Celebrate Women’s History Month!

In many ways, the history of AAUW is the history of the women’s movement. The founding of AAUW in 1881 began with a meeting of 17 like-minded women who had defied society’s standards by earning college degrees. Today, with more than 100,000 members, 1,300 branches, and 500 college and university partners, AAUW contributes to a more promising future and provides a powerful voice for women and girls—a voice that cannot and will not be ignored.

Throughout its history, AAUW has shaped the social, political, and economic scene for women, including fighting to win women the right to vote; pushing to close the wage gap; and advocating for landmark legislation that has changed women's lives, such as Title IX and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Despite the improvements that have been made, inequities still exist and AAUW continues to work towards diminishing all of them.

Prior to 1972, women were routinely discriminated against in educational opportunities. AAUW strongly supports Title IX and opposes any efforts that would weaken its effectiveness. Through vigorous enforcement of the law and heightened public attention to these issues, even more progress can be made to address areas where more improvement must be made.

There are more working women in the U.S. today than ever before and that number is expected to grow. Yet women face inequity when they enter the workforce, as they find themselves paid less than men for the same or comparable jobs. Women continue to earn only 77 cents on the dollar to their male counterparts. To match men's earnings for 2006, women have to work from January 2006 to April 2007—an extra four months.

AAUW advocated from 1983 to 1992 to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was finally signed into law in 1993. Since then, the FMLA has allowed roughly 80 million Americans to take job-protected leave to care for themselves or a loved one when they need it most. The FMLA has been a tremendous success: it has made America’s workplaces more family-friendly and helped individuals be productive workers and responsible family members.