, is an advocacy nonprofit that encourages fathers to engage in their daughters' lives. In an earlier interview with AAUW, Kelly cited studies correlating fathers' presence at home, time spent child rearing, and affection shared with daughters with a later onset of puberty in girls, which in turn reduces the chances of teen pregnancy, depression, alcohol consumption, and disturbed body image. A study of third- and fourth-graders found a link between fathers' provision of warmth and their daughters' higher academic achievement. Joe's blog in honor of Father's Day, which appears on the newly revised Dads and Daughters website, also reminds us to honor our stepdads this year.

So here's to dads! While we honor them on Sunday, I thought one of the answers a dad gave me summed it up best. "I have two daughters," he said. "But we gave up celebrating Father's Day (and Mother's Day) years ago. We decided to celebrate being a dad and mom everyday!"

Most disheartening to me, however, are the Clinton supporters who say they’ll just stay home if she isn’t selected as the vice presidential candidate. It’s disturbing enough that our country has such a low percentage of citizens who exercise their right (and responsibility) to vote, but it’s even worse when women, whose foremothers fought so hard for the right to vote, don’t exercise that right. Over the last several elections, women have been seen as a powerful voting bloc, and politicians have taken note. Speeches tailored to soccer moms and security moms, Clinton’s infamous 3 a.m. phone call ads, and candidates seeking the endorsement of women’s groups are a few examples. Yet women lose this power when we don’t invoke it. June 4 was the 89th anniversary of the date Congress approved the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and sent it to the states for ratification. What would those who fought so hard to guarantee women’s suffrage think of those who refuse to vote this year? What do you think?

Critical issues — educational equity, retirement security, a fair and balanced judiciary, civil rights, workplace fairness, reproductive rights, healthcare reform, and equal pay — are at stake each time Americans go to the ballot box. To me, these issues are too important to even think about staying home on Election Day.

There are several things you can do to ensure that women’s voices and issues are heard on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008. Encourage other women to vote by sending them AAUW’s voter e-card; if they are not registered to vote, encourage them to register. Read AAUW’s Woman-to-Woman Voter Turnout: A Manual for Community-Based Campaigns to Mobilize Women to Vote for tips on how you can help get more women to the polls. Finally, get informed by reading more about AAUW’s Voter Education Campaign.

John Shrapnel, who has starred in big-budget hits like Troy and Gladiator, is taking a huge salary cut to star in a short film being shot in Newcastle.

The seven-minute movie, Sleepzone, is being produced by Pinball Films, based in Eldon Square, Newcastle.

It is a psychological thriller being funded by a Lottery grant of just £7,000 and Mr Shrapnel has agreed to receive basic Equity rates of pay.

He plays, Dr Peter Glass, a Psychology lecturer, in the thriller and is currently in the city filming for two days.

'Bit of a gamble'

He said: "It is just as exciting for me to film in a garage in Newcastle compared to, say, a desert abroad.

"It is a good experience for me and the main thing is to work with good people."

The film's producer, Ashley Horn, of independent company Pinball Films, sent the script to Mr Shrapnel and was delighted when he accepted.

He said: "I already knew him and took a bit of a gamble, but if you don't ask you don't get.

"He accepted because the script for Sleepzone is so good - but I will not give too much away."

Sleepzone is one of eight short, low-budget films to be shot in the North East of England and being backed by screen agency Northern Film & Media and the UK Film Council.
]]> http://aauwnational.wordpress.com/?p=158 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:50:47 +0000 aauwguest http://aauwnational.wordpress.com/?p=158 This guest blog is by Ijeoma Nwatu, an intern in the AAUW Communications Department. She is a senior at George Mason University, where she is majoring in public administration with a minor in communications. She served as the student body vice president during the 2007–08 academic school year. She also attended NCCWSL in 2007. In the future, she expects to attend graduate school and later run for a political office.

Last summer, I attended the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders (NCCWSL) on behalf of George Mason University. The director of my school’s leadership office recommended that I attend this conference to help strengthen my skills as a leader and to prepare for my role as student body vice president.

The opportunity to meet other female student leaders from around the country in the nation’s capital over two and half days intrigued me. Most of the conferences I have attended do not specifically focus on women’s leadership, nor do they provide the chance to meet other successful women in a variety of professions.

At first, I was a little wary of the experience because I was the only student representative from my school. But I soon realized that this minor detail did not matter at all. I met girls who attended school as far away as Guam and were excited about meeting peers who were actively involved at their universities.

