Click here for a great video: What AAUW does Be proud!
This year Pay Equity Day occurs on Tuesday, April 10th. That means the average woman continues to work until that date this year to earn the same as her parallel job male counterpart earned in last year alone. This date has changed very little for many years. HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? So DO something about it! Write to your representatives, attend an event, be noisy!
Wear RED on Equal Pay Day to symbolize how far women and minorities are “in the red” with their pay.
April, 2018
President’s Message
I hope that everyone enjoyed our International women’s panel at our March meeting as much as I did. I was hoping that one or two of them might be one of our future members but was told that they lived elsewhere. A couple were possibly interested in joining another branch close to their home. Our loss, but I’m glad that there was some interest. A big thank you to Harriet Moses for moderating. GREAT JOB
I have read and re-read the proposed by laws changes and finally feel that I can make the correct decision for me. I hope that all of you have read them also or remember from our discussion at the meeting, Information is also posted here at AAUW bylaws website Please let your opinion be known by voting,
Please attend our Academic Achievement Awards Brunch at 9:30 on Saturday, April 7, at Cerritos College, to honor our recipients.
Looking forward to our April meeting on April 19th @ Cerritos Park East featuring Sabrina Vajrača who will be speaking on Sexual Harassment and gender equity in the film industry. Check her out on www.sabrinavajraca.com or come to see her video ” Back to Bosnia ” at Dorothy Edwards home on April 10th. RSVP to TOBI for this . Hope to see all of you at our meeting for this exciting topic. It is also our annual officer election meeting.
Reminder to members: As is written in your directory, the AAUW mail/email list is to be used for AAUW business only.
AAUW slate of Officers for 2018 – 2019
President – Harriet Moses
President Elect – Vacant
Program VP – Brenda Hicks, Diane Hutson & Beverly Zwick
Membership VP –Vacant
AAUW Fund VP –Vacant
LAF Chair – Tobi Balma
Secretary – Chris Taxier
Treasurer – Marilyn Forsstrom
Public Policy – Sondra Cohen and Tobi Balma( typist)
Publicity – Edna Ethington
Tech Trek – Celia Spitzer
International Interests – Jackie Shahzadi
Academic Achievement Awards – Carol Marsh
Bulletin/Website – Marilyn Forsstrom
College/Univ Coordinator – Tobi Balma
Hospitality – Vacant
Telephone Tree – Sue Carruthers, Sue Solomon and Joyce Moore
Gourmet – Joan Flax and Gail Ross
Cover to Cover – Thea Siegel
Readers Theater – Penny Brown
Great Decisions – Dorothy Edwards
Su Casa Chair – Joan Autry
Las Comadres Lunch Bunch – Nancy Kawamura and Barbara Dunstan
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
AAUW California’s biennial convention will be April 27-29, 2018 at the Irvine Marriott (18000 Von Karman Avenue in Irvine). The convention theme is “Educated. Reasoned. Active.”, a counterpoint to today’s social media driven hysteria. There has never been a time in which we have been more challenged to advance our mission, nor has there ever been a greater opportunity.
Come celebrate the advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research we do to achieve equity for women and girls! Meet state and national leaders. Attend informative and revitalizing workshops. Hear inspiring and entertaining speakers, including plenary sessions on grassroots advocacy, women peacebuilders, advancing equity for all, and this year’s Speech Trek competition: “How Can We Stand Up to Sexism?” The convention’s grand finale will be a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Tech Trek!Additional details and registration materials are in the winter issue of the California Perspective and on our state website. Register now for reduced registration and hotel rates.
A Statement from your national AAUW Board of Directors
The AAUW National Board of Directors has voted to put three proposals for bylaws amendments before the membership for a vote this spring. The board strongly supports the proposed amendments that we believe will help keep AAUW vital as an organization and enable us to increase our impact in advancing equity for women and girls.
The proposed amendments address creating three-year staggered board terms, opening board service to those outside of the AAUW membership, and eliminating the degree requirement for membership. While rationale and details for each proposed amendment can be found on the AAUW website, the overarching motivation for these changes at this time is to uphold and advance AAUW’s mission and ensure optimal execution at the national board level.
The first two proposals would bring AAUW’s board governance structure more in line with nationally accepted nonprofit best practices and the needs of the organization. The third proposal — to eliminate the degree requirement for membership — has come before the membership for vote a number of times. The board feels strongly that while the degree requirement made perfect sense at AAUW’s inception, this requirement is now perceived by many as counter to our mission and limits our ability to build the capacity needed to increase our impact as an organization.
The board recognizes that we have not traditionally put proposals up for vote outside our AAUW National Election, but these proposed changes have been under consideration for several years by both the Governance Committee and the board, and we believe it is important to move forward without delay to position the organization for greater growth.
Members can comment on the proposed amendments and submit their own proposals from February 22, 2018, through March 22, 2018, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Voting will open on April 25, 2018, and close June 9, 2018, at 9 p.m. ET.
We encourage you all to engage in respectful debate that has always been a hallmark of the AAUW community, exercise your vote, and encourage fellow members to do the same.
Meeting & Program, Brenda, Diane H. and Thea
Thursday, April 19, 2018, 6:30 p.m.
Cerritos Park East
Sexual Harassment & Gender Inequity in the Film Industry
Our speaker will be Sabina Vajrača, an AAUW Career Development Grant recipient who is currently getting her MFA in Film and TV Production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, funded in part our La Palma-Cerritos Branch Research and Projects Grant. A passionate advocate of women in film, Sabina has received multiple awards for her work. She will address the much talked about topic of female sexual harassment and pay inequity in the film industry. She will also talk about stereotyping, lack of opportunities for women behind the camera, and how women in the film industry are held to a different standard. You can learn more about her at www.sabinavajraca.com
SPECIAL SCREENING OF SABINA’S DOCUMENTARY BACK TO BOSNIA
Members and their guests are invited to Dorothy’s home on Tuesday, April 10th at 2:30 pm to see a special screening of Sabina’s Award Winning 67 minute Documentary: BACK TO BOSNIA about her family’s return to Bosnia in 2001 to reclaim the property they were forced out of by gun point during the Bosnian War. While there, the family is confronted with the destruction of their city’s multi-ethnic character and forced to examine the community they left behind. They witness an exhumation, visit the sites of war crimes, and seek out the remnants of a city that was once their home, as well as confront those that forced them out. RSVP Tobi
AAUW Fund, Dorothy, Gail R
The La Palma-Cerritos branch of AAUW has created our own memorial fund, called the Alberta Brose Memorial Fund, to go to women who return to school just as she did. We currently have completed our goal. Details below:
This was a short time, two year fund with a goal of $5000 for completion by June 30, 2019.
All donations must come through the La Palma-Cerritos branch. Personal and branch contributions may be made.
The branch will get CA State and National recognition for completion.
Final donation will go to AAUW Fund for Career Development Grants for graduate students returning to school after 5+ year absence.
Membership,Dinah and Joan F.
MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL DUES
Our AAUW year ends on June 30 and YOUR dues for next year need to be paid and forwarded by me to our National Association and California State before then. Later payments cause a lot of hassle, extra paperwork and processing delays, so please try to pay by the end of MAY. Remember that $56 of that amount is now a tax deduction, contribution to AAUW National Association as a reorganized 501(c)3 tax exempt group. Dues amount has been changed for the upcoming year. Current annual dues now $100, Life Members still $41.
Bring a check to the meeting or send it to Marilyn, written out to La Palma-Cerritos AAUW.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>Membership Dues Update<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The AAUW Board of Directors voted in June 2017 to enact the first dues change in almost a decade. Effective March 16, 2018, the national portion of our dues will increase from $49 to $59.
Annual dues currently account for 13 percent of AAUW’s annual budget. They help to sustain and grow AAUW’s programs and work that advances equity for women and girls. A combination of dues, donations, and corporate and foundation funding is critical to supporting AAUW’s salary negotiation workshops, groundbreaking research, advocacy efforts, campus leadership programs, and so much more.
We believe we can do great things together and thank you for your continued support.
Please watch this video from AAUW Board Chair Julia Brown, J.D., and Chief Executive Officer Kim Churches
Hello AAUW breakfast (current and and future) club members
Please join us on:
Thursday April 26, , 9 AM, Breakfast Club, Huff’s Family Restaurant, NE corner Wardlow and Norwalk
Celebrate Graduates with a Free AAUW Membership
Celebrate the success of a graduate this season with the Give a Grad a Gift campaign. Anyone who has graduated within the past two years is eligible, so don’t forget interns or student teachers you might know. A free one-year membership is a great way to celebrate their accomplishments! Give a Grad a Gift can also be applied to the Younger Women’s Task Force.
International Issues, Jackie Shahzadi
Women Graduates-USA
…through its global focus and reach, empowers all women and girls to create a secure and just world built on education, advocacy, friendship and mutual respect.
WG-USA is an online organization based in the United States focusing on global issues
*Support and Advocacy for Refugee and Migrant Women and Girls
*Safe Access to Education
*Human Trafficking Advocacy and Action
*Women, Peace and Security