The AAUW Public Policy Committee and Board of Directors recommend the following changes to the Public Policy Priorities. Now through January 29, 2025, you can comment on the recommended changes. Members will vote on the changes beginning in April 2025.
The document was reformatted to provide a better distinction between the guiding principles of AAUW’s public policy work at all levels, and the biennial action priorities for AAUW National’s federal advocacy work over the next two years.
Recommended changes
The proposed principles continue to emphasize core values regarding education, economic security and social justice. The proposal removes 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 policy priorities for federal advocacy focus on equity in higher education and are chosen based on critical need, political viability, and potential for distinctive AAUW contribution or leadership.
Below is a summary of proposed changes for 2025-2027:
- Specific endorsement of the 2024 Title IX regulations which provide increased support for student survivors of sexual harassment and assault and clarify Title IX protections for students who are LGBTQ+, pregnant, or parenting.
- Clear articulation of support for inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals in policies around school and workplace protections.
- Emphasis on specific components important for women’s economic security including education, pay equity, caregiving burdens, retirement safety nets, and access to contraception and abortion.
- Recognition that the Equal Rights Amendment has met the constitutional requirements for ratification as articulated in the U.S. Constitution.
- Removal of broad statements about poverty reduction, housing, health care for all, gun violence, immigration, and campaign finance reform.
- Clear articulation that AAUW’s public policy focus is domestic.
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 policy staff and the AAUW Public Policy Committee.
This document is intended to outline the overarching core values guiding AAUW’s policy work to provide flexibility at the federal, state, and local level. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of specific issues critical to ensure equity for all.
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 advance 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 location
- Addressing the multiple factors that reinforce the gender and racial pay gaps, through increasing salary transparency, eliminating salary history to set future wages, increasing the minimum wage, and addressing root causes of occupational segregation
- Expansion and enforcement of employment discrimination statutes
- 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
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 the 2024 update to 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