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Sidrah, a “returning to college” scholarship recipient of AAUW Woodland graduated November 24, 2020 from nursing. She and her classmates adapted many times in this year of COVID to graduate on time. This included front-line work at the hospital. Two of us were able to watch the ceremony on Zoom and Sidrah sent our members some of her pictures including a picture with her parents (above). We eagerly await the next chapter in Sidrah’s life.
May 25, 2022 – AAUW Woodland 2022 International Event:
We heard from X’ochiti Rodriquez Murillo last night at our May 2022 AAUW Woodland International Dinner, via Zoom from Mexico. X’ochiti, the former first Latinx Mayor of Woodland, spoke to us about her formative years spent in Woodland as the oldest of 6 children and the first to attend college at UCD. Her interest in UC Davis stemmed from recreational opportunities on campus, while she was a young girl. Much like the academic opportunities we provide for middle-school girls on a college campus as part of the Tech Trek program.
X’ochiti grew up in affordable housing but never lacked for love, faith, and parents who encouraged her to pursue higher education. Her parents were farm workers and her mother also worked at a factory for a number of years. After service in the military, and a degree from UCD, X”ochiti recognized the need for grass roots work and began this work in West Covina. When she returned to Woodland she saw the need to continue the grass roots work here.
Recognizing that the large Hispanic population was under-represented in Woodland she ran for the Woodland City Council, and eventually became the first Latinx Woodland Mayor where she focussed on certain issues more representative of the under-represented Hispanic population. This included a longer scheduled time away from school so families could return to Mexico without the children losing out on their Woodland education. Two weeks was inadequate since many families wanted to spend a month in Mexico with their extended family. X’ochiti also worked on other issues, such as micro transit options to replace often half empty Yolo Buses, and encouraging communication toward equitable solutions for the homeless population. She spoke a little about the generational gap that still exists in the Hispanic community and how communication and education need to continue to bridge this gap.
X’ochiti currently works in Sacramento where she serves at the pleasure of the Governor as the “Deputy Secretary of Minority Veteran’s Affairs” working with issues of equity, including race and sex based equity issues. When asked if any of her work built upon work she had started in Woodland she said she still promoted the idea of young people being part of a legislative solution. X’ochiti sees the need to continue student participation in visits to the Capitol, where she hopes they will better understand governance and the need for their participation, which is particularly important to address inequities in policy and practices.
After hearing from X’ochiti we listened to Mariachi music on YouTube from Mariachi Puente while we ate Mexican food at home on Zoom. We were joined by members of AAUW Davis and by Prabha this years WCC Scholarship recipient.
April 7, 2022 – AAUW (CA) Lobby Day – Zoom – Signature Bills for 2021-22 –
*AB-92 (Reyes) a two year bill from last year to wave or reduce childcare fees for low income families. AB-1968 (Seyarto) – a bill to update cell-phone friendly reporting and resources for community members on State College and UC Campuses who are victims of sexual assault. AB-1666 (Bauer-Kehan) – a bill to protect California courts from restrictive reproductive rights in other states that might impact California.
April 1st, 2019 – Live press conference in Sacramento (see attached). First Partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Senator Jackson of the 19th Senate District, members of the Pay Equity Task Force, and others spoke of the task force approach to actualizing the California Fair Pay Act (2015) through commitment and education. AAUW members from many branches attended the press conference and a subsequent equal pay event inside the Capitol.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23EqualPayCAEqual
Pay Day – April 2, 2019
Imagine an America Without a Pay Gap It is common knowledge that a woman in the United States makes 80 cents per dollar made by a man of similar qualifications. The pay gap is worse for women of color. In an era when women make up nearly 50% of the workforce, this pay gap burdens individual family finances and the economy. A recent study estimated the impact on society if the pay gap were corrected. How would closing the pay gap be expected to impact families? 60% of working women and 66% single working mothers would see an increase in their pay Poverty rates for working women would drop by half from 8% to 3.8% Poverty rates for single working mothers would drop from 28.9% to 14.5% How would the US economy benefit? Closing the pay gap would increase gross domestic product an estimated $500 million, roughly 2.6% of the GDP of our entire nation The increase in women’s earnings would be roughly 16 times what federal and state governments spent in 2015 for temporary assistance to needy families The pay gap adversely impacts American families. Closing it would raise many out of poverty and reduce the need for public assistance. The question to ask our elected officials is not whether we as a society can afford to pay men and women the same income for the same work. The question is, how can we afford not to?
Archana Maniar Source: The Impact of Equal Pay on Poverty and the Economy 2017, Institute of Women’s Policy Research
CORONA VIRUS NOTICE
Dear AAUW Members and Friends, during this distancing and isolation period of COVID-19 many of the planned activities of AAUW will be cancelled, or adapted to virtual meetings. Please see the calendar page for current status and for changes over time. Stay home, and stay healthy. VAL
We at AAUW Woodland have stayed busy during the COVID-19 time. Marianne Hallet, one of our members put together a project from the submissions of plants and flowers from our gardens and sent the final composition to each of us. We would love to share it but unfortunately it is too large to down-load onto this site. If you would like a copy, send your email address to olsonmac@wavecable.com