••■•■•=NNN■P••■••■ 911■11. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY WOMEN AMFRY AN BARRINGTON AREA, ILLINOIS BRANCH ASS( X 31CR CC AAUW promotes equity for all women and girls, lifelong UNIVERst education and positive societal change Quarterly Newsletter, Spring 2008 YOUR ARE IN FOR A SPECIAL FILM AT OUR WINTER LUNCHEON March 8th 11 a.m. What's the film about? Iron Jawed Angels" is a very special film starring Hilary Swank about the struggle by the early women activists for the right to vote. Where do I go to see this film? The Garlands of Barrington on March 8 Will they serve popcorn? Not popcorn - but a delicious buffet lunch beginning at 11 a.m. This is our Annual Winter Luncheon and we'll be sharing it with our .eague of Women Voter friends, too. RSVP to Kay Bogolin 847-277-9407 or Claudia Field 847-754-4118 Report of the January 26th Networking Luncheon The Twenty-fifth Annual Networking Luncheon event at the Deerfield Hyatt, LeClair Ballroom featured Mary Schmich as the guest speaker. Ms. Schmich is a columnist at the Chicago Tribune and writer for the long running comic strip (since 1945) Brenda Starr. Over 120 women from 10 AAUW branches in the greater Chicago area attended. Two of our own members, Mary Lou Hajduk and Bobbie Svacha again were importantly involved in arranging this special event. In addition, five other Barrington Area Branch members were present. The National Association President and Illinois resident, Ruth Sweetser, was also present and briefly greeted the attendees. A native of Savannah, Georgia, Ms. Schmich is a 1975 graduate of Pomona College and has done graduate work at Stanford University. She has held the position of Metro page columnist since 1992 and has been writing the Brenda Starr comic strip since 1984. Following her Y2 hour talk with the AAUW attendees, she answered questions from the audience. In her speech Schmich began by noting that life was complex. She shared that what she was trying to do with her column was to connect people and not divide. While she generally tells stories, her style often features irony; she noted that she is surprised by how often some readers don't "get it". Among other things, she spoke of changes at the Tribune affecting her column as well as her favorite poet a female Polish writer. The audience enjoyed her humor, insight into the human condition and her intelligence. One of Schmich's upcoming activities will be teaching a writing course at Northwestern University. The National Conference for College Women Student Leaders will take place June 5-7, 2008, in Washington, DC. Stay tuned for more information on AAUW's signature student leadership event. Refer to the AAUW website for more information. Branches are encouraged to help sponsor students at from local colleges or universities to attend this event. 2 The Gail Borden Library in collaboration with the AAUW branch in Elgin is presenting "Jane Addams and the Potential of Women" This program is part of the library's "Tapestry of Freedom" series*. The Elgin branch of AAUW has extended an invitation to our members to attend the program on -Jane Addams and the Potential of Women: Her Growth as a Social Reformer." It will be presented Tuesday, April 1, 7-8:30 p.m., in the Community Room of the Elgin's library by Louise W. Knight, author of Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy. Ms. Knight will trace how Addams' early struggles with failure during an era of limited opportunities for women shaped her ideas about women's potential and her social reform activism. Book sales and signing follow the program. THREE WAYS TO REGISTER AT GAIL BORDEN LIBRARY: Registration will not be open until the end of February.) • In person at the Adult Services Information Desk • Call 847-4294680 • Online at www.gailborden.info, News & Programs, Event Calendar If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Medina Gross, Elgin Branch President by phone 847-695-1316 or email [email protected]. More information about Louise Knight is available at louisewknight.com *Funding for this grant was awarded by the Illinois State Library (ISL), a Division of the Office of Secretary of State, using funds provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), under the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). TALK ON PAY EQUITY FOR WOMEN March 19 - 7 p.m. in Glen Ellyn Members of our Branch are invited to attend a special program on Wednesday, March 19. The Wheaton-Glen Ellyn Branch AAUW will have as its featured speaker, Nancy Chen. Nancy, a member of the Naperville branch, is the Director of the Regional Women's Bureau of the US Department of Labor. The meeting will be held in the Betty Clayton Room of the Glen Ellyn Civic Center, 535 Duane Avenue, Glen Ellyn at 7:00 p.m. Ms. Chen will begin following a social time and short business meeting. Ms. Chen's talk will address the issue of pay equity. Letter from our Co-Presidents Kathryn Black and Paru Thondavadi Dear Members, We hope everyone had a very safe and happy holiday season. Since our last newsletter, members attended the Annual Soup Supper at the beautiful home of Shirley Conibear (thank you, Shirley!) and also the Annual Networking Lunch at the Deerfield Hyatt where the keynote speaker was Chicago Tribune Columnist Mary Schmich (See the article on page 2 of this newsletter.). We also have our up coming annual Winter Luncheon in March. Again this event will be co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters. Members please look for the "Every Member Poll" in the recent AAUW Outlook magazine or online. AAUW was in the news recently, with its "Behind the Pay Gap" report featured prominently on NBC Nightly News special report on "The Truth about Boys and Girls". Seven teams from around the country have been awarded Campus Action Project Grants to implement projects based on recommendations from the AAUW/EF research report. Additional information is available on the AAUW website. Recently AAUW chaired a congressional briefing on a new report on Title IX and how it has affected careers, athletics, technical education, sexual harassment, etc. The report presents recommendations from experts on how to reach equity in education. Title IX's fight against sex discrimination has led to a rate increase in female participation in sports of 400% at a college level and 800% at a high school level. Please note: February 6 th is "National Girls and Women in Sports Day". There are several events in the suburbs in March and April that may be of interest to you. There is a special talk at the Gail Borden Library on Jane Addams, the Field Museum is hosting a celebration of Women's History Month, Glen Ellyn Branch is hosting a talk on pay equity, and the award winning Israeli film "Empathy" by Adi Refali will be shown. Details about all of these events are in this newsletter as well as a registration form for the film. We look forward to seeing all of you at our Annual Winter luncheon on March 8 th at the Garlands. Paru Thondavadi Kathryn Black Co-Presidents 4 LEBRAT1NG AN EXHIBITION AT THE FIELD MUSEUM ON VIEW FEBRUARY 29 2008 SEPTEMBER 9. 2008 id color photogaph s hv renowned photographer Paola Gianturco portray sti celebrating women in Swaziland, Sweden, India, Brazil, nd, and Morocco, OPENING EVENTS FOR CELEBRATING WOMEN AND WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH SAI M,ARC I I I, 2008 Free with general admission 12:00pm Performances by the Brazilian Cultural Center of Chicago, the indo American Center, and the Swedish ,American Museum Center 2:00pm io 3:00PM Panel discussion on women's leadership roles, with • Alaka Wall, Director. Center for Cultural Understanding. and Change, The Field Museum Panel Moderator • Paola Gianturw„Author and Photographer • Sunny Fischer. Executive Director. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation • lane M. Saks. Executive Director. Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media Columbia College Chicago • Patricia Williams Lessone, President and Founder. The Lesson(' Group "`•('i"h'in.wele. Potar■ d. ‘1"h""""ir ‘‘."I' ,"P lit, (t.11 1.3,1k t • r. a. If For more information. call 312.922.9410 or visit wwwlieldmusetim.org this exhibition was created and organized by Paola Gianturco, s l ei. useum Sponsored by & cKi.. Z.13r. 5 Celebrate Action Network Successes in 2007! • Successfully advocated for the enactment of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, the largest investment in higher education (2). since the G.I. Bill... increasing access to higher AAUW education in general and for women in Limactionnetwork particular. • Ensured a pay increase for nearly 7 million women by successfully advocating for the enactment of the first minimum wage increase in nearly 10 years. • Improved opportunities for women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and addressed the shortage of highly qualified STEM teachers with the enactment of the America COMPETES Act. • Supported successful passage of the Higher Education Act Reauthorization in the Senate and unanimous committee passage in the House (look for final passage next year). • Increased awareness of the wage gap between men and women through the promotion of AAUW's report, Behind the Pay Gap, and through programming based on AAUW's Pay Equity Resource Kit and forwarding Equal Pay Day e-cards across the country. • Convinced the House to take the first critical step towards maintaining critical pay discrimination laws with the successful passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Action Network members continue to push for the Senate to take the next step by passing the Fair Pay Restoration Act, which will counter the Supreme Court's wrongheaded decision in the Ledbetter v.