I remember the electric atmosphere when all of us were together for the welcome ceremony. Each student was given the opportunity to introduce herself to the entire group. The introduction was a bit nerve-wracking for me, but for some it was a piece of cake. I listened to women passionately describe their interests in government, helping others, raising families, continuing their education, and much more. Many of the stories were uplifting, while a few stories of struggles and hardships tugged at our hearts. By the end of the introductions, I had a better appreciation and understanding of what the conference was going to entail — and I still had two more days!

Sitting down at dinner with other female student leaders, asking questions to a slew of impressive female speakers, and being present at the Women of Distinction awards ceremony are just a few great memories of the 2007 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. I am most appreciative of the confidence I gained from NCCWSL because I know it helped me show and prove to others the pride I have for myself and my abilities. I am especially grateful that the conference provided me the opportunity to interact with so many different women. All in all, I met enough inspiring role models to blaze a path of my own for future female leaders. And for that, I am grateful and ready to take on that challenge.

You can help spread the word about AAUW’s new research by commenting on the stories and blogs, including the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Denver Post, and Hartford Courant.

Upcoming television programs that will feature the AAUW report include PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and To the Contrary. Check your local listings for these broadcasts today and Friday, respectively, featuring interviews with AAUW Executive Director Linda D. Hallman, CAE.

Blogs featuring the AAUW report so far include Education Week’s Eduwonkette, the American Council on Education, and Best Education Today. We encourage you to visit these sites and comment about the research or join the conversation here.

Copies of Where the Girls Are may be downloaded free from the AAUW website.

On Tuesday, May 20, AAUW will release Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education. This comprehensive look at the educational achievement of girls over the past 35 years pays special attention to the relationship between girls' and boys' progress.

Have reports of a "boys crisis" been exaggerated? Find out what the data tells us and learn the facts about gender equity in education.

This year’s race seems to have divided women’s organizations and put many of them in a tough position. Basically, damned if you support anybody but Hillary and damned if you don't support Hillary (same thing, I know). NOW and EMILY’s List support Hillary (granted, EMILY’s List only supports pro-choice women candidates, so their choice was pretty clear-cut). When AAUW posed the question about a presidential endorsement on our blog earlier this year with our "Should AAUW Endorse Hillary?" post, we got a mix of comments. While some members urged us to support Hillary, most others agreed with our position of not endorsing candidates in a partisan election. And many echoed the comment that we shouldn’t endorse a woman just because she was a woman. Does it make a difference in organizations like AAUW, which has a broad policy agenda, as opposed to a single-issue organization like NARAL, whose issues obviously predominantly hit home with women?

It’s somewhat ironic that in both cases — whether it's the two candidates or NARAL itself — the controversy is about choice. Supporters of NARAL and many other women’s organizations are committed to preserving choice in all forms — reproductive rights, career choices, educational options, etc. However, many of those who left comments on their site seemed to think Hillary was the only choice for the organization to make. Different types of choices, of course, but at the core of this argument is the freedom to choose.

What do you think? Do women’s organizations have the freedom to choose to endorse a male candidate over a female one? Will the timing of this endorsement cause further strife among a house already divided?

• Men, concentrated in the weakest sectors, are losing jobs in this downturn, while women make gains.
• At least 54 more women are accusing Bloomberg L.P., the financial-services and media company founded by [New York City] Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, of discriminating against pregnant employees, a lawyer for the federal government said on Thursday.
• I am Joanna Connors, and I am telling the story I kept private for 23 years. I'm doing it for all of the others who have survived sexual assault in silence, ashamed and afraid to tell their stories.
• If there already weren’t enough reasons to get your child involved in sports, the story of Sara Tucholsky will give you another one.
• All Michael Buday wanted to do was take the last name of his wife, Diana Bijon, when they married in the U.S.
• Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died.

This week, the Executive Committee of Yale College found the young men not guilty on a charge of intimidation and harassment. The Women’s Center and others are upset because neither the pledges nor the fraternity culture on campus are expected to be disciplined or changed. The silver lining is that the university administrators have agreed to some of the Women’s Center’s demands, including the evaluation of extant sexual harassment prevention policies.

While it may be hard to prove legally that harassment or intimidation occurred due to the circumstances, it makes me wonder why their use of “slut” outside a safe place for women, including survivors of sexual assault, did not prompt immediate disciplinary actions and an official condemnation of the actions by the university or fraternity.

