AAUW Ohio - Communications

National Activism

AAUW has a long and distinguished history of working to influence public attitudes and governmental policy about issues important to women and girls. The work began 125 years ago with a study of 1,300 members that contradicted a prominent Boston doctor’s conclusion that education was harmful to a woman’s health.

Since then, AAUW has applied forceful and consistent leadership in the areas of how children are raised and educated and how women are treated and paid in the workplace, in higher education and around the world.

The AAUW Public Policy Program includes basic principles for action, as well as biennial action priorities. AAUW is currently working to achieve: a strong system of public education, economic self-sufficiency for women and a diverse society.

AAUW’s public policy work involves direct lobbying on Capitol Hill and resources designed to help members participate in grassroots activism including:

The AAUW Action Network e-mails the Two Minute Activist to all members who are signed up and The Washington Update to state and branch public policy chairs or any interested member.
AAUW also produces educational materials. These include the Action Alert Newsletter, which can be read online or received in hard copy by subscription; The Congressional Voting Record, which details how your representatives and senators have voted on issues important to women; and IssueStatements, which cover various aspects of civil rights, education, health care, retirement security, Title IX, the workplace, welfare, and violence against women, among others.