Pub/sch/mem/cal

Gains in Learning - Gaps in Earning

Excerpts from an article by Jean-Marie Navetta as printed in Outlook, Spring 2005

Women in the United States reached a milestone in 2000: Female undergraduates outnumbered their male classmates. News of similar achievements followed in 2001, when significantly more women than men (59 to 41 percent) earned master’s degrees and female students comprised 47 percent of medical, law, and dentistry schools.

These accomplishments spurred media discussion on the future of women’s rights, and many pundits concluded that women had achieved equality at last.

Unfortunately, many ignored a persistent underlying problem: While women have made tremendous gains in educational achievement, these accomplishments have not yet brought equity for women when they exit the classroom and enter the work force.

Says Elena Silva, director of research for the AAUW Educational Foundation, “Women have made gains in education, but disparities persist: a gender gap in earnings, even between full-time workers with a college degree, and an educational achievement gap among women themselves.”

Gains in Learning, Gaps in Earning, an online research tool developed by the AAUW Educational Foundation with assistance from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, takes significant steps to spotlight the problem. State-by-state statistics on key education and earnings indicators reflect the reality that women’s gains in education frequently fail to level the playing field at work.

There is good news, women with college degrees can earn, on average, nearly 80 percent more than do women with only a high school diploma. Educational gains also open doors to better opportunities in the workplace and boost financial independence.

College degrees bring economic gains to entire families. In every state, according to AAUW’s new resource, women with higher family incomes are more likely to attend college. Race also matters. Just 15.3 percent of African American women and 10.8 percent of Hispanic women, compared to nearly 25 percent of white women hold college degrees.

What You Can Do:

Support pay equity legislation: Forty years after the Equal Pay Act was signed, the earnings gap costs women $200 billion a year. Ask your members of Congress to support the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 76/H.R. 1688).

Commemorate Equal Pay Day: April marks the point at which a women’s earnings finally match a man’s from the prior year. Wear red - symbolizing how far women are “in the red” with their pay.

Encourage girls to pursue non-traditional fields: Science, engineering, technology, and other traditionally male fields offer opportunities for higher paying jobs. Offer local educators a copy of AAUW’s Tech-Savvy research and video along with Tech Check, which helps schools assess technology opportunities they offer to girls. (Materials are available at www.aauw.org)

Bethlehem Branch AAUW awards college scholarships to female high school seniors and to women whose education has been interrupted. Scholarships are based on academic promise and financial need. The Scholarship Committee distributes the applications, screens and interviews the applicants, and determines the awards.

2008 Scholarship winners:
(left to right): Chelisse Headley, Rebecca Heslin, Caitlin Fodor, Audra Happel, and Lauren Sterner.

(left to right): Melissa Pieller, Rebecca Smith, Laura Rannella, Caitlin Worrich, and Megan Truscott.

Membership in AAUW, as a Branch or Individual member, is open to graduates of any four-year accredited college or university. Dues for 2007/08 are $70, payable to the Treasurer by May 31.

If you are an undergraduate working toward an associate's or bachelor's degree, get involved on your campus and in your community. Become an AAUW student affiliate. An AAUW student affiliate must be enrolled as an undergraduate in a two- or four-year regionally accredited educational institution.

Click here for an application form to join the Bethlehem Branch of AAUW.

In principle and practice, AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. There shall be no barriers to full participation in this organization on the basis of gender, race, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or class.

Meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of the month in the Christian Education Building of Central Moravian Church. (Access to the parking lot adjoining the Christian Education Building is via an alley heading west off South New Street, between Market and Church Streets. The alley is south of the Moravian cemetery and north of the Kemerer Museum.)

October 6, 2007, 6 p.m. Covered Dish Fellowship Dinner precedes program. Program features Dot McLane, AAUW PA State President. Dot will address the Survival of AAUW Branches Into the Future and some steps that might best ensure this.

November 13, 2007, 7 p.m. -- Platypuses: Who Cares? Come and hear Earthwatch volunteer Sylvia Campbell's presentation on how the unusual platypus of Australia fits into the global ecosystem.

In this remote part of the earth, Nature (having made horses, ducks, geese, oaks, elms, and all regular productions for the rest of the world) seems determined to have a bit of play, and to amuse herself as she sees fit. Reverend Sydney Smith, Sydney, Australia, 1819.

Our speaker will be Sylvia Campbell, an avid member of Earthwatch since 1983 and returning AAUW presenter. She is a retired eighth grade social studies/English teacher who has participated in twenty-one Earthwatch projects ranging from archeological digs in Eastern Europe to observing polar bear behavior in Canada to cataloguing butterflies in Vietnam. Sylvia has recently returned from an expedition that dealt with butterflies on Mount Fuji in Japan.

Few of us have seen a platypus either in a zoo or in its natural habitat of Australia. The animal defies rational explanation with its webbed feet and duck's beak attached to what seems to be a mammal's body. The platypus appears to have been assembled by children who received very different sets of instructions with a new toy. When asked about platypuses Sylvia noted, "It's always fun to talk about platypuses. No one ever thinks they have environmental significance, and learning about their value to the environment is always such a surprise."

Please plan to join us for Sylvia's multi-media presentation to learn about the interaction between environmental events such as global warming and platypuses.

December 9, 2007 (Sunday), 3-5 p.m. -- Holiday Open House at the home of George and Karen Donald. Bring gift cards for Turning Point.
Reservations: Anne Hammersmith.

George and Karen have generously agreed to open their home to the AAUW members, spouses, and friends for our annual holiday party.

With or without snow on the ground, our gathering is perfectly times to help us catch some early spirit of the season. Special among Karen's festive decorations will be her own watercolor winter scenes. Also on display will be her train station paintings, a complement to George's train collection - with some very recent additions - that he is delighted to show.

This afternoon also provides and opportunity to share with others in need. To continue the tradition of supporting the women and children of the safe houses of Turning Point, members are invited to bring along donations of gift carts to the party.

February 13, 2008 (Wednesday), 7 p.m. -- Kirkland Village, social Hall. Kilimanjaro: My Hike to the Roof of Africa. Dr. Paul Pierpoint will share his adventurous trip to South-central Africa and subsequent trek up Mount Kilimanjaro.

When Dr. Paul Pierpoint, Dean, Northampton Community College realized that the proverbial mountain was not going to come to him, he made a life-defining decision: he would go to the mountain itself. At age fifty-three Dr. Pierpoint, feeling some early symptoms of "midlife crisis," chose to confront them head-on: he prepared travel to Africa to hike up the terrain of a very real and very demanding mountain, Kilimanjaro.

For an adventure to last only 10 days, Dr. Pierpoint prepared for eight months. He traveled 21 hours from Newark airport to Africa and hiked to a final elevation of 19,360 feet. He camped and trudged in pelting rain, sleet, snow, and ice enduring severe physical exhaustion. He also found exhilaration in incredible mountain scenery and wildlife, in the companionship of fellow hikers and guides, and even in the physical challenges. Most valuable of all, the hike up Kilimanjaro became "a bunch of doors" for him--doors which opened through moments of learning the mantra "pole-pole" or "slowly-slowly" and taking "many slow, small intentional steps that will get you to the highest peak as long as each step is in the right direction." Through this, Paul learned about himself as he faced, "the big black dog" that "sits in the shadows and waits" inside us, his fears of growing old and regretting missed opportunities.

In this talk, Dr. Pierpoint will share with us the details of the adventure, the discoveries, and the poetry that now allows him to accept himself as "Babu" or "respected elder."

March 8, 2008, 11:30 a.m. (Saturday). Best Western Conference Center, Bethlehem, routes 512 & 22. Interbranch Luncheon: International Women's Day.

AAUW branches from Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton and Pocono Area are cooperating to honor women and organizations that have shown by action and philosophy the promotion of the AAUW Mission, which is to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research, at a festive luncheon at the Best Western on routes 512 and 22).

The nominee of the Bethlehem Branch is Turning Point, Inc. and executive director Pam Russell will be accepting the award.

She commented, "Receiving this award from AAUW, an organization that has such a long, respected history of promoting equity for women and girls is incredibly meaningful given our work serving battered women and their children. Domestic violence robs victims of their opportunity to grow and develop, become all that they can be, if you will. this award signifies that AAUW Bethlehem is standing with Turning Point as we work to eliminate domestic violence. For this we are most grateful."

Additional honorees include: Judith Ruhe Diehl, the first woman elected as a Lehigh County Commissioner in 1980 (Allentown); the late Judith H. Chase, founder of Lehigh Valley Child Care (Easton); and the Pocono Healthy Communities Alliance (Pocono Area), whose services touch hundreds of families and children countywide with free information and a referral program.

The reservation deadline is March 1 and a reservation can be made by using the form in the Bylines or by calling the Easton Branch at 484-201-0713.

April 8, 2008, 6 p.m. -- Book Fair Meeting and Dinner at the Memorial Pool Building, Illik's Mill Road, Bethlehem.
Wear your jeans, bring your appetite, and pitch in to help the committee in the final preparation for our 46th Annual book Fair.

May 13, 2008, 7 p.m. (Tuesday). -- Scholarship Dessert Reception. Come join the annual presentation of Scholarship awards! Meet this year's scholarship recipients and their families.

Chair Shirley Monegon and members of the Scholarship Committee will present awards to nine graduating high school seniors and one non-traditional student who is continuing her interrupted education. The awards are funded by proceeds from the AAUW Book Fair and The Bethlehem Senior Women's club Fund, held at the Lehigh Valley Community foundation and administered by the branch. Branch member Marilyn Merry will present the first Merry Scholarship Award, funded by a series of International dinners sponsored by our branch 2006-2007.

Karen Donald and Nancy Disario, co-chairs will reveal the total money raised by this year's Bethlehem Branch AAUW Book Fair, our forty-sixth sale.

Anne Skelly, a Scholarship recipient from 2004 will share her journey and update us on daughter Elizabeth a 2002 recipient - definitely a family affair!

We will also celebrate Marie Boltz as the recipient of this year's Branch Outstanding Woman award and Susan McNamara as our Emerging Star.

OUTLOOK	AAUW magazine published three times a year
KEYSTONER	Published four times a year by the PA Division
BYLINES	Published nine times a year by the local Branch Bylines editor: Linda Robertson