I agree with the Yale Women’s Center board and think that had the pledges stood in front of a multicultural center and held up a sign with a racial slur, the outcry against them would be stronger, and they would probably face disciplinary actions. Instead, a sexist slur that reminds women that they historically have been the sexual property of men and that is often used to ruin a woman’s reputation does not warrant such action …

What’s your opinion on the incident and its outcome?

• Fox news segment on Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act vote and pay equity. Segment features Lilly Ledbetter, Lisa Maatz of AAUW, and others.
• When clerics, ministers and businessmen gathered at a forum in Riyadh last month to discuss women in the workplace, there were no women in sight.
• Since it was founded, the L.A. SWAT team has been all-male, mostly white and resistant to change. But that may soon change.
• Pfc. Monica Brown cracked open the door of her Humvee outside a remote village in eastern Afghanistan to the pop of bullets shot by Taliban fighters. But instead of taking cover, the 18-year-old medic grabbed her bag and ran through gunfire toward fellow soldiers in a crippled and burning vehicle.
• The Indian prime minister described the widespread practice of aborting female fetuses as a “national shame.”
• Did a recent comedy set in London cross the line to assault?
• Students affiliated with the Zeta Psi fraternity who were involved in January’s “Yale Sluts” incident stood before the Executive Committee of Yale College three weeks ago and were found “not guilty” on a charge of intimidation and harassment, sources close to the proceedings confirmed this weekend.
• Sixty-nine percent of young mothers ages 18 to 34 have incurred medical debt, a survey indicates.

The following is a wrap up of AAUW Equal Pay Day media coverage:

• Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner (center) after the signing of the Equal Pay Day Proclamation on April 22, 2008 with Dr. Maisha Britt, AAUW Delaware State President (left) and Dr. Kathleen Jacobs, AAUW Delaware State EF Chair (right). The proclamation statement referenced the Educational Foundation’s 2007 study, Behind the Pay Gap.
• As Senate leaders yesterday observed Equal Pay Day, the White House threatened to veto a bill that would make it easier for victims of discrimination to sue their employers over unequal pay.
• How much longer must a woman work to make the same money as her male counterpart? It was a question answered Tuesday on the day dubbed "Equal Pay Day." The Jefferson County branch of the American Association of University Women spoke to people at Jefferson Community College and collected signatures for the "Fair Pay Bill."
• Women who are one year out of college and working full time earn only about 80 percent as much as their male colleagues, according to research conducted by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.
• "Many years of family-friendly legislation in action, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act and policies such as flex time and telecommuting have increased options to create a win-win situation for women and their employers," June Ford, co-president of the Elmira-Corning AAUW branch, said in a prepared statement. "But women's paychecks still lag significantly behind those of men."
• Organizers of the rally, which included the American Association of University Women, the League of Women Voters and the YWCA, pointed to the commonly held belief that it takes until April 22 — celebrated as Equal Pay Day — of a year for a woman to earn as much as her male counterpart did by Dec. 31 of the previous year.
• Patricia Sween, immediate past state president of the American Association of University Women, urges Sen. Coleman to Support Pay Equity in her letter to the editor.
• California Lutheran University faculty and students marked "Equal Pay Day" today by discussing income equity issues at an event sponsored by the school's Center for Equality and Justice and the Thousand Oaks branch of the American Association of University Women.
• Members of the Chancellor's Commission on the Status of Women [at the University of Mississippi] will be handing out flyers, stickers and candy bars at the Union today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to commemorate Equal Pay Day.
• "Our main objective is to bring awareness, to make people see that there is still pay inequity in our country today," said Julia Horne, president of the Danbury chapter of the AAUW.
• According to the American Association of University Women study "Behind the Pay Gap," pay equity also affects college graduates. The study found that women earn only 80 percent of what men earn just one year after college. Even in a level playing field where women made the same choices of fields of study and occupation as men, the women earned less. Women fall further behind, dropping to only 69 percent of men's earnings over a 10-year period.
• HARRIET LANCASTER, President, Greater Naples Branch, American Association of University Women, writes a guest commentary "Mark Equal Pay Day by supporting legislation."
• Recent headlines reveal what many of us already know - Americans are witnessing the highest inflation rates seen in more than 20 years.
• Which helps explain her most recent volunteer venture: her role as president of the American Association of University Women's Oregon chapter. The AAUW, founded in 1881, promotes education and equity for women and girls.

AAUW events across the country will mark Equal Pay Day to educate others about pay discrimination:

• AAUW members in Escabana, Michigan, will sell cookies with a bite out of them representing the 23 percent women are underpaid.
• The AAUW Vero Beach (FL) Branch will hold a bake sale where men will pay full price and women will receive a 23 percent discount.
• The AAUW Murfreesboro (TN) Branch will hand out Pay Day candy bars at Middle Tennessee State University.
• AAUW members in Salem, Oregon, will hold an “unhappy hour” where women will receive a 23 percent discount.
• AAUW members across the country will wear red to represent the way the pay gap puts women "in the red."
• Workshops held on college campuses will teach women to better negotiate for quality jobs and pay.
• Rallies will be held at city halls and state houses across the country, including in Brevard, North Carolina, where legislators will proclaim April 22, 2008, Equal Pay Day, and supporters will advocate for effective pay equity legislation.

The U.S. Senate will recognize Equal Pay Day by voting Wednesday on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (H.R. 2831). The legislation was introduced in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company case, which severely limits the ability of victims of pay discrimination to have their day in court.

Call your senators today to urge them to vote in support of the bill and send a strong signal to your senators that, in honor of Equal Pay Day, pay discrimination will not be tolerated. Then set up and send an e-card to your friends and family with the call information as well.

AAUW and our coalition partners will hold a national press conference this Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where we will urge our senators to take action to reverse the Ledbetter v. Goodyear decision and to realize the decades-old promise of equal pay for equal work. Several members of Congress are scheduled to attend, as are Lilly Ledbetter and members of the AAUW staff.

Pay equity is a simple matter of justice. Equal pay for equal work — makes sense, right? We know that women deserve a level playing field. Equal Pay Day and pay equity legislation aim to ensure that they also receive a level paying field.

• AAUW branches gear up for Equal Pay Day.
• While several other branches host science and math conferences around the country.
• And we thought it was bad here: Italian women fight for their share of parliamentary power.
• New Jersey paid family leave bill awaits governor’s signature.
• Author Linda Babcock offers words for women to live by.
• As a girl growing up in South Ozone Park, Estrella Ham remembers, she would stand in her backyard and watch the bellies of planes landing at nearby JFK airport as they flew over. "I'd try to see if I could guess what model and what airline they were," she says.
• "Girls rule at Aviation High School.
• Congress held hearings on the recent reported assaults on women contractors working in Iraq.
• A New York Times op-ed offers an interesting perspective on gender and racial prejudice and whether one is “worse” than the other.

I was truly inspired to see women’s rights, faith leaders, and development practitioners come together this past weekend at the Washington National Cathedral to launch the Women, Faith, and Development Alliance. This campaign to eradicate global poverty, address gender inequality, and invest in women and girls has catalyzed more than $1 billion in commitments from nearly 80 organizations. The faith community has not previously engaged at this level with the women’s and development communities to highlight women’s empowerment.

The work of the Alliance is desperately needed. As the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, and the U.N. Millennium Development Goals recently noted, women

• constitute 70 percent of the world’s poor but own just 1% of titled land,
• make up two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people, and
• die at a rate of 500,000 each year from preventable complications of pregnancy.

The Reverend Desmond Tutu delivered a powerful statement to the Alliance, urging the faith community to join together to focus on women’s rights as human rights: “Despite its global leadership on human rights and humanitarian aid, the faith community has failed to champion gender justice and the cause of women and girls. Religion has too often been used as a tool to oppress women, and we must bear responsibility for contributing to the unjust burden borne by women. Too often we have not named, and condemned roundly, culturally and traditionally rooted discriminatory practices like child marriages, genital mutilation, and violence against women and children.”

According to a Washington Post article, Pope Benedict XVI’s visit apparently developed from a plan to address the United Nations around the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The prediction is that his address Friday to the United Nations will discuss the link between freedom and religion. Here’s hoping he’ll take the opportunity to identify women’s rights as human rights and to focus on the need to empower women and girls in our global society.

• “Creating a legacy of leadership: A women’s conference” drew more than 80 participants to First Presbyterian Church in Red Wing, WI. The conference was hosted by the League of Women Voters Red Wing, the Red Wing Chapter of the American Association of University Women and Community Education.
  
• Amber Cowan is completing her studies with the help of a scholarship from the Tahlequah American Association of University Women. She, Stanberry and Turner presented their projects during the AAUW meeting earlier this month.
  
• Voters who mistakenly supported a ballot initiative to end state programs favoring minorities and women should speak out, affirmative-action advocates said Tuesday, setting the stage for a potential lawsuit.
  
• Growing up, Sheila Johnson refused to believe that she "couldn't" achieve something because she was female. Today, she passes that belief along through gifts aimed at catalyzing change for women. Ninth in a series on women funding serious change.
  
• Margo Tucker was in fifth grade when Tori Allen made history. Allen, a 2005 Lawrence Central graduate, was an elite pole-vaulter who won the boys Marion County championship in 2002 as a freshman. Allen, a female, competed in the boys competition because pole vaulting was not offered in girls track.
  
• It was five on five last Thursday afternoon in the warm Sweet Briar classroom above the gym. The students, all women, were competing in the old intellectual way: debate.
  The subject: Title IX.
  
• A new report from the Institute for Policy Studies, "40 Years Later: The Unrealized American Dream," lays out key elements of the inequality that African-Americans experience in the United States around education, employment and wealth accumulation. ... On education, the IPS report states African-American college graduation rates will not be on par with white graduation rates for another 80 years. The income gap between African-Americans and whites will not disappear for more than 500 years at current rates.
  
• With a couple of months before graduation, Michael Jin is looking forward to life after college. With only a couple of months to go before graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Michael dreams of working for a sports marketing company like IMG or Octagon. Laurena Abraham, a student majoring in sports management and HR, is equally ambitious. Also currently studying at UMass, Laurena plans to gain employment in the sports marketing field. But Abraham is likely to earn less than Jin after graduation.
  
• Whether you are running for president or looking for a clerical job, you cannot afford to get angry if you are a woman, Yale University psychologist Victoria Brescoll has found.
  
• A British spy who helped lead the French Resistance during World War II outfoxed the Nazis by concealing secret messages in the hem of her skirt, according to records unsealed Monday.
  
• Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a new state law that allows domestic abuse victims to break rental agreements without penalty.
  
• In a new subplot added by the filmmakers of Horton Hears a Who, the mayor of Whoville has 96 daughters. He has one son. Guess who gets all his attention? Guess who saves the day? Go ahead, think about it....
  
• The problem with showing my soon-to-be-14-year-old daughter a documentary about seven young women and the possibility of a female president of the United States was that I could imagine the conversation afterward.
  
• The historic and long-running presidential campaigns of Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton have injected issues of race and gender into politics as never before. With campaign coverage center stage on the cable channels, producers and critics are again assessing the diversity among pundits, who talk (and talk) about things like Mr. Obama’s pastor, the Hispanic vote, Iraq and the economy.
  
• In “Compañeras,” a documentary about the female mariachi band Reyna de Los Angeles, one of the members explains why she is loath to see mariachi music as work.
  

Covering youth ages 8–17, the survey goes on to say that it’s not that girls don't want to be leaders; they want to be a different kind of leader. They reject traditional top-down approaches to leadership. (Really … who likes being told what to do?) According to Judy Schoenberg, director of research and outreach at the Girl Scout Research Institute and lead author of the study, "Girls today appear to be redefining leadership in terms of being more inclusive and serving a larger purpose."

These results point to why it is critical to invest in experiences for girls and young women that help them begin to envision themselves as leaders. Girls are faced with a variety of mixed messages in their lives on what will garner acceptance among peers and the greater world. (Take the recent example of Miss Bimbo, the newly infamous online game.) Gaining the identity of a leader takes time, just as gaining confidence and learning leadership skills take time.

AAUW has invested in younger women's leadership for years, focusing most recently on empowering college women at our National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. The conference tackles contemporary leadership issues, with speakers, workshops, and plenty of time to dialogue and network, because both peer support and role models can help demonstrate the many ways young women can be leaders in their communities.

We also look to invest in activities that women are engaged in on their own college campuses with our Campus Action Projects. This year seven campuses are implementing activities that highlight the gender pay gap. AAUW, along with Girl Scouts USA, is also a partner on the National Girls Collaborative Project, which focuses on building collaboration among girl-serving STEM organizations.

One might question whether this survey’s findings would be the same in previous generations of 8- to 17-year-olds. Would you have said you wanted to be a "leader" when you were a teenager? What influenced you to identify as a leader?

Each of us has our own dreams, our own sense of injustices that need to be overcome. I unfortunately had the opportunity of listening to someone on the Metro the other day making it very clear they would never vote for a "broad," let alone one of "them." I turned my head and saw only a sea of professional commuters and a handful of tourists, all suddenly hushed. The good news: A chorus of voices immediately rose, talking of how terrible bigotry is and of the responsibility of freedom.

Women have also achieved success in overcoming equity obstacles; AAUW's own history reflects this. Our paths crossed with another King in 1969, when the AAUW Educational Foundation launched the Coretta Scott King Fund, providing opportunities for black women to study African American history and culture, social change, and peace.

Our dream of equality has yet to be fully realized either. Civil Rights, Economic Security, Education - all issues AAUW focuses their advocacy efforts around. The great thing about dreams is their potential to motivate. Our community has a great dream and a collective voice. Have you raised yours lately?

A federal judge has ruled that leaders of a prominent Southern Baptist seminary who believe women are biblically forbidden from teaching men were within their rights when they told a female professor to leave.

Surveys abound showing that women in academe (and the rest of society) earn less than men. Likewise theories abound for why this is the case, so many years after it ceased to be acceptable for deans (or other bosses) to automatically assume a woman could make do with less.

The latest study by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport shows women's college basketball players do far better academically than men.

The Disney princesses aren't sweet and innocent. They're a gang of vicious hoodlums, and they're plotting against you.

Professionals in Maryville (MO) were converged upon by 54 eighth-grade girls during the 16th annual Job Shadow Day sponsored by the Maryville branch of the American Association of University Women.

Weren't we supposed to be beyond this by now? After years of progress, women's gains at work have come to a baffling halt.

In the new dynamics of home economics, it’s not just that men want women to contribute financially to a marriage: The vast majority of men say they wouldn't even mind if their wives brought home the bigger paycheck.

Japanese police report the number of domestic violence cases jumped 15 percent last year as more women broke their silence about assaults in the home.

A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.

The University of Colorado hires Title IX adviser as part of the settlement in a case brought by two women who charged they were raped by CU football players and recruits in 2001.

Elizabeth Wurtzel sounds a gloomy and despairing note about the state of contemporary feminism.

Recent political news has forced the issue of where our society stand on gender matters.

But with all of this hoopla and media coverage, some important 2008 tournament figures have been overshadowed. Of the 65 men’s and 64 women’s teams,

• 62 women’s teams (98 percent) graduated at least 50 percent of their athletes compared to 41 men’s teams (64 percent);
• 61 women’s teams graduated at least 60 percent of their athletes compared to 31 men’s teams; and
• 51 women’s teams graduated at least 70 percent of their athletes compared to 22 men’s teams.

These numbers come from the annual Keeping Score When It Counts study, by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports at the University of Central Florida, of Graduation Success Rates (GSR) for NCAA Division I basketball student athletes at tournament-selected schools. GSR measures graduation rates for student athletes within six years of beginning college. The numbers reflect an overall improvement, but disparities between African American and white athletes persist.

As we celebrate Title IX at 35, these numbers are encouraging. The expansion of athletic opportunities for girls and women created by Title IX and supported by AAUW offer many students access to higher education. Starting this weekend, let’s remember to cheer the accomplishments of these student athletes both on the court and in the classroom. And be sure to catch License to Thrive, a documentary about the effect of Title IX legislation on women leaders in sports, business, science, education, and other arenas this Sunday on ESPN2.

The recent news videos showing Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, making controversial comments has the pundits wondering about the impact to Obama's campaign. Hillary Clinton has certainly been affected by former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferarro's recent statements and by the never-ending references to comments or actions of her husband. And John McCain has his own alleged skeletons; I heard the term "Keating Five" just the other day and had to go look it up.

The one key element in all of these has to do with perceived truth. I say "perceived" because, as much as I believe in freedom of the press, I know I can’t expect to learn the truth by watching TV, reading the newspapers or even seeing a live video on YouTube. And being there in person doesn’t mean you will know or remember what actually happened. What’s the old adage about police rarely relying on eye witnesses — you'll get ten different stories by ten different witnesses of the same incident. The real truth lies somewhere between what we saw and what we can or cannot know.

That’s why it’s really important to do as much investigation into the "truth" as possible. While I certainly can't begin to offer any sort of proof or disproof for any of the above examples (thus no links to any sources), I can say there are other ways of finding out reality versus perception. Take a look at AAUW's recent release of the Congressional Voting Record for the First Session of the 110th Congress — a great resource when trying to learn how legislators voted on an AAUW issue of importance to women and girls. What other resources have you found that help you make informed decisions?