March  2023

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FROM CELIA

Spring is in sight; just a few weeks to go. Hopefully, it will bring warmer and sunnier days. Read the program article to learn about our March 16 general meeting focusing on and celebrating Women’s History Month. It will be held at the La Palma Community Center. Thank you, Edna, for arranging the location.
Speaking of women’s history, I would like to share some tidbits about women who made history, but not in most books. This information comes from a sort-of game done at a past March branch meeting at which we were enlightened about the accomplishments of 16 women, many of whom are not commonly known. We were to match the woman with a brief sentence about her accomplishment. I have chosen four of those women: Catherine Littlefield Green, Jerrie Cobb, Elizabeth Blackwell and Bette Clair Nesmith along with a short paragraph about what they did.
Catherine invented the cotton gin in 1793. Since it was inconceivable for a woman to apply for and develop a patent, she showed her invention to Eli Whitney who got the patent, money and credit for the invention that revolutionized agriculture in the American South.
Jerrie became a pilot in her teens. In 1959, she was recruited to secretly undergo tests that were already publicly being taken by John Glenn, Alan Shepard and other male astronaut candidates for the Mercury program. Jerrie’s evaluations were high, sometimes higher than Glenn’s, and the doctors rated her suitability for space flight as excellent. But NASA stalled on giving her an appointment to the space team. When other women who followed her through the testing process also scored high marks, NASA abruptly canceled all testing on women and later admitted that the U.S. wasn’t ready for a woman to represent it in space.
Elizabeth is possibly a little better known. Although she was refused entrance to 29 medical schools and publicly ridiculed for her attempts, she persisted. When she was finally admitted to the Medical Institute of Geneva NY, her arrival on campus was met with hostility and shock. She was spat upon, refused lodging and barred from some classroom demonstrations. Despite all of that, she graduated at the head of her class in 1849.
Bette developed a product with which we all are very familiar: Liquid Paper. She patented the correction fluid in 1958. At least women could obtain patents, unlike for the cotton gin. For those of you who remember The Monkees, her son Mike was a member of that musical group.
The nominating committee, Chris and Faith, will be contacting you, or may have already, to see if you will step up for the branch and be willing to accept an elected board position (president, president-elect or program, membership or Fund vice president). We need your help to ensure that our branch can continue to exist. (Note: the VP positions can certainly be shared by two members.)
And, finally, birthday wishes to Sue S.

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Reminder to members:  As is written in your directory, the AAUW mail/email list is to be used for AAUW business only.  If you wish to share something personal with selected members, please verify with the members first, if they want to be included.  Members who find themselves receiving email they do not want should feel free to ask to be removed.  We’re all friends here.

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Meeting & Program, Faith & Cathy
Thursday, March 16

LaPalma Community Center
Social time at 6:30
Program at 7:00 PM,
Business meeting to follow

Program will be a celebration of Women’s History Month with short films, readings and displays.

 

Public Policy, Sondra & Norma

Equal Pay Day on March 15th, Wear RED!

Equal Pay Day (EPD) is the symbolic day when women’s earnings “catch up” to men’s earnings from the previous year. For the past several years, that day has always come in the second week of April.  This year, EPD will fall on March 15th.  This is a powerful occasion to raise awareness about and organize action around the gender pay gap in your community.  Consider wearing RED to show that women are “in the red” in their paychecks until that day.

 

March is Women’s History Month; a Fitting Time to Observe Transgender Day of Visibility

Melissa Maceyko, Member AAUW California Public Policy Committee

 

Each year on March 31, the world observes Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) to raise awareness about transgender people. It is a day to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people, while also drawing attention to the poverty, discrimination, and violence the community faces.

We understand how women’s history tells the story of misogyny, which is the systemic mistreatment of women, girls, and feminine peoples through forms of physical and structural violence.  But we rarely consider how it is linked to transmisogyny, which focuses on the complex intersections between transphobia and misogyny that are faced by trans women and girls, as well as trans-feminine and gender non-conforming peoples. It is a term that attempts to capture multiple layers of gender-based marginalization and systemic mistreatment. If misogyny and transmisogyny are not combatted together, then the root of the problem will never truly be eradicated.

Although the past decade has seen a more vocal public push for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives around gender, the current sociopolitical climate in the United States is not supportive of, and is often openly hostile to, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. Under this sphere of increased hostility is the explicit targeting of trans women and girls and trans-feminine peoples with words, actions, and legislation. It is particularly important for women’s organizations who seek to combat gender-based forms of oppression to build coalitions and take a stand against misogyny and transmisogyny in all its forms, because misogyny and transmisogyny come from the same place. They both describe gender-based oppression that results from the prioritization of masculinity alongside the degradation of femininity.

Targeted hostility against trans women and girls and trans-feminine peoples can be seen not only in the alarming uptick in physical violence against this community, but also in the increasing persistence and intensity of public debates over whether or not trans women and girls and trans-feminine peoples are “real women” that belong in “women’s spaces,” including gender-specific bathrooms, women’s sports teams, and locker rooms. These debates prioritize misplaced and misunderstood claims of biological authenticity. They are dehumanizing and cannot be disconnected from other forms of violence as they normalize widespread and explicit marginalization and exclusion.

As a women’s organization, the increasingly hostile environment for trans women and girls and trans-feminine people should be at the forefront of our collective education and activism – let’s help ensure that history doesn’t continue to repeat itself.   Visit the Public Policy website to learn more.

 

AAUW Fund, Sue & Tobi

Equal Pay Day and the AAUW Fund

March 14, 2023 is Equal Pay Day.  This is the day it takes women to earn what a man earned in the previous way.  One of the ways AAUW addresses the Pay Gap is through the AAUW Fund – Economic Security Fund (4449).  The following information is from the AAUW Website and courtesy of Linda Westman, AAUW Long Beach co-AAUW Fund VP.

Money is power, and women will never be equal to men until they achieve full parity in earnings and wealth. American women have made strides toward economic equality, yet men continue to earn more money and accumulate greater wealth than women which has consequences for women throughout their lives and into retirement.

The median salary for women is just 83% of the median salary for men. This disparity has not improved much over the past generation. Median earnings for American women working full time are $45,097, while men are paid $55,291. Yet women make up close to 47% of the workforce, and as many as two-thirds are primary or co-breadwinners of their families.  Also, the number of women who remain single has been increasing over the years.

The gender pay gap begins as soon as women enter the workforce.  Because women earn less than men, they accumulate less wealth during their careers.  As a result, they receive about 80% of the Social Security of men.  Women’s pensions on average is 76% of men’s.  Women’s overall retirement income including Social Security, pensions, and other sources of income is only about 70% of that of men. This can leave women vulnerable throughout their retirement.

AAUW, through the Economic Security Fund, works to promote greater financial equality throughout women’s working lives in several ways.  One example includes START SMART and WORK SMART which trains women in leadership and negotiating skills so they can maximize their earning potential.  Another example can be seen in the sponsoring and supporting of legislation such as the Paycheck Fairness Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as working to strengthen Social Security.

$50 for 50

A big Thank you to all of you who are contributing to our Celebrating 50 years as a branch by contributing $50.00 or other amounts to our fund fundraiser for the AAUW fund. We shall continue this opportunity to contribute throughout the year. We will continue to celebrate our 50th year by asking each member to contribute at least a $50.00 donation to the AAUW Fund. As we have explained before, AAUW prefers contributions to the Greatest Needs Fund.  However, you can always make designations to any of the AAUW Funds if you wish.  We will have envelopes available at our meetings in 2023 for your convenience.

Looking forward to our dining fundraisers from Pieology and Chipotle that are still in the planning stages, awaiting final dates.