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A message from the Co-President of AAUW

2023-2024 Membership Form

Marilyn Shankar & Heather Abushanab

This year, AAUW Redlands Branch has a record number of new members and lots of exciting things happening. As a member of AAUW Redlands Branch, you are also a member of AAUW, the national organization to which our branch is affiliated. AAUW leadership has proposed a significant change to the membership rules. All of us will be asked to weigh in with our votes on this proposal.

In short, the AAUW Board of Directors and AAUW Governance Committee recommend that membership in AAUW be available to any individual who supports AAUW’s important mission: advancing equity for women and girls.

All points of view on this amendment are valid, and I hope you will discuss your point of view with other members of the branch in a constructive and collegial manner.  I will share with you my thoughts on this.

AAUW, which stands for American Association of University Women was founded by several women who struggled to access higher education.

They wanted to band together with other educated women to support each other in their careers and to help break down barriers so that more women could access higher education. Much of AAUW’s work is still directed at making sure that individual women can get the education they want and deserve. But it isn’t just American university-educated women who are interested in this struggle.

In 1919, AAUW recognized non-American Marie Curie’s educational excellence and important research by banding together to purchase a gram of radium for her experiments. Today, we have many members of our branch who were educated overseas and are contributing as either non-Americans or naturalized Americans. Later, AAUW recognized that you do not need to be female to work towards equity for women. Although AAUW still lists a majority of women members, men have been allowed to be members since 1987. These male members make great allies in our fight to advance equity for women. Although most of our members do have bachelor’s degrees from a university, we all know that those with associate degrees and our student members are also valued members of AAUW. Since 2005, those with associate degrees from two-year colleges or community colleges have been welcomed into AAUW membership. The changes that opened AAUW to foreigners, men, and those with 2-year degrees did not change the nature of AAUW’s commitment to equity for women and girls. I doubt the additional change in membership requirements proposed will fundamentally change the nature of AAUW or the majority makeup of our branch.

But we will be able to invite and welcome people in the community that we have not been able to invite before. I think about a former Zonta member, who worked with me on our Lunafest partnership for many years. When Zonta closed, she was a natural fit for AAUW, already committed to our mission and already doing great work in the community. Though she worked for many years as a court recorder and had many years of training to do that job, she did not have a degree. I was embarrassed when I asked her to join AAUW, and she let me know she was not eligible. I think about a friend who worked for Redlands Unified School District for many years. Her final assignment there was coordinating a program that supported foster care children, homeless kids, and other at-risk groups through mentorship. Each year, she let the girls in her program know when our STEM conference was happening and made sure those in 8th grade registered. She is as committed to the AAUW mission as anyone I know, yet I can’t recruit her for membership because she went to college for three years, but life intervened and she never earned a degree. No one could call her uneducated, but the degree requirement prevents her from joining. With these two women in mind, I will be voting in favor of the proposed bylaws changes when voting opens on April 3rd. I hope over the next few weeks, you will engage in conversation with other AAUW members and consider carefully how our organization might change if this proposal passes.

Heather Abushanab, Co-President
AAUW Redlands Branch


Bridge Scramble is March 21, 2024

Join us for bridge, luncheon, and prizes to raise money for our Mission Fund! This event will be held at the beautiful Dike’s Chapel, located at the First United Methodist Church. Learn more >

 

 


Learn More About AAUW

If you are interested in joining AAUW, or have questions, please contact us at Membership@AAUWRedlands.org.

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