Every two years, members vote on revisions to AAUW’s Public Policy Priorities. Now through January 29, 2025 you can comment on the changes recommended by the AAUW Board of Directors and Public Policy Committee. Members will vote on the changes beginning in April 2025.
Recommended changes
One primary goal of these changes is to more clearly articulate the core public policy principles of the organization which guide AAUW members’ actions at the local and state level. The proposed changes build on the long history of AAUW’s member activism and are tailored to address contemporary issues, such as post-pandemic education reforms and reproductive rights threats.
Another goal was to more clearly distinguish between the guardrails for AAUW’s policy work and the specific priorities that will guide AAUW’s federal advocacy work at the national level over the next two years. As a result, the Public Policy Priorities have been rebranded as Public Policy Principles with Biennial Action Priorities.
The document was reformatted make it more accessible to members and supporters by providing a high-level policy framework (Principles) emphasizing core values on education, economic security and social justice, while articulating an explicit distinction for a public policy focus on higher education at the federal level (Priorities).
Below is a summary of changes for 2025-2027:
- Crafted as a working document for advocacy with clear directives for short-term (biennial) and long-term goals.
- Specific endorsement of the 2024 Title IX regulations and commitments to inclusivity for LGBTQ+ and parenting students.
- Clear articulation of support for inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals in policies around school and workplace protections.
- Details specific strategies for economic security to address pay equity, caregiving burdens, and retirement safety nets.
- Direct inclusion of access to contraception and abortion as critical components of equity.
- Places stronger emphasis on intersectionality, structural racism, and white supremacy, weaving these themes throughout the policy initiatives.
- Recognizes that the Equal Rights Amendment has met the constitutional requirements articulated in the U.S. Constitution.
- The proposed framework excludes issues that, while valuable and important components to equity, go beyond the scope of AAUW’s focus on higher education and were so broad as to not provide guidance on the types of policy approaches that would be in line with AAUW’s mission.
- The proposed framework demonstrates a focus on domestic issues.
Here’s how to comment:
- Read the current AAUW Public Policy Priorities and review the proposed changes below
- Submit any comments or proposed changes by 5:00 pm ET on Wednesday, January 29, 2025
All submitted comments or proposed changes will be reviewed by AAUW’s public policy staff and the AAUW Public Policy Committee.
Keep in mind, this document outlines the overarching scope of AAUW’s policy work. Specificity pertaining to particular issues that are otherwise encompassed is not necessary. Priorities are chosen according to the criteria of viability, critical need, strong member support, and potential for distinctive AAUW contribution or leadership.
AAUW Public Policy Principles and 2025-2027 Biennial Action Priorities
December 4, 2024
The Public Policy Principles underscore AAUW’s mission to advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education, and advocacy. They establish principles for action on which AAUW members across the country focus their advocacy efforts. They guide the work of the AAUW’s federal priorities and that of AAUW state organizations and branches on state and local issue advocacy efforts.
AAUW positions are shaped by our commitment to equity by being nonpartisan, evidence-based, experience-driven, inclusive, and intersectional. AAUW opposes all forms of discrimination on the basis of age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, geographical location, national origin, religious beliefs, pregnancy or parental status or socioeconomic status, and supports constitutional protection for the civil rights of all individuals. AAUW believes in the need to end white supremacy and address structural and systemic racism. Efforts to improve racial, ethnic, and gender justice must be embedded into every policy initiative.
AAUW stands for Education
- Public Education:
- Investing in strong public education systems which provide equitable high quality public K-12 education
- Opposing the use of public funds for nonpublic elementary and secondary education and for charter schools that do not adhere to the same civil rights and accountability standards as required of other public schools
- Closing the learning and opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students from low-income and underserved groups
- Inclusive Curriculum:
- Ensuring all curriculum represents historically accurate information, information based on scientific consensus, and is free from religious bias
- STEM Opportunities:
- Closing the gender gap in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education
- Expanding access for women in technical and vocational education and training that leads to lucrative employment
- Enforcement of Inclusive Title IX Rules and Other Civil Rights Statutes:
- Vigorous enforcement of the 2024 Title IX rules, and other protections against sex-based harassment and discrimination in schools
- Prohibiting harassment and bullying in schools with specific enumeration of students on the basis of disability, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex-based stereotypes and characteristics, pregnancy or parental status
- Affordable post-secondary education:
- Increasing equitable access to higher education, which is affordable and yields high-quality credentials or degrees
AAUW stands for Economic Security
- Pay Equity:
- Ensuring equal pay and benefits for equal work regardless of gender, identity, or locatio
- Addressing the multiple factors that reinforce the gender and racial pay gaps, including increasing salary transparency, eliminating salary history to set future wages, increasing the minimum wage, and addressing root causes of occupational segregation
- Mitigation of Caregiving:
- Improving access to paid sick leave, medical leave, safe leave, affordable child and elder care, and other policies that mitigate the unequal burden on women for caregiving responsibilities
- Retirement Safety Nets:
- Robust and strong Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security systems and oppose any efforts to undermine them, including privatization and block grant proposals
- Reproductive Freedom:
- Ensuring access to contraception and abortion care for all women regardless of location
- Expansion and enforcement of employment discrimination statutes
AAUW stands for Social Justice and Civil Rights
- Constitutional Rights:
- Vigorous enforcement of and full access to civil and constitutional rights, including recognition and publication of the Equal Rights Amendment
- Expanding Voting Rights:
- Expanding voting rights to promote diverse, inclusive and equitable political participation
- Freedom from Harassment and Violence:
- Ensuring that people who are subject to harassment or violence based on age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, geographical location, national origin, religious beliefs, pregnancy or parental status have full protection and recourse under the law
- Supporting policies to end gender-based violence, including reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
- Supporting policies that address the prevention of human trafficking and protection of its victims
- International and Civil Rights:
- Supporting U.S. advancement towards the gender equity goals on education and the economy in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
- Supporting ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
2025-2027 Biennial Action Priorities
AAUW’s Biennial Action Priorities for federal action are chosen according to the criteria of viability, critical need, strong member support, and potential for distinctive AAUW contribution or leadership. These national priorities inform state and local action. Additional priorities may be added based on circumstances. No order of importance for the priorities is implied.
To support equitable access to higher education that promotes gender fairness, equity, diversity and inclusivity, and to address the barriers and implicit biases that hinder the advancement of women and girls, AAUW advocates for:
- Vigorous protection of Title IX regulations that provide clear directives to build safer and more inclusive institutions for all students, including student survivors of sexual violence, pregnant and parenting students, LGBTQ+ students
- Ensuring institutions of higher education are accessible to all students regardless of socioeconomic status, the environment is inclusive, and free from political intervention around curriculum
- Reducing barriers to postsecondary success, specifically for women of color, including increasing investment in financial support for degree programs, campus childcare programs
- Policies that support working women in pursuit of higher education, including increased access to paid leave, access to contraception and abortion care, affordable high-quality child care
- Complete, accurate and timely collection of data, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender identity to inform policy decisions