American Association of University Women

American Association of University Women (AAUW).In 1881, seventeen women met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the invitation of Marion Talbot, a Boston University graduate, and her mother, also college educated, and formed the Association of Collegiate Alumnae, forerunner of the AAUW. In the 1890s, the new organization established graduate fellowships to encourage women to pursue science careers. By the 1920s, it pursued equity in education, equality for women, and internationalism. During World War II, led by Helen C. White of the University of Wisconsin, AAUW women performed community leadership and public service. In the Cold War, however, AAUW's progressive stance on women's rights, international cooperation, and educational reform brought charges of disloyalty. Nonetheless, the AAUW Educational Foundation (1955) expanded the organization's fellowship program; by 1967, nearly 100 fellowships were awarded annually from an endowment of some $3.5 million.

The post–1970 women's movement brought significant changes. Active in Washington on women's and family issues, the AAUW endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment and reproductive rights in 1971, and joined the coalition that promoted Title IX of the Education Act of 1972, mandating gender equity in higher‐education athletic programs. The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls (1992) and Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America's Schools (1994), based on extensive research, showed the prevalence of gender bias in public schools and its link to adolescent girls' drop in self‐esteem, and proposed strategies for improvement. While never abandoning its initial goals, the AAUW has steadily expanded its agenda, from supporting graduate education for women to addressing the needs of public school girls and young women.
See also Education: Rise of the University; Feminism; Women's Rights Movements.

Bibliography

Marion Talbot and and Lois Kimball Mathews Rosenberry , The History of the American Association of University Women, 1881–1931, 1931.
Susan Levine , Degrees of Equality: The American Association of University Women and the Challenge of Twentiety Century Feminism, 1995.

Gretchen Kreuter