Public Policy

AAUW is a community that breaks through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance. Your membership makes AAUW’s powerful voice even stronger on critical issues affecting women and girls.

Share in the commitment to speak out on vital social, economic, and political issues.  These are the critical issues for AAUW:

  • Pay equity
  • Paid family and sick leave
  • Access to reproductive health care
  • College affordability
  • The Equal Rights Amendment

AAUW’s policy work connects and rallies advocates at the local, state, national, and global levels to empower women and girls. With the member-voted Public Policy Priorities as our guide, AAUW uses lobbying and grassroots efforts to push forward policies that break through educational and economic barriers for women.

Reproductive justice is an important issue for AAUW members. Each January our branch has an activity or meeting focused on this issue. See our summary of our January 2025 webinar – with resources for action.

Here’s AAUW’s 2024 Guide to the issues, with questions about gender equity to ask the candidates, for various offices – whether local, state, or national. AAUW Voter Issue Guide. While AAUW does not endorse candidates for partisan offices, we can learn what we CAN do in this election as members.

The AAUW California Public Policy team (co-chaired by Silicon Valley member Amy Hom) publishes a monthly newsletter.  All issues are available from the AAUW-CA website. As an example, see what they say about the reality of Project 2025 – and what we can do: Public Policy News – February 2025 (page 2).

AAUW California has also been strongly supporting DEI initiatives. To learn more about DEI, check out the YouTube video podcast privately  produced by Missy Maceyko (AAUW-CA Public Policy co-chair) and a partner:  The Intercultural Podcast. The latest episode: Is DEI Illegal?

As an AAUW member, you’ll be proud to belong to this nationwide group of people who value education and equal rights … who are contributing to a more promising future for all women and girls … and who together provide a powerful voice for women and girls—a voice that cannot and will not be ignored. Pay equity continues to be a major issue which AAUW has supported for decades. Around the country, there is a trend to ensure greater transparency about salary and compensation. These policies work.

For more information, please visit the national AAUW Public Policy page and the AAUW California Public Policy page. Both are full of information. AAUW is non-partisan and takes positions based on relevance to AAUW’s Public Policy program.

Our branch is beginning a Public Policy Interest group that will meet 3-5 times a year via Zoom. Details are in our March-April branch newsletter and summarized on our Interest Groups page. Contact Claire Noonan to be involved as the group arranges a common meeting date/time schedule.

The six AAUW Branches of Santa Clara County support Strong Start, a SCC Office of Education Early Childhood Care and Education project. SCCOE’s mission is to provide universal childcare and preschool, with special emphasis on under-served communities in the